Freud's Case History of Hysteria

"DORA": SUMMARY AND INTERPRETATION

"Dora" was the name Freud used to protect the identity of a young woman whom he treated for a brief period of time in 1900 (Freeman, & Strean, 1981). Because the young woman voluntarily ended her treatment at the end of eleven weeks, and before Freud was prepared to end the treatment, Freud (1975, p. 241) referred to the case as a "fragment of an analysis of a hysteria . . . ."

Dora was an eighteen year old young woman when she was first brought to Freud's professional attention. She was brought to Freud by her father, who had been treated by Freud some years earlier. The father suffered from what Freud called a confusional attack, which was followed by symptoms of "paralysis and slight mental disturbances" (Freeman, & Strean, 1981, p. 175). Upon learning that the father had contracted syphilis before he had married, Freud prescribed a course of treatment for that disease, following which Freud reported that all of the symptoms disappeared.

Dora's family was composed of four persons  the father and mother in their forties at the time the case came to Freud's atte

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om wetting her bed. The underlying meaning of the dream, according to Freud, was that (1) Dora thought that Herr K. was persecuting her, (2) her jewel case (genitals) were in danger, (3) bed wetting reflected getting wet sexually, should she yield to Herr K., and (4) it would be her father's fault if anything bad did happen to her. In the second dream, Dora found herself walking in a strange town, but one in which she eventually came to a house where she lived. Once in her room, she found a letter from her mother, which said that, as Dora had left home without the knowledge of her parents, the mother did not wish to write to tell her that her father was ill. Now, however, the father was dead. In the dream, Dora then had great difficulty finding and leaving the rail station, and, when she finally reached home, found that the rest of the relatives were already at the cemetery. Freud interpreted this dream as revenge on Dora's part against her father. Dora rejected this interpretation, and, at the same time, broke off her treatment sessions with Freud. DORA: A CRITIQUE Dora later reported that for a few weeks following the termination of her treatment with Freud her mind was in a muddle, but that she then became absorbe
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Approximate Word count = 2720
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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