Robert M. Lindner

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Robert M. Lindner (May 14, 1914 – February 27, 1956) was an American author and psychologist, best known as the author of the 1944 book Rebel Without A Cause: The Hypnoanalysis Of A Criminal Psychopath,[1] from which the title of Nicholas Ray's 1955 film was adapted. His book described a psychopath as someone who is "incapable of exertions for the sake of others".[2] Lindner's arguments on gambling psychology are well regarded and have been noted as "definitive statements" by the American Academy of Political and Social Science.[3]

Early life and education

Robert Mitchell Lindner was born in New York City on May 14, 1914, to Charles and Sadie (née Schwartz) Lindner. He was educated in the public schools of New York and earned a B.A. at Bucknell University. In 1937 he married Eleanor Johnson (1910-1996) while a graduate student at Cornell University, where he was awarded an M.A. in psychology in 1935 and a Ph.D. in psychology in 1938.

Career

Lindner soon became head of the combined psychiatric-psychological services department of the

National Association for Psychoanalysis
, which was one of the few organizations through which psychologists ( who were not medical doctors) could pursue psychoanalytic training.

Among the large number of patients he treated during this period, the best known to have been publicly identified was the author Philip Wylie, who settled in Baltimore in 1952 to undergo a full analysis with Lindner, whom he had been seeing intermittently since meeting him while serving as a Navy officer during World War II.[5]

In 1947-1948 he served as the Maryland state chairman of the liberal Progressive Citizens of America, which became the state organization for Henry A. Wallace's quixotic 1948 third-party presidential campaign. In 1948 he was added to the national board of the PCA.[6]

The movie adaptation of Rebel Without a Cause brought Lindner a measure of notoriety when it was released, although the story by Nicholas Ray bore no relation to the case history in Lindner's book. In 1954 the publication of "The Jet-Propelled Couch" as a two-part article in Harper's caused a small sensation with its tale of the delusional psychosis of a key government scientist, "Kirk Allen", who believed he was living a parallel life as overlord of a distant star system, and his treatment by Lindner. The true identity of "Kirk Allen" has been debated since, though it is likely that he was political scientist and intelligence operative Paul Linebarger, who became a well-known science fiction writer under the name Cordwainer Smith.[7] It was collected in The Fifty-Minute Hour (1955), a collection of five case studies from his clinical practice. An ambitious attempt to adapt the story into a musical with songs by Stephen Sondheim came to nothing. In 1957 it was dramatized as an episode of TV's Playhouse 90 as "The Jet Propelled Couch" starring Donald O'Connor, Peter Lorre, David Wayne, Gale Gordon, and Vampira.[8][9]

Lindner was active in a number of professional associations. He was a fellow of the American Psychological Association, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an officer of the Medical Correctional Association. In 1953 he was elected an honorary fellow of the Fortean Society.

Death

Robert Lindner died on February 27, 1956, at

Gerald W. Johnson, and Baltimore businessman Morton Abrahams. Theodore Reik was appointed to the foundation's professional committee,[11]
and delivered two lectures under the auspices of the foundation later that year.

Works

References

  1. ^ Robert M. Lindner (1944), Rebel Without A Cause: The Hypnoanalysis Of A Criminal Psychopath, Waverly Press.
  2. ^ American Correctional Association (1964), Proceedings of the annual Congress of Correction, p. 55
  3. ISBN 0-8039-2194-2
    , p. 9
  4. ^ "Dr. Lindner Dies, Psychologist, 41," Baltimore Sun, February 28, 1956, p. 36.
  5. ^ Gardner, R.H. "Goodness Snakes! Philip Wylie of 'Vipers' Fame Calming Down," Baltimore Sun, Sept. 21, 1952, p. 36.
  6. ^ "P.C.A. Votes to Join Third Party", Baltimore Sun, Jan. 19, 1948, pg. 1.
  7. ^ Elms, Alan C. (2002). Behind the jet-propelled couch: Cordwainer Smith and Kirk Allen. New York Review of Science Fiction.
  8. ^ Robert Mitchell Lindner (December 1954). "The Jet-Propelled Couch". Harper's Magazine.
  9. ^ "'Playhouse 90' Lists Psychiatry Story, 'Jet Propelled Couch,' for Fall Showing". The New York Times. June 28, 1957.
  10. ^ Lennon, J. Michael. Norman Mailer: A Double Life (Simon & Schuster, 2013), p. 165.
  11. ^ "Dr. Lindner's Name Honored", Baltimore Sun, March 8, 1956, p. 22

External links

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