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Per Magnus Johansson

Swedish psychoanalyst, psychotherapist and historian of ideas (born 1950)

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Through Sigmund Freud, Psychoanalysis and COVID-19 pandemic

In the book En psykoanalytikers väg (The Path of a Psychoanalyst) Johansson is interviewed about his life and work. The book includes a French translation, Le cheminement d'un psychanalyste and a foreword by Elisabeth Roudinesco.

Research on the history of psychoanalysis

Johanssons monographs are mainly written in Swedish, but his work has reached an international audience through articles in encyclopedias and journals within the field of psychoanalysis.

Johansson is an associate professor in the History of Ideas at the University of Gothenburg where he in 1999 submitted his doctoral thesis. The title of his thesis was Freuds psykoanalys (Freud's Psychoanalysis). Each of the pioneers of psychoanalysis in Sweden, Poul Bjerre, Emanuel af Geijerstam, Pehr Henrik Törngren, Ola Andersson, Lajos Székely and Carl Lesche, has a chapter devoted to them. In 2003, Johansson published Freuds psykoanalys. Band 3. Arvtagare i Sverige. Del 2 (Freud's Psychoanalysis. Vol 3. Heirs in Sweden Part 2). In this volume, Alfhild Tamm, Gunnar Nycander, Gösta Harding and Stefi Pedersen, likewise are given their own chapters.

Having thus described the reception of Freud and psychoanalysis from a Swedish perspective, Johansson devoted a fourth volume (2009) to the situation of psychiatry and clinical psychology in Gothenburg.

Together with the French psychoanalyst and historian Elisabeth Roudinesco, Johansson has introduced the Swedish psychoanalyst and researcher Ola Andersson in France. He has also critically read and introduced the Swedish translations of several texts by Sigmund Freud and Michel Foucault.

Psychoanalysis and the Humanities, a collection of essays, was published in 2014. Here, Johansson deals with the complex encounter between psychoanalysis and the humanities, elucidating the subject from a number of various perspectives, cultural, historical, theoretical, practical, and clinical as well as personal.

The book Arkitektliv. Gert Wingårdh i samtal med Per Magnus Johansson och Johan Linton [Life of an Architect. Gert Wingårdh in conversation with Per Magnus Johansson and Johan Linton] was published in October 2021.

During the COVID-19 pandemic Johansson published Corona. En psykoanalytikers dagbok (Corona. A Psychoanalysts Notebook) in three volumes. The texts were published in a single volume in 2023: Corona. En psykoanalytikers dagbok 1-3.

Johansson contributes to the debate on contemporary issues through articles in the major Swedish newspapers and by participating in cultural events, podcasts and lectures. Johansson is a regular columnist in Göteborgs-Posten.

In April 2026, Johansson published the book Om skrivande [On writing] at Fri tanke.

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