The unconscious : $b The fundamentals of human personality, normal and abnormalPrince, Morton
Science
The unconscious : $b The fundamentals of human personality, normal and abnormal
Prince, Morton
Psychology, Pathological; Subconsciousness
Here was the key to the intolerance for memories of the illness of the
relative and the death-bed scene. What had happened was this: The
question had arisen early in the illness whether or not a doctor should
be sent for from London in consultation. The expense, owing to the
distance, would have been considerable. The whole responsibility and
decision rested upon the subject. Against the opinion of other relatives
she had decided that it was inadvisable. After the fatal ending the
question had arisen again whether or not she ought to have sent for the
consultant and she had been tormented by the doubt as to whether she did
right; _was the fatal result her fault_? Although she had reasoned with
herself that her decision was good judgment and right still there had
always lurked a doubt in her mind. She was also somewhat disturbed by
the thought of what the husband’s opinion might be.
The real reason why she could not tolerate the memories of the last
illness of this relative, and the psychogenesis of the symptoms now were
plain: they were not grief but self-reproach with its instinct of
self-abasement. The memories brought to her mind that the fault was
her’s and with the thought came self-reproach. _This self-reproach she
was afraid of and unwilling to face._ This fact she recognized and
frankly confessed after the disclosures of the analysis.
Now follows the therapeutic sequel. The relative’s illness at the
beginning was in no way of a dangerous nature and the proposed
consultation had nothing to do with the question of danger to life. The
death was due to purely an accidental factor and could not have been
foreseen. When I assured her in hypnosis, with full explanation, that
her decision had been medically sound, as it was, the change in her
mental attitude was delightful to look upon. “Wasn’t it my fault! Wasn’t
it my fault!” she exclaimed in excitement. Anxiety, dread, and
depression gave way to exhilaration and joyousness. Thereupon she woke
up completely relieved in mind, and retained the same feeling of joy,
but without knowing the reason thereof. The explanation was repeated to
her in the waking state and she then fully realized (as she did also in
hypnosis) that her previous view was a pure subterfuge and fully
appreciated the truth of the discovered reason for her inability to face
her painful memories. The twilight states, the insomnia, and the
distressing dreams, the anxiety, and other symptoms ceased at once.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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