Class 11 Notes - Dora Case Study. Freud PDF

Preview

Summary

Dora Case Study. Freud...

Description

February 21st -

Freud is discovering the question of how “I” is dissolving, because there is an unconscious that exists and may be driving what the human is doing - Much of what we are doing we are not doing because of conscious decisions but because of drives or wishes that Freud is slowly discovering that are formulating and giving us the path of how to live - In the case of Dora, this is particularly dramatic because he thinks he has it down already because of the interpretation of the dreams - He knows the dreams are the royal road to the unconscious and has mentioned it in the interpretation of dreams and knows what to do with this case - Asked Dora not just to talk in terms of free associations but also to tell him her dreams

-

Childhood was a cultural revolution - People used to think of children just as small humans, free labor - But the bourgeoisie eventually developed childhood, you were seen as a good parent if you could allow your child to have a childhood

-

Children were sexualized, there was a market for pornographic images of both adults and even children as sexual objects

-

Leads to the development of Freud’s phases of human development - He redefines sex as desire - The moment you think of it as desire you have a totally different picture - You shift the agency from being the object of desire to having desire yourself - Sex is no longer something played out with your primary sexual organs, not just with genitals, not just intercourse

Reading: Dora Case Study -

Freud argues that dream interpretation is crucial to understanding hysteria

-

Dora is an 18 year old girl whose father was treated by Freud for an attack of paralysis, the father brings her to Freud later thinking she’s neurotic - She is an ordinary hysteric patient, both physically and mentally, but Freud says talking about ordinary hysteria is useful

-

Freud says hysterical symptoms stem from either psychological trauma or problems in the patient’s sexual life - For Dora, what were her experiences while her father was recuperating - The dad became close friends with a married couple, Herr and Frau K. - Dora developed a close friendship with Herr K. - Dora says Herr made an indecent proposal to her during one of their walks but he denies this ever happened, Dora’s after agreed that Dora imagined this - Freud thinks this experience was sufficiently traumatic to have influenced Dora’s hysteria, but not explain it completely because some of her symptoms existed before this incident

-

Freud finds it odd that Dora was disgusted by a situation that should be elicited sexual excitement - This reversal of affect is crucial to understanding Dora’s neuroses - He argues Dora experienced a displacement of sensation - Instead of feeling genital stimulation, she experienced a feeling localized in the mucous membrane of the mouth - The memory of Herr’s erect penis against her body was repressed and replaced by the pressure she feels in her chest

-

Dora’s father refused to end his friendship with the Ks and Dora had evidence that her dad and Frau were having an affair - Freud thinks though there is some truth here, Dora’s reproaches against her father are intended to mask her own faults - Dora would lose her voice the same length of time Herr K. would spend away from B--, so Freud says her illness demonstrates her love for him - When he left her, speech had no value because she could not talk to the person she loved

-

But he also says there must be something wrong somatically for hysteria to happen

-

Dora said her dad was feigning illness to further his own interests and Freud thinks this is a self-reproach as she was also guilty of doing this - Her irritated throat results from her imagining that Frau and her dad are having oral sex

-

Freud says Dora acted more like a jealous wife than a concerned daughter - Dora is in love with her father, sparked during childhood - Dora told her cousin when she was young that she hated her mother and was

going to marry her father -

Dora might be in love with Frau as well - Freud asserts that when the sexual libido towards men is suppressed, a hysterical patient often directs her affection to someone of the same sex

-

Dora has a recurring dream that her father wakes her up because the house is on fire, she gets dressed quickly to leave but her mom wants to look for her jewel-case before going - Her dad explains that she will not let himself and his children die to save the case - Real life situation possibly reflecting it: her father is afraid of an emergency or of the wood house they’re staying in catching on fire - Freud is certain this dream is somehow related to the incident with Herr K. - But Dora did not have this dream when they were staying in L-- in the wood house - One day when Dora was napping she awoke to see Herr standing beside her and he replied that he would not be stopped from coming into his bedroom when he wanted, she locked the door but the key went missing and she thinks he took it

-

Theory of dreams: dreams are the realization of unconscious wishes and because of repression the dream’s content is disguised - But there are exceptions like Dora’s: her dreams are a continuation of thoughts formed during the day

-

Significance of the jewel case: Herr gave Dora a jewel case, so Freud asserts that a return present would have been appropriate - Jewel case is also slang for female genitals - Dora’s mother was angry that her father ignored her wishes, buying her a bracelet instead of pearl earrings, and refused to accept the gift - So Dora was worried that her jewel case was in danger because of Herr K and if anything happened, it would be her father’s fault so in the dream she expressed her feelings in their opposite, where her father was saving her - The dream is really about her attraction to Herr, whereas her mother refused to accept the gift from her father, Dora repressed the feeling that she needed to give Herr a return “present” for the jewel case - Really she was repressing her sexual attraction to Herr

-

Dora stated that an accident might happen in her brother’s room and they’d need to leave (in the dream)

-

A dream often sets up a connection between a momentous event in childhood and events of the present, so Dora’s statement reveals something about her past Dora used to wet the bed at an older age than usual Most common cause of bedwetting is masturbation and Dora admits she masturbated as a child, she also knows her dad has an STD So there is a self accusation behind her disease, she thinks she might have an STD, in Freud’s opinion she believes that the cause is her masturbation

-

Dora adds that upon waking from the dream she smelt smoke - Freud, Herr, Dora’s father are all passionate smokers - She had also smoked while at L-- and Herr K rolled a cigarette before making his advance - So the smoke represents her longing to kiss a man - Freud thinks Dora has thought about kissing him and has begun developing feelings for him through transference

-

Dor has another dream walking in a strange town and suddenly arriving at the place she lives, she goes to a room and finds a letter from her mother writing her that her father died and that she can come to the funeral if she wants. Dora goes to the train station asking people on the way for its location, receiving the same answer that it’s 5 minutes away - She walks into a forest and sees a man there who says its 2.5 more hours, she sees the station later but cannot reach it. Suddenly she is home and can’t remember going home from the station. The maid alerts her that her mother has already left for the cemetery

-

Freud’s analysis of the dream: Dora walked through a strange town because she saw the place in photographs (Christmas present photo album) - Dora wrote a letter telling her parents she was leaving home to scare her father so he would end his relationship with Frau, so the letter in her dream sprang from a fantasy of revenge directed against her father (her father died from grief at Dora leaving home) - Dora realizes the wording of the letter resembles the invitation Frau sent her to visit L--, confirming that her incident with him left an impression - After the incident she slapped him and tried to walk home alone, asking a man on the way how far the town was and he said 2.5 hours (in real life)

-

Another piece of information about the dream, in the dream she went calmly to her room and started to read a big book - Freud asks if it was an encyclopedia and Dora remembers a time when her

-

cousin had appendicitis and she looked it up in an encyclopedia Shortly after this event she experienced the symptoms of appendicitis The appendicis attack took place nine months after the incident at the lake, so Freud concludes Dora used the condition to realize a fantasy of childbirth

-

Dora decides unexpectedly to end her treatment and tells Freud she made up her mind two weeks ago, he said that sounds like a two weeks warning someone gives their employer - She tells him about a governess who gave a two weeks warning to Herr - Herr made advances to the governess who rebuked them and told her parents what happened, and they told her to return home at once - Freud concluded that Dora slapped Herr because she felt insulted he used the same tactics and words to her as he did to the governess - Dora identified with the governess and wrote a letter to her parents after the incident just like the governess had done

-

Freud concluded that Dora took the incident with Herr more seriously than she let on, overcome by feelings of jealousy and embarrassment when he made his advances but deep down she had hoped his affection for her was true - According to Freud she was waiting for him to get a divorce and marry her when she was older but felt heartbroken when he denied the event at the lake and gave up his romantic intentions

-

Dora listens to Freud but still leaves and does not come back for treatment - Freud regrets that just as he thought he would resolve the case, she left - He asserts her decision was an act of vengeance

-

Dora case study presents a complex power dynamic between her and Freud, as throughout she questions his assessments of her feelings and motivations...