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Sigmund Freud ANALYSIS OF A PHOBIA IN A FIVE YEAR OLD BOY

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ANALYSIS OF A PHOBIA IN A FIVE YEAR

OLD BOY

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BACK GROUND AND CONTEXT

 Sigmund Freud was a practising therapist who developed his theories from his

own observations of his patients, and his reflections on his own experience. He wrote case histories in terms of his recollections and interpretations of the

interviews and did not keep complete ongoing records. Little Hans is a child patient which Freud reported on.

 Freud‟s theoretical aspects of work are referred to as psychoanalysis. One of

the key themes of Freud‟s work is the importance of the first few years of life in the subsequent development of personality. He also believed that children

experience emotional conflicts, and their future adjustment depends on how well these conflicts are resolved.

 This case study confirmed the oedipal complex set out in Three essays on the

Theory of Sexuality. The study also demonstrated the origin of phobias, and use of dream analysis and free association.

 This study is unusual in two respects. First it is the analysis of a child (Hans)

and freud usually dealt with adults. Secondly, the therapy was carried out by correspondence and interview with the boy‟s father, rather than with the child himself.

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KEY TERMS

 Psychoanalysis- Freud‟s theory of personality which describes how human

behaviour is affected by unconscious thoughts and feelings

 Unconscious mind- The part of our mind that is beyond our conscious

awareness

 Libido- Frued‟s concept of internal motivational energy commonly taken to

mean the sex drive

 Phobia- An anxiety disorder characterized by persistent fear out of

proportion to the danger, a compelling desire to escape the situation, and a recognition that the fear is excessive

 Oedipus Complex- According to Freud, the conflict between a boy‟s desire for

his mother, and the fear of punishment by castration for that desire by his father

 Symptom substitution-The situation where the treatment and removal of one

symptom is ultimately followed by the development of another symptom, because the cause of the disorder has not been dealt with

 Widdler = penis; Widdling = peeing; Lumf = faeces (poo); Coaxing =

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AIM & HYPOTHESIS

To understand and treat the “phobia” of a five year old

boy

To use case study approach as a form of helping and

as a piece of scientific research

To report the findings of the treatment of a five-year-old boy

for his phobia

To support freud‟s theory of sexuality and genesis of mental

disorders such as phobia

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Hypothesis-METHODOLOGY

Sample: Hans , a five year old boy with problems

of phobia

Research Design (Case Study Method)

Data: Qualitative data (Interviews, recorded

conversations)

Main Variable (DV)- Phobia

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PROCEDURE

Case study happened during 3- 5 years of Hans.

His father recorded events and conversations

with Hans and sent these regularly to Freud.

Both Freud and Father offered interpretations of

Hans behaviour

Confronted Hans with unconscious causes by

revealing to him his hidden motivations and

consciously discussing them

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Year Hans age Event

1903 Hans Born

1906 3-3 ¾ First Reports

3 ¼ - 3 ½ Summer Holidays, First Visit to Gmunden 3 ½ Castration anxiety

3 ½ Hanna Born 1907 3 ¾ First Dream

4 Removal to New Flat

4 ¼ - 4 ½ Second Visit to Gmunden, episode of biting horse 1908 4 ¾ Episode of falling horse, start of phobia

5 Recovery, end of analysis

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RESULTS

Event Freudian Interpretation Conclusion

Anxiety of Mother‟s desertion Arousal for taken into mothers bed for

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FINDINGS

 Hans was fascinated by his „widdler‟. He observed that animals had big ones

and probably so did both his parents because they were grown ups

 Hans spent lot of time alone with his mother over the summer holiday and

realized he liked having her to himself. He wished that his father would stay away.

 He also felt hostile towards his new baby sister who further separated Hans

from his mother. He expressed this indirectly in his fear of baths because he thought his mother would drop him ( in fact, he wished his mother would drop his little sister, the desire he projected elsewhere because of the anxiety it aroused)

 Horses and anxiety: (1) Hans once heard a man say to a child “ do not put

your finger to the white horse or it will bite you” (2) Hans asked his mother if she would like to put her finger on his widdler. His mother told him that would not be proper. Therefore Hans learned that touching a white horse or a

widdler was undesirable. Hans desire for his mother created a sense of anxiety and fear that she might leave him if he persisted in asking her to

touch his widdler. Unconsciously this anxiety gave him fright of being bitten by a white horse

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FINDINGS

 More anxiety was created by the fact that Hans mother told hans that if he

played with his widdler, it would be cut off. Hans father told him that women have no widdlers. Hans reasoned that his mother‟s must have been cut off-and she might do the same to him

 Dream about Giraffe-Hans dreamt that there were two giraffes – one

crumpled and one big. He took away the crumpled and this made big one cry out. This might represent Hans wish to take away his mother (crumpled)

causing his father to cry out.

 Symbolism- Freud suggested to hans that the black around horses mouth and

the blinkers in front of their eyes were like his father‟s moustaches and glasses. Hans might envy these symbols of adulthood because they might give him the right to have woman‟s love.

 Further horse anxieties- Hans told his father that he was afraid of horses

falling down and if they were laden (with furniture) this might lead them to fall down. Hans also remembered seeing a horse fall down and thinking it was dead. He secretly wished his father would fall down dead and this made Hans more anxious.

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FINDINGS

 The „lumf‟ obsession- Hans became preoccupied with bowel movements.

Freud suggested that laden vehicles represented pregnancy and when they overturn it symbolises giving birth. Thus falling horse was both his father dying and mother giving birth

 The plumber- Hans was in a bath and the plumber stuck a big borer into his

stomach. Freud called this a fantasy of procreation. The bath is the mother‟s womb and the borer s father‟s penis, which created him.

 The resolution- Hans became less afraid of horses because he had worked

through his fantasies and understood their real meaning- they were no longer unconscious and he could deal with them. He developed two final fantasies which showed that his feelings about his father were resolved. (1) the

plumber came and first took away my behind with a pair of pincers, and then he gave me another and then the same with my widdler (2) Hans told his

father that he was now the daddy and not the mummy of his imaginary children, thus showing that he had moved from wishing his father dead to identifying with him

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CONCLUSION

This Provides support for Freud‟s theory of

Psychosexual development, and evidence for Freud‟s

explanation of the origins of disordered behaviour

Neuroses in early childhood are relatively normal.

Phobias area the conscious expressions of repressed

anxieties

Freud concluded that it might be generally useful to

apply the same principles of psychoanalysis to all

children to free them of repressed wishes that

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EVALUATION

Freud Study Evaluation Reductionist Experimente r‟s effect validity usefulness application Qualitative vs quantiative Longitudinal vs snap shot Case study ethics Androcentric bias ethonocentric

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EVALUATION

 Reductionist-A major problem with Freud's arguments is that other

explanations can be found for Little Hans' phobias. For example, Bowlby, who was also a psychoanalyst, argued that Hans' phobia could be explained in terms of attachment theory. Bowlby believed that most of Hans' anxiety arose from threats by the mother to desert the family. A further, and simpler,

explanation for Hans' phobia is that he was classically conditioned to fear horses. Or in other words, Hans witnessed a horse fall and collapse in the street. Hans then generalised this fear to all horses.

 Experimenter‟s effect-As the analysis and the discussions were mostly carried

out by the father, who already had favourable view of freudian‟s theory which therefore may have caused his influence in discussions.

 Case Study-The case study provided a very in-depth picture producing lots of

qualitative data.

 Application-Case studies, such as this one carried out by Freud, are

particularly useful in revealing and treating the origins of abnormal behaviour. In fact some forms of psychotherapy rely on building up a long and detailed case history as an aid to understanding and then helping the client

 Generalization-This case study only relates to one individual and we therefore

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EVALUATION

 Validity- This case study is really Freud's interpretations of Hans' father's

interpretation of his son's own phobia. Freud only saw Little Hans on one or two occasions. It can be argued that this leads to a drastic reduction in objectivity, particularly as the father was a supporter of Freud‟s ideas.

 Androcentric - This study describes the Oedipus complex which is of course

unique to boys. Girls, Freud argued, develop penis envy, which later becomes converted into a desire to bear children as the young child begins to recognise that it is impossible for her to develop a penis of her own.

 Ethnocentric- The idea of the Oedipus complex is ethnocentric because Freud

assumed that all boys must experience this stage. This may only apply to

families where both parents live and rear the children together. There may be other cultures or cases where single parents raising children and this may not be applicable then.

 Usefulness- The conclusions drawn from this study has upheld freudian‟s

psycho sexual development, defense mechanisms and unconscious mind, and childhood experiences influencing the personality development.

 Quantitative Vs qualitative data- Use of qualitative data enhances the validity

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EVALUATION

 Longitudinal Vs snap shot- the study was undertaken for period of three years

to understand and offer treatments to phobia. Though little Hans was

remedied of phobia, it takes time and effort, and expertise in psychoanalysis to serve its purpose.

 Ethics

 Harm: Suggestibility as symptom substitution typically done in psychoanalysis may also lead to

new problems while solving the one up front. So, there is a greater risk that it may exacerbate the problems.

 As parents have brought the child into therapy, it does satisfy the informed consent. But

objectivity, confidentiality or privacy seem to have been breached although it is for a better reason so as to contribute to the paradigm.

References

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