Selected papers on hysteria and other psychoneurosesFreud, Sigmund
Science
Selected papers on hysteria and other psychoneuroses
Freud, Sigmund
Hysteria; Neuroses; Psychoanalysis
Notwithstanding this I directed further interest to the mode of
construction of the whole symptom-complex of the abasia upon this
painful zone, and with this view in mind I asked such questions as this:
“What is the origin of the pains in walking and standing, or on lying?”
She answered these questions partially uninfluenced, partially under the
pressure of my hand. We thus obtained two results. In the first place
she grouped all scenes connected with painful impressions according to
their occurrence, sitting, standing, etc. Thus, for example, she stood
at the door when her father was brought home with his cardiac attack and
in her fright remained as though rooted to the spot. To this first
quotation “fright while standing” she connected more recollections up to
the overwhelming scene when she again stood as if pinned near the death
bed of her sister. The whole chain of reminiscences should justify the
connection of the pain with standing up, and could also serve as an
association proof, only one had to bear in mind the fact that in all
these occasions we must demonstrate another moment which had served to
direct the attention—and as a further result the conversion—just on the
standing, walking, sitting, etc. The explanation for this direction of
attention could hardly be sought in other connections than in the fact
that walking, standing, and lying are connected with capabilities and
conditions of those members which here bore the painful zones; namely,
the legs. We could then easily understand the connection between the
astasia-abasia and the first scene of conversion in this history.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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