Freudian clinical cases Joseph Breuer and Anna or.

Sigmund Freud, when he wrote his work, narrated some of his most relevant clinical cases. With them he sought not only to exemplify what he explained, but also to inform about progress and changes that would produce in their theorization and technique as he evidenced new peculiarities in his patients.

The case of Anna or. It is one of the most famous and, we can say, the first clinical case on which Freud wrote. While the young woman was not a direct patient of him, she was treated by Josef Breuer, Freud's mentor. Thus this particular case came to your knowledge.

In this article we will tell you about the particularities of Anna's condition or. We will tell you how it allowed to open the doors to the theorization of psychoanalysis by implementing hypnosis and the cathartic method.

Content

• Joseph Breuer and his relationship with Sigmund Freud
• Who was Anna or.?
• The cathartic method
• Case conclusions
  • Sources

Joseph Breuer and his relationship with Sigmund Freud

Although Sigmund Freud is known as the father of psychoanalysis, Josef Breuer was the person who marked the horizon so that Freud could conceive his psychic apparatus model and his therapy.

Breuer was a relevant doctor and physiologist during the beginnings as a doctor of Sigmund Freud. It was his teacher and mentor. Subsequently, they became great friends, maintaining a mutual relationship of admiration and respect.

Breuer had great interest in psychology, and began through hypnosis to treat patients who had contracted hysteria. And this was what he probably led Freud, who worked with Breuer, to be interested in psychic disorders.

Women with hysteria disorder, at that time, were considered liars. Doctors could not find any sign of brain or bodily damage that could explain why their serious symptoms. These included blindness, deafness, body paralysis, and many others. Therefore they were accused of pretending their illness.

Instead, Breuer did not believe that these women were trying to deceive anyone. Through hypnosis and listening, he gave rise to the psychic disorders they were suffering.

In this way it was that Breuer began to treat Anna or., A young woman diagnosed with hysteria disorder. She was the one who later became a decisive case for the origin of psychoanalysis and the Freudian work as a whole.

Who was Anna or.?

Anna's clinical history or. It is probably one of the best known among those published by Freud. Its popularity is because it has been identified as the one that allowed the subsequent Freudian theorization about the psychic apparatus.

It was in 1880 when Breuer accepts the case of this young woman, an extremely intelligent woman who had already been diagnosed with hysteria. Their symptoms were varied and went from bodily paralysis, blindness, deafness and hallucinations. He had also stated not being able to consume food and showed emotional instability. One of Anna's most curious symptoms, was a serious language condition, which led her to lose speech capacity and, sometimes, forget her native language.

Anna o., Who was actually called Bertha von Pappenheim (because Freud intended to preserve the confidentiality of his patients with pseudonyms), was going through a painful situation. His symptoms began to emerge as he took care of his seriously ill father. Thus he comes to turn to Breuer, to treat his condition.

The cathartic method

During hypnosis sessions, Breuer began to notice that the patient babbled. From these babbling it was that he began to have conversations with Anna where he resumed what was said, still in the middle of the passe.

They evidenced that, when talking about these issues, symptoms temporarily disappeared. They tried to talk about what afflicted her, about her dreams and hallucinations, trying to attribute a cause.

The same patient called this "chimney cleaning" and "speech cure" technique, would then be known as the cathartic method. It consisted of, during hypnosis states, attribute causes to symptoms. Thus they achieved, at least for a while, release the patient from discomfort.

Although in the writing "studies on hysteria" it is claimed that Pappenheim recovered, he actually became admitted after the treatment undertaken by Breuer. However, this fact does not remove relevance to the case. It was the one who drew the path that Freud would continue for the study of psyche and the birth of a new method of healing.

Case conclusions

Although Freud did not treat Anna, his case woke up in him great curiosity. As we mentioned, it was the one who led the illustrious author to study psyche and raise its functioning together with possible treatments for their conditions.

Anna suffered from her symptoms as a result of taking care of her father in serious condition. Through the cathartic method and the hypnosis used in it, I managed to relieve them temporarily. However, this was not enough, And Freud had to try new treatment alternatives until he reached the final technique of the free association, with which he was satisfied.

The case of Anna or. He was the first of those described by Freud throughout his work.

With the clinical cases that wrote, sought to exemplify, demonstrate the advances and discoveries that it was producing in its theorization.

The cathartic method implemented by Breuer was later disseminated by Sigmund Freud To treat other women under similar conditions. Although it was not totally effective, it was still a crucial discovery to raise the idea of ​​the existence of the unconscious where ideas are housed in the vigil we fail to access.

In this way, thanks to Bertha's case, Psychoanalysis and Freudian theorization could arise. It is much that is due to this young woman and to work with her by Josef Breuer.

Sources

• Ellenberger, h. F. (1972). The Story of "Anna or": A Critical Review With New Data. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences.
• Freud, s. (2020). Studies on hysteria. Greenbooks editore.
• Macmillan, m. B. (1977). The Cathartic Method and the Expectations of Breuer and Anna or. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 25(2), 106-118.