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Freud's Interpretation Of Hysteria

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Reliability of Freud’s narration of Dora. The case-study of An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria (Dora) is Sigmund Freud’s retold account and interpretation of an eighteen-year-old girl’s experiences throughout adolescence. Throughout the text, the matter of reliability is brought to focus. Due to Freud’s profession, his narration of Dora’s recount comes from a neuropsychological perspective. In Freud’s Afterword he states, “The disadvantage of this is that the reader is unable to confirm the correctness of my working method on the basis of my account” (100). In this quote, Freud highlights that his and Dora’s views completely differ from one another. How reliable is Freud’s interpretation of Dora’s personal truth? Freud’s patronising mannerism …show more content…
Specifically, Dora “suffered from respiratory illness with occasional violent aggravations” (Freud, The Psychology of Love 16), that developed to more severe symptoms. Her symptoms involved nervous coughing, migraines, difficulty breathing, and a loss of voice. In psychoanalysing a condition that concerns the mental and emotional condition of the mind, a significant amount of emphasis has been placed on Dora’s physical condition. What struck me to be interesting is Freud’s method to psychoanalysis through the talking cure to alleviate hysterical symptoms. The talking cure simply involves a verbal interaction between the patient and the doctor, where the patient speaks of his/her personal experiences or thoughts. This method of mental diagnosis forms a personal and emotional relationship between the doctor and the patient. As a psychoanalyst who takes this method of the talking cure, Freud does not seem to focus as much of his attention to the emotional aspect to Dora’s experience but rather focuses on her physical state as it progressively weakens. However, Freud’s profession was not solely classified as a psychologist, but also a medical doctor. As Freud holds the profession of a medical doctor, perhaps he understood that focusing on physical ailments was the most effective method to curing Dora’s …show more content…
This demonstrates that hysteria was not a completely solidified illness. Consequently, the clinical assessment of Dora shows the time period this was written in and that it would not be appropriate to apply these to diagnoses today. The symptoms described in Freud’s Fragments of an Analysis of Hysteria (Dora) are incredibly vague. In looking at the physicality of a patient, coughing, migraines, a loss of voice and difficulty breathing could all be symptoms associated with asthma attacks or a severe flu. As the symptoms for hysteria and the symptoms for a cold or flu are so similar in nature, the symptoms Freud describes as “hysteric” with Dora cannot be identified as fully valid. The vagueness of the symptoms in Dora’s case does not allow for intensive analysis on them, and could potentially be prevalent symptoms in other illnesses that do not have any relation to the mind. The more specific the symptoms are for an illness, the diagnosis is more likely to be made accurate and

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