Conclusion

Abstract

The principal aim of this book has been to revisit the contemporary evidence currently available concerning the Anna O. case with the aim of assessing how far it sustains the view that is nowadays widely held that Breuer’s treatment of his patient was essentially a failure. If this view is accepted it follows that the conclusion of Breuer’s case study of 1895 was, at the very least, misleading to the extent that it implied greater success than was in fact the case, and in so far as Freud himself knew of this, then he too was complicit in Breuer’s deception of his readers. The main burden of the argument in this book has been to reject this position, but before reviewing the implications of this it would perhaps be well to summarise the conclusions so far.

Der Mensch muß bei dem Glauben verharren, daß das Unbegreifliche begreiflich sei; er würde sont nicht forschen.¹

J. W. von Goethe, Maximen und Reflexionen (1829)