A Short Account of Psychoanalysis - Freud, Sigmund

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS By Sigmund Freud I Psycho-analysis grew up in a narrowly-restricted field. At the outset, it had only a single aim - that of understanding something of the nature of what were known as the ’functionalÄ™ nervous diseases, with a view to overcoming the impotence which had so far characterized their medical treatment. The neurologists of that period had been brought up to have a high respect for chemico-physical and pathologicoanatomical facts; and they were latterly under the influence of the findings of Hitzig and Fritsch, of Ferrier, Goltz and others, who seemed to have established an intimate and possibly exclusive connection between certain functions and particular parts of the brain. They did not know†¦show more content†¦Charcot himself made no further efforts towards a psychological understanding of hysteria; but his pupil, Pierre Janet, took up the question and was able to show, with the help of hypnosis, that the symptoms o f hysteria were firmly dependent on certain unconscious thoughts (id ´ es fixes). Janet attributed to hysteria a supposed constitutional incapacity for holding mental processes together - an incapacity which led to a disintegration (dissociation) of mental life. Psycho-analysis, however, was not in any way based on these researches of JanetÄ™s. The decisive factor in its case was the experience of a Viennese physician, Dr. Josef Breuer. In 1881, independently of any outside influence, he was able with the help of hypnosis to study and restore to health a highly-gifted girl who suffered from hysteria. BreuerÄ™s findings were not given to the public until fifteen years later, after he had taken the present writer (Freud) into collaboration. This case of BreuerÄ™s retains its unique significance for our understanding of the neuroses to this day; so that we cannot avoid dwelling on it a little longer. It is essential to realize clearly in what its peculiarity consisted. The g irl had fallen ill while she was nursing her father, to whom she was tenderly attached. Breuer was able to establish that all her symptoms were related to this period of nursing and could be explained by it. Thus it had for the first time become possible to obtain a complete view of a case ofShow MoreRelated Freud’s Structure of the Mind Essay754 Words   |  4 PagesFreud’s Structure of the Mind At the age of 40 in 1896, Sigmund Freud introduced the world to a new term- psychoanalysis (Gay 1). Psychoanalysis is a method of treating patients with different nervous problems by involving them in dialogues which provide the physician with insight into the individual’s psyche. 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