Who was Sabina Spielrein? Her dramatic life story is most famous for her notorious affair with Carl Jung, dramatised in the film A Dangerous Method starring Keira Knightley. Yet she was a woman who overcame family and psychiatric abuse to become an original thinker in the field of psychotherapy. This is the first biography to put her life and ideas at the centre of the story, and to examine Spielreins key role in the development of psychoanalysis and in the rift between Jung and Freud. Drawing on fresh research into Spielreins diaries, papers and correspondence, John Launer tells the story of a passionate woman who transformed herself from one of Jungs disturbed patients into a leading figure in Western psychology, then the Soviet intelligentsia, before losing her life in the Holocaust. At the heart of Sex Versus Survival is the gripping tale of Spielrein and Jungs tumultuous affair, which played such an important role in both of their lives and intellectual journeys. Launer shows how Spielreins overlooked ideas rejected by Jung and Freud, but substantially vindicated by later developments in psychology and evolutionary biology may represent the last and most important stage in the rediscovery of an extraordinary life.

An excellent book and a labor of love, a gripping account of Spielrein s life and work, illuminated by a narrative of contemporaneous historical events. -- Henry Lothane * Journal of American Psychoanalytical Association *
Spielrein emerges from the murk with more credit than either Freud or Jung. She pushed on with her career at the forefront of child psychology. * The Spectator *
Launer s well researched book is a tribute to a remarkable woman who, by analysing her own experience of abuse, went on to make a difference to others as a leading child psychologist... This memorable book finally gives her the recognition she deserves. * The Lady *
Launer is not just Spielrein's biographer, he is her champion. He gives the neglected female at last the place she deserves in the development of the talking therapies. * Jewish Chronicle *
Remarkable, ground-breaking work... With grace and scholarly passion, Launer offers a radical new biography that places Spielrein where she belongs as a figure of major importance in twentieth century thought. -- Professor Stephen Frosh, Birkbeck College and author of For and Against Psychoanalysis
This is an absorbing account... Launer clearly finds his subject inspiring, particularly in her attempts to synthesize the work of Freud, Jung, and Eugen Bleuler with the evolutionary thinking of Charles Darwin. * Times Literary Supplement *
This wonderful book is the first full-length biography in English of Sabina Spielrein... as John Launer reveals, a highly original thinker whose work is only now becoming appreciated. -- Professor Michael J. Reiss, University of London

John Launer is on the senior staff of the Tavistock Clinic in London, the leading training institute in the UK for psychological treatment, and is the Associate Dean for postgraduate medical education at the University of London. He is a doctor and family therapist, and a renowned medical columnist both nationally and internationally.