 |
Freud Revealed:A Lecture Dr. Yarrum 06.07.03-Fort Lauderdale, FL |
The following is a lecture given by Dr. Yarrum, also known to some as Murray Stiegman, on a topic he’s been talking about for years
WE ARE HERE THIS AFTERNOON TO FIND OUT EVERYTHING ABOUT SIGMUND FREUD THAT WE WERE AFRAID TO ASK. I REALIZE THIS IS A JEST BECAUSE THERE ARE MANY OF MY FRIENDS HERE WHO ARE NOT AFRAID TO ASK ANYTHING OF ANYBODY.
IF OUR SUBJECT WAS ALBERT EINSTEIN AND YOU ASKED SOMETHING ABOUT HIS LIFE , I COULD DEFINITELY TELL YOU HIS HISTORY, BUT IF THE QUESTION WAS ABOUT HIS THEORY OF THE NATURE OF SPACE AND TIME, I COULD HOLD YOU AT BAY WITH A FEW FORMULAS WHICH NEITHER OF US WOULD UNDERSTAND. THE SAME WITH SIGMUND FREUD….PLENTY OF BIOGRAPHY BUT LOTS OF CONFUSION ABOUT HIS FORMULAE. THERE IS ANOTHER SIMILARITY WELL BEYOND HUMOR.
THOSE WHO UNDERSTOOD EINSTEIN’S FORMULAS, BUILT THE ATOMIC BOMB AND WIPED OUT THOUSANDS OF HUMAN BEINGS. AND THE CONTROVERSY OVER ITS USE STILL RAGES AFTER 50 YEARS._ AND BY COINCIDENCE, WHEN AN EXHIBIT TO HONOR FREUD AND HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS WAS TO OPEN, A SIMILAR UPROAR STOPPED THE SHOW AND TO MY KNOWLEDGE, IT HAS NOT BEEN RESUMED.
Sigmund Freud 1856-1939
A physician in Vienna, Austria, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who founded psychoanalysis and developed the theory of the Oedipus complex. He believed that psychological problems could be traced to repressed childhood experiences, particularly to repressed sexual desires. He also argued that dreams provide clues to the nature of psychological problems. His theories introduced concepts such as those of the id and superego into the language of psychiatry.
HE WAS BORN ON MAY 6, 1856 IN THE MORAVIAN TOWN OF FREIBERG. MORAVIA WAS IN THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE.
THE FACT IS THAT HIS FAMILY WERE GALTZIANERS AND HAD ALL THE FAILINGS THAT GALITZIANERS HAD. THEY WERE POOR, THEY WERE ORTHODOX JEWS LIVING AMONG ANTI SEMITIC NEIGHBORS. JACOB FREUD, HIS FATHER, HAD BEEN MARRIED, THEN WIDOWED.
HE MARRIED AMALIE NATHANSON AND WHEN SIGISMUND WAS BORN HIS FATHER, AGED 40, WAS OLD ENOUGH TO BE HIS GRANDFATHER, HIS MOTHER, AGED 20, WAS AS YOUNG AS, OR YOUNGER THAN HER TWO STEPSONS FROM THE PREVIOUS MARRIAGE.
HIS BOYHOOD PLAYMATES WERE HIS NEPHEW ,JOHN, AND HIS NIECE ,PAULINE, ABOUT HIS OWN AGE. ALMOST ALL THE DETAILS OF FREUD’S EARLY YEARS COME FROM HIS OWN RECOLLECTIONS AND RECONSTRUCTIONS , FORTY YEARS LATER.
THIS WAS WHEN HE CONCLUDED THAT AS THE FATHER OF PSYCHOANALYSIS HE SHOULD HAVE HIMSELF ANALYZED. AND WHO WAS BETTER CAPABLE OF THIS IMPORTANT TASK THAN HE HIMSELF?
WHAT IS STRANGE IS THE FOLLOWING:
IN 1885, FREUD DESTROYED ALL HIS NOTES OF THE PAST 14 YEARS. SAYING, “AS FOR THE BIOGRAPHERS, LET THEM WORRY, WE HAVE NO DESIRE TO MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM.”
HIS IS A STARTLING STATEMENT. IT SHOWS 2 THINGS.
1.HE WAS ABSOLUTELY CONFIDENT THAT THE FUTURE WOULD WANT TO KNOW ABOUT HIM.
2.HIS OBSESSION TO WIPE THE SLATE CLEAN.
THIS IS PARTICULARLY STRANGE FOR A MAN WHOSE LIFE’S WORK WAS BASED UPON HIS OWN THEORY OF THE MEANING OF DREAMS.
HE WAS CONVINCED THAT DREAMS WERE NOT RANDOM BUT WERE TRACEABLE TO EVENTS IN THE DREAMERS LIFE. THEY WERE CAUSE AND EFFECT.
AND HERE WAS FREUD CAREFULLY DESTROYING RECORDS THAT WOULD BE INVALUABLE IN TRACING THE EVENTS OF HIS OWN LIFE.
MOREOVER, HE MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR BIOGRAPHERS TO VERIFY HIS RECONSTRUCTION OF OWN LIFE. SO FREUD WAS A SELF-REVEALER AND A SELF-CONCEALER.
WHEN THE WRITER, ARNOLD ZWEIG, PROPOSED WRITING FREUD’S LIFE , HE WAS REFUSED. “ANY BIOGRAPHER COMMITS HIMSELF TO LIES, CONCEALMENT, HYPOCRISY.& FLATTERY..BIOGRAPHICAL TRUTH IS NOT TO BE HAD…TRUTH IS UNOBTAINABLE, HUMANITY DOES NOT DESERVE IT’”
THE MYSTERY IS COMPOUNDED BY THE STORY OF HIS LONG CORRESPONDENCE WITH A YOUNG PHYSICIAN NAMED WILHELM FLEISS. THIS WENT ON FOR MANY YEARS AND COVERS THE EARLY IDEAS THAT FINALLY BLOSSOMED INTO FREUDIAN THEORIES.
WHEN THE CORRESPONDENCE ENDED SOME YEARS LATER, FREUD TRIED TO BUY BACK FROM FLEISS’ WIDOW ALL THE LETTERS OF FREUD THAT SHE HAD SAVED.
SHE REFUSED AND AFTER HER DEATH IN THE 1930′S, THEY WERE PUT UP FOR SALE BY A BERLIN BOOKSELLER. THEY WERE BOUGHT BY A DISCIPLE OF FREUD, PRINCESS MARIE BONAPARTE, WHO FEARED FOR THEIR SAFETY. AND SHE WAS RIGHT, BECAUSE FREUD TRIED TO BUY THEM FROM HER.
SHE REFUSED FEELING THAT HE WOULD DESTROY THEM BECAUSE OF “THEIR INTIMATE NATURE”. AFTER THE END OF THE WAR IN 1944, THEY FOUND THEIR WAY TO ENGLAND AND SINCE THEN ONLY CENSORED AND INCOMPLETE VERSIONS HAVE BEEN MADE PUBLIC.
ONE BOY DIED IN INFANCY.
FOUR OF HIS FIVE SISTERS DIED IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS.
ONE SISTER, ANNA, DIED IN NEW YORK IN 1955 AND HIS YOUNGER BROTHER, ALEXANDER DIED IN TORONTO, IN 1943
IN HIS RECOLLECTIONS OF CHILDHOOD, HE RECORDED,
“IF A MAN HAS BEEN HIS MOTHER’S UNDISPUTED DARLING HE RETAINS THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE THE TRIUMPHANT FEELING, THE CONFIDENCE IN SUCCESS, WHICH NOT SELDOM BRINGS ACTUAL SUCCESS ALONG WITH IT”.
HIS FIRST CHOICE OF STUDIES WAS THE LAW, MAINLY BECAUSE IT OPENED THE DOOR TO A POLITICAL CAREER, ONE OF THE VERY FEW FIELDS IN WHICH IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE FOR A JEW TO EXERCISE INFLUENCE.
IT WAS ABOUT THIS TIME THAT HE CHANGED HIS NAME FROM SIGISMUND TO SIGMUND. APPARENTLY BECAUSE SIGISMUND WAS A NAME OFTEN USED IN ANTI SEMITIC JOKES.
SOME 50 YEARS EARLIER, HEINRICH HEINE HAD FOUND THAT CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY WAS THE PASSPORT TO THE RICHES OF WESTERN CULTURE. HEINE HOPED TO BECOME A LAWYER, AS A MEANS OF MAKING A LIVING WHILE HE WROTE HIS POETRY.
AS A JEW HE COULD NOT HOPE TO GET HIS DEGREE.
CONVERSION WAS VERY EASY AND NOT EXPENSIVE.
ONE HAD ONLY TO WALK DOWN THE STREET TO A NOTARY, DECLARE HIS CONVERSION, PAY HIS FEE AND WALK OUT A CHRISTIAN.
HEINE HAD NEVER BEEN A PRACTICING JEW. IT MEANT NOTHING TO HIM UP TO THAT POINT.
BUT THE BLATANT INJUSTICE OF IT, GALLED HIM AND HE REFUSED TO DO IT. AT THAT MOMENT, HE HAD RECOVERED HIS JEWISHNESS.
FREUD NEVER DENIED HIS JEWISHNESS. HE OFTEN GAVE CREDIT TO HIS JEWISHNESS FOR THE BOLDNESS OF HIS INQUIRIES. HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE B’NAI BRITH ALL HIS LIFE AND WENT TO MEETINGS OFTEN TO FEEL HIMSELF AMONG FRIENDS DURING HIS YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL TURMOIL.
HE WAS NOT A BELIEVER AND WHEN HE MARRIED, AUSTRIAN LAW REQUIRED A RELIGIOUS WEDDING. HE DETESTED JEWISH WEDDING CEREMONIES , HE WAS COACHED BY THE BRIDE’S UNCLE AND WENT THROUGH IT IN HEBREW.
HE WAS A BRILLIANT STUDENT AND WHEN HE DECIDED TO SWITCH FROM LAW TO MEDICINE. HE PLANNED TO GO INTO RESEARCH:
“I WANT TO HELP PEOPLE WHO SUFFER”
AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, HIS FIRST IMPORTANT ASSIGNMENT IN COMPARATIVE ANATOMY WAS TO DISSECT 400 EELS AND VERIFY THE LOCATION OF AN EEL’S TESTICLES.
WITH THIS SUCCESS UNDER HIS BELT, AND A THIMBLEFUL OF EEL’S TESTICLES. HE WENT ON TO THE STUDY OF NERVE CELLS, THROUGH NERVOUS DISEASES, TO THE NEUROSES IN PARTICULAR AND FINALLY TO THE ANALYSIS OF THE MIND.
>WITH ALL HIS INTELLIGENCE, FREUD REMAINED THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE, WHAT WE WOULD CALL, A MALE CHAUVINIST. HE WAS LATER TO TELL HIS FIANCEE,
“I ADHERE TO THE OLD WAYS. LEGISLATION AND CUSTOM HAVE TO GRANT TO WOMEN MANY RIGHTS KEPT FROM THEM, BUT THE POSITION OF WOMEN CANNOT BE OTHER THAN WHAT IT IS:
TO BE AN ADORED SWEETHEART IN YOUTH, AND A BELOVED WIFE IN MATURITY.”
FIFTY YEARS LATER, WHEN ASKED ABOUT EQUALITY IN MARRIAGE,HE REPLIED.
“THAT, IS A PRACTICAL IMPOSSIBILITY. THERE MUST BE INEQUALITY, AND THE SUPERIORITY OF THE MAN IS THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS”.
HE ONCE WROTE:
“The great question that has never been answered, and Which I have not yet been able to answer despite my Thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is: What does a woman want?”
WHEN HE WAS 30. HE MET AND MARRIED MARTHA BERNAYS, “SHE COMBINED A STRONG WILL WITH, AFTER HER MARRIAGE, UNQUESTIONING OBEDIENCE TO HER HUSBAND, INWARDLY DISAGREEING WITH HIM IN BOTH RELIGION AND PSYCHOANALYSIS, YET REMAINING CIRCUMSPECTLY SILENT”.
AS A GRADUATE DOCTOR WORKING IN A HOSPITAL AND ALWAYS EXPERIMENTING, HE BECAME INTERESTED IN THE USE OF COCAINE AS A STIMULANT AGAINST FATIGUE. HE TRIED A SOLUTION OF COCAINE IN WATER AND AFTER DRINKING SOME, FOUND HIMSELF EXHILARATED. SOON HE BEGAN ADMINISTERING COCAINE TO FRIENDS COLLEAGUES AND PATIENTS.
(BY THE WAY, IN THE LOBBY OF THE VIENNA GENERAL HOSPITAL, THERE HUNG IN THE LOBBY A PLAQUE SAYING “IN CASE OF DOUBT, DON’T!)”
IN 1884, HE WROTE A PAPER “ON COCAINE”.
HE POINTED OUT ITS USES AS A STIMULANT, AS A CURE FOR DIGESTIVE DISORDERS, AS AN APHRODISIAC AND IT COULD ALSO HELP IN THE TREATMENT OF MORPHINE AND ALCOHOL ADDICTION.
THIS LAST SUGGESTION PROVED TO BE A DISASTER BECAUSE IN LATER YEARS, HIS DETRACTORS ACCUSED HIM OF OPENING SOCIETY TO A NEW SCOURGE AS LETHAL AS ALCOHOL AND MORPHINE.<
ON THE OTHER HAND, HE MUST BE GIVEN CREDIT FOR HIS EXPERIMENTS.
HE NOTICED THAT WHEN HE DRANK THE COCAINE SOLUTION, HIS TONGUE FELT NUMB. HE TOLD A COLLEAGUE WHO WAS AN EYE SURGEON, TO DROP SOME OF THE SOLUTION INTO THE EYES OF PATIENTS BEFORE OPERATING. THIS PROVED SO SUCCESSFUL THAT HE MUST BE CREDITED FOR HELPING TO INTRODUCE LOCAL ANESTHESIA .
HIS WORK TENDED MORE AND MORE TO THE STUDY OF NEUROSES IN GENERAL AND HYSTERIA IN PARTICULAR.
WE HAVE ALL BEEN MADE FAMILIAR WITH THE WAY EARLIER GENERATIONS TREATED THE INSANE. THERE WERE FEARS THAT THEY WERE BEWITCHED. THEY WERE CHAINED IN ASYLUMS AND DISPLAYED TO THE CURIOUS AS WILD BEASTS. DOCTORS DEDICATED THEIR WORK AND TIME TO THE POTENTIALLY CURABLE AND LEFT THE MAD TO THE CUSTODY OF JAILERS.
IN 1885, FREUD WENT TO DO RESEARCH WITH A DR. JEAN MARTIN CHARCOT WHO HAD TAKEN OVER A MADHOUSE IN PARIS, AND TRANSFORMED IT INTO EUROPE'S MOST FAMOUS CENTERS FOR NEUROLOGICAL STUDIES.
THE MONTHS HE SPENT THERE CHANGED FREUD'S LIFE.
WHEN HE STARTED HIS CAREER AS A PHYSICIAN TO HELP PEOPLE, THE ELEMENT OF PITY BECAME SUBMERGED IN RESEARCH, THE DESIRE TO UNDERSTAND HUMAN NATURE.
HE WAS THE HEALER IN PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE.
I MENTIONED THE TERM HYSTERIA EARLIER.
THIS WAS A PROMINENT COMPLAINT AT THE TIME. IT WAS CHARACTERIZED BY SOME PARALYSIS AND TREMORS.
IT WAS SORT OF A CATCH ALL PHRASE TO COVER A MULTITUDE OF SYMPTOMS THAT COULD NOT BE EXPLAINED PHYSICALLY.
THERE WAS A GREAT DEBATE ABOUT THE CAUSES OF HYSTERIA ,TRAUMATIC VS. HEREDITARY. AND OF COURSE, IF HYSTERIA WAS ACCEPTED AS TRAUMATIC, THAT IS, CAUSED BY PSYCHIC SHOCK, YOU COULD SUE SOMEBODY!
THE EARLY GREEKS BELIEVED IT WAS CAUSED BY SOME MALFUNCTION OF THE UTERUS, HYSTERON IN GREEK. BUT AS EARLY AS THE 17 CENTURY, IT WAS MAINTAINED THAT THE CAUSE LAY IN THE BRAIN, AND BOTH MEN AND WOMEN WERE SUSCEPTIBLE.
FREUD WAS THOROUGHLY GROUNDED IN THE PHYSIOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN, THE NERVOUS SYSTEM AND THE SPINAL CORD. THIS WAS TO INSURE, THAT AS HE STUDIED MENTAL DISEASE ., HE SHOULD NOT BE LED ASTRAY.
AT FIRST , WHEN HE TRIED TO HELP THE FEW PATIENTS HE HAD, HE USE HYPNOTISM, AND ELECTROTHERAPY WITHOUT RESULTS.
HE BEGAN TO USE UNCONVENTIONAL METHODS.
THE PATIENT WAS ASKED TO RECALL WHEN THE SYMPTOMS FIRST APPEARED AND IN AS MUCH DETAIL AS POSSIBLE.
THIS WAS THE PEBBLE THAT STARTED THE AVALANCHE.
THE FACT IS THAT THIS METHOD WAS A DIRECT RESULT OF A CASE TREATED BY A DR. JOSEPH BREUER IN 1880.
YEARS LATER, IN AN ADDRESS GIVEN AT CLARK UNIVERSITY IN WORCESTER, MASS., FREUD SAID:
“IF IT IS A MERIT TO HAVE BROUGHT PSYCHOANALYSIS INTO BEING, THAT MERIT IS NOT MINE. I HAD NO SHARE IN ITS EARLIEST BEGINNINGS. …DR. JOSEF BREUER FIRST MADE OF THIS PROCEDURE ON A GIRL WHO WAS SUFFERING FROM HYSTERIA.” (1880)
HE WAS REFERRING TO THE CASE OF “ANNA O”, A CASE BOOK DISGUISE FOR BERTHA PAPPENHEIM, SHE WAS a PATIENT TURNED OVER TO FREUD BY HIS FRIEND BREUER. SHE WAS THE DAUGHTER OF A WEALTHY JEWISH MERCHANT IN VIENNA.
HER SYMPTOMS WERE EXCEEDINGLY SEVERE INCLUDING PARALYSIS, HALLUCINATIONS, HYDROPHOBIA. SHE WAS A MESS. USING THE “TALKING CURE” SHE WAS EVENTUALLY ABLE TO RESUME HER LIFE. SHE REMAINED A SPINSTER AND DIED AT A RIPE AGE.
THERE IS SOME AMBIGUITY ABOUT THE EXTENT OF HER RECOVERY, ALTHOUGH FREUD USED THIS CASE EXTENSIVELY TO PROMOTE HIS NEW METHOD OF PSYCHOANALYSIS.
YEARS AFTER FREUD’S DEATH, TWO DOCUMENTS WERE FOUND WRITTEN BY BREUER THAT PUT BEYOND DOUBT THAT “THE PATIENT HAD NOT BEEN CURED:
“INDEED THE FAMED PROTOTYPE OF A CATHARSIS CURE WAS NEITHER CURE NOR CATHARSIS”
BREUER HIMSELF HAD SPENT WEEKS AND MONTHS IN THE TREATMENT OF “ANNA O” AND FINALLY WROTE:
“IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO TREAT A CASE OF THIS KIND WITHOUT BRINGING HIS ACTIVITIES AND MODE OF LIFE COMPLETELY TO AND END”.
HE LITERALLY COULD NOT AFFORD THE TIME AND EFFORT TO THIS SINGLE PATIENT.
SO MUCH FOR THE 50 MINUTE HOUR!.
SO FREUD GOT FROM BREUER THE TRICKLE OF PATIENTS TOO DANGEROUS OR TOO TIME CONSUMING TO HANDLE. FREUD HAD TIME AND NO MONEY,A GREAT ADVANTAGE.
BUT HIS THEORIES WOULD BE TESTED ON A SMALL NUMBER OF UNREPRESENTATIVE NEUROTIC PATIENTS DRAWN MOSTLY FROM AN EDUCATED, LITERATE AND MONEY CLASS. FREUD’S CONTRIBUTION WAS TO POSITIVELY PRONOUNCE THAT THE UNCONSCIOUS WAS THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY WHERE MAN TRIED TO BANISH THOSE MEMORIES HE WISHED TO IGNORE. AND THAT IN MANY CASES THESE MEMORIES CAME TO THE SURFACE TRANSFORMED INTO DREAMS OR HYSTERIA.f AND THAT THE PULLING BACK OF THESE MEMORIES INTO THE CONSCIOUS COULD HAVE A VITAL THERAPEUTIC EFFECT.
NOW FREUD HIMSELF WAS ALMOST PURITAN IN HIS BELIEFS, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SEX IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF NEUROSIS, GREW ON HIM BY THE MULTITUDE OF SMALL DETAILS NOTED IN HIS PATIENTS.
IN VIENNA OF THE 1890′S, THE BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP OF MARRIAGE WAS VERY IMPORTANT. MARRIAGE WAS DESIGNED TO CREATE FINANCIAL DYNASTIES, REGARDLESS OF THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PARTNERS. THIS GUARANTEED FRUSTRATION ESPECIALLY FOR THE WOMEN. HUSBANDS COULD RESORT TO PROSTITUTES.
A WOMAN WHO ENJOYED SEX WAS CONSIDERED DEPRAVED. SO IT WAS NO WONDER,THAT IF THEY FOUND SEX TO BE PLEASANT AFTER ALL, EXTRAMARITAL SEX GENERATED DEEP FEELINGS OF GUILT IN THE WOMEN. FREUD’S VIEWS ON SEXUALITY BEGAN TO ISOLATE HIM FROM OTHERS IN HIS PROFESSION.
HE WAS JEWISH AND HE WAS DEFYING HIS CONSERVATIVE COLLEAGUES AND THE POWERFUL CATHOLIC CHURCH.
IN 1893, HE SHOWED SIGNS OF A SERIOUS HEART CONDITION AND WAS ORDERED TO GIVE UP HIS BELOVED CIGAR SMOKING. HE TRIED AND FAILED SEVERAL TIMES,§ AND ASKED HIS Doctor,
“IS IT SUCH A GREAT BOON TO LIVE A LONG TIME IN MISERY?”
EVENTUALLY THE SYMPTOMS DISAPPEARED OF THEMSELVES, AND HE CONTINUED TO SMOKE CIGARS THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
I DON’T THINK HE EVERY REALIZED THAT THE CIGAR IS CLEARLY A PHALLIC SYMBOL.
IN HIS SEARCH FOR TRUTH, HE WROTE SOME PAPERS IN WHICH HE EXPLORED HIS SEDUCTION THEORY . ABOUT 1895-6, HE BECAME CONVINCED BY STORIES RELATED TO HIM BY PATIENTS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF SEXUAL EXPERIENCES DURING CHILDHOOD.
AMONG THOSE GUILTY OF ABUSES WERE NURSEMAIDS, SERVANTS, TEACHERS, SIBLINGS, ETC.» IN 1897, HE IDENTIFIED SIGNS OF NEUROSES IN HIS OWN SISTER, ANNA. AND IN LOOKING BACK, HE ADMITTED THAT ” IN EVERY CASE, THE FATHER, NOT EXCLUDING MY OWN, HAD TO BE BLAMED AS A PERVERT.” THEN HE HAD A DREAM IN WHICH HE FELT OVER AFFECTIONATELY TOWARD HIS 9 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER.
AS HE PURSUED HIS SEDUCTION THEORY TO ITS LOGICAL ROOTS, AND SINCE IT IMPLICATED FIRST HIS FATHER. AND THEN HIMSELF, HE KNEW THAT HIS SEDUCTION THEORY WAS WRONG.
HIS SUSPICIONS ABOUT HIS FATHER HAD BEEN GROUNDLESS. HE HAD TO RETHINK HIS THEORY.
IF HE, HIMSELF HAD BEEN WRONG, HOW MUCH MORE LIKELY WAS IT THAT THE SEDUCTIONS STORIES OF HIS PATIENTS HAD BEEN FICTION?
“I WAS OBLIGED TO RECOGNIZE THAT THESE SCENES OF SEDUCTION HAD NEVER TAKEN PLACE, THAT THEY WERE ONLY FANTASIES WHICH MY PATIENTS HAD MADE UP, OR WHICH I, MYSELF, HAD PERHAPS FORCED ON THEM”.
SHAKEN BY THE COLLAPSE OF HIS THEORY, HE BEGAN TO RETHINK IT.
“IF THE PARENTS HAD NOT LUSTED AFTER THE CHILD, COULD IT BE THAT THE CHILD HAD LUSTED AFTER THE ADULTS?.” AND NOW THE WHOLE RANGE OF A CHILD’S SEXUAL LIFE CAME TO LIGHT”
AT THIS POINT, I THINK WE HAVE TO STOP AND TAKE STOCK OF MR. FREUD, HIS THEORIES AND HIS METHODS.
_ WE SEE A MAN WHO FROM CHILDHOOD ON, HAS BEEN, PRAISED AND LOVED. EVERYONE IS PREDICTING GREAT THINGS OF HIM. HE IS CONVINCED EARLY ON THAT HE IS DESTINED TO MAKE SOME GREAT DISCOVERIES. AND HE GOES ABOUT BUSILY TRYING TO FIND WHICH GREAT DISCOVERY HE WILL MAKE. FIRST HE WANTED TO BE A LAWYER, AND IF HE HAD GONE INTO THAT FIELD, HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR SOME ENORMOUS CONTRIBUTION TO MANKIND.
BUT HE SWITCHED TO MEDICINE FOR THIS GREAT SUCCESS. THEN HE STUDIED NEUROSES, AND INVENTED A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR HELPING DISTURBED PEOPLE.
AFTER SEVERAL FALSE STARTS, HE AGAIN FOUND HE WAS WRONG.
BY THE WAY, HE NEVER OPENLY RETRACTED THE SEDUCTION THEORY.
CLEARLY THE MAN’S NEUROSIS WAS THAT HE WAS DESTINED TO MAKE SOME GREAT DISCOVERY. AND HE DID. HE ORGANIZED HIS COLLEAGUES WHO SUPPORTED HIM LIKE A GENERAL WHO MARSHALS HIS TROOPS. IT WAS HIM AGAINST THE WORLD. HE TOLERATED NO BACK TALK. DOUBTS ABOUT HIS THEORIES MEANT BANISHMENT FROM THE VIENNA PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIETY.
THE RENEGADE BECAME THE ENEMY. AMONG THEM WERE KARLJUNG ._
NOW FREUD HIMSELF CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT HE HIMSELF REQUIRED PSYCHOANALYSIS SO HE COULD GAGE THE EFFECT OF HIS OWN NEUROSES ON THE VALIDITY OF HIS WORK. AND WHO WOULD BE HIS ANALYST? WHY FREUD HIMSELF. NATURALLY.
AND WHAT VEHICLES WOULD HE USE? HIS OWN MEMORIES AS FAR BACK AS HE COULD REMEMBER, PLUS WHATEVER HE COULD CORROBORATE BY HIS MOTHER’S MEMORIES., PLUS HIS OWN INTERPRETATION OF HIS DREAMS.
ALL THIS EVIDENCE COULD HARDLY BE MORE RELIABLE THAN THAT WHICH HAD SUPPORTED HIS SEDUCTION THEORY BUT HE SINCERELY BELIEVED THAT HAD STUMBLED UPON THE GREAT EXPLANATION OF MENTAL DEVELOPMENT. HE DISCOVERED THE OEDIPUS COMPLEX.
HE WROTE, “IT IS THE FATE OF ALL OF US, PERHAPS, TO DIRECT OUR FIRST SEXUAL IMPULSE TOWARD OUR MOTHER AND OUR FIRST HATRED AND OUR FIRST MURDEROUS WISH TOWARD OUR FATHER.” IT COULD ALSO BE CALLED THE “HAMLET COMPLEX” BECAUSE FREUD ,IN STUDYING THE PLAY, DISCOVERED THAT HAMLET WAS IN LOVE WITH HIS MOTHER.
THERE WAS A PARALLEL THEORY FOR GIRLS, THE ELECTRA THEORY.
LIFE BEGAN WITH MOTHER, THEN AT AN EARLY AGE, SHE DISCOVERED THAT THE MALE HAD A PENIS, AND AFFECTION SWUNG TO THE FATHER FROM THE MOTHER, WHO WAS UNCONSCIOUSLY BLAMED FOR THE GIRL’S LACK OF EQUIPMENT.
YOU WILL NOTICE THE UNCONSCIOUS MALE CHAUVINISM OF FREUD.
THE GIRL ENVIES THE PENIS. SHE HAS NO PRIDE WHATSOEVER IN HER OWN ORGANS WHICH ENABLE HER TO BEAR CHILDREN!
WHEN FREUD PUBLISHED HIS FINDINGS MOST OF WORLD EITHER IGNORED THEM OR HATED THEM._ THE SEXUAL AWARENESS OF CHILDREN HORRIFIED THEM. THE VIENNA MEDICAL SOCIETY MADE A PARODY OF MOLIERE’S :THE IMAGINARY INVALID”.
THE QUACK DOCTOR SAID, "IF THE PATIENT LOVED HIS MOTHER, IT IS THE REASON FOR THE NEUROSIS, AND IF HE HATED HER, IT IS THE REASON FOR THE SAME NEUROSIS.
WHATEVER THE DISEASE, THE CAUSE IS THE SAME. AND WHATEVER THE CAUSE THE DISEASE IS ALWAYS THE SAME. AND SO IS THE CURE, 20 ONE HOUR SESSIONS AT 50 KRONEN EACH”.
ALL OF THE ABOVE TOOK PLACE BEFORE THE FIRST WORLD WAR. AND I WOULD LIKE TO GO OVER HIS BIOGRAPHY QUICKLY BECAUSE HIS THEORIES REQUIRE MUCH MORE DISCUSSION. THE FACT IS THAT THE SUBJECT OF FREUD AND THE IMPACT OF HIS IDEAS WOULD TAKE YEARS.
WHEN THE WAR BROKE OUT IN 1914, EINSTEIN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN, DEPLORED GERMAN AGGRESSION. FREUD, IN AUSTRIA , WAS HOPEFUL THAT THE WAR WOULD GIVE THE FAILING AUSTRIAN EMPIRE ANOTHER CHANCE TO SURVIVE AND EAGERLY AWAITED THE FALL OF PARIS.
WHEN GERMANY LOST THE WAR, FREUD SAW MOST OF THE HUMAN RACE AS “TRASH.”
HE SPENT MOST OF THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS PROMOTING THE BATTLE FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS AROUND THE WORLD. SOMEWHERE ABOUT 1930, HE AND EINSTEIN MET. EINSTEIN WAS WORKING ON METHODS TO INSURE THE ELIMINATION OF ALL WARS, AND WONDERED IF PSYCHOANALYSIS COULD NOT BE A TOOL TO THIS END. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT WAS DISCUSSED AT THAT MEETING BUT FREUD WROTE TO A FRIEND,
“HE UNDERSTANDS AS MUCH ABOUT PSYCHOLOGY AS I DO ABOUT PHYSICS, AND WE HAD A VERY PLEASANT TALK.” FREUD’S VIEW WAS THAT NOTHING COULD ELIMINATE MAN’S AGGRESSIVE INSTINCTS.
FOR MANY YEARS HE SUFFERED FROM CANCER OF THE MOUTH. HE UNDERWENT SEVERAL OPERATIONS BUT THE CANCER RECURRED. IT MUST HAVE BEEN VERY PAINFUL AND HE REQUIRED A PROSTHESIS TO ENABLE HIM TO CHEW AND TALK. AND THROUGH ALL THE YEARS OF TORMENT, REFUSED TO GIVE UP HIS BELOVED CIGARS. WHEN HITLER CAME TO POWER IN GERMANY, FREUD FELT SAFE IN VIENNA, THOUGH FRIENDS URGED HIM TO FLEE. ONLY AFTER THE ANSCHLUSS, WHEN HITLER TOOK OVER AUSTRIA, COULD HE BE PERSUADED WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY, TO LEAVE FOR ENGLAND. BY THAT TIME, THERE WAS SOME RANSOM TO BE PAID
FREUD’S GREAT LIBRARY HAD TO BE SOLD FOR PENNIES PER BOOK, AND ENGLAND HAD TO BE PRESSURED TO ADMIT ANOTHER PROMINENT REFUGEE.
HE DIED THERE ON SEPTEMBER 3,1939 AFTER TWO 7INJECTIONS OF MORPHINE TO EASE THE AGONY OF HIS CANCER. THE BATTLE OVER THE IMPORTANCE OF FREUD’S WORK CONTINUES WITH RELIGIOUS FERVOR. THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO OF HIS DISCOVERIES THAT ARE GENERALLY ACCEPTED TODAY AND FOR THESE TWO, HE DESERVES UNIVERSAL RECOGNITION. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS IN THE WAY WE THINK, AND HIS ATTEMPT TO USE THIS KNOWLEDGE IN THE TREATMENT OF MENTAL ILLNESS.
THE SECOND IS THE EXISTENCE OF INFANTILE SEXUALITY. MUCH OF THE CRITICISM OF HIS WORK LIES IN THE ADVANCEMENTS IN BIOCHEMISTRY, AND THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MIND AND MATTER UNCOVERED IN THE LAST 75 YEARS.
YET FREUD WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SURPRISED AT THESE ADVANCES.
IN 1930 HE WROTE,”THE KNOWLEDGE GAINED IN PSYCHOANALYSIS WILL ONE DAY DIRECT THE CHEMICAL THERAPY. “LET THE BIOLOGISTS GO AS FAR AS THEY CAN AND LET US GO AS FAR AS WE CAN. ONE DAY THE TWO WILL MEET.”
WHAT IS NORMAL?
PSYCHOLOGISTS BELIEVE THAT THE ONLY “NORMAL” PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE WHO CAUSE NO TROUBLE TO THEMSELVES OR TO ANYONE ELSE.
ATTITUDE OF ANTHROPOLOGISTS, MARGARET MEAD AND RUTH BENDICT. THEY FOUND NONE OF FREUD’S EXPECTATIONS IN MATRIARCHAL SOCIETIES THEY HAD STUDIED.
ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INDUSTRY WHOSE SUCCESS DEPENDS UPON THE ACCEPTANCE OF SYCHOANALYSIS. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE WORD “CURE”. IN THE ABOVE.
WHAT IS THE HEISENBERG THEORY?
IT STATES THAT IN CERTAIN PHYSICAL PHENOMENA, THE VERY ACT OF OBSERVATION CHANGES THE CONDITIONS OBSEERVED.
THE SAME THING IS TRUE IN EVERYDAY EXPERIENCES. MANY OF US ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE “WHITE COAT SYNDROME”. THE DOCTOR STRAPS THE SLEEVE AROUND OUR ARMS TO CHECK OUR BLOOD PRESSURE AND THE BLOOD PRESSURE GOES UP. IS THE READING HE GETS OUR NORMAL PRESSURE? THE VERY FACT THAT IT IS BEING CHECKED CHANGES THE PRESSURE.
WHEN DIANE FOSSE WAS STUDYING GORILLAS IN THE WILD AND FIRST APPROACHED THEM SHE WAS GREETED WITH HOSTILITY BY THE MALES. AFTER HAVING BEEN EXPOSED TO HER PRESENCE FOR SOME TIME , THEY ALLOWED HER TO STAY CLOSE ENOUGH FOR HER TO OBSERVE AND TAKE NOTES.
WAS SHE EVER SURE THAT THEIR BEHAVIOR WOULD HAVE BEEN THE SAME IF SHE WERE NOT PRESENT? AND BEING HUMAN, ARE WE CERTAIN THAT HER INTERPRETATIONS OF GORILLA ACTIVITIES REALLY TOLD US WHAT WENT ON IN THE MIND OF A GORILLA?
IF THERE ARE ANY PSYCHOLOGISTS IN THE ROOM, I INVITE YOUR CRITICISM FOR ANY OF MY QUESTIONS.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AN ANALYST AND HIS PATIENT IS EVEN MORE COMPLICATED. THE PERSONAL REACTIONS BETWEEN THE TWO MUST ENTER INTO THE INFORMATION BEING EXCHANGED. THE PRESSURE OF TIME , BOTH PATIENT AND DOCTOR GLANCING AT THE CLOCK AS IT TICKS AWAY AT A DOLLAR A MINUTE.
AND THE DOCTOR BRINGS HIS OWN BAGGAGE INTO THE ROOM. DOES HE HAVE UNRESOLVED NEUROSES? HOW WELL DOES HE OR SHE GET ALONG WITH HIS SPOUSE? HAS HE HAD A QUARREL WITH HIS SON? DID HE GET A SPEEDING TICKET THAT MORNING?
WHAT IS THE DIVORCE RATE AMONG PSYCHOANALYSTS?
IS IT LOWER THAN THAT OF THE REST OF THE POPULATION?
WHEN FREUD WAS TREATING A WOMAN PATIENT DID HE REGARD HER SYMPTOMS LESS SERIOUSLY THAN A MAN’S, KNOWING HIS CONSERVATIVE VIEWS ON WOMEN?
NOT LONG AGO i GAVE A TALK ON CHAOS, AND I CITED THE CASE WHERE A COMPUTER WOULD GIVE A TOTALLY DIFFERENT RESULT IF THERE WAS AN ERROR OF ONE TEN THOUSANDTHS OF A DEGREE IN TEMPERATURE. NOW AN ANALYST IS DEALING WITH WORDS, JUST WORDS. AND YOU KNOW HOW ACCURATE WORDS ARE. THE PATIENT EXPRESSES HIS FEELINGS IN WORDS, AND THE INFLECTION OF THE WORD OR THE TONE CAN MAKE THE SAME WORD HAVE DIFFERENT MEANINGS. AND THE ANALYST HEARS THE WORD THROUGH THE FILTER OF HIS OWN PERSONALITY AND THE MOOD OF THE MOMENT. ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT THE SAME THING? HOW COULD FREUD KNOW HOW TO CURE A PATIENT OF A PHOBIA, WHEN HE COULD NOT GIVE UP SMOKING EVEN WHEN HE SUFFERED FROM CANCER OF THE MOUTH WHICH FINALLY KILLED HIM? IN THE 1920′S. PSYCHOANALYSIS BECAME SO POPULAR IN THE U.S., THAT THERE WERE OFFERS IN THE PAPERS FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS BY MAIL. LAYMEN GAVE LECTURES TO UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS USING NAMES LIKE DR. VOSBERG OR,DR. BUSCH. THE PROFESSORS LISTENED RESPECTFULLY AND FOUND OUT THE NEXT DAY THAT THE LECTURER WAS A THIRD YEAR STUDENT IN THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE.
