A General Introduction to PsychoanalysisFreud, Sigmund
Science
A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis
Freud, Sigmund
Psychoanalysis
sake of quiet; the ticking of the small watch could not be heard even if
it should remain on the night-table, and moreover we all know that the
regular ticking of a clock is conducive to sleep rather than disturbing.
She does admit that there is not the least probability that flowerpots
and vases left in place might of their own accord fall and break during
the night. She drops the pretense of quiet for the other practice of
this sleep ritual. She seems on the contrary to release a source of
disturbing noises by the demand that the door between her own room and
that of her parents remain half open, and she insures this condition by
placing various objects in front of the open door. The most important
observances concern the bed itself. The large pillow at the head of the
bed may not touch the wooden back of the bed. The small pillow for her
head must lie on the large pillow to form a rhomb; she then places her
head exactly upon the diagonal of the rhomb. Before covering herself,
the featherbed must be shaken so that its foot end becomes quite flat,
but she never omits to press this down and redistribute the thickness.
Allow me to pass over the other trivial incidents of this ritual; they
would teach us nothing new and cause too great digression from our
purpose. Do not overlook, however, the fact that all this does not run
its course quite smoothly. Everything is pervaded by the anxiety that
things have not been done properly; they must be examined, repeated. Her
doubts seize first on one, then on another precaution, and the result is
that one or two hours elapse during which the girl cannot and the
intimidated parents dare not sleep.
These torments were not so easily analyzed as the compulsive act of our
former patient. In the working out of the interpretations I had to hint
and suggest to the girl, and was met on her part either by positive
denial or mocking doubt. This first reaction of denial, however, was
followed by a time when she occupied herself of her own accord with the
possibilities that had been suggested, noted the associations they
called out, produced reminiscences, and established connections, until
through her own efforts she had reached and accepted all
interpretations. In so far as she did this, she desisted as well from
the performance of her compulsive rules, and even before the treatment
had ended she had given up the entire ritual. You must also know that
the nature of present-day analysis by no means enables us to follow out
each individual symptom until its meaning becomes clear. Rather it is
necessary to abandon a given theme again and again, yet with the
certainty that we will be led back to it in some other connection. The
interpretation of the symptoms in this case, which I am about to give
you, is a synthesis of results, which, with the interruptions of other
work, needed weeks and months for their compilation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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