One of the most notable names in general practice, Michael Balint's analysis of the doctor–patient relationship and use of group therapy made him an internationally acclaimed figure.1
Michael Balint was born Mihály Maurice Bergmann in Budapest, Hungary on 3 December 1896, he was the first of two children of a Jewish GP. He observed his father's practice and from a young age became interested in the doctor–patient relationship. In 1914 he began studying medicine at the Semmelweiss University of Budapest, but shortly after was called to the army in the First World War. He served in Russia and later Italy, where in 1916 an injury to his left thumb meant he was able to return home. His main interests as a student were biochemistry and psychoanalysis. On the recommendation of his girlfriend Alice Székely-Kovács, he read Sigmund Freud's Totem and Tabu, and began attending the lectures of Sándor Ferenczi, who in 1919 became the world's first Professor of Psychoanalysis. Despite the war interruption, he qualified in 1918 at the early age of 21, and officially changed his name at around this time.
Michael married Alice Székely-Kovács and in 1920 the couple moved to Berlin. He split his working day between the biochemical laboratory of Otto Warburg, the future Nobel Prize recipient, and the Berlin Institute of Psychoanalysis, working with Hans Sachs. Meanwhile, Alice also trained in psychoanalysis and …