ABSTRACT
The most important characteristic feature of the first wave of emigration is that Hungary's emigres remained within Europe and thus enjoyed the opportunity to return home during the country's period of political consolidation— if they wished to avail themselves of it. From the perspective of Hungarian psychoanalysis, the second wave of emigration effectively constituted the loss of the majority of this young, innovative generation. From a theoretical perspective, the early mother–child relationship is of crucial importance as is the impact it has on the formation of personality. Sandor Ferenczi believed that the symptoms of many of his patients could be interpreted as psychosomatic symptoms that symbolically express an early death instinct. Psychosomatic illnesses can be approached through a process called vector analysis developed by Franz Alexander. Research on psychosomatic illnesses was the special focus of the Chicago Institute, which Franz Alexander directed for twenty-five years.
