ABSTRACT
In the absence of a psychology faculty at the young Hebrew University, the Psychoanalytic Institute took upon itself not only to disseminate psychoanalysis and provide therapy for those who did not need to be hospitalised, but other tasks as well. It sought to upgrade the professional competence of doctors, educators, and social workers, three key professions in Yishuv society. The Yishuv's psychoanalysts' increasing involvement in various educational and "mental hygienic" frameworks inevitably reawakened the question of the legitimacy of lay analysis—the practice of psychoanalysis by people without medical training. Brachyahu used insights from psychoanalysis to liberate sexual energies and channel them into communal advancement. Doctors in the hygiene department also had to undergo psychoanalysis and take part in seminars held at the Psychoanalytic Institute. Brachyahu's amalgamation of the individual's mental plight with the Zionist cause was evident to anyone who entered his consulting room.
