Erika Fromm, PhD, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, died in May. Fromm was known for her expertise in the use of hypnosis as a part of psychotherapy, and for challenging Freudian psychoanalysis.

In 1964, she and Thomas French co-authored "Dream Interpretation--A New Approach," which argued that dreams represented human attempts to resolve current conflicts, not those from childhood. She co-authored a number of other books on self-hypnosis and hypnotherapy, and argued that hypnosis helps patients resolve their problems much faster than psychoanalysis.

Fromm received her PhD from the University of Frankfurt in 1933, then spent several years working as a research assistant in the Netherlands. In 1938, she moved to the United States to escape the Nazis. After holding a number of academic and research positions, she joined the psychology faculty of the University of Chicago, where she stayed for the rest of her career.

--M. GREENGRASS