Anna Terruwe

Dr. Terruwe was active in her profession till very late in her eighties. There have always been a circle of friend and admirers around her. Shortly after her death in 2004 they edited a book Bevestiging - erfdeel en opdracht. De University of Nijmegen issued recently an Anna Terruwe Award for an outstanding paper in this field.

Dr. Terruwe made church history in the fifties. After complaints of some Jesuits a high ranking Dutch Jesuit (Dr. Sebestian Tromp) of the Holy Office issued a ban: it was forbidden for priest students to see 'female psychiatrists' (there was only one: Dr. Terruwe). At the time there were still many priest students and quite a few religious superiors sent some of them to see Dr. Terruwe for their emotional distractions. Rome also ordered Terruwe's protector Prof. Willem Duynstee to come to Rome in exile. Within ten years the Vatican had to admit that a terrible error of judgment was made. Prof. Duynstee's ban was lifted and it was said that he would have become a cardinal if his sudden death had not prevented it. Dr. Terruwe was not only rehabilitated, Pope Paul VI also consulted her several times. He called her work "a gift to the Church." She and her colleague, Dr. Conrad Baars (see below) were asked to be consultants to the 1970 Synod of Bishops regarding emotional repression and love-deprivation in priests and religious. During the Synod, they met privately for two hours with the future Pope John Paul II. Terruwe suffered a great deal but her solidarity with her Church remained firm. People considered her to be one of the 'spiritual liberators' of Dutch Catholicism. She herself did not yield to progressive Catholics who wanted her to take their side. She remained a solid advocate of celibacy for priests and of a no to artificial birth control.

Dr. Baars discovered her work and went on to translate some of her work into English and further the work on "Emotional Deprivation Disorder" and the repressive disorders. She discovered "Frustration Neurosis" in the 1950s (also known as "Deprivation Neurosis", but now called Emotional Deprivation Disorder). She also discovered that repressive disorders (e.g. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or Scrupulosity) could be healed by teaching patients a correct understanding of the emotional life.

Dr. Anna A. A. Terruwe (August 19, 1911, Vierlingsbeek – April 28, 2004, Deurne) was a Catholic psychiatrist from the Netherlands. She discovered emotional deprivation disorder and how obsessive-compulsive disorder could be healed: the "bevestigingsleer," the idea of "affirmation."