Beyond the Nirvana principle: the psychoanalytic contributions of Barbara Low (1874-1955)

Abstract

The British psychoanalyst Barbara Low (1874-1955) played a protagonist role in the first decades of psychoanalysis’ development in Britain, writing, lecturing, reviewing, and actively participating in the British Psychoanalytical Society. However, she is almost exclusively remembered today as the author of the Nirvana principle concept, adopted by Freud in Beyond the Pleasure Principle and other works – a circumstance that contributed to keeping all her other accomplishments unacknowledged. The objective here is to shed some light on Low’s life and career in their own right and present the main aspects of her institutional participation and her theoretical and practical interests as a psychoanalyst. It is argued that her association with the Nirvana principle is typical of the Freud-centered perspective still prevalent in the historiography of psychoanalysis and that alternative, more encompassing viewpoints and methodologies need be developed in this research field.