Whilst Anna O's, or rather Bertha Pappenheim's place in the history of hysteria, and subsequently psychoanalysis, is undoubtedly crucial, we must, in order to understand her own condition and that of her case biographers, place this infamous patient in her rightful historical context. Hysteria's long history has always been acknowledged, indeed medical writers throughout its duration, and particularly in the last two centuries, have referred tenderly to its classical ancestry, to its glorious "founding father", …
showed first 75 words of 7456 total

showed last 75 words of 7456 total
…be short-sighted not to consider the more erotic undertones of Bertha and Breuer's relationship and perhaps more importantly a misplacement of where, as a case, its significance lies. One of the first comments Breuer makes of Bertha is that she has never been in love and that "The element of sexuality was astonishingly underdeveloped in her...in all the enormous numbers of hallucinations which occurred during her illness that element of mental life never emerged."