Flourishing and mental health across the lifespan: Erich Seligman Fromm in psychobiography

In the past years, research has increasingly focused on flourishing, mental health and well-being (Bastos et al., 2025; Lucchetti et al., 2025; Zwitter et al., 2025). Flourishing has become a central topic in mental health research, positive psychology and positive mental health studies (Fowers et al., 2023; Fowers et al., 2024; Iasiello et al., 2019; Harunavamwe and Ward, 2022; Mayer, 2026 in press). It is a multidimensional concept that offers deep insight into the conditions that promote thriving (Fowers et al., 2023; Mjøsund, 2021; Wagner, Pindeus, and Ruch, 2021). It is further characterised by living a life of fulfilment and authenticity, realising one’s full potential, and functioning optimally (Joseph, 2015; McMullin, 2018). According to Sin (2016), flourishing has a protective role in strengthening mental health and well-being. Flourishing is a core of good mental health (Keyes, 2002). It is characterised by high emotional, psychological and social well-being, in which flourishing individuals experience high functioning in areas of purpose, self-acceptance and contribution to society (Keyes, 2005, 2006). Bastos et al. (2025) point out that flourishing is a concept that describes the “experience of life is going well”, feeling good and being functional. Consequently, flourishing increases through high quality relationships and long-term health (Bastos et al., 2025). VanderWeele and Lomas (2023, p. 36) define flourishing as:

In this article, mental health is viewed from a salutogenic (health-developing) perspective (Keyes, 2015; Mjøsund, 2021). At the same time, mental health is developed according to Keyes’ (2002) conceptualisation of mental health as having three conditions or levels, namely languishing, moderate and flourishing. In his study, Keyes (2002) found that languishing mental health – which is described as the absence of mental health – was strongly connected to moderate mental health and flourishing (Figure 1). His study further showed that languishing was connected to depression and significant psychosocial impairment of factors including emotional health, limitations of activities and lost workdays, while moderate and flourishing mental health was connected to higher psychosocial functioning (Keyes, 2002, 2010).

Research on flourishing as an essential component for mental health and well-being remains fragmented (Fowers et al., 2023; Verma et al., 2025). In addition, existing research has often neglected the dimensions that facilitate flourishing (Fowers et al., 2023). Consequently, these dimensions require further examination and flourishing needs to be explored within the context of well-being and meaning-making (Rule et al., 2024; Wagner et al., 2021). According to Wong (2011, 2020), flourishing is a process integrating resilience, virtue, meaning and well-being.  Keyes, (2007) emphasises that flourishing is part of the mental health and well-being of a person.

Flourishing as a mental health concept has scarcely been used in psychobiography. Although recent psychobiographical research has increasingly taken positive psychology constructs into consideration (Mayer, 2017, 2022; Mayer and Kőváry, 2019; Mayer et al., 2021), there is a shortage of research on flourishing in psychobiographies. Mayer and Fouché (2025), however, have called for more psychobiographical studies to focus on the transformation from suffering and pain into flourishing across the lifespan.

Psychobiographical studies explore the psychological development across an individual’s lifespan with different theoretical foci (Elms, 1994; Fouché and Van Niekerk, 2010; Ponterotto, 2014, 2018; Ponterotto et al., 2025; Runyan, 1982, 1988). However, psychobiographical research on mental health and flourishing remains limited. By exploring the life and work of Erich Seligman Fromm (1900–1980), this article investigates how mental health and flourishing unfold across the lifespan as lived experience.

Fromm was a German psychoanalyst, social psychologist, philosopher and sociologist who was born into a German-Jewish family (Burston, 1991; CHMC, 2022; Layton, 2024). He became particularly well known for his philosophical work on love (Fromm, 1958a, 1958b), but also for his groundbreaking philosophical work on humanism and his critiques of modern life and modern society (Foster, 2017; O’Donnokoé et al., 2025), and for his theory of fundamental human needs (Fromm, 1959; Kühn, 2024). Fromm’s life is extremely inspiring. He experienced a challenging childhood (Burston, 1991; Funk, 2000a, 2000b), lived through two world wars, and had to flee from Nazi Germany because he was Jewish. He fled to the United States of America (USA) and, by the end of his life, had lived in Germany, Switzerland, the USA and Mexico (Boeree, 2006). During his lifetime, he suffered from depression (Friedman, 2014), and dealt with a divorce from his first wife and the suicide of his second wife (Mayer and Mayer, 2026). However, he focused on his mental health and well-being and was extremely productive, innovative and creative in writing (Cortina, 2024a; Fromm, 1941, 1956). Based on Fromm’s strong resilience and his ability to turn setbacks into thriving (Aslam, 2016; Colborn, 2016), he was chosen as the subject of this research.

This study aims at exploring the mental health and of Erich Seligman Fromm by using Keyes’ (2002) theory of flourishing for analysing his life and the specific life situations in which he flourished despite setbacks and challenges. The following research question was accordingly posed and responded to: How did Erich Seligman Fromm create mental health and flourishing during his lifetime with special regard to selected challenges and setbacks?

By responding to this research question, this study contributes to psychobiographies which focus on mental health and flourishing from positive psychology and positive health perspectives. It further contributes to the Special Issue of Mental Health and Social Inclusion with special regard to “Psychobiography and Mental Health in the Life of Health Professionals”.

In the following, this article presents flourishing as a mental health construct and explores it in the context of psychobiography. The research methodology is described, and findings are presented and discussed regarding mental health and flourishing during specific incidents and throughout the life of Erich Seligman Fromm.

Already in the mid-20th century, psychologists and health scientists had begun to explore the concept of flourishing with regard to health, wellness and well-being (Gana et al., 2016; Sin, 2016). According to Logan et al. (2023, p. 5065), human flourishing is “the state of optimal functioning and well-being across all aspects of an individual’s life”. During the past decade, flourishing has received considerable interdisciplinary attention, highlighting the importance of holistic well-being and the optimal functioning of individuals (Cooke et al., 2016; VanderWeele, 2017).

The concept of flourishing is further associated with meaning, purpose, optimism, engagement and competence (Agenor et al., 2017) and it has been pointed out that flourishing offers a new concept in defining mental health and well-being (Huppert and So, 2013). Feeling respected and supported by others and contributing to the well-being of those around one also increases flourishing (Brydges et al., 2025). While declines in mental health adversely affect flourishing (Kelloway et al., 2023), individuals with optimal levels of well-being tend to be more productive, engaged and autonomous (Boehm and Lyubomirsky, 2008).

Because productivity is directly linked to the ability to achieving goals and objectives (Carnevale and Hatak, 2020; Johnson et al., 2018), individual well-being is essential for success in individuals (Kelloway et al., 2023; Kock et al., 2025). Flourishing individuals are more resilient and are better able to succeed in the workplace, manage challenges and setbacks in a resilient way (Hart and Hart, 2026). Furthermore, virtues and values are particularly important with regard to flourishing and increased mental health and well-being (Bonete et al., 2025; Brydges et al., 2025; Yuan and Zhao, 2025).

Despite the growing emphasis on flourishing worldwide, findings remain fragmented, and no flourishing framework can be consistently applied across diverse settings (Agenor et al., 2017; Huppert and So, 2013; Fowers et al., 2023; Verma et al., 2025) or across the lifetime (Ngyah-Etchutambe et al., 2024). However, several researchers have agreed that thriving and growing (VanderWeele et al., 2019), happiness, positive emotions and satisfaction contribute to flourishing (Weziak-Bialowolska et al., 2021). A recent study by Ngyah-Etchutambe et al. (2024) focuses on flourishing across the lifespan, finding that death, selfishness, poverty, immoral behaviour and ill health impede human flourishing during life. However, Ngyah-Etchutambe et al. (2024) study explores flourishing in the context of different lifespan developments and not in the life of an extraordinary individual.

Flourishing has scarcely been researched in psychobiography, although a shift towards positive psychology theories and the exploration of mental health in psychobiographical studies is increasing (Mayer, 2017; Krasovska and Mayer, 2021). While existing psychobiographical studies have explored components of flourishing, such as existential struggle and transformation – for example, in the life of Viktor E. Frankl (Krasovska and Mayer, 2021; Bushkin et al., 2021) – none have been published that fully focus on flourishing as a mental health phenomenon across the lifespan and in specific life situations. Examining the life of Erich Seligman Fromm from a positive psychology framework and health perspective contributes new theoretical, conceptual and methodological knowledge to psychobiography, as outlined by Mayer et al. (2021).

This study follows a psychobiographical research design and hermeneutical interpretivist research paradigm (Guba and Lincoln, 1994; Schultz, 2005a, 2005b), while exploring the themes of flourishing and mental health during a lifetime and in specifically selected life situations which require psychological interpretations through the lens of the selected theory (Fouché and Van Niekerk, 2010; Jareño et al., 2024).

The study uses Erich Seligman Fromm as a purposefully chosen single case study example (Elms, 1994; Kőváry, 2011), as is common in psychobiographical research (Runyan, 1988).

Fromm was chosen as a psychobiographical subject for this article for the following reasons: First, Fromm was a world-renowned outstanding psychoanalyst and social psychologist. Second, a large amount of autobiographical, biographical, scientific and literary literature has been written by Fromm and about him (Fromm, 2024; Funk, 2022a, 2022b) and his ideas appear to be more important than ever before (Chancer and Mclaughlin, 2024). Third, Fromm experienced many life challenges during his life, but also managed to overcome them, maintaining and reconstructing his mental health and flourishing. Smith (2025) highlights his continuing impact in educational fields, noting that Fromm deeply appreciated “freedom, love and human flourishing”. Therefore, a psychobiography of Fromm may be extremely relevant when exploring mental health and flourishing across the lifetime.

Primary and secondary data analysis was used to ensure an in-depth psychobiographical analysis. Primary sources included first-person documents written by Fromm which were partly autobiographical and partly scientific in nature (Fromm, 1939, 1941, 1947, 1955, 1956, 1958a, 1958b, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964a, 1964b, 1973, 2020, 2024; Fromm and Maccoby, 1970). Secondary sources comprised third-person documents, including biographies (e.g. Akrap, 2011; Boeree, 2006; Burston, 1991; Cherry, 2023; Cortina, 2015, 2024a,b; Durkin, 2025; Durkin and Braune, 2020; Friedman, 2014; Funk, 2000a, 2000b, 2006, Funk, 2019, 2022a, 2022b; Funk, 2024).

Content analysis was used to exploring themes, categories and codes with regard to mental health and human flourishing across Fromm’s lifetime (Collis and Hussey, 2003), while defining these themes, categories and codes through inductive–analytical procedures which relate to mental health and flourishing (Streib, 2005). The five-step process of content analysis suggested by Terre Blanche et al. (2006, p. 322–326) was used, involving familiarisation and immersion; inducing themes; coding; elaboration; interpretation and checking.

In addition, the author applied Schultz (2005a, 2005b) approach of identifying “prototypical scenes”, focusing for this psychobiographical account on vividness, specificality and emotionality, intensity, developmental crisis and family conflict, but not including interpenetration or thrownness, due to the intention to explore flourishing in Fromm’s life.

This psychobiography used quality criteria for psychobiographical research (Schultz and Lawrence, 2017), including narrative coherence, logical consistency and alignment between data and interpretation. The methodological approach was accompanied by rigour and trustworthiness (Lincoln and Guba, 1988) while further qualitative criteria such as credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability were applied (Creswell and Miller, 2000; Denzin and Lincoln, 1994). Formal ethical clearance was provided by the University of Johannesburg with the ethical clearance code IPPM-2025–929.

The research adheres to the Code of Academic and Research Ethics of the University of Johannesburg (College of Business and Economics). It applies common ethical principles of respect, integrity, beneficence, and non-maleficence as outlined in the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA, 2017).

The study explores flourishing and mental health in the life of Erich Seligman Fromm, a practicing psychoanalyst, writer and social theorist (Smith, 2025; Thomson, 2009). Smith (2025) observes that human flourishing is strongly connected to Fromm’s concept of love, freedom, education and development. Flourishing can be seen in Fromm’s life as a dynamic and adaptive process which is systemic rather than linear. His flourishing was anchored in his in-depth contextual experiences of two world wars, as well as his moves from Germany to Switzerland, the USA and Mexico. In the following, findings refer chronologically to Fromm’s selected challenges and selected aspects of his flourishing with regard to contextual, individual, family of origin and marital influences.

It can be highlighted that Fromm’s concept and lived experience of flourishing was highly complex and always integrated individual, familial, organisational and societal aspects. On the one hand it was anchored in suffering and the experience of pain and adversities. On the other hand, it was created through Fromm’s urge to develop and transform and to create human flourishing on intra-psychological, inter-psychological and social levels. The systemic integration of flourishing on these different levels was outstanding for the academic disciplines, times and contexts.

Fromm was born in the beginning of the 20th century, on 23 March 1900, in Frankfurt, Germany, a time and context that would become a challenge for him (Burston, 1991). This would become very challenging for him during his adolescence: he experienced World War One (WWI) during his adolescence and early adulthood (1914–1918) and had to finally leave Germany in the 1930s due to his Jewish origin (Burston, 1991; Smith, 2025).

During WWI, Fromm experienced the social and economic problems in Germany and his life was affected by inflation, scarcity and disillusionment with authority (Fromm, 1941). From these experiences during childhood and adolescence, he learned that societal situations might become very fragile and that mass violence can become a reality (Ahmad et al., 2023; 2024a,b; Fromm, 1964a). He later referred to these experiences in his work and shaped his idea and critique of authoritarian personality structures in Escape from Freedom (Fromm, 1941).

In this period, Fromm found explanations for why individuals supported oppressive political systems and supported authoritarianism, authoritarian leaders (Cortina, 2024a) and totalitarianism (Zakai, 2018). The experiences that formed his childhood and adolescence did not lead him into depression and negativity, but rather supported him to fight for humanist civilisation (Zakai, 2018) and to look closely at individual and societal motivations, and to develop his own theory between psychoanalysis and social theory (Clark and Friedman, 2015). Fromm was intrigued by the fact that humans often long for peace, but at the same time support war (Clark and Friedman, 2015). He transformed the negative experiences into theories of human behaviour and mental health and contributed to a larger understanding of the complexities between individual and societal dynamics while aiming to understand how individual and social factors build into the roots of war (Barbiero and Berto, 2021). Based on these war experiences, in the first decades of his life, he managed to develop a perspective that highlighted freedom, love and ethical responsibility (Fromm, 1947), which in his later works led to the perspective on humanistic ethics and healthy human development (Wang et al., 2026). From his childhood experiences, he learned that humans need connection, grounding, transcendence, identity and orientation to experience individual happiness and peace. According to Ryff and Singer (2008), Fromm emphasised that positive forces could only flourish when these needs were satisfied.

Especially during the rise of the Nazi regime during Fromm’s young adulthood, Fromm studied freedom, politics of the far right, agency and self-responsibility and turned the challenges, pain and losses into constructive theories in his later life (Frie, 2024a, 2024b). Throughout his life, he was strongly concerned with the question of how to prevent a new war and he strongly believed that education and the building of a strong, peaceful, psychologically flourishing foundation could help to prevent war and contribute to international cooperation and a peaceful existence (Boehnke and Boehnke, 2005; Wang et al., 2026).

Many authors have discussed peace and war, the human condition and humane thought based on Fromm’s notion of a humanistic society which was anchored in his experiences during his childhood adolescence and young adulthood. O’Donnokoé et al. (2025), for example, observe that Fromm’s concept of hope derives from his experiences of political crises during his first decades of life and that he viewed hope and love as transformational forces for individuals, their active citizenship and transformative political practice.

Fromm was a single child of parents who were practising orthodox Jews and who brought him up in a very religious way which included religious values and a strong attachment to the Talmud (Akrap, 2011; Funk, 2000a, 2000b). His strict religious upbringing influenced his humanistic philosophy throughout his life (Byrd, 2024) and was an important aspect of Fromm’s human flourishing.

Besides Fromm’s childhood interest in religious scripts and writings, he also became interested in political thought at the age of 12 and focused on Marx and Engels (Friedman, 2014). His political reading influenced Fromm strongly and later he critically explored the connection between sociology, political and economic thought (Funk and Kühn, 2024; Ortmeyer, 1998). One might argue that his deep interest in religion, faith, politics, the society and life built the basis of his flourishing in later years, because it provided him with a sound foundation of knowledge, thought and psychological strengths.

Fromm began to study law in 1919 in Frankfurt, but did not enjoy it and moved a year later to Heidelberg to study sociology (Fromm, 1922) where he finished his doctoral degree in sociology in 1922. He then trained in psychoanalysis in Heidelberg (Thomson, 2009) and interpreted human behaviour from a psychological rather than from a biological stance (Kühn, 2024; Wang et al., 2026). He believed that human nature and biological needs can be transcended through rational thought, imagination and self-awareness (Han, 2022) and ascribed most of individuals’ ability to flourish to their psychological ability and their ability to transcend their experiences through identity work (Koloszsyc, 2024; Kühn, 2024). However, society should always support the individual’s flourishing, according to Fromm (Psychology.Town, 2025). This realisation was strongly built on his childhood experiences during which society turned into a destructive force that undermined individual human flourishing (Morelock et al., 2024). Society fell into a state of collective narcissism which was preceded by a loss of self-esteem (Voigt, 2024).

Fromm was born into a Jewish middle-class family. He did not have a very good relationship with his parents (Funk, 2000a, 2000b) and he described his relationship as emotionally distant (Peebles, 2015) and the parents’ marriage as unhappy (Burston, 1991). He believed that mother and father build the foundation for every human to develop and flourish (Funk and Shaw, 1982). However, he struggled with the expectations of his parents for him to become a religious leader (Akrap, 2011; Funk, 2000a, 2000b; Hornstein, 2005). He was a brilliant student and was expected to become a scholar of the Talmud. For many years, his writings were strongly influenced by his religious belief (Ortmeyer, 1998) which supported his ideas of love and flourishing.

On the one hand, his mother was described as depressed, strictly religious and overly close to Fromm so that he could not experience the freedom of individuation and personal development (Funk, 2000a, 2000b). Rasmussen and Salhani (2008) have pointed out that Fromm discovered later in his life that he had an Oedipal relationship with his mother during childhood and adolescence. Kellner (2003) notes that – anchored in the deep and unconditional love of his mother – Fromm often considered a mother’s love as highly unconditional and deep. In a way, his mother’s strong, highly protective and controlling love influenced his overall view of motherly love which he described as compassionate, unconditional and caring (Kellner, 2003). At the same time, Friedman (2014) emphasises that his mother’s love was extremely controlling and narcissistic and it was very difficult for him to individuate from this love. Friedman (2014, p. 5) points out that Fromm’s mother had married her husband based on his financial status for “sustenance and security more than for love” and that, therefore, the parental relationship might have been purpose-driven rather than a loving relationship. Funk (2000a, 2022b), however, also mentions that Fromm’s mother enjoyed social interactions and that she could be very funny.

On the other hand, Fromm describes the relationship to one’s father as very important because the father represents paternal authority and the love of the father is conditional on a son’s behaviour (Kellner, 2003). He experienced his own father as moody, neurotic, pathologically anxious, obsessive, emotionally distant and ambivalent (Funk, 2000a, 2000b). He, therefore, had an ambivalent relationship with his father, experiencing him as very anxious and caring while he over-idealised Fromm as the only son and expected future religious leader. However, his father also displayed tenderness towards Fromm (Funk, 2006) and his relationship to Fromm seemed to be ambivalent, driven by emotion and high expectations. The support of his parents, although sometimes not ideal, contributed, in the end, to Fromm’s thriving.

The 1920s in Germany were influenced by political changes, political radicalisation and the rise of the Nazi regime (Frie, 2024a, 2024b, 2026; Chancer and McLaughlin, 2024; McLaughlin, 1998, 2023; New World Encyclopaedia, 2025). The Nazi times became very challenging for Fromm and his family. Some of his family members were killed in concentrations camps (Frie, 2024a, 2024b). Together with his wife, he left Europe in 1933. It can be highlighted that Fromm’s writing was strongly influenced by political radicalisation, the upcoming war, the genocide and cruelty of Nazi Germany and by the way family members reacted to it (Frie, 2024a, 2024b). Throughout his life, Fromm aimed at transforming all of the negative and challenging experiences and losses he experienced in Nazi Germany to build theories based on human connection, human solidarity and love (Fromm, 1956; Mayer and Mayer, 2026).

In Heidelberg in 1926, Fromm had married his first wife, Frieda Reichmann. Together, they opened up the “Frankfurt School of Psychoanalysis”, but Frieda was very controlling and treated him as a child (Hoffmann, 2011), while Fromm struggled in the relationship which reminded him of his mother (Thomson, 2009). It helped him to develop to a certain degree and flourish, but at the same time, it also held him back. He then had to deal with serious health concerns and tuberculosis which provided him with the opportunity to leave the relationship with Frieda (Frie, 2024a, 2024b). This gave him the necessary freedom and ability to develop furthermore, to become independent and autonomous.

On a societal level, the move to the USA influenced Fromm strongly (Fromm, 2010; McLaughlin, 1998). He became very critical of capitalism, the capitalist society and how individuals abandoned their existential needs to focus on money. He talked about the “pathology of normalcy” (Fromm, 2010) and requested a return to existential being and existential needs (Burston, 2024) for a prosperous future and the flourishing of humankind.

While in exile in the USA, Fromm saw that the rise of fascism and totalitarianism and the Holocaust had destroyed life and suppressed human potential (Zakai, 2018). He learned from this observation that human flourishing is never only individual, but is also always connected to social and contextual aspects (Frie, 2024a, 2024b) and that a mutual relationship of the individual and the society is needed to flourish.

Although Fromm was deeply affected by the Nazi regime and the Second World War (WWII), at the same time he managed to develop his idea that humans need belonging and freedom (Fromm, 1941, 1947, 1955, 1956), ascribing “negative freedom” (Fromm, 1941) to capitalism and the experienced powerlessness and isolation of the individuals. However, he also emphasised the concept of “positive freedom” (Fromm, 1941), which is based on love and the ability to live an authentic life and be free to be the authentic self. He pointed out that responsibilities come with a positive notion of freedom, based on his experiences as a Jewish German citizen during the rise of the Nazi regime (Frie, 2026). He further emphasised that freedom and agency are key to combat structural authoritarian dictatorship and that the dangers of negative freedom need to be eradicated through individual agency and responsibility (Frie, 2026; Fromm, 1941) to create a flourishing society. He highlighted that human flourishing requires autonomy, courage and the ability to love (Mayer and Mayer, 2026), and that an individual always needs to be interconnected with society to create mental health and flourishing. Both concepts always depend on ethical responsibility, but also on constructive relationships, meaningfulness across the lifetime, creativity and freedom from oppression (Fromm, 1941; Funk and Shaw, 1982; Weiner, 2003). Fromm stated that it is important not to be depressed – although he lived through phases of depression in his life (Friedman, 2014) – but to engage in a kind of productive life orientation that includes flourishing through work, love and creativity. In this way, Fromm argued that flourishing is a social task (Foster, 2017) and his ideas of flourishing were strongly anchored in his early influences of religion and political thought, although he later moved away from Orthodox Judaism (Friedman, 2014; Wlodarczyk, 2022).

In addition, Fromm’s witnessing of mass suffering during WWII made him think about and commit to humanistic psychology – a psychology based on exploring what humans need to survive and even to flourish (Wilde, 2016). He further developed the notion of a productive orientation and highlighted that it helped individuals to steer their minds in the direction of love, work and creativity (Fromm, 2023; Lorenzen, 2019; Tauber, 1979).

At an individual level, Fromm had moved to the USA with his first wife, Frieda Reichmann. However, when they were no longer a couple, Fromm was involved in a love relationship with psychoanalyst Karen Horney (1934–1941) which was a challenging relationship because it was influenced by rivalry (Funk, 2006). According to Friedman (2014), Fromm developed through his relationships with his wives and intimate friends. Fromm’s personal life changed towards growth and freedom after he left Horney and divorced Reichmann (Horney, 1991; Thomson, 2009). He built up The William Alanson White Institute in New York with various colleagues and flourished professionally. Also, on a personal level, he moved ahead. In 1944, Fromm married the “love of his life”, Henny Gurland (Cherry, 2023). But soon after, Garland became ill and in 1950 they moved to Mexico to live in a better climate for her health.

The move to Mexico was an ambivalent one for Fromm. He felt challenged by the differences in values and behaviours in Mexico (Millán, 1995). However, the time in Mexico also provided him with time to write, think about his ideas and reflect upon his theoretical explorations (Fromm, 1964a). The change in context from the USA to Mexico provided Fromm with the opportunity to experience himself differently as an individual in a different cultural context (Fromm and Maccoby, 1970). His ideas on humanness developed there (Garçia, 1994), as did his understanding of the importance of self-actualisation and love (Murphy, 2024).

During almost 25 years in Mexico, Fromm also reflected upon his life in WWI and his realisation that humanness must be part of the structure of societies and needs to counteract social alienation (Fromm, 1955, 2024). In his chapter on cultivating love and hope, Frie (2024a, 2024b) writes that many of Fromm’s (1956) ideas about human connection were influenced by letters from two of his aunts, Gertrud Brandt and Sophie Engländer, who were deported by the Nazis and who had died in concentration camps. His family experiences and the ideas of his aunts lived on in his work and emphasised that destructiveness and cruelty can only be responded to with love. Despite the experience of death in his family, Fromm highlighted that love was the major force of human flourishing throughout his professional life and in his writings (Caliwan, 2025). He integrated his reflections during the 1940s and 1950s into his works during these times, particularly in his book The Art of Loving (Fromm, 1956).

In 1952, Fromm’s second wife committed suicide and Fromm was confronted with her sudden death (Funk, 2006). Friedman (2014, xxxi) explains how the suicide of his second wife weighed heavily on him and that he experienced the ultimate pain with her passing. Fromm overcame his pain and suffering through immersion in work and ideas, focused even more on psychoanalysis and social philosophy and prepared for his work published in The Art of Loving (Fromm, 1956). Despite his suffering and pain, he did not lean into despair, but emphasised that painful experiences can and need to be integrated to live a conscious and flourishing life (Fromm, 1956). He elaborated on the idea that suffering is an inevitable part of life and can mostly be overcome by active engagement, awareness and the creation of meaning. Despite the trauma of the suicide, Fromm worked on his emotional resilience, endured the grief without collapsing and remained open to future emotional relationships, intimacy and close connections, which led to marriage with his third wife (Friedman, 2014; Fromm, 1947, 1955, 1956; Funk, 2000a, 2000b).

After the death of his second wife, Fromm soon found a new love, Annis Freeman, whom he married in 1953 (Funk, 2006). Anchored in the experience of the death of his second wife and the experience of a new love, yet mature love, with his third wife, Fromm started to write one of his best-known books (Fromm, 1956). However, the couple soon had to deal with a new challenge of illness in the form of cancer (Funk, 2006).

During 1950–1970, an additional challenge for Fromm was the fact that he was seldom cited, mainly based on his criticism of parts of Freud’s theories (Philipson, 2024). However, he continued to work on his ideas and publish more books.

During his last years, Fromm suffered from heart disease and general age-related health issues and moved to Switzerland, known for excellent healthcare and peaceful environments (Ortmeyer, 1998). It appeared to him as a country worth living in during times of suffering and health issues. Furthermore, Switzerland had been neutral during Second World War (WWII) and he could return closer to home while not moving back to Germany. At the same time, Fromm expressed his hopes for a new Germany based on “reason, peace and humanity” (Ortmeyer, 1998, p. 31).

In the last phase of his life, Fromm (2024) became famous and gained international recognition with his work. He was convinced that a life well lived is a life that is based on loving (Fromm, 2024). Schwarzschild (1980, p. 32) points out that Fromm was “a humanist, a Jew, a cosmopolitan European, and above all a thoroughly cultured and a thoroughly decent, moral, courageous man”. Fromm had become a flourishing example of a man living his values, ideas and theoretical teachings in his daily life.

In the final stage of his life, Fromm experienced a “late flourishing” which led to a deep consolidation of his lifelong ideas about love, human growth and freedom (Friedman, 2014; Fromm, 1973, 1976; Funk, 2000a, 2000b). During his last years he had mainly stepped back from academia and had rather focused more on synthesis than on debate and refined and embodied his philosophies. Despite suffering heart attacks, Fromm continued writing and his works dealt with ethical topics and the question of how to live well (Funk, 2000a, 2000b). He highlighted the dangers of consumerism and alienation, the need from humankind to become more compassionate and responsible and the need for spiritual in-depth development (Fromm, 1956; Funk, 2000a, 2000b). During the last years, Fromm aimed at flourishing in its original sense, applying human powers through love, reason and creativity. It seemed as if he lived quietly and intentionally, practising detachment from ego and status and focusing on close relationships and meaningful dialogue (Fromm, 1955, 1956). He transformed his writings into a personal discipline and activity and tried to accept death as a part of life, aimed at living authentically and facing death anxiety (Fromm, 1956). Finally, Fromm was very concerned with the direction of society, its ethical transformation, humanistic socialism and psychological health (Schwarzschild, 1980).

During his last years, Fromm had a very close relationship with his wife, Anne, while his life reflected maturity, emotional steadiness and formed a basis for flourishing in his final years (Funk, 2000a, 2000b). The relationship with Anne was founded on mutual understanding and presence. His family was small, and his ties and true relatedness with previous students and collaborators were highly important to him. His family was a chosen community of friends and he thrived on relationships which were close and constructive, and showed an integrated way of resolving early attachment patterns. Finally, Fromm lived what he wrote about throughout his life. He prepared the way to leave others behind by accepting impermanence in relationships, deep connection without fear-based attachment, and emphasising love and understanding (Fromm, 1956).

This psychobiographical study aimed to present the life and specific life situations which challenged the mental health and flourishing of Erich Seligman Fromm. The author responded to the overall research question: How did Erich Seligman Fromm create mental health and flourishing across his lifetime with special regard to selected challenges and setbacks?

According to the four life periods presented above, Fromm’s life was affected by foundational challenges, as well as mental health challenges and phases and expressions of flourishing as a psychoanalyst, writer and social theorist.

As presented by Keyes (2002), the findings show that Fromm experienced three different dimensions of mental health, namely languishing, moderate mental health and flourishing. Figure 2 lists the aspects that supported his languishing, moderate mental health, and flourishing in the presence of good mental health.

The study shows that, for Fromm, flourishing, mental health and well-being (Bastos et al., 2025; Lucchetti et al., 2025) were strongly connected throughout his lifetime on practical, experienced levels and in theory. Flourishing is viewed as multidimensional (Fowers et al., 2023; Fowers et al., 2024; Mjøsund, 2021; Wagner et al., 2021) and is always connected to the individual and to society. This study shows that flourishing was promoted by Fromm through individual decision-making, with his personal decision to accept suffering and pain and transform it into flourishing. However, he was also supported by his family (education, belief in him, intellectual discourses, love of the mother and tenderness of the father), intellectual talks, and through his ability to connect his interests such as religion, politics, psychoanalysis and the deep understanding of the human being, as well as his own writings (Figure 3).

On an intra-psychological level, the combination of these three different kinds of stimuli to flourishing led Erich Fromm to the experience of living an in-depth loving and spiritual life, filled with love and understanding, authentic agency and courage (Fromm, 1956; Funk, 2000a, 2000b). It can further be highlighted that he was able to create flourishing through his deep interest in the individual by exploring sociology, psychology and psychoanalysis with an interdisciplinary understanding (professional flourishing). This was combined with his love of reading religious and political texts, self-reflection and ability to write and live in different countries (creative flourishing), and finally, with his ability to combine his professional and individual interests and his decision to live a life full of agency, love, hope and authentic self-development (innovative flourishing). In this way, Fromm managed to overcome pain, suffering, grief and loss and by integrating them into a life of mental health and well-being that strengthened him (see Sin, 2016).

Flourishing during the lifespan became the core of good mental health for Fromm (Keyes, 2002). He felt that his life was developing well (Bastos et al., 2025), despite all the challenges and setbacks that were created in the German environment during his childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Besides his professional, creative and innovative flourishing, his strong religious background, in-depth humanistic value set and quality relationships supported his long-term health (Bastos et al., 2025). The relationships and their quality, however, changed during his life. In his early childhood, he had a very close relationship with his parents and his family which was interrupted by the years of war and the later uprising of the Nazi regime (Table 1). His wives provided him with learning and development and helped him to pursue his professional career, in part, together with them. In addition, Fromm seemed to have a very strong personality and personal foundation, anchored in his religious and humanistic core values, his strong intellect and ability to reflect, learn and synthesise different perspectives across disciplines.

Further exploring flourishing in Fromm’s life, it can be assumed that writing about his individual, psychological, societal and interconnected ideas, in addition to his philosophical assumptions and perspectives, enabled Fromm to flourish in his life and it reconnected him to the existential aspects of life and living. He flourished through living his own life’s philosophy (Fromm, 1956).

Although Erich Seligman Fromm experienced strong challenges and setbacks during his lifetime, he managed to regain his mental health and flourishing, especially with regard to the specific life situations which have been presented in this article, namely two world wars, the loss of family in the Holocaust, divorces, suicide of his second wife and, in the end, his own deteriorating health.

While he had to overcome many challenges during the described periods of his life, he always regained mental health and flourishing throughout these life phases. To keep mentally healthy and to flourish he used different strategies, summarised here as follows (Figure 4):

• Intra-psychological strategies: religious anchoring that later developed into humanistic thought, reading, writing, psychoanalysis and his ability to combine professional, creative and innovative flourishing.

• Interpersonal strategies: dialogical discourse, reflection on human relationships and the human condition, perspective of the good in human beings.

• Social strategies: reflecting on individuals within their contexts to create an increased understanding of the individual.

It can be concluded that Fromm created his mental health and flourishing throughout his life on three levels: intra-psychologically, inter-psychologically and socially/contextually (Figure 4).

Through these layers, and through his journey from languishing to moderate mental health and flourishing, Fromm managed to integrate his challenging and painful experiences and transform them towards development, growth, mental health and deep individual flourishing.

Furthermore, in the context of existential humanism, Fromm flourished through being resilient, creating meaning by working and writing, and connecting his insight on the individual with his societal and contextual insights and critiques. He also constructed his mental health and flourishing through reflection on challenging and critical moments in his life, accepting his pain and suffering and transforming it into mental health and flourishing and – at the end of his life – integrating it into personal growth and living a life as described in The Art of Loving (Fromm, 1956).

Mental health and flourishing across the lifespan should be researched further and new models need to be developed for enhancing these constructs across the lifespan through in-depth psychobiography.