 Cover of the German edition | |
| Author | Sigmund Freud |
|---|---|
| Original title | Studien über Hysterie |
| Language | German |
| Subject | Hysteria |
Studies on Hysteria (German:Studien über Hysterie) is an 1895 book bySigmund Freud, the founder ofpsychoanalysis, and the physicianJosef Breuer. It consists of a joint introductory paper (reprinted from 1893), followed by five individual studies ofhysterics: Breuer's famous case ofAnna O. (real name:Bertha Pappenheim), seminal for the development of psychoanalysis, and four more by Freud,[1] including his evaluation ofEmmy von N,[2] and finishing with a theoretical essay by Breuer and a more practice-oriented one on therapy by Freud.[3]
Freud sees symptomology as stratified in an almost geological way, with the outermost strata being easily remembered and accepted, while “the deeper one goes the more difficult it is to recognize the recollections that are surfacing”.[4]
Breuer's work with Bertha Pappenheim provided the founding impetus for psychoanalysis, as Freud himself would acknowledge.[5] In their preliminary (1893) paper, both men agreed that “the hysteric suffers mainly from reminiscences”.[6] Freud however would come to lay more stress on the causative role of sexuality in producing hysteria, as well as gradually repudiating Breuer's use ofhypnosis as a means of treatment.[7] Some of the theoretical scaffolding of theStudies – "strangulated affect",hypnoid state[8] – would be abandoned with the crystallisation of psychoanalysis as an independent technique. However, many of Freud’s clinical observations – on mnemic symbols[9] ordeferred action[10] for example – would continue to be confirmed in his later work. At the same time, Breuer’s theoretical essay, with its examination of the principle of constancy, and its differentiation of bound and mobilecathexis,[11] would continue to inform Freud’s thinking as late as the twenties and the writing ofBeyond the Pleasure Principle.
At the time of its release,Studies on Hysteria tended to polarise opinion, both within and outside by the medical community.[12] While many were critical,Havelock Ellis offered an appreciative account, while a leading Viennese paper would characterise the work as “the kind of psychology used by poets”.[13]Studies on Hysteria received a positive review from psychiatristEugen Bleuler, although Bleuler nevertheless suggested that the results Freud and Breuer reported could have been the result of suggestion.
Freud's later critics have argued that his continuing treatment ofAnna von Lieben, given awareness of her incurability, amounted to using her as a kind of cash-cow.[14]
Freud continued during the six years of psychoanalysis to treat her continuously with injections ofmorphine without any success or therapeutic result.[15]
The philosopherMikkel Borch-Jacobsen and the psychologistSonu Shamdasani comment thatStudies on Hysteria gave Freud, "a certain local and international notoriety". Borch-Jacobsen and Shamdasani write that, contrary to what Freud and Breuer claimed, Freud "always knew that the treatment ofBertha Pappenheim...had not been an unmitigated success".[16]
In 1996,Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen completed a treatise on the case of Bertha Pappenheim, "Anna O.", subtitledUne mystification centenaire ("A 100-year-old mystification"), in which, according to Claude Meyer, he "met un terme à l'un des mythes fondateurs de la psychanalyse" ("put an end to one of the founding myths of psychoanalysis").[17] It is also the opinion of Elizabeth Loentz, who had also written a book on Pappenheim,[18] andPaul Roazen, who considers this work a major stage of university and historiographical work on psychoanalysis, and a fly in the ointment of the "defenders of the status quo".[19] By contrast, Richard Skues rejects the claim that Anna O. was not cured, arguing that critics "have unfairly maligned the truthfulness and integrity of Josef Breuer".[20]
There are currently three English translations ofStudies on Hysteria, the first byA. A. Brill (1937), the second byJames Strachey (1955), included in theStandard Edition, and the third by Nicola Luckhurst (2004):[21]
