Freud : his dream and sex theories / by Joseph Jastrow.

  • Joseph Jastrow
Date:
1948,
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Freud : his dream and sex theories / by Joseph Jastrow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    against whom the maid had a grudge, in that, start¬ ing from the same station in life as herself, she had advanced socially and was now a trusted employee in the factory belonging to the head of the house. The maid was dismissed; but the patient, despite her rational conviction of the baselessness of the charge, was emotionally troubled by it; it rankled and would not subside. After two hours of analysis, she reached the stage of having nothing more to say; she was prepared to drop the procedure. She declared that she already felt cured and was confident that the obsession would vanish. “In these two hours, however, she had let fall cer¬ tain remarks which made possible definite interpre¬ tation, indeed made it. incontestable; and this inter¬ pretation throws a clear light on the origin of her obsession of jealousy. Namely, she herself was very much infatuated with a certain young man, the very same son-in-law upon whose urging she had come to consult me professionally. She knew nothing of this infatuation, or at least only a very little. Because of the existing relationship, it was very easy for this infatuation to masquerade under the guise of harm¬ less tenderness. With all our further experience, it is not difficult to feel our way toward an understanding of the psychic life of this honest woman and good mother. Such an infatuation, a monstrous, impossible thing, could not be allowed to become conscious. But it continued to exist and unconsciously exerted a heavy pressure. Something had to happen, some sort of relief had to be found, and the mechanism of dis¬ placement which so constantly takes part in the origin of obsessional jealousy, offered the most im¬ mediate mitigation. If not only she, old woman that she was, was in love with a young man, but if also
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