[Freud, Meynert, and Mathilde: hypnosis in question]. 1993

A Hirschmüller
Institut für Geschichte der Medizin, Tübingen.

During the Paris Congress of 1889, Freud showed little interest in the presentations on hypnosis. This surprising attitude may have been due to a certain ambivalence on his part, related not only to the controversy that put him in opposition to Meynert, but also to the case of Mathilde. Freud mentioned this patient, who died of sulfonal intoxication, in his Irma dream associations. Documents that, until now, have not been published, reveal that Freud had treated her for years by hypnosis for melancholia and that after a manic decompensation, he was forced to have her committed to a private clinic. The patient records, partially reproduced, reveal information about her, her sickness, and the attempted treatments, as well as information about her relationship with Freud, towards whom she had developed a massive sexualized transfer psychosis that, at the time, was untreatable. Her death, in 1890, must have weighed heavily on him, and the Irma dream attests to prolonged after-effects.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D006990 Hypnosis A state of increased receptivity to suggestion and direction, initially induced by the influence of another person or oneself. Autohypnosis,Clinical Hypnosis,Hypnoanalysis,Mesmerism,Self-Hypnosis,Hypnotherapy,Hypnotism,Hypnosis, Clinical,Hypnotherapies,Self Hypnosis
D011572 Psychoanalysis The separation or resolution of the psyche into its constituent elements. The term has two separate meanings: 1. a procedure devised by Sigmund Freud, for investigating mental processes by means of free association, dream interpretation and interpretation of resistance and transference manifestations; and 2. a theory of psychology developed by Freud from his clinical experience with hysterical patients. (From Campbell, Psychiatric Dictionary, 1996). Psychodynamic Analysis,Analyses, Psychodynamic,Analysis, Psychodynamic,Psychodynamic Analyses
D005602 France A country in western Europe bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the Mediterranean Sea, and the countries of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the principalities of Andorra and Monaco, and by the duchy of Luxembourg. Its capital is Paris. Corsica,Saint Pierre and Miquelon,Miquelon and Saint Pierre,Miquelon and St. Pierre,St. Pierre and Miquelon
D005858 Germany A country in central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark. The capital is Berlin.
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D049672 History, 19th Century Time period from 1801 through 1900 of the common era. 19th Century History,19th Cent. History (Medicine),19th Cent. History of Medicine,19th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 19th Century,History of Medicine, 19th Cent.,History, Nineteenth Century,Medical History, 19th Cent.,Medicine, 19th Cent.,19th Cent. Histories (Medicine),19th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 19th (Medicine),Cent. History, 19th (Medicine),Century Histories, 19th,Century Histories, Nineteenth,Century History, 19th,Century History, Nineteenth,Histories, 19th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 19th Century,Histories, Nineteenth Century,History, 19th Cent. (Medicine),Nineteenth Century Histories,Nineteenth Century History

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