Anny Katan-Rosenberg

Anny Rosenberg Katan (May 1, 1898 – December 24, 1992) was a child psychologist born in Vienna, Austria, who pioneered the use of psychoanalysis to treat emotionally disturbed youth. She had close personal ties to the Sigmund Freud family and was one of the first child analysts in the city of Vienna.

Background Anny Rosenberg was the daughter of Judith and Ludwig Rosenberg. Her father Dr. Ludwig and her uncle, Oskar Rie were both pediatricians exposing Anny to child care at an early age. In addition, both her father and her uncle were card playing partners with Freud. Anny was also one of Anna Freud's earliest childhood friends. Anny Rosenberg'family was family friends with the Freud family. Anny Rosenberg studied medicine of the University of Vienna from 1917 up to 1923. Maurits Katan was born on November 25, 1897, in the Netherlands. His initial medical training started as a neurologist. Then he started analytic training in the Netherlands, but ended up moving to Vienna to work with Anna Freud. Here he met Anny Rosenberg whom he eventually married. After surviving World War II he moved to Cleveland, Ohio with his family. Here he became one of the first professors of psychoanalysis at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Legacy Katan died in Cleveland, Ohio on December 24, 1992. Since she specialized in child analysis she opened up a preschool in 1950, now called the Hanna Perkins School. This school, as Robert Furman said, "It was a world that Anny Katan more or less created out of thin air for children like me." Katan also started a child therapy training program modeled on Anna Freud's Hampstead Child therapy course. She constantly applied child analysis practically, and held her research, and training, to the highest standards. Katan was also a founding member of the Detroit Psychoanalytic Society . and was honored by the US President for working with behavioral, hard to educate, children. Rosenberg Katan also looked at causes of bed wetting, phallic injuries, and female puberty, as well as adults who were raped during their childhood.