Otto Rank: beginnings, endings, and current experience

I have traced the theories of Otto Rank as they appeared in his major technical writings. Against this background, I have discussed references to Rank in past and contemporary psychoanalytic literature. This paper describes three important contributions of Rank--his birth trauma theory, leading to his theory of the birth of the self; his emphasis on present experience (forerunner of the current "here-and-now" theory); and his writings about the creative potential of the termination process.