Chapter 7 Erikson: Post-Freudian Theory 219American ambassador
William Bullitt to write a
book-length psychologi-
cal study of American
president Woodrow Wil-
son (Freud & Bullitt,
1967). Although Erikson
(1975) deplored this lat-
ter work, he took up the
methods of psychohistory
and refined them, espe-
cially in his study of
Martin Luther (Erikson,
1958, 1975) and Mahatma
Gandhi (Erikson, 1969,
1975). Both Luther and
Gandhi had an important
impact on history because
each was an exceptional
person with the right per-
sonal conflict living dur-
ing a historical period
that needed to resolve
collectively what could
not be resolved individu-
ally (E. Hall, 1983).
Erikson (1974)
defined psychohistory as
“the study of individual
and collective life with
the combined methods of psychoanalysis and history” (p. 13). He used psychohis-
tory to demonstrate his fundamental beliefs that each person is a product of his or
her historical time and that those historical times are influenced by exceptional
leaders experiencing a personal identity conflict.
As an author of psychohistory, Erikson believed that he should be emotion-
ally involved in his subject. For example, he developed a strong emotional attach-
ment to Gandhi, which he attributed to his own lifelong search for the father he
had never seen (Erikson, 1975). In Gandhi’s Truth, Erikson (1969) revealed strong
positive feelings for Gandhi as he attempted to answer the question of how healthy
individuals such as Gandhi work through conflict and crisis when other people
are debilitated by lesser strife. In searching for an answer, Erikson examined
Gandhi’s entire life cycle but concentrated on one particular crisis, which cli-
maxed when a middle-aged Gandhi first used self-imposed fasting as a political
weapon.
As a child, Gandhi was close to his mother but experienced conflict with his
father. Rather than viewing this situation as an Oedipal conflict, Erikson saw it as
According to Erikson, Mahatma Gandhi developed basic strengths
from his several identity crises. © Ingram Publishing