Introduction
Freud’s case of hysteria is considered to be a complex treatment of a young girl Dora who tried to resist any medical interference with her psychological state. This book is rather complicated and covers attempts to treat hysterical symptoms rooted from sexual basis of the general patient’s condition. The subject of sexuality was predominantly reflected in the Freud’s writing where he tried to connect all the problems of psychological state with sexual disorders.
Discussion
At the very beginning of the story Freud stressed that he would try to disclose all the sexual questions in detail. The reader could see that the interpretations of the character’s dreams described in the text are given a special place by the author. The whole text is devoted to the disclosure of the symptoms step by step. Though the story is rather thought provoking and highlight all the possible aspects of the Dora’s case of hysteria, it cannot underline the main aspects of the psychological disorder and answer the necessary questions as to the hysteria problems.
Freud wrote the text taking into account all the details of sexual methodology and psychological science trying to connect them and show that sexual problems usually give a start to all psychological disorders.
Analyzing the writings of the author it should be stressed that Freud prescribed his case of Dora’s treatment to another year which was wrong. He assigned it to 1899 rather than to 1900. Freud stated that the last visit of Dora was in 1902 though the author managed to provide false information for three times.
The problem of the psychological disorder is the central one. Freud underlined the fact that this disease is closely connected only with Dora’s sexual activities. Freud’s treatment demonstrated in the text resulted in the condition improvement and complete stop of new symptoms formation. The author focused on the psychoanalytic investigation.
Dora’s case of hysteria was presented in the text taking into account earlier experience of Freud. Nevertheless the case of treatment appeared to be disastrous. And Freud realized that he had gone wrong in the methodology he used. When Dora was to stop her treatment Freud felt irritation and madness. His writing shows the author’s attitude to the situation. More deep analysis of the story allows seeing how two psychological states interact, morality of Freud and Dora. It should be stressed that no Dora is merely considered to be the protagonist of the story but Freud. This piece of writing allowed Freud to dismiss the case and rid of Dora. It was a difficult experience for Freud to cope with this case both in terms of morality and psychological state.
Freud’s manner of writing is perfect but rather complicated. It covers a lot of aspects of medicine and psychology which are closely interwoven with each other. He realized that the symptoms of Dora were characterized differently, by the reversal effect. All the text is the deep analysis of the history and possible background of the disease. Freud searched for possible motives which could help him understanding the reason for the symptoms. He made a mistake in identifying the exact reason for the hysteria symptoms connecting it only with the sexual situation of the patient. The main aspects covered by the author are the following:
- Physical pressure;
- Phobia symptoms based on sexual disorientation;
- Erotogenic zone repression;
The case analysis is the research of Freud devoted to the sexual aspect of the girl’s life beginning from the very childhood.
The conclusion as to the hysteria treatment taking into account only sexual aspect can be considered mistakable. No wonder that the author made such conclusion, because his solution of hysteria was based on the studies and experience he used to go through. But this method cannot be the key element to the treatment of all cases of this disease. His conclusions are based only on the aspect he considered to be the most appropriate in this case. Though it cannot be the so firmly approved. Taking into account the meaning of dreams and sexual experience Freud made his conclusions as to the disease symptoms.
In prefatory remarks Freud failed to determine the age of the patient and he used different interpretations such as “woman”, “girl” etc. it shows the confusion of the author in the text presentation and disclosure of the problem. According to the author he wrote this work for about two weeks; nevertheless he managed to reflect all the peculiarities of the case treatment and the background of hysteria disease with the reasons for the symptoms.
Conclusion
Thus we can make a conclusion that the complexity of the Dora’s case can be explained by the history of the disease background. The author tried to devote more attention to the sexual side of the problem and show logical connection between the psychological point and the sexual one. He managed to underline the gradual development of the disease in case of treatment stop. Though Freud made some mistakable conclusions in his work the manner of presentation is excellent which proves that he is really a giant in psychology and literature.
References
Lawall, Sarah. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. The Twentieth Century (Second Edition). 2001.