Rudolf von Urban

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Wiener Cottage Sanatorium building, Vienna, 1908

Rudolf R. Urbantschitsch, later Rudolf von Urban (28[1] April 1879 – 18 December 1964), was an Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist who researched human sexuality.

Early life and education

Born in

Catholic family, he was the son of Viktor Urbantschitsch, a physician and one of the founders of modern ENT medicine.[2] His uncle, Carl Fröschl, was a portrait painter.[3] Rudolf von Urban studied at the Vienna Theresianum, graduating in 1898.[4]

Career

Early in his career, he worked as assistant to the internist Carl von Noorden. With Noorden's support he opened the prestigious Wiener Cottage Sanatorium as a clinic for the aristocracy in 1908.[5]

In January 1908 he presented a paper, "Meine Entwicklungsjahre bis zur Ehe" (From my puberty to my marriage), to a group of Viennese psychoanalysts to whom he had been introduced by the physician Fritz Wittels. He became a member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society (known then as the "Wednesday Psychological Society"), and remained a member of it until 1914.

With Noorden's support and under the patronage of Archduke

Franz Ferdinand, he opened the prestigious Wiener Cottage Sanatorium in 1908, serving as its director. The sanatorium became one of the most prestigious clinics in Europe, treating patients from the highest level of Viennese society. Among the doctors who sent their patients to the clinic was Sigmund Freud
.

In 1920, Urbantschitsch lost his position as director of the sanatorium, which was sold in 1922. On Freud's recommendation, he then began to train as an analyst, first with Paul Federn and then with Sándor Ferenczi in Budapest. Because he was a Catholic, an aristocrat, and a monarchist, Urbantschitsch was an outlier in the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.

In the ensuing years he lectured widely in Austria and abroad, giving a series of lectures on sexology at the University of Athens in 1933. His popularization of the ideas of psychoanalysis subjected him to criticism by his some of his Viennese colleagues, who also objected to his love affairs, two of which resulted in suicide. Consequently the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society declined to renew his membership, and in 1924 even refused to welcome him as a guest.

In response to the looming threat of

Stanford. In 1944 Urbantschitsch was accused of practicing medicine illegally.[6]

Sex Perfection and Marital Happiness

His book Sex Perfection and Marital Happiness was published by Dial Press in 1949. In the book, which opens with chapters on “Sex Development of Children,” “Talking to Children about Sex,” and “The Problem of Masturbation,” and goes on to discuss his “Six Rules of Sex Intercourse,” birth control, impotence, frigidity, and other subjects, von Urban argues that the avoidance of orgasm during sexual intercourse can result in a flow of energy that prolongs and enhances sexual intercourse. In his “six rules” he recommends extended foreplay, a certain sexual position, full concentration, and complete relaxation, states that the ideal sex act should take at least 27 minutes, and counsels a five-day break between sexual encounters.

The methods he advocated are similar to those promoted by J. William Lloyd and Alice Bunker Stockham and to those associated with “tantric sex.”[7]

contraception....There's a certain curiosity rather than scientific value here.”[8]

In the foreword to his book, von Urban stated that his “entirely new conception of the mechanism of sexual intercourse” was based on his experience in

Damascus, Syria, in 1916, with a former patient of his who had just married “a beautiful, young Arabian girl” and who, at von Urban’s suggestion, conducted a series of sexual “experiments” together. “After further study and reflection,” wrote von Urban, “I formulated a set of conclusions in my six rules for human sex relations which have been applied satisfactorily by scores of European and American couples.”[9]

Other books

Urbantschitsch also published plays and novels under the name Georg Gorgone. His autobiography, Myself Not Least: A Confessional Autobiography of a Psychoanalyst and Some Explanatory History Cases, appeared in 1958.[10]

Personal life

With his first wife, Friederike "Fritzi" Rosali Persicaner, he had two children, Hans "Hansel" (1901–1925) and Greta "Gretel" (1903–1999). By his second wife, actress

Academy Award-winning actor Christoph Waltz. Rudolf von Urban died in Carmel, California, aged 85.[12]

Works

References

  1. ^ "California Death Records". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  2. ^ "Urbantschitsch, Viktor". Aeiou.at. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  3. ^ Urban, Rudolf von (1958). "Myself not least". Books.google.com. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  4. ^ URBANTSCHITSCH (URBAN), RUDOLF VON (1879-1964); Encyclopedia;
  5. ^ "Urbantschitsch (Urban), Rudolf von (1879-1964) - eNotes.com". www.enotes.com. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  6. ^ Sex Perfection - Von Urban; Reuniting;
  7. ^ Sex Perfection - Von Urban; Reuniting;
  8. ^ Sex Perfection and Marital Happiness; Kirkus Reviews;
  9. ^ Sex Perfection - Von Urban; Reuniting;
  10. ^ URBANTSCHITSCH (URBAN), RUDOLF VON (1879-1964); Encyclopedia;
  11. PMID 19777687
    . Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  12. ^ URBANTSCHITSCH (URBAN), RUDOLF VON (1879-1964); Encyclopedia;

External links

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