Association of ideas; Memory; Paragrammatism; Psychoanalysis; Psychology, Pathological; Repression (Psychology)
I trust that the readers will not depreciate the value of these
interpretations, for which there is no proof, and of these examples
which I have myself collected and explained by means of analysis. But
if secretly I still cherish the expectation that even the apparently
simple cases of speech-blunder will be traced to a disturbance caused
by a half-repressed idea outside of the intended context, I am tempted
to it by a noteworthy observation of Meringer. This author asserts that
it is remarkable that nobody wishes to admit having made a mistake in
speaking. There are many intelligent and honest people who are offended
if we tell them that they made a mistake in speaking. I would not risk
making this assertion as general as does Meringer, using the term
“nobody.” But the emotional trace which clings to the demonstration
of the mistake, which manifestly belongs to the nature of shame, has
its significance. It may be classed with the anger displayed at the
inability to recall a forgotten name, and with the surprise at the
tenaciousness of an apparently indifferent memory, and it invariably
points to the participation of a motive in the formation of the
disturbance.
The distorting of names amounts to an insult when done intentionally,
and could have the same significance in a whole series of cases
where it appears as unintentional speech-blunders. The person who,
according to Mayer’s report, once said “Freuder” instead of “Freud,”
because shortly before he pronounced the name “Breuer” (p. 38), and
who at another time spoke of the “Freuer-Breudian” method (p. 28), was
certainly not particularly enthusiastic over this method. Later, under
the mistakes in writing, I shall report a case of name disfigurement
which certainly admits of no other explanation.[20]
As a disturbing element in these cases there is an intermingling of a
criticism which must be omitted, because at the time being it does not
correspond to the intention of the speaker.
Or it may be just the reverse; the substituted name, or the adoption
of the strange name, signifies an appreciation of the same. The
identification which is brought about by the mistake is equivalent
to a recognition which for the moment must remain in the background.
An experience of this kind from his schooldays is related by Dr.
Ferenczi:--
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