Home > Encyclopedia of Psychology > Bruno Bettelheim

1903-1990
Austrian-born American psychologist known for his treatment of emotionally disturbed children, particularly autistic children.

Bruno Bettelheim was born in Vienna in 1903. He was trained as a psychoanalyst, receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna in 1938. In the same year, the Nazis conquered Austria, and Bettelheim was interned in the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps. He was released in 1939 and emigrated to the United States, where he first became a research associate of the Progressive

Education Association at the University of Chicago, and then an associate professor at Rockford College from 1942 to 1944.

In 1943, Bettelheim gained widespread recognition for his article, "Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations," a study of human adaptability based on his concentration camp experiences. In 1944, he was granted a dual appointment by the...