Psycho-Analysis and the War NeurosesFreud, Sigmund
History
Psycho-Analysis and the War Neuroses
Freud, Sigmund
Psychoanalysis; War neuroses
This illness, when looked at from the outside, seemed to be a complete
war neurosis without any kind of “civilian” origin. The patient had
been for a long time in the field and constantly in the front line and
had been exposed to extraordinary hardships. He had been wounded and
only fell ill with his neurosis after being blown up twice. He had a
severe impediment in his speech in consequence of an almost complete
intention spasm of his lips, combined with states of excitement and
rage, and attacks of loss of consciousness. The first conversation
showed that all the physical disabilities signified nothing to the
patient, on the contrary, he was completely broken down in mind and
body through his struggles and friction with his superiors. In the
first dream the patient received a letter, which to his unbounded rage
his father had already opened, so that the red lining to the envelope
hung in shreds. In the hypnosis the patient during the reading aloud
of this dream underwent an extraordinary state of excitation, in which
he re-experienced his last blowing up with unspeakable anxiety and
terror. The red envelope lining was the torn out jaw bone of a dear
friend and comrade who had been shattered beside him at that explosion.
His relation to his father came out, with anger at the thought that he
(the father) did not esteem all the great performances which he had
accomplished in the field and communicated to him. The next dream after
this hypnosis brought up a scene between the father and son. The father
in the robe of the public prosecutor forbade his son, according to the
law, to speak with some women imprisoned and kept in an underground
dungeon. The son started up in anger and said that he had his own law
book which lay by one of those women. He went to get it and wandered
through underground passages. He found in several rooms earlier loved
women, but not his law book. At last he came into the last room and on
the threshold his mother met him in her nightdress.
I do not think I need to add many words to this audience to arrive at
the interpretation. The patient fulfilled his “law” when he volunteered
for the war, in order to put himself over his father through his
manliness and obtain his mother. The symbol of the envelope, which,
destined for the son, was unjustly opened by the father, is clear in
its significance. It is peculiar and interesting how in this letter,
which contained for the patient the secret of his life, is shown in
combined representation the uninterrupted connection of the origin and
outbreak of the neurosis—from the female genitals to the corpse of the
shattered friend, to the memory of the last complete breakdown of the
ego through the explosion.
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