Psycho-Analysis and the War NeurosesFreud, Sigmund
History
Psycho-Analysis and the War Neuroses
Freud, Sigmund
Psychoanalysis; War neuroses
Apart from repressed physical sensations of pain the affects themselves
also naturally play an important part in the neurotic compulsion to
maintain a particular position, I remember a soldier who for several
months had a compulsion to keep both eyes fixed and turned upwards and
to the left. This symptom failed to react to methods of suggestion.
Analysis under hypnosis within a few minutes gave the explanation and
at the same time the removal of the symptom. The patient had anxiously
expected the falling down of trunks of trees from above and to the
left through the bursting of shells during a drum fire. His eyes
became fixed in dread before the fate threatening him. The original
situation had in the meantime become unreal, nevertheless the anxiety
in itself was valid. The patient was still a soldier and retained
in his neurosis the anxiety—an anxiety of similar situations. The
neurosis of another soldier, which for a long time had been considered
of an organic nature, a bulbar paralysis being suspected, was very
instructive and the success of the treatment most gratifying. This man
in addition to an apparently harmless superficial gunshot wound of the
back suffered from a spasm of the muscles of the throat, a dysphagia,
that made it impossible for him to take solid food, while liquid
food was only possible in small quantities. The spasm of the throat
and muscles of mastication turned out to be “suppressed rage”. This
soldier who was cut off when on patrol was stealing alone through a
wood when he saw a comrade being ill-treated by Frenchmen on the main
road. This scene he reproduced fully and dramatically under hypnosis
in which he stealthily crawled about, ground his teeth together and
gnashed them in impotent rage over the scene which he had witnessed.
At that time he was struck in the back by a chance shot which caused
him to faint for a short time. He then succeeded in getting back to his
company and was sent into hospital on account of his superficial wound.
The living through this scene again with its accompanying emotions
completely freed him from his dysphagia. This example also shows how
repressed rage manifests itself as a more positive feeling tone through
physical increase of tonus in contrast to the previously described
cases with negative and depressed accentuation of feelings which are
physically represented by a lowering of tone and in flaccid paralyses.
Here an opportunity may be taken of alluding to the fact that one can
demonstrate without difficulty during hypnosis the displacement from
the psychical into the physical. If we interrupt the patient in the
abreaction of his rage during hypnosis then he reacts with a general
tremor or the tremor of an extremity which is already in some way
psychically affected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account