Psychoanalysis in Practice

Abstract

Psychoanalysis developed out of the clinical experience and theoretical speculations of Sigmund Freud, a Viennese physician born in 1856. In 1883, Freud’s senior colleague, Joseph Breuer, told him of a fascinating patient, an intelligent young German woman, Bertha Pappenheim, who in later years was to become one of the founders of psychiatric social work. Breuer’s clinical observations on this patient, who suffered from the symptoms of what was then called hysteria, led to a new theory about the nature of the disorder and some suggestions for a possible new treatment (Breuer and Freud 1895). Breuer himself stopped working in the area, perhaps in part because of his discomfort over the intense personal feelings stimulated by his relationship with his patient and his inability to understand those feelings. Freud explored Breuer’s method further with other patients, continued to develop the theory, and in time even came to understand the meaning of Breuer’s discomfort.