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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
In these lectures I have attempted to reconcile my practical experiences in psychoanalysis with the existing theory, or rather, with the approaches to such a theory. Here is my attitude towards those principles which my honored teacher Sigmund Freud has evolved from the experience of many decades. Since I have long been closely connected with psychoanalysis, it will perhaps be asked with astonishment how it is that I am now for the first time defining my theoretical position. When, some ten year
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A Change in the Theory of Psychoanalysis
A Change in the Theory of Psychoanalysis
Although it has very often been repeated, it seems to be still an unknown fact to many people, that in these last years the theory of psychoanalysis has changed considerably. Those, for instance, who have only read the first book, “Studies in Hysteria,” by Breuer and Freud, still believe that psychoanalysis essentially consists in the doctrine that hysteria, as well as other neuroses, has its root in the so-called “traumata,” or shocks, of earliest childhood. They continue to condemn this theory
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The Traumatic Theory
The Traumatic Theory
So far as I know it was really Charcot who, probably under the influence of Page’s theory of nervous shock, made this observation of theoretical value. Charcot knew, by means of hypnotism, at that time not understood, that hysterical symptoms could be called forth by suggestion as well as made to disappear through suggestion. Charcot believed that he saw something like this in those cases of hysteria caused by accident, cases which became more and more frequent. The shock can be compared with hy
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The Traumatic Theory Criticized
The Traumatic Theory Criticized
Although, as a matter of fact, the discovery of Breuer and Freud is certainly true, as can easily be proved by every case of hysteria, several objections can be raised to the theory. It must be acknowledged that their method shows with wonderful clearness the connection between the actual symptoms and the shock, as well as the psychological consequences which necessarily follow from the traumatic event, but nevertheless, a doubt arises as to the etiological significance of the so-called trauma o
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The Conception of “Repression”
The Conception of “Repression”
Freud synthesized these observations in a form that was to extend far beyond the limits of the shock-theory. This conception is the hypothesis of repression ( “Verdrängung” ). As you know, by the word “repression” is understood the psychic mechanism of the re-transportation of a conscious thought into the unconscious sphere. We call this sphere the “unconscious” and define it as the psyche of which we are not conscious. The conception of repression was derived from the numerous observations made
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The Theory of Sexual Trauma in Childhood
The Theory of Sexual Trauma in Childhood
Hence arose the theory of sexual trauma in childhood which provoked bitter opposition, not from theoretical objections against the shock-theory in general, but against the element of sexuality in particular. In the first place, the idea that children might be sexual, and that sexual thoughts might play any part with them, aroused great antagonism. In the second place, the possibility that hysteria had a sexual basis was most unwelcome, for the sterile position that hysteria was either a reflex n
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Theory of Sexual Trauma Abandoned
Theory of Sexual Trauma Abandoned
Freud himself abandoned his first presentation of the shock-theory after further and more thorough investigation. He could no longer retain his original view as to the reality of the sexual shock. Excessive sexuality, sexual abuse of children, or very early sexual activity in childhood, were later on seen to be of secondary importance. You will perhaps be inclined to share the suspicion of the critics that the results derived from analytic researches were based on suggestion. There might be some
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The Predisposition for the Trauma
The Predisposition for the Trauma
No neurosis will grow on an unprepared soil where no germ of neurosis is already existing; the trauma will pass by without leaving any permanent and effective mark. From this simple consideration it is pretty clear that, to make it really effective, the patient must meet the shock with a certain internal predisposition. This internal predisposition is not to be understood as meaning that totally obscure hereditary predisposition of which we know so little, but as a psychological development whic
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The Sexual Element in the Trauma
The Sexual Element in the Trauma
The early school of psychoanalysis, and its later disciples, did all they could to find the origin of later effects in the special kind of early traumatic events. Freud’s research penetrated most deeply. He was the first, and it was he alone, who discovered that a certain sexual element was connected with the shock. It is just this sexual element which, speaking generally, we may consider as unconscious, and it is to this that the traumatic effect is generally due. The unconsciousness of sexuali
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The Infantile Sexual Phantasy
The Infantile Sexual Phantasy
The change in the shock-theory already referred to, namely, that in general the shock is not even real, but is essentially a phantasy, did not make things better. On the contrary, still worse, since we are forced to the conclusion that we find in the infantile phantasy at least one positive sexual manifestation. It is no longer some brutal accidental impression from the outside, but a positive sexual manifestation created by the child itself, and this very often with unmistakable clearness. Even
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Objections to the Sexual Hypothesis
Objections to the Sexual Hypothesis
As I said, the finding of precocious sexual phantasies, which seemed the source of the neurosis, forced Freud to the view of a highly developed sexuality in infancy. As you know, the reality of this observation has been contested by many, who maintain that crude error, that narrow-minded delusion, misled Freud and his whole school, alike in Europe and in America, so that the Freudians saw things that never existed. They regarded them as people in the grip of an intellectual epidemic. I have to a
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The Conception of Sexuality
The Conception of Sexuality
The first difficulty arises with the conception of sexuality. If we take sexuality as meaning the fully-developed function, we must confine this phenomenon to maturity, and then, of course, we have no right to speak of sexuality in childhood. If we so limit our conception, then we are confronted again with new and much greater difficulties. The question arises, how then must we denominate all those correlated biological phenomena pertaining to the sexual functions sensu strictiori, as, for insta
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The “Sexuality” of the Suckling
The “Sexuality” of the Suckling
When we examine how far back in childhood the first traces of sexuality reach, we have to admit implicitly that sexuality already exists ab ovo, but only becomes manifest a long time after intrauterine life. Freud is inclined to see in the function of taking the mother’s breast already a kind of sexuality. Freud was bitterly reproached for this view, but it must be admitted that it is very ingenious, if we follow his hypothesis, that the instinct of the preservation of the race has existed separ
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The Polymorphic Perverse Sexuality of Infancy
The Polymorphic Perverse Sexuality of Infancy
We have already reached the conclusion, setting out from the idea of the shock being apparently due to sexual phantasies, that the child must have, in contradiction to the views hitherto prevailing, a nearly fully formed sexuality, and even a polymorphic perverse sexuality . Its sexuality does not seem concentrated on the genital functions or on the other sex, but is occupied with its own body; whence it is said to be auto-erotic. If its sexual instinct is directed to another person, no distinct
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The Sexual Components as Energic Manifestations
The Sexual Components as Energic Manifestations
Conceptions of great importance do not arise only in one brain, but are floating in the air and dip here and there, appearing even under other forms, and in other regions, where it is often very difficult to recognize the common fundamental idea. Thus it happened with the splitting up of sexuality into the polymorphic perverse sexuality of childhood. Experience forces us to accept a constant exchange of isolated components as we notice more and more that, for instance, perversities exist at the
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The Energic Theory of Libido
The Energic Theory of Libido
I must point out here that the analogy with the law of the conservation of energy is very close. In both cases the question arises when an effect of energy disappears, where is this energy meanwhile, and where will it reemerge? Applying this point of view as a heuristic principle to the psychology of human conduct, we shall make some astonishing discoveries. Then we shall see how the most heterogeneous phases of individual psychological development are connected in an energic relationship. Every
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The Conception of Unconscious Phantasy
The Conception of Unconscious Phantasy
Psychoanalytic experience has taught us that there are non-conscious systems which, by analogy with conscious phantasies, can be described as phantasy-systems of the unconscious. In cases of neurotic apathy these phantasy systems of the unconscious are the objects of the libido. We know well that, when we speak of unconscious phantasy systems, we only speak figuratively. We do not mean more by this than that we accept as an indispensable postulate the conception of psychic entities existing outs
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The Sexual Terminology
The Sexual Terminology
I feel myself justified in making this digression concerning the unconscious. I have done it to point out that, with regard to shifting of the manifestations of the libido, we have to deal not only with the conscious, but also with another factor, the unconscious, whither the libido sometimes disappears. We have not yet followed up the discussion of the further consequences which result from the adoption of the libido-theory. Freud has taught us, and we see it in the daily practice of psychoanal
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The Three Phases of Life
The Three Phases of Life
The first phase embraces the first years of life. I call this part of life the pre-sexual stage. These years correspond to the caterpillar-stage of butterflies, and are characterized almost exclusively by the functions of nutrition and growth. The second phase embraces the later years of childhood up to puberty, and might be called the pre-pubertal stage. The third phase is that of riper years, proceeding only from puberty onwards, and could be called the time of maturity. You cannot have failed
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The Sexual Definition of Libido Must be Abandoned
The Sexual Definition of Libido Must be Abandoned
The intensity of the libido is said to be diminished relatively to the early age. But we advanced just now several considerations to show why it seems doubtful if we can regard the vital functions of a child, sexuality excepted, as of less intensity than those of adults. We can really say that, sexuality excepted, the emotional phenomena, and, if nervous symptoms are present, then these likewise are quite as intense as those of adults. On the energic conception of the libido all these things are
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The Problem of Libido in Dementia Præcox
The Problem of Libido in Dementia Præcox
I have sought to show these infringements in a special work, “Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido,” and at the same time the necessity for creating a new conception of libido, which shall be in harmony with the energic conception. Freud himself was forced to a discussion of his original conception of libido when he tried to apply its energic point of view to a well-known case of dementia præcox—the so-called Schreber case. In this case, we had to deal, among other things, with that well-known prob
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The Genetic Conception of Libido
The Genetic Conception of Libido
With greater experience in my analytical work, I noticed that a slow change of my conception of libido had taken place. A genetic conception of libido gradually took the place of the descriptive definition of libido contained in Freud’s “Three Contributions.” Thus it became possible for me to replace, by the expression “psychic energy,” the term libido. The next step was that I asked myself if now-a-days the function of reality consists only to a very small extent of sexual libido, and to a very
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The Infantile Sexual Etiology Criticized
The Infantile Sexual Etiology Criticized
Unfortunately the reality is much more complicated. Let me facilitate an insight into these complications by an example of a case of hysteria. It will, I hope, enable me to demonstrate the characteristic complication, so important for the theory of neurosis. You will probably remember the case of the young lady with hysteria, whom I mentioned at the beginning of my lectures. We noticed the remarkable fact that this patient was unaffected by situations which one might have expected to make a prof
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The Traumatic Theory—A False Way
The Traumatic Theory—A False Way
It is a very suspicious circumstance that these patients frequently show a pronounced tendency to account for their illnesses by some long-past event, ingeniously withdrawing the attention of the physician from the present moment towards some false track in the past. This false track was the first one pursued by the psychoanalytic theory. To this false hypothesis we owe an insight into the understanding of the neurotic symptoms never before reached, an insight we should not have gained if the in
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Retardation of the Emotional Development
Retardation of the Emotional Development
But let us return to our own case. The following question arises: If the old trauma is not of etiological significance, then the cause of the manifest neurosis is probably to be found in the retardation of the emotional development. We must therefore disregard the patient’s assertion that her hysterical crises date from the fright from the shying horses, although this fright was in fact the beginning of her evident illness. This event only seems to be important, although it is not so in reality.
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Introversion
Introversion
This state is called the state of introversion , the libido is used for the psychical inner world instead of being applied to the external world. A regular attendant symptom of this retardation in the emotional development is the so-called parent-complex. If the libido is not used entirely for the adaptation to reality, it is always more or less introverted. The material content of the psychic world is composed of reminiscences, giving it a vividness of activity which in reality long since cease
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The Complex of the Parents
The Complex of the Parents
Amongst those influences most important during childhood, the personalities of the parents play the most potent part. Even if the parents have long been dead, and might and should have lost all real importance, since the life-conditions of the patients are perhaps totally changed, yet these parents are still somehow present and as important as if they were still alive. Love and admiration, resistance, repugnance, hate and revolt, still cling to their figures, transfigured by affection and very o
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Infantile Mental Attitude
Infantile Mental Attitude
It was soon noticed that such patients lived still partly or wholly in their childhood-world, although quite unconscious themselves of this fact. It is a difficult task for psychoanalysis so exactly to investigate the psychological mode of adaptation of the patients as to be capable of putting its finger on the infantile misunderstanding. We find among neurotics many who have been spoiled as children. These cases give the best and clearest example of the infantilism of their psychological mode o
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Unconscious Phantasy
Unconscious Phantasy
It is unnecessary to trouble you with instances of this phenomenon. It is an every-day experience that our emotions are never at the level of our reasoning. It is exactly the same with such a patient, only with greater intensity. He may perhaps believe that, save for his neurosis, he is a normal person, and hence adapted to the conditions of life. He does not suspect that he has not relinquished certain childish pretensions, that he still carries with him, in the background, expectations and ill
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CHAPTER V The Unconscious
CHAPTER V The Unconscious
The sphere of the unconscious infantile phantasies has become the real object of psychoanalytic investigation. As we have previously pointed out, this domain seems to retain the key to the etiology of neurosis. In contradistinction with the trauma theory, we are forced by the reasons already adduced to seek in the family history for the basis of our present psychoanalytic attitude. Those phantasy-systems which patients exhibit on mere questioning are for the most part composed and elaborated lik
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The Method of Dream Analysis
The Method of Dream Analysis
The technique for the exploration of the unconscious origin is the one I mentioned before, used before Freud by every scientific man who attempted to arrive at a psychological understanding of dreams. We try simply to remember where the parts of the dream arose. The psychoanalytic technique for the interpretation of dreams is based on this very simple principle. It is a fact that certain parts of the dream originate in daily life, that is, in events which, on account of their slighter importance
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The Problems of the Incest-Complex
The Problems of the Incest-Complex
Freud has a special conception of the incest-complex which has given rise to heated controversy. He starts from the fact that the Œdipus-complex is generally unconscious, and conceives this as the result of a repression of a moral kind. It is possible that I am not expressing myself quite correctly, when I give you Freud’s view in these words. At any rate, according to him the Œdipus-complex seems to be repressed, that is, seems to be removed into the unconscious by a reaction from the conscious
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The Regression of Libido
The Regression of Libido
This utilization of reminiscences to put on the stage any illness, or an apparent etiology, is called a regression of the libido . The libido goes back to reminiscences, and makes them actual, so that an apparent etiology is produced. In this case, by the old theory, the fright from the horses would seem to be based on a former shock. The resemblance between the two scenes is unmistakable, and in both cases the patient’s fright is absolutely real. At any rate, we have no reason to doubt her asse
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The Infantile Amnesia Criticized
The Infantile Amnesia Criticized
The so-called amnesia of childhood , which plays an important part in the “Three Contributions,” is a similar illegitimate retrograde application from pathology. Amnesia is a pathological condition, consisting in the repression of certain contents of the conscious. This condition cannot possibly be the same as the antegrade amnesia of children, which consists in an incapacity for intentional reproduction, a condition we find also among savages. This incapacity for reproduction dates from birth,
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The Latent Sexual Period Criticized
The Latent Sexual Period Criticized
This error in the theoretical conception is shown clearly in the so-called latent sexual period of childhood . Freud has remarked that the early infantile so-called sexual manifestations, which I now call the phenomena of the pre-sexual stage, vanish after a while, and only reappear much later. Everything that Freud has termed the “suckling’s masturbation,” that is to say, all those sexual-like actions of which we spoke before, are said to return later as real onanism. Such a process of developm
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Further Remarks on the Etiology of Neurosis
Further Remarks on the Etiology of Neurosis
The more we penetrate into the heart of infantile development, the more we receive the impression that as little can be found there of etiological significance, as in the infantile shock. Even with the acutest ferreting into history, we shall never discover why people living on German soil had just such a fate, and why the Gauls another. The further we get away, in analytical investigations from the epoch of the manifest neurosis, the less can we expect to find the real motive of the neurosis, s
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The Etiological Significance of the Actual Present
The Etiological Significance of the Actual Present
A greater part of the psychoanalytic school is under the spell of the conception that the conflicts of childhood are conditio sine qua non for the neuroses. It is not only the theorist, who studies the psychology of childhood from scientific interest, but the practical man also, who believes that he has to turn the history of infancy inside out to find there the dynamic source of the actual neurosis—it were a fruitless enterprise if done under this presumption. In the meantime, the most importan
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The Etiological Significance of Failure of Adaptation
The Etiological Significance of Failure of Adaptation
Probably this man knows very well that it would have been physically possible to overcome the difficulty, that he was only morally incapable of doing so. He rejects this idea on account of its painful nature. He is so conceited that he cannot admit to himself his cowardice. He brags of his courage and prefers to declare things impossible rather than his own courage inadequate. But through this behavior he comes into opposition with his own self: on the one hand he has a right view of the situati
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The Significance of the Actual Conflict
The Significance of the Actual Conflict
In the case I have described, we saw that we could understand the symptomatological dramatization as soon as it could be conceived as an expression of the actual conflict. Here the psychoanalytic theory agrees with the results of the association-experiments, of which I spoke in my lectures [10] at Clark University. The association-experiment, with a neurotic person, gives us a series of references to certain conflicts of the actual life, which we call complexes. These complexes contain those pro
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The Etiological Significance of Phantasy Criticized
The Etiological Significance of Phantasy Criticized
The apparent etiological development of neurosis, discovered by psychoanalysis, is in reality only the work of causally connected phantasies, which the patient has created from that libido which at times he did not employ in the biological adaptation. Thus, these apparently etiological phantasies seem to be forms of compensation, disguises, for an unfulfilled adaptation to reality. The vicious circle previously mentioned between the withdrawing in the face of difficulties and the regression into
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The Conception of Transference
The Conception of Transference
This last method has unmistakably been due to strong scientific interest, the traces of which are clearly seen in the delineations of cases so far. Thanks to this, Freud was also able to discover wherein lay the therapeutical effect of psychoanalysis. Whilst formerly this was sought in the discharge of the traumatic affect, it was now seen that the phantasies produced were especially associated with the personality of the physician. Freud calls this process transference ( “Uebertragung” ), owing
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Confession and Psychoanalysis
Confession and Psychoanalysis
Before we enter into a more detailed consideration of this practical part of psychoanalysis, I should like to mention a parallelism between the first part of psychoanalysis and a historical institution of our civilization. It is not difficult to guess this parallelism. We find it in the religious institution called confession . By nothing are people more cut off from fellowship with others than by a secret borne about within them. It is not that a secret actually cuts off a person from communica
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The Analysis of the Transference
The Analysis of the Transference
We have already seen that the transference brings about difficulties, because the personality of the physician is assimilated with the image of the patient’s parents. The first part of the analysis, the investigation of the patient’s complexes, is rather easy, chiefly because a man is relieved by ridding himself of his secrets, difficulties and pains. In the second place, he experiences a peculiar satisfaction from at last finding some one who shows interest in all those things to which nobody h
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The Problem of Self-Analysis
The Problem of Self-Analysis
I think here is the place to say something about the indispensable conditions of the psychology of the psychoanalyst himself. Psychoanalysis is by no means an instrument applied to the patient only; it is self-evident that it must be applied to the psychoanalyst first. I believe that it is not only a moral, but a professional duty also, for the physician to submit himself to the psychoanalytic process, in order to clean his mind from his own unconscious interferences. Even if he is entitled to t
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The Analysis of Dreams
The Analysis of Dreams
Here, as everywhere in analysis, we have to follow the patient along the line of his own impulses, even if the path seems to be a wrong one. Error is just as important a condition of mental progress as truth. In this second step of analysis, with all its hidden precipices and sand-banks, we owe a great deal to dreams . At the beginning of analysis dreams chiefly helped in discovering phantasies; here they guide us, in a most valuable way, to the application of the libido. Freud’s work laid the f
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A Case of Neurosis in a Child
A Case of Neurosis in a Child
The case in question is that of an intelligent girl of eleven years of age, of good family. The history of the disease is as follows: She had to leave school several times on account of sudden sickness and headache, and was obliged to go to bed. In the morning she sometimes refused to get up and go to school. She suffered from bad dreams, was capricious and not to be counted upon. I informed the mother, who came to consult me, that these things were neurotic signs, and that some special circumst
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