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WHAT IS PSYCHOANALYSIS? 
 
WHAT IS 
 PSYCHOANALYSIS? 
 
 BY 
 
 ISADOR H. CORI AT, M.D. 
 
 First Assistant Visiting Physician for Diseases of 
 
 the Nervous System, Boston City Hospital. 
 
 Author of "Abnormal Psychology," etc. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 
 
 1917 
 
T3f 
 
 113 
 
 en* 
 
 Copyright, 1917, by 
 MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY 
 
 Published, March, 1917 
 
 p] 
 
 APR -6 1917 
 
 ?r 
 
 ^CI.A457830 
 
"THE FUTURE I MAY FACE NOW 
 I HAVE PROVED THE PAST." 
 Browning"* "Rabbi Ben Ezra" 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The origin and purpose of this book may 
 be stated in a few words. From time to time 
 physicians, clergymen, social workers and 
 laymen have made certain enquiries concern- 
 ing psychoanalysis, with particular reference 
 to its aim and purpose and its field of use- 
 fulness as a therapeutic procedure. These 
 questions were recorded and the answers 
 planned, partly on the basis of the theory of 
 psychoanalysis and partly in the meeting of 
 certain objections and criticisms which were 
 made at the time the questions were an- 
 swered. Much of this data is incorporated 
 in the present little volume. 
 
 The answers to these questions, while ex- 
 plaining psychoanalysis, have at the same 
 time provided suggestions for mental hy- 
 
 7 
 
Introduction 
 
 giene and character formation. It is hoped 
 that this volume will answer satisfactorily 
 the various enquiries which puzzle people in 
 a scientific field so new and epoch-making 
 and so little understood as that of psycho- 
 analysis. The nature of the book renders a 
 little repetition necessary and unavoidable. 
 The neuroses are the most distressing and 
 frequent of human ills, and to a greater de- 
 gree than physical diseases, they lead to so- 
 cial inefficiency. In severe bodily disorders, 
 the patient can utilize his inner resources for 
 compensation and consolation, but in the 
 neuroses he is robbed of these resources, 
 since the mind is torn by emotional conflicts. 
 It is here that psychoanalysis is most effica- 
 cious, because it brings relief from within, 
 from the inner resources of the sufferer. 
 Psychoanalysis is recognized to-day as the 
 most important advance in methods of a ra- 
 tional and scientific psychotherapy. It is 
 applicable to all nervous disorders of mental 
 
 8 
 
Introduction 
 
 origin which make up so large a part of the 
 practise of medicine. 
 
 This volume does not profess to teach psy- 
 choanalysis as this can be learned only by 
 long training and study by one already ex- 
 perienced in nervous and mental diseases. 
 The character of the book permits only a 
 minimum of theory and discussion. A brief 
 bibliography is appended for those who may 
 wish further information on the subject. 
 
 ISADOR H. CORIAT. 
 
 Boston, January, 1917. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction 7 
 
 Questions and Answers on Psychoanalysis . IS 
 
 Hints for Reading 121 
 
 Index 125 
 
WHAT IS PSYCHOANALYSIS? 
 
 Arranged in Questions and Answers 
 Q. What is psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. Psychoanalysis is the most recent and 
 advanced therapeutic procedure for the 
 treatment of the neuroses. It is what its 
 name implies, an analysis of the mind. 
 Other psychotherapeutic methods deal only 
 with the superficial manifestations of the 
 neuroses and therefore cannot produce a 
 fundamental cure. Psychoanalysis con- 
 cerns itself primarily with the cause of symp- 
 toms, with their real underlying mechanism. 
 It not only penetrates into the origin of 
 symptoms, but the analysis at the same time 
 is the treatment. 
 
 It is a study of man's unconscious motives 
 13 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 and desires as shown in various nervous dis- 
 turbances and in certain manifestations of 
 every-day life in normal individuals. r It has 
 been demonstrated that the manifold symp- 
 toms of the neuroses result from unfulfilled 
 desires, often extending back to the earliest 
 years of childhood. These desires not only 
 influence the formation of character traits, 
 but likewise are responsible for many forms 
 of nervous illness. 
 
 Q. Where and under what conditions did 
 psychoanalysis originate? 
 
 A. The evolution of psychoanalysis forms 
 an interesting chapter in the history of 
 medicine. It was in 1881 that Freud, in 
 association with Breuer of Vienna, whose 
 name is well known for his researches on the 
 physiology of the semicircular canals, 
 started to treat a young woman who was 
 suffering from hysteria. The usual means 
 
 14 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 were tried in vain, until it was found that 
 the facts offered by the patient in expla- 
 nation of her condition represented only a 
 part of the history. This was not due to a 
 deliberate attempt on the part of the patient 
 to conceal her medical antecedents, but as 
 it later developed, to an unconscious repres- 
 sion, because the emotional state which was 
 a part of these concealed facts represented 
 painful experiences. Finally by a pro- 
 cedure, which later developed into the 
 refinements of the psychoanalytic method, 
 many hidden experiences of the past with 
 their attached emotions were brought to 
 light, and it was shown that it was these 
 experiences which caused the hysterical con- 
 dition. These memories, although buried 
 in the unconscious, were active and living 
 forces, and only when they were lived over 
 again did a cure take place. They were 
 not merely forgotten but repressed, al- 
 though unconsciously so, and it was only 
 
 15 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 when this repression was overcome that the 
 patient began to improve. 
 
 At first hypnosis was employed to revive 
 the forgotten memories, but later it was dis- 
 covered that hypnpsis was not necessary in 
 psychoanalysis, and since then its use has 
 been abandoned. In 1895 Breuer and 
 Freud published their studies on the mechan- 
 ism of hysteria, in which it was shown that 
 the hysterical symptoms arose from reminis- 
 cences unknown to and forgotten by the 
 sufferer. They demonstrated that the for- 
 getting was a purposeful act, in the same 
 way that a normal individual conveniently 
 "forgets" the unpleasant experiences of 
 one's life. 
 
 In 1900, Freud published his great work 
 on the "Interpretation of Dreams," and 
 there was opened up a new field of investiga- 
 tion of the unconscious in both normal and 
 abnormal conditions. Nervous patients 
 frequently related strange dreams to him 
 
 16 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 and it was found that each dream possessed 
 a profound personal significance for the 
 dreamer, in fact, it was the outgrowth, some- 
 times literal, sometimes symbolic, of the 
 individual's unconscious mental life. It 
 was definitely proven that every dream was 
 the fulfillment of repressed wishes. Dream 
 analysis revealed the mechanism of delu- 
 sions, morbid fears, hysteria, fixed ideas and 
 compulsive thinking and at the same time it 
 provided neurology the most potent instru- 
 ment for the removal of these abnormal 
 symptoms in the form of what became 
 known as the psychoanalytic treatment. 
 \ Thus the fundamental and basic idea of 
 Freud's work is that a large number of 
 normal and abnormal mental processes come: 
 from hidden sources, unknown and unsus- 
 pected by the individual. The gulf between 
 normal thinking and abnormal mental states 
 has been definitely bridged by psychoanaly- 
 sis, for instance, when it is stated, that the 
 
 17 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 normal "forgetting' ' of an unpleasant expe- 
 rience is identical but to a more limited 
 degree, with the repressions of an hysteric. 
 
 Q. To what other fields of investigation 
 has psychoanalysis been applied besides that 
 of medicine? 
 
 A. Psychoanalysis has entered many new 
 fields of thought. These various principles 
 of Freud's psychology and the psychoana- 
 lytic method have been successfully applied 
 in not only helping the nervously ill, but the 
 same fundamental principles have been used 
 to interpret the unconscious sources of wit, 
 literary creations, myths, folk lore and the 
 slips of the tongue and forgetting of normal 
 individuals* It was demonstrated that the 
 unconscious mental processes which formed 
 dreams were identical with those at work in 
 imaginative creations in literature, in wit, 
 in the social consciousness and in that folk 
 
 18 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 spirit from which myths and folk lore are 
 elaborated. 
 
 Psychoanalysis is beginning to found a 
 new ethics as well as a new psychology, a 
 new neurology and a new school of literary 
 criticism. It bears the same relation in all 
 its principles to the human mind, and to the 
 social consciousness, as biology does to the 
 organic world. 
 
 Freud's principal works are his papers on 
 hysteria and the psychoneuroses, the three 
 contributions to the sexual theory, the work 
 on interpretation of dreams, 1 the psycho- 
 pathology of everyday life, the monograph 
 entitled "Totem and Taboo," the psycho- 
 analytic study of Leonardo da Vinci and 
 finally the contribution on wit and its rela- 
 tion to the unconscious. 
 
 In his three contributions to the sexual 
 theory, Freud deals principally with the 
 
 iSee the answer to the question on the origin of psycho- 
 analysis. 
 
 19 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 development of the sexual instinct in its 
 relationship to repression, both social and 
 individual, and the part played by repression 
 in the evolution of abnormal mental states. 
 
 In the psychopathology of everyday life 
 it is shown, that the unconscious mental 
 mechanism which produces errors in writing 
 and speech, the forgetting of familiar names 
 and words, slips of tongue and the like, is 
 identical with the mental mechanism which 
 produces the psychoneuroses. 
 
 The work on "Totem and Taboo" is 
 devoted to demonstrating that the individual 
 and social defense reactions and the symboli- 
 zation of repressed feelings is the same in 
 savage man as in the educated individual, 
 that is, the taboos of a primitive group are 
 essentially identical with the taboos of 
 civilized society. 
 
 The study of Leonardo da Vinci is based 
 upon a fragment of one of Leonardo's in- 
 fantile memories and by a most ingenious 
 
 20 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 logic, this fragment is utilized to explain 
 Leonardo's greatness as an artist and man 
 of science and to fathom the mystery of the 
 smile of Mona Lisa. 
 
 In the book on wit it is shown that wit and 
 laughter are merely methods through which 
 the unconscious obtains the greatest amount 
 of pleasure within the shortest space of time 
 and that the psychological structure of a 
 joke very much resembles the psychological 
 structure of a dream. 
 
 In addition to Freud, other investigators 
 have published valuable studies and investi- 
 gations on the various medical and cultural 
 aspects of psychoanalysis, such as the rela- 
 tion between myths and dreams, compara- 
 tive mythology, sketches of great artists and 
 finally psychoanalytic interpretations of 
 complex literary creations, such as Hamlet 
 and LadyMacbeth. 
 
 21 
 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. To whom should the practise of psy- 
 choanalysis be limited? 
 
 A. To those thoroughly trained in the 
 theory of psychoanalysis and in general 
 psychopathology. For an untrained person 
 to use psychoanalysis is as much to be 
 deprecated as it is for some one to use 
 radium who is ignorant of the physics of 
 radio-activity or as dangerous as to attempt 
 a surgical operation without a knowledge 
 of anatomy. 
 
 Q. What is the attitude of physicians 
 trained in nervous and mental diseases, 
 towards psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. Some are sympathetic, others antag- 
 onize the psychoanalytic movement. On 
 reading the criticisms of psychoanalysis, 
 however, it will be found that they are 
 chiefly remarkable for their complete mis- 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 apprehension of the theories and purposes 
 of psychoanalysis. There is a refusal to 
 make an honest examination of the subject. 
 The chief misunderstandings are along the 
 lines of the sexual etiology of the neuroses, 
 the manner in which psychoanalysis works, 
 transference, 1 and the technical methods of 
 dream analysis and interpretation. 
 
 Q. Can psychoanalysis be harmful? 
 
 A. "Wild" psychoanalysis is a term first 
 introduced by Freud and refers to the 
 gross errors into which some physicians fall 
 who have a hazy idea of the principles and 
 teachings of psychoanalysis and attempt to 
 apply them in their practise. The serious 
 errors which may take place are incorrect 
 advice concerning sexual difficulties, an 
 over-emphasis on the part of the psycho- 
 analyst on sexual matters, when these are 
 
 i Explained in the answer to the question on trans- 
 ference, j^^y 37 
 
What is Psy choanal o 
 
 shown merely as symbols in the dreams or 
 symptoms of the neurosis and the improper 
 utilization of the transference. Further- 
 more, the mental factor in the neuroses must 
 not be overlooked, neither must the analyst 
 fall into the error that it is the ignorance of 
 sexual matters which needs enlightenment 
 and which are producing the neurosis. In ad- 
 dition, in the sexual neuroses, such as homo- 
 sexuality, the advice which is usually given 
 concerning attempts at sexual indulgence, is 
 to be strongly condemned, partly for moral 
 reasons and partly for the fact that the 
 patient does not need such advice, as he is 
 fully aware of his difficulties. The analysis 
 must be non-personal, the physician must be 
 the scientist. During the course of the 
 analysis, the reading of psychoanalytic liter- 
 ature must be strongly advised against, 
 since such reading may produce a mental 
 attitude which becomes a strong resist- 
 ance. 
 
 24 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. What is the cause of certain failures 
 in psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. Failures in psychoanalysis are due 
 either to bad technique, the lack of trans- 
 ference, the strength of resistance * and 
 finally to the type of case which the physi- 
 cian is attempting to treat. If the technique 
 is at fault, the physician is unable to interpret 
 or root out the unconscious factors of the 
 neurosis or he may be unable to handle the 
 transference or resistances as they should be 
 handled. In those cases which do not prog- 
 ress to recovery after treatment has been 
 carried out for a sufficiently long period, it 
 will be found that the failure is due either 
 to— 
 
 1. Impossibility of a complete transfer- 
 ence. 
 
 2. The development of resistance due to 
 
 i Both this term and also "transference," which are so 
 important for psychoanalysis, are explained in the answers 
 to the questions dealing with these subjects. 
 25 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 some present situation or to a mooring to 
 infantile factors. 
 
 3. Inability to break down the disturbing 
 unconscious complexes. 
 
 4. A desire on the part of the patient to 
 retain the neurosis, since the neurosis acts as 
 a withdrawal from a reality which was found 
 to be unbearable. In other words, under 
 these conditions, paradoxical as it may seem, 
 the neryous illness is preferred to mental 
 health, since the neryous illness acts as a sort 
 of a protector. 
 
 5. In imperfectly selected cases, since 
 psychoanalysis should not be used in delir- 
 ious states, in persons oyer fifty years of age, 
 since their neryous systems lack a certain 
 plasticity, in cases of acute hysteria or in 
 seyere mental diseases. 
 
 Q. Has psychoanalysis definite laws ? 
 
 A. Yes, as definite as the laws of grayi- 
 26 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 tation, even though it deals with mental 
 instead of physical phenomena. Psycho- 
 analysis is both scientific and technical and 
 from its data there has developed a new 
 science. It has nothing to do with the ordi- 
 nary history of the nervous illness as given 
 by the patient, for the latter tells his physi- 
 cian only his conscious thoughts which are 
 revealed either as replies to direct questions 
 or as a spontaneous recital of the difficulties. 
 Patients too frequently attribute their 
 nervous illness to circumstances which act 
 merely as precipitating causes and bear no 
 relation to the real, underlying motive of the 
 illness. The most frequent of these miscon- 
 ceptions is attributing their neurosis to over- 
 work. It is the reduction of these conscious 
 contents of the mind through certain well 
 recognized and elaborated technical methods 
 to their real unconscious sources in the 
 matters of cause and effect, with which 
 psychoanalysis primarily deals. 
 
 27 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Psychoanalysis presupposes that there is 
 no mental effect without its cause and con- 
 sequently nervous symptoms are not chance 
 and haphazard products, but are related to 
 definite mental processes which are re- 
 pressed in the patient's unconscious. This 
 relation of mental cause and effect is called 
 determinism. By means of the study of 
 dreams and symptomatic actions and some- 
 times by use of the association tests, psy- 
 choanalysis traces out each symptom in the 
 patient's life history. Sometimes these 
 symptoms are found to be deeply buried in 
 the earliest years of childhood. It handles 
 what are known as the patient's emotional 
 transferences, finds out the cause for any 
 resistance to the analysis and finally guides 
 the patient to a utilization of his energy 
 along more useful social lines than that of 
 the neurotic conflict. All this requires the 
 expert trained in the theoretical and prac- 
 tical aspects of psychoanalysis. 
 
 28 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. Does psychoanalysis apply to the ab- 
 normal only? 
 
 A. No, it also gives an insight into the 
 workings of normal minds and it may assist \ 
 in changing certain detrimental character 
 traits in those who are actually not nervously 
 ill. 
 
 Q. Have the methods of psychoanalysis 
 been proven practically and theoretically? 
 
 A. Entirely so, since the practical results 
 in the cure of cases of severe nervous illness 
 completely harmonizes with the theories 
 which lie at the basis of psychoanalysis. 
 
 Q. What types of cases are most suitable 
 for psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. The cases to which psychoanalysis is 
 applicable and in which its best results are 
 29 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 recorded, consist principally of the severe 
 hysterias, the compulsion neuroses and 
 anxiety neuroses (formerly grouped under 
 the term of psychasthenia) stammering, 
 neurasthenia, sexual neurasthenia, the sex- 
 ual neuroses (sadism, masochism, homo- 
 sexuality, psychical impotence, etc.), and 
 finally certain psychoses, such as mild cases 
 of manic-depressive insanity, and in the 
 early stages of dementia precox and para- 
 noiac states. Psychoanalysis may also be 
 of help in cases of kleptomania and in 
 determining the underlying motives in 
 certain cases of juvenile delinquency when 
 these are uncomplicated by mental defect 
 or feeble mindedness. 
 
 Q. What class of patients are most diffi- 
 cult to treat by psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. Persons over fifty, cases of severe 
 stammering and cases of far advanced 
 
 30 
 
What is Psychoanalysis, 
 
 paranoia or dementia praecox. A skeptical 
 attitude is no obstacle to a successful psy- 
 choanalysis since this skepticism is a form of 
 resistance which can easily be overcome. 
 
 Q. Does psychoanalysis tend to produce 
 an unhealthy introspection? 
 
 A. On the contrary, its methods are 
 directly opposed to those of introspection. 
 
 Q. How does psychoanalysis differ from 
 mere introspection? 
 
 A. Introspection merely records the 
 superficial facts of consciousness. It makes 
 no attempt to trace the cause of our various 
 ideas, neither does it examine the uncon- 
 scious contents and motives of the human 
 mind. 
 
 Q. Is psychoanalysis a kind of confes- 
 sion? 
 
 31 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. A great relief may be gained by a 
 secular confession and yet the confession of 
 a repressed idea or a secret mental anguish 
 does not cure and if improvement takes 
 place, it is only temporary. This fact in 
 itself invalidates the idea that the beneficial 
 effect of psychoanalysis is through free un- 
 burdening and mental catharsis. Psycho- 
 analysis works through transference, the 
 overcoming of resistances, its ability to pen- 
 etrate into the unconscious and not to a free 
 confession. 
 
 Q. Does not the element of suggestion 
 enter into psychoanalysis; that is, the 
 patient's belief or faith that the method em- 
 ployed will cure him? 
 
 A. Under no circumstances. If psy- 
 choanalysis is carried out in the manner it 
 should be, no explanations or suggestions 
 are made to the patient during the course of 
 
 88 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 treatment. Gradually the patient begins to 
 see things for himself, begins to understand 
 his inner life and actually starts to get well 
 or even be cured before he grasps the real 
 significance of the psychoanalytic procedure. 
 Furthermore, a large percentage of patients 
 undertake the psychoanalytic treatment 
 with a great deal of skepticism, as they have 
 become profoundly discouraged from their 
 previous attempts to get well. Psychoanal- 
 ysis helps, not because of explanations or 
 suggestion, but because it teaches a policy 
 of non-resistance towards the neurosis and 
 takes the responsibility (transference) of 
 the cure. Non-resistance is the first step in 
 a psychoanalysis. 
 
 Q. How does psychoanalysis differ from 
 suggestion? 
 
 A. Those who have first used suggestive 
 methods and later substituted psychoanaly- 
 33 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 sis for them, have seen the immeasurable 
 superiority of the latter over the former. 
 Psychoanalysis reaches the fundamental 
 difficulties of the nervous illness, whereas 
 suggestion merely side tracks it, or covers it 
 up for the time being. The most important 
 instrument of psychoanalysis is the interpre- 
 tations of the dreams, as throwing light 
 upon the real unconscious of the nervous 
 sufferer, for it is in the unconscious that the 
 neurosis has taken its origin. Both the 
 dreams and the neurosis originate from the 
 same unconscious sources. The method by 
 which psychoanalysis works is directly 
 opposite to the usual psychotherapeutic pro- 
 cedures of hypnosis, persuasion and sugges- 
 tion. 
 
 Freud has emphasized the difference 
 between psychoanalysis and suggestion, by 
 pointing out that the former takes some- 
 thing away, that is the power which the 
 abnormal mental processes have over the 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 patient, while the latter puts something on, 
 in adding the force of the suggestion in 
 opposition to that of the neurosis. In the 
 most efficacious method of suggestion, that 
 is hypnosis, it is well known that it is practi- 
 cally impossible to hypnotize certain people, 
 while every one can be psychoanalyzed. 
 Psychoanalysis does not force anything 
 upon the patient which the latter does not 
 see for himself and which meets with his 
 understanding. Psychoanalysis brings self 
 knowledge, although this self knowledge is 
 not acquired without a struggle. 
 
 Q. Is the cure wholly due to psychoanaly- 
 sis or to other factors such as those who 
 manage to get on their feet from work, sug- 
 gestion, encouragement or the advice of the 
 physician? 
 
 A. The cure is wholly due to psycho- 
 analysis, since when patients get well 
 
 35 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 through other methods, the neurosis is likely 
 to break out again at some critical emotional 
 period. Psychoanalysis removes the cause 
 of the symptoms, other methods merely 
 change the mental attitude towards symp- 
 toms which still persist or at the best, they 
 remove only the surface manifestations. 
 
 Q. How does psychoanalysis work? 
 
 A. Principally through transference. 
 The analysis attracts to itself the emotions 
 which are set free in the course of the analy- 
 sis. These emotions are then changed by 
 the analytic process, to a new and more use- 
 ful form of energy. In the analysis, the 
 physician plays the part of the impersonal 
 agent which has the specific effect of splitting 
 off the energy attached to the repressed ideas 
 causing the neurosis and using this energy 
 for the purpose of a cure. Psychoanaly- 
 sis enables the patient to utilize his re- 
 
 36 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 serve energy for a better purpose than that 
 of struggling with the nervous illness. 
 
 Q. What is transference? 
 
 A. Transference is not only the central 
 problem of psychoanalysis, but it is the most 
 difficult and delicate problem to handle. 
 All psychoanalysis proceeds through what is 
 called "transference" and it is in the method 
 of handling the transferences, that consti- 
 tutes the great superiority of psychoanalysis 
 in treating the neuroses. Transference 
 may be defined as a feeling of acknowledged 
 sympathy from the patient to the physician, 
 the same as occurs in all lines of medical 
 treatment when the patient has confidence 
 in his physician. In neurotic patients this 
 feeling is much more exaggerated and there- 
 fore the sympathetic relation to the physi- 
 cian becomes more intense than in patients 
 with organic disease. 
 
 m 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Transference is therefore not a specific 
 result of psychoanalytic treatment, neither 
 is transference limited to psychoanalysis, 
 but it appears here much more clearly, since 
 neurotics have a deeper craving for sympa- 
 thy than those who are not nervously ill. 
 In psychoanalytic treatment, the trans- 
 ference must be delicately handled and not 
 at all abused; in fact, the object of the physi- 
 cian is to release the patient from the trans- 
 ferences which have developed during the 
 course of the analysis and break them up. 
 It is in the handling of the transferences 
 which makes psychoanalysis so difficult, 
 because one must be careful that the effect 
 of this transference between physician and 
 patient does not become permanent, name- 
 ly, the dependence on the physician must be 
 cut off. In other words, the patient at the 
 end of the treatment and when he is cured, 
 must be left an independent personality. 
 Every successful analysis does this. Trans- 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 ference is a barometer of the patient's 
 feelings towards the physician and towards 
 the neurosis. All conflicts must be fought 
 out in the territory of transference. 
 
 The ethical value of psychoanalysis de- 
 pends upon telling a patient the truth and 
 maintaining a perfectly sincere attitude. 
 The patient must not drive away the trans- 
 ference or retain it, but both patient and 
 physician must treat it as a temporary mani- 
 festation occurring during the period of 
 treatment. A neurotic's interests are 
 turned within himself; he cannot be made 
 efficient until his interests are projected out- 
 side on the practical affairs of life. Trans- 
 ference must be handled delicately and 
 scientifically, in the same way that a chemist 
 handles explosives or like a surgeon cutting 
 into delicate nerve tissues. 
 
 Q. How does the transference show it- 
 self? 
 
 39 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. In the reactions of the patient, in 
 dreams and in the rapidity by which the 
 symptoms of the nervous illness subside and 
 disappear. 
 
 Q. What is resistance? 
 
 A. Resistance is the opposite of trans- 
 ference. It is the substitution of a hostile 
 feeling for a sympathetic one. Resistance 
 may have several sources and like trans- 
 ference, is really derived from the patient's 
 unconscious. Resistance arises during the 
 unconscious battle of intellect and instinct, 
 which is going on in every neurotic. It is 
 the force exerted which prevents unwelcome 
 and unpleasant thoughts from becoming 
 conscious. This process is particularly well 
 seen in dreams because what is termed the 
 "censor" in dreams, attempts to prevent all 
 the dream thoughts from coming out in an 
 analysis as so many of these thoughts deal 
 
 40 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 with the deepest recesses of the personality. 
 Resistance is the skeleton in the closet which 
 plays havoc with the peace of mind. The 
 skeleton is the hidden complex, the repressed 
 or secret anguish. The attempt to open the 
 door on this skeleton is often the source of a 
 severe unconscious and even conscious 
 struggle in psychoanalytic treatment. This 
 struggle is the resistance, and no psycho- 
 analysis can be successful until these resist- 
 ances are broken down, until the opposite of 
 resistance, the transference, is obtained. 
 
 Any obstacle which a patient opposes to 
 his recovery is a form of resistance. Resist- 
 ance, like transference, is often indicated in 
 the dreams. The patient resists getting 
 well, because getting well brings him in 
 touch with reality again, whereas the neu- 
 rosis, through which he withdraws into him- 
 self, offers a refuge from reality. Hence 
 the apparently paradoxical statement of 
 psychoanalysis becomes clear, when it is 
 
 41 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 stated that the patient gains something by 
 his nervous illness and therefore dreads 
 getting well. It is probably this form of 
 resistance, above all other factors, which 
 explains the long duration of nervous ill- 
 nesses and the difficulty of successfully 
 treating them. In other words, resistance 
 is the effort of the patient to defend his 
 neurosis from disappearing through psy- 
 choanalysis. The reading of psychoan- 
 alytic literature in some cases may increase 
 the resistance and this kind of self knowl- 
 edge tends to lengthen rather than shorten 
 the treatment. The resistances of a patient 
 should not be criticized as their sources are 
 unconscious. The breaking down of resist- 
 ances should be left to the physician and 
 not attempted by the patient. Confi- 
 dence comes when the resistances are over- 
 come. 
 
 Q. What is meant by a complex? 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. An idea with emotions grouped 
 around it and attached to it, is termed a 
 complex. A complex may consist of pain- 
 ful memories which are banished into the 
 unconscious, but not really forgotten, since 
 such complexes may appear in dreams, 
 symptomatic actions or form the underlying 
 mechanism of a neurosis. This species of 
 forgetting is purposeful, in order to defend 
 the mind from painful memories. Such 
 purposeful forgetting is termed repression. 
 One of the most important of these com- 
 plexes is termed the (Edipus-complex. 
 
 Q. What is the (Edipus-complex? 
 
 A. This complex has its origin during the 
 earliest years of childhood and consists of an 
 over-attachment of the son to the mother. 
 In certain children as they develop into 
 adulthood, there is a breaking away from 
 these infantile attachments. Other children 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 never break away, they never put aside their 
 childhood feelings and infantile attach- 
 ments, but carry these throughout life re- 
 pressed in the unconscious. These children 
 become neurotics, since the repressed com- 
 plex furnishes the underlying origin of 
 many psychoneuroses and abnormal sexual 
 inversions. It is such a repressed complex 
 which in adults gives rise to dreams of death 
 of one of the parents, usually the opposite 
 parents to that of the infantile attachment. 
 When there is an overattachment of the 
 daughter to the father, it is termed the 
 Electra-complex. Both terms are taken 
 from Greek mythology, as they are identical 
 with the family situations of two of the 
 greatest Greek tragedies, the Electra of 
 Euripides and the CEdipus Rex of Sopho- 
 cles. These two complexes lie at the 
 very source of many nervous illnesses. Of 
 course it must be emphasized that these 
 attachments occur more or less intensely in 
 
 44 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 the lives of all children and it is only when 
 they take an exaggerated form or are not 
 handled properly, that they become a source 
 of danger for the developing child. It is 
 this (Edipus complex which frequently lies 
 at the basis of homosexuality. 
 
 Q. What is homosexuality? 
 
 A. This never occurs where the sexual 
 development is normal, hence it is not con- 
 genital, but always acquired. It may be 
 defined as an abnormal deviation of the 
 sexual instinct, in which the attachment is 
 for the same rather than for the opposite 
 sex. 
 
 Q. How can parents avoid the dangers of 
 over-attachment of their children? 
 
 A. The great danger in all these situa- 
 tions is, that the parents never realize it and 
 45 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 the child develops into manhood or woman- 
 hood and alone feels or knows the situation. 
 The condition is really an erotic one and 
 hence the large number of individuals who 
 develop homosexuality in adult life. Par- 
 ents must not allow over caressing from 
 their children or show an over-exuberant 
 affection for them. The appearance of a 
 new child in the family must not be the 
 signal for the neglect of the other children, 
 as this often leads to secret jealousies. 
 
 Q. What is a symptomatic action? 
 
 A. This is an action, such as a slip of the 
 tongue or the forgetting of a familiar name 
 or even a mistake in writing, which is appar- 
 ently due to chance or excused on the basis 
 of awkwardness. Analysis however will 
 demonstrate that the error is of the nature 
 of an unconscious intention. Such symp- 
 tomatic actions are frequent in the lives of 
 
 46 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 normal people and still more frequently 
 appear in the psychoanalytic treatment of 
 neurotics. In both cases they are produced 
 by unconscious thoughts. A symptomatic 
 action in a normal individual is really a tiny 
 edition of a neurosis, since it has the same 
 unconscious background as a neurosis. 
 
 Q. What is repression and how does it 
 produce a neurosis? 
 
 A. Repression is a defense of the mind 
 under normal and abnormal conditions to 
 neutralize or put out of action unwelcome 
 and unpleasant thoughts. These thoughts 
 are pushed back into the unconscious, 
 become repressed and the effort of these 
 repressed thoughts to find an outlet, pro- 
 duces the nervous illness. The mind 
 attempts to find a refuge and free itself 
 from mental conflicts through repression. 
 A great deal of the "forgetting" which 
 
 47 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 occurs in normal individuals and in cases of 
 nervous illness, is not due to any actual 
 decay of memory, as is commonly supposed, 
 but to an active repression. Repression 
 underlies the forgetting of dreams, those 
 losses of memory for limited periods of time 
 termed amnesia, somnambulism and also 
 the condition known as double or multiple 
 personality. The repressed conflict may 
 find an outlet and be expressed in what is 
 known as projection. This projection may 
 manifest itself in peculiar nervous symp- 
 toms of a symbolic nature or even as actual 
 delusions, hallucinations, fixed ideas or com- 
 pulsive thinking. The dream is the most 
 common symbolic representation of re- 
 pressed thoughts. 
 
 Q. How is the term "sexual" used in 
 psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. The term "sex" like "wish" is very 
 48 
 
What is Psychoanalysis l 
 
 broadly used in psychoanalysis. It does not 
 limit itself to referring to the reproductive 
 instinct, neither does it mean that the chief 
 objective of psychoanalysis is to drag out a 
 patient's sexual experiences. Sexual is not 
 the equivalent of sensual, but refers to the 
 fundamental instinct which lies at the very 
 heart of the emotional life, called the libido. 
 
 Q. What is meant by the term libido? 
 
 A. Libido means vital energy or instinct. 
 It is not always sexual, since the instinct 
 may be hunger or nutritional, beginning as 
 infantile pleasure in nutrition and gradually 
 shading over into the sexual. Thus hunger 
 and sexuality are the two primal human 
 instincts, which are the basis, or to use a 
 technical term, form the root-complex of 
 every neurosis. 
 
 Q. What is meant by the "root" of a 
 49 
 
 neurosis? 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. The root of a neurosis is a term used 
 to denote the fundamental unconscious 
 cause of the neurosis and not the conscious 
 cause as interpreted by the nervous sufferer. 
 
 Q. What is the psychoanalytic concep- 
 tion of sexuality? 
 
 A. The child brings his sexual instincts 
 into the world with him. These instincts 
 later may be refined or sublimated into 
 higher forms of energy, or if this does not 
 take place, various perversions and abnor- 
 mal sexual cravings may develop in the 
 adult. A child's sexuality is first turned 
 on itself; it is auto-erotic, then it transfers or 
 fixes itself to those nearest about him and 
 finally, as adult life is reached, it transfers it 
 to a person outside the family group. This 
 last constitutes what is termed falling in 
 love. The sexual components of the child's 
 instincts produce all the neurotic symptoms 
 
 50 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 later in life. It is the unconscious sexual 
 desires and not the conscious sexual ideas 
 which have the strongest influences over us. 
 The word sexual is used in a very wide sense 
 in psychoanalysis. The sexual instinct dis- 
 plays itself very early in the child, first as 
 the sucking or nutritional instinct, secondly 
 as the child grows older, the fixation of its 
 love on the family group or its nurse and 
 thirdly in the sexual changes at puberty. 
 In this last period, the auto-erotic char- 
 acter of the sexual instinct which charac- 
 terized infancy and childhood, is lost and a 
 new sexual aim is created accompanied by 
 profound physiological changes in the body. 
 
 Q. Does psychoanalysis tend to over- 
 emphasize the sexual elements in the neu- 
 roses? 
 
 A. Psychoanalysis does not exploit the 
 sexual experiences of patients, it is not a 
 
 51 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 mere unearthing and exploration of porno- 
 graphic material. In fact, if psychoanaly- 
 sis be properly carried out, it refers less to 
 sexual activities than does the usual medical 
 history of an organic illness. If the sexual 
 appears, it is disclosed because it is present 
 in some form or other in every case of nerv- 
 ous illness, since no nervous illness can take 
 place with a perfectly normal sexual life. 
 The sexual aspect of a neurotic's life is just 
 as important as any other aspect. It is not 
 sexuality which injures the hysteric, it is the 
 over moral repression of it. If the theory 
 of the sexual origin of the neuroses hangs a 
 sword over the head of the hysteric as 
 claimed by some critics, so does the easily 
 proven syphilitic origin of tabes hang a 
 sword over the head of the tabetic. 
 
 The problem of sexuality in the neuroses 
 is but one aspect of the problem of the mani- 
 festation and distribution of that energy 
 called the libido. This libido is at the very 
 
 52 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 basis of life and of mental conflicts, at first 
 nutritional or self-preservation and in the 
 second place, the sexual libido or race per- 
 petuation. The word "sexual" is used in a 
 very broad manner in the science of psycho- 
 analysis, in fact, it has the same broad mean- 
 ing as the word "love." This fact must 
 never be lost sight of in psychoanalysis, 
 since the use of the word by psychoanalysts 
 has been the source of many misconceptions. 
 In primitive tribes, it has also been demon- 
 strated that hysterical attacks may be 
 motivated by an ungratified or a partially 
 gratified erotic feeling. 
 
 Q. Is sexual trauma the real cause of a 
 neurosis? 
 
 A. No, because there is scarcely a human 
 being who has not had some sexual shock 
 and yet only a small percentage of people 
 develop a neurosis. If sexual shock were, 
 
 53 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 therefore, the cause of a nervous illness, such 
 illnesses would be much more frequent. 
 Besides, many of the stories of sexual shocks 
 which neurotics relate, are found on careful 
 examination to be mere fantastic creations 
 and to have never really taken place. Con- 
 sequently, during the history of the develop- 
 ment of psychoanalysis, the sexual trauma- 
 tic theory was soon abandoned. It is now 
 evident that the neuroses are due to child- 
 hood sexual perversities, the building up of 
 unhealthy sexual fantasies and to what is 
 termed the fixation of the neurotic's libido 
 upon his infantile past. This is the real 
 secret of the neurosis, viz: fantasies which 
 have their root in early childhood and which 
 attach themselves to some one of the family 
 group usually the father or mother, accord- 
 ing to the sex of the subject. It is not the 
 existence of sexual complexes, but their 
 abnormal fixation and over-repression which 
 makes the neurotic. 
 
 54 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. Since we all have sexual fantasies and 
 repressions, why do some escape a neurosis 
 and some not? 
 
 A. It all depends on the subject's manner 
 of handling his inner life, as to whether he 
 should shut in his personality and become 
 introverted and the victim of wish-fulfilling 
 fantasies (autistic thinking) or whether he 
 becomes active, social and projects his inner 
 lif e on healthy activities, that is, extroverted. 
 
 Q. What are the deviations of the normal 
 sexual instinct ? 
 
 A. These are abnormal sexual manifesta- 
 tions, such as homosexuality or deviations of 
 the sexual object and deviations in regard to 
 the sexual aim, such as attaching an abnor- 
 mal sexual over-valuation to inanimate 
 objects (fetichism) or the relations between 
 sexuality and pain (sadism and masochism) . 
 
 55 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 In the unconscious mental life of many 
 neurotics, can be found deviations from the 
 normal sexual instinct, particularly the 
 (Edipus complex. It appears that the 
 neurotics are incapacitated by the same 
 unconscious sexual complexes with which 
 the healthy successfully struggle. 
 
 Q. What can psychoanalysis do for the 
 sexual hygiene of children? 
 
 A. The proper manner of training the 
 sexual feelings of children, is hot to allow 
 these feelings to run rampant. The chil- 
 dren should be taught to attach and transfer 
 their instincts to the higher aims of the 
 emotions and intellect, that is, sublimation. 
 Such education should be individual, the 
 instinct should be trained and led. The 
 overcoming of morbid day-dreaming or of 
 abnormal shyness or of an excess of self- 
 admiration (the so-called narcisstic tend- 
 
 56 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 ency) can do much for the prevention of a 
 later neurosis, since these are unhealthy 
 instinctive reactions fraught with danger. 
 
 Q. How is consciousness divided? 
 
 A. Into the f oreconscious and the uncon- 
 scious. 
 
 Q. What is meant by the f oreconscious? 
 
 A. Between the realm of the unconscious 
 and that of consciousness, lies the forecon- 
 scious, which contains the material of recent 
 experiences. The foreconscious is there- 
 fore that part of consciousness just outside 
 the focus of attention, but which can be 
 easily brought to attention. 
 
 Q. What is meant by the unconscious? 
 
 A. The unconscious is that portion of 
 
 57 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 consciousness of which we are not aware. 
 It is the realm of repressed desires and its 
 material consists of repressed desires and 
 wishes often carried over from early child- 
 hood or even infancy. It is a concept or a 
 working hypothesis by which certain mental 
 facts can be controlled, like the ether of the 
 physicists. The unconscious mental life is 
 no more a contradiction of terms of psychol- 
 ogy, than certain terms such as "solid 
 solutions" or "invisible light" are in physics. 
 It is to be preferred to the term subcon- 
 scious, because the latter connotes a spatial 
 relationship. The unconscious is the most 
 important concept of recent times in the 
 realm of mental medicine. It is our histor- 
 ical past and as such, in it is preserved the 
 primitive traits, emotions, and desires of our 
 prehistoric ancestors. The only function of 
 the unconscious is wishing or desiring. In 
 the unconscious are stored wishes and 
 desires, often unethical, which are impossible 
 
 58 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 of fulfillment in reality because of the action 
 of the censor of consciousness. These 
 wishes are fulfilled in dreams when the 
 censor is weak or absent and allows the 
 unconscious wishes to slip through in the 
 form of a dream. 
 
 Q. What is meant by the censor? 
 
 A. The force which represses unwelcome 
 and unpleasant thoughts, for convenience is 
 termed the censor. It is really a defense of 
 the mind against distressing dreams and 
 painful thoughts. It is the censor which 
 prevents unconscious thoughts from becom- 
 
 ing conscious. 
 
 Q. How does the unconscious manifest 
 itself? 
 
 A. In dreams, in symptomatic actions 
 like slips of the tongue or pen, neuroses and 
 certain mental diseases not of organic origin. 
 
 59 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. Can a person know his own uncon- 
 scious ? 
 
 A. Only through his dreams and then not 
 completely so, since the self analysis of 
 dreams can bring up certain resistances, 
 hence for the time being blocking all further 
 thoughts. Many dreams are symbolic and 
 distorted and the symbols and distortions 
 are unrecognized by the dreamer. 
 
 Q. What is symbolism? 
 
 A. This is a term used in psychoanalysis 
 to express the manner of unconscious think- 
 ing in a form in which it would be unrecog- 
 nized by consciousness. A dream is often 
 symbolic, so is often a nervous symptom, 
 when they are expressions of hidden and 
 forbidden wishes repressed in the uncon- 
 scious. Xervous symptoms are masks be- 
 hind which a person takes refuge. The 
 symbol is chosen either from the mental 
 
 60 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 content of the individual or it may have a 
 racial or a social basis. In unconscious 
 thinking, the symbols are often used to 
 express sexual concepts, which for moral or 
 ethical purposes cannot be expressed liter- 
 ally. The sexual symbols of neurotic 
 patients are therefore efforts to escape from 
 their attachment to the more grossly sexual. 
 Symbols are not invented, they are only dis- 
 covered. The symbol is not an arbitrary 
 choice, but has its source in the unconscious, 
 either of the individual or of the race. 
 Hence the close resemblance between 
 dreams and myths, since the myth is the 
 unconscious symbolic expression of the race 
 and the dream the unconscious symbol of the 
 individual. Symbolism has its origin in the 
 remotest ages of the past. The symbolism 
 of dreams draws its material from this 
 remote ancestry, showing how often the 
 dream is merely a fragment of the mental 
 life of our prehistoric ancestors. 
 
 61 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. What is the usual history of a pa- 
 tient's efforts to get well before psycho- 
 analysis is tried? 
 
 A. There is usually a history of treat- 
 ments with tonics and sedatives, the rest cure 
 and the searching after an organic cause for 
 the neurosis. In some cases suggestion or 
 persuasion has been attempted. In the 
 carefully recorded histories of nervous pa- 
 tients it will be found that all these methods 
 have failed because they did not reach the 
 cause of the trouble, they attempted to cure 
 symptoms without any effort to ascertain 
 the origin of the symptoms. 
 
 Q. If a person could not have a complete 
 psychoanalysis, but merely told the details 
 of his neurosis to the physician, what sort of 
 advice ought the analyst to give such a 
 person as to the means of making himself 
 most comfortable ? 
 
 62 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. The advice would depend upon the 
 nature of the neurosis, the mental attitude 
 of the patient and the actual conflicts which 
 had arisen. As a rule the attitude of non- 
 resistance is the best advice, since fighting 
 the neurosis or attempting to put a morbid 
 fear or compulsive thinking out of the mind, 
 is likely to render the nervous illness more 
 severe, or at the most, nothing is gained. 
 
 Q. What is a mental conflict? 
 
 A. A mental conflict is a battle between 
 two opposing groups of ideas, part of which 
 are acceptable to the patient and part an- 
 tagonized by the patient. These groups of 
 ideas may be either conscious or unconscious. 
 As a rule conflicts are of a moral nature and 
 frequently refer to the grossly sexual char- 
 acter of the patient's thoughts. The at- 
 tempt to banish these thoughts produces the 
 conflict and the neurosis. Mental dissocia- 
 
 63 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 tion is the result of conflicts. In every 
 mental conflict there are two opposing 
 forces, the positive or the force of reality, by 
 which we come into touch with the external 
 world and a negative, through which reality 
 is opposed by shutting off the external 
 world. It is this last which produces the 
 shut-in personality or the negativism which 
 is so characteristic of dementia precox. 
 
 Q. What is dissociation? 
 
 A. Dissociation is the method whereby 
 the mind gets rid of unpleasant or painful 
 repressed complexes. It is really the mind 
 defending itself. In dissociation there is a 
 splitting of the mental processes, so much 
 so, that in cases' of obsession or compulsion 
 neurosis for instance, the origin of the com- 
 pulsive thinking is unknown, since it comes 
 from the unconscious and therefore obtrudes 
 itself as a foreign body in consciousness. 
 
 64 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 In this splitting of consciousness, the split- 
 off complexes may lead an independent and 
 autonomous existence. 
 
 Q. What is the effect of a partial psy- 
 choanalysis ? 
 
 A. A partial psychoanalysis is like an 
 unfinished surgical operation. It is not 
 radical, it does not cure or even reach the 
 real fundamental difficulty. The surface 
 symptoms are alone removed. Yet a par- 
 tial psychoanalysis may provide sufficient 
 self knowledge to enable the sufferer to get 
 along more comfortably than if psycho- 
 analysis had not been attempted. 
 
 Q. Can a person cure himself of a neu- 
 rosis by psychoanalytic rules? 
 
 A. No, because his own unconscious is 
 not completely accessible to introspection 
 65 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 and furthermore, he will tend to build up his 
 own resistances and yield to them. 
 
 Q. Why does psychoanalysis require so 
 much time? 
 
 A. It does not require any more time than 
 the usual methods of sanatorium treatment. 
 It has the advantage over the latter, in that 
 it leaves the patient free to attend to his 
 business or professional interests. 
 
 Q. How long does treatment usually 
 take? 
 
 A. This depends upon several factors, 
 that is, the age of the patient, the severity 
 and duration of the neurosis, the managing 
 of the resistances and transferences which 
 occur during the course of the treatment 
 and finally upon the skill of the psycho- 
 analyst in handling the neurotic material. 
 
 66 
 
What is Psychoanalysis. 
 
 Severe neuroses of long duration and with 
 strong resistances may take months to cure, 
 the milder neuroses will frequently recover 
 within a few weeks. Patients should not 
 become discouraged if they do not improve 
 as rapidly as they wish. A slow improve- 
 ment may be due to unconscious resistances 
 and sufficient time should be given the physi- 
 cian to uncover these resistances and elimi- 
 nate them. 
 
 Q. Why do some patients get better 
 more slowly than others ? 
 
 A. Partly because of the nature of the 
 nervous illness and partly because of the 
 unconscious resistance towards treatment. 
 
 Q. What has been the success of psy- 
 choanalytic treatment? 
 
 A. Psychoanalysis has been particularly 
 successful in curing those severe forms of 
 
 67 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 nervous illness which have resisted all other 
 forms of treatment. In the sexual neu- 
 roses, such as homosexuality, the psycho- 
 analytic method is the only one which offers 
 a hope of cure or even of amelioration. of the 
 condition. Early or mild cases of dementia 
 prsecox or of mild paranoia, should be 
 given the benefit of psychoanalytic treat- 
 ment, even if a cure cannot be promised. 
 In the psychoanalytic treatment of stam- 
 mering, the unconscious difficulties of the 
 speech defect may be greatly ameliorated. 
 The mo§t gratifying results are obtained 
 with cases of hysteria and in the conditions 
 of morbid fears. The compulsion neuroses, 
 that is cases with obsessions, morbid scruples 
 and compulsive thinking are particularly 
 favorable for psychoanalytic therapy. . Psy- 
 choanalysis has also helped those cases 
 which show mild depression and also the 
 non-organic conditions which have been 
 grouped under the name of neurasthenia. 
 
 68 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 The highest percentage of recoveries are in 
 cases of hysteria, morbid fears, compulsion 
 and anxiety neuroses and in homosexuality. 
 
 Q. What constitutes a cure with the psy- 
 choanalytic treatment? 
 
 A. A nervous illness may be said to have 
 recovered if the symptoms disappear and the 
 character of the dreams changes to those ex- 
 perienced by normal individuals. In the 
 anxiety neuroses, the fear should disappear 
 during the day and the anxiety dreams at 
 night. In the compulsion neuroses, recov- 
 ery may be designated as having taken place, 
 if there are no further compulsive thoughts 
 or acts and if the calamity dreams disap- 
 pear. 1 In homosexuality, there must be a 
 complete disappearance of the homosexual 
 erotic feeling during the day and of the 
 
 i See under compulsion neurosis for a definition of calam- 
 ity dreams. 
 
 69 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 homosexual dreams at night. A case of 
 dementia prascox can be said to have recov- 
 ered, if the patient once more comes into 
 complete touch with reality. To cure a case 
 of hysteria, it is necessary to remove the men- 
 tal conflict which is at the basis of the hyster- 
 ical symptoms. The fact that these types of 
 cases can be cured through psychoanalysis, 
 whereas they were unaffected by other thera- 
 peutic procedures, is sufficient to invalidate 
 the criticism of those who claim that the case 
 could have been cured without psychoanaly- 
 sis. 
 
 Q. Does psychoanalysis claim invariable 
 successes ? 
 
 A. No more than any method of medical 
 treatment claims invariable successes. Fail- 
 ures may be due to lack of transference, poor 
 technique, improperly selected cases or lack 
 of sufficient time for treatment. 
 
 70 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. What are the difficulties of psycho- 
 analysis? 
 
 A. The great obstacle in all psycho- 
 analytic treatment is that the patient really 
 does not want to get well. The neurosis 
 acts as a protector from reality, a sort of a 
 shock-absorber from the buffets of life, and 
 thus a conflict arises between the desire to 
 retain the neurosis and the desire to get well. 
 The great fear of every neurotic is the fear 
 that he may lose his neurosis. 
 
 Q. What is the effect of psychoanalysis 
 on the neurotic symptoms? 
 
 A. The more recent symptoms disappear 
 first, while the older symptoms are more dif- 
 ficult to remove. As a rule, during the 
 course of a psychoanalysis, there is no fur- 
 ther development of new symptoms or at 
 the most, only transitory new symptoms de- 
 velop, which are of the nature of defense 
 reactions to retain the neurosis. In homo- 
 
 71 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 sexuality for instance, the depression and 
 anxiety disappear early in the treatment, 
 whereas the more fundamental and deeply 
 seated symptom of the sexual inversion, is 
 more difficult to deal with and is the last to 
 disappear. The character of the dreams 
 changes, they become more symbolized and 
 spiritualized and less grossly sexual during 
 the course of a successful treatment. The 
 primitive unconscious tendencies become 
 less in evidence, in other words, the analysis 
 raises the unconscious to a higher cultural 
 level, it refines and sublimates it. This is 
 the educational influence of psychoanalysis 
 on an individual. The reserve energy is 
 loosened from the neurotic struggles and 
 becomes free for constructive living and 
 social aims. If the nervous symptoms 
 grow worse during the course of the analysis, 
 this must be interpreted as due either to the 
 resistance or to the course of the disease and 
 not to the treatment. 
 
 72 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. What is meant by sublimation and 
 what bearing does it have on recovery? 
 
 A. The term "sublimation" was first in- 
 troduced by Freud and was borrowed from 
 the terminology of chemistry. Literally, it 
 means the act of refining and purifying or 
 freeing from baser qualities. The process 
 of sublimation in psychoanalysis is an un- 
 conscious one, that is, it takes place without 
 the subject's knowledge. It is the end re- 
 sult of psychoanalysis, since no patient can 
 be said to have been cured, until he has suc- 
 cessfully sublimated. Sublimation may be 
 defined as that unconscious conducting of 
 the repressed emotions to a higher, less ob- 
 jectionable and more useful goal. It can 
 occur only when the libido, through psycho- 
 analysis, has been dissociated from the pa- 
 tient's intellectual processes. Therefore, 
 when a patient fights his neurosis or when 
 resistance occurs, sublimation becomes diffi- 
 
 73 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 cult because the energy is utilized for un- 
 practical purposes. Sublimation is the 
 capacity for replacement or exchange of the 
 original (repressed) aim for a secondary 
 social, religious, scientific or artistic aim. 
 It is really a transference of basic instincts 
 to other interests. 
 
 Q. How can one best sublimate? 
 
 A. Sublimation is more or less of an un- 
 conscious process, but it can be hastened by 
 assuming a passive attitude towards the neu- 
 rosis and so utilizing the energy which was 
 formerly wasted in righting the nervous ill- 
 ness, for a more useful purpose. Particular 
 attention should be paid to the religious 
 tendencies of the patient during a psycho- 
 analysis, as some of the most effective sub- 
 limations have been along religious lines. 
 
 Q. What is done next after the patient is 
 made aware of his buried mental processes? 
 
 74 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. Nothing. The psychoanalytic method 
 is not merely a diagnostic one but is used 
 for the purpose of treatment. When the 
 patient is made aware of the buried men- 
 tal processes, he is thereby released from 
 those intense infantile fixations which are 
 at the root of the neurosis and through this 
 release, the energies can be utilized for more 
 useful social activities. Suggestion merely 
 opposes something to the neurosis, while 
 psychoanalysis takes away the power that 
 the morbid mental processes exert over the 
 patient. Psychoanalysis overcomes resist- 
 ances, so much so that its chief aim is not 
 so much the uncovering of buried or uncon- 
 scious mental processes or the knowledge of 
 unconscious thoughts, but the overcoming 
 of inner resistances. On the force of these 
 inner resistances, whether weak or strong, 
 depends the rapidity by which the nervous 
 symptoms yield to treatment. The patient 
 may become aware of the meaning of the 
 
 75 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 symptoms within a short space of time and 
 yet the symptoms may continue, thus demon- 
 strating that the cure is due to another fac- 
 tor and not entirely to self knowledge. 
 This factor is the effect of the analysis in 
 overcoming the internal resistances. 
 
 Q. How is it possible to tell if a patient 
 is cured by psychoanalysis, that the neurosis 
 will not again manifest itself at some critical 
 period, or after an emotional upheaval? 
 
 A. In the first place the unconscious 
 sources of the neurosis have been removed 
 through psychoanalysis, and in the second 
 place, the analysis has taught the proper 
 method of dealing with actual conflicts. 
 The change in the character of the dreams 
 often furnishes significant hints concerning 
 the future nervous health. 
 
 Q. What should be the attitude of the 
 psychoanalyst towards the patient? 
 
 76 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. The psychoanalyst must have as clean 
 a mind as a surgeon has clean hands. The 
 attitude of the psychoanalyst should be that 
 of the sympathetic physician whose only in- 
 terest is his patient's recovery, and yet at 
 the same time that of the scientist who is 
 watching and recording a laboratory ex- 
 periment. The psychoanalyst must know 
 his own individual complexes and resistances 
 and must be able to place himself, as it were, 
 in the situation of the unconscious of the 
 neurosis he is analyzing. 
 
 Q. What should be the mental attitude 
 of the person during a psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. Absolute frankness and sincerity, con- 
 cealing nothing from the physician. 
 
 Q. What has psychoanalysis to offer, in 
 teaching a neurotic to meet his difficul- 
 ties? 
 
 77 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. The neurosis has its sources in the un- 
 conscious and it is therefore something that 
 cannot be vanquished by simply fighting it. 
 It also shows that the patient has thoughts 
 or dreams originating in his unconscious, of 
 which he would never be consciously guilty. 
 Therefore in compulsive thinking, where for 
 instance, the compulsive thoughts are of a 
 grossly sexual nature, the patient is not re- 
 sponsible for these disagreeable thoughts 
 however much his mind may be bombarded 
 by them even when he is thinking of some- 
 thing else. This latter fact alone shows 
 that they have their origin outside of con- 
 scious thinking. 
 
 Q. Can psychoanalysis increase the effi- 
 ciency of a person who has been made in- 
 efficient by a nervous illness? 
 
 A. Yes, by training the patient to direct 
 his energy to more useful ends than strug- 
 
 78 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 gling with his neurosis or consuming his en- 
 ergy on his morbid ideas. 
 
 Q. What does psychoanalysis teach con- 
 cerning the mental attitude of a person to- 
 ward his neurosis? 
 
 A. The first rule is non-resistance, the 
 second that the psychoanalysis takes the re- 
 sponsibility of the mental conflicts of the 
 nervous sufferer. 
 
 Q. What rules of mental hygiene does 
 the psychoanalytic theory teach? 
 
 A. That a person must not fight his 
 neurosis whether the neurosis takes the form 
 of fears, doubts, compulsive thinking etc. 
 since fighting makes the neurosis worse. 
 The attitude to be adopted is one of passiv- 
 ity and non-resistance. Mental discipline 
 merely suppresses the feelings and this sup- 
 pression is like putting the lid down on a 
 79 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Jack-in-the-box. When the lid is down, the 
 Jack is out of sight, but he is curled up and 
 condensed and ready to spring out again with 
 full force the moment the pressure of the 
 lid (discipline) is removed. What a neu- 
 rotic needs is sublimation and a final subli- 
 mation must be emotional rather than in- 
 tellectual. Psychoanalysis solves the diffi- 
 culties of the inner life. The unconscious 
 self is the real self which will triumph in the 
 final sublimation. The intense love and 
 hate of neurotics and their constant crav- 
 ings for sympathy are forms of transference 
 and consequently symptoms of the nervous 
 illness. Such manifestations should not be 
 ridiculed but should be taken seriously and 
 attempts made to determine their uncon- 
 scious sources. 
 
 Q. Is the advice to "dismiss it from your 
 mind," sound advice to give to nervous pa- 
 tients? 
 
 80 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. No. The physician must be inter- 
 ested in the nervous symptoms, he must take 
 it for granted that they belong to the pa- 
 tient's life history and therefore have a 
 definite meaning or setting in the mental 
 life. The patient cannot ignore his nervous 
 symptoms, his fears or his obsessions, or dis- 
 miss them from his mind, any more than he 
 can ignore or dismiss severe pain of organic 
 origin. The advice not to worry or to fight 
 the unpleasant ideas or nervous symptoms, 
 is based upon ignorance or misconception of 
 the fundamental nature and motives of a 
 nervous illness. To advise travel or dis- 
 tractions in amusement is like-wise unavail- 
 ing, because this kind of advice presupposes 
 that the nervous illness is a senseless group- 
 ing of complaints, whereas it is really bound 
 up with the sufferer's wishes and mental 
 conflicts and bears an intimate relation to 
 the life experiences. Explanation and ad- 
 vice however can be made more rational and 
 
 81 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 helpful, if based upon psychoanalytic prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 Q. What should be the attitude of psycho- 
 analysis to the actual conflicts and diffi- 
 culties of life? 
 
 A. There are many external problems in 
 life which psychoanalysis cannot adjust, but 
 it can adjust the mental attitude towards 
 these problems. These actual conflicts and 
 problems are those of worry, dilemmas, dis- 
 illusionment, etc. Psychoanalysis cannot 
 actually eliminate these difficulties, but if the 
 real cause of the conflicts is discovered, the 
 mental readaptation often follows spontane- 
 ously. With an analysis, the real solution of 
 the problems becomes clear and the former 
 resistance to readjustment overcome. Psy- 
 choanalysis points out the solutions from 
 within the mind. Simple advice, based upon 
 what psychoanalysis has revealed to both 
 
 82 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 the patient and physician, can often be very 
 helpful. Psychoanalysis is often a salvation 
 for an existence cramped and difficult to 
 live. 
 
 Q. Ought all life worries be psycho- 
 analyzed? 
 
 A. To a certain extent yes, since many 
 worries are attributed to sources from which 
 they do not actually spring and a brief 
 psychoanalysis may help to clear up the real 
 situation and furnish better insight into the 
 difficulty. 
 
 Q. How can psychoanalytic facts be ap- 
 plied to the prevention of the neuroses? 
 
 A. The frequency of nervous diseases is 
 due, not so much to the rush of civilization 
 as has been so often claimed, but to the in- 
 jurious overmoral repression of the libido or 
 
 83 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 to the prevailing erroneous ideas concerning 
 sexual morality. The instincts should be 
 conquered through sublimation and not 
 through repression. The science of psycho- 
 analysis is able to penetrate into the uncon- 
 scious sources of this repression in both the 
 neurotic and in various types of normal men 
 and women. It is able to point out the path 
 for the utilization of the repressed energy 
 into sublimation. Marriage is not a pana- 
 cea for nervousness, since many married 
 men and women become nervous and over 
 anxious in their attitude towards the strug- 
 gles and problems of life. 
 
 The real prevention of the neuroses must 
 come through individual analyses and not 
 through any general propaganda along the 
 lines of mental hygiene, since the latter at 
 its best can only indicate collective rules 
 which cannot be adapted to the complexities 
 of individual minds. It is through the per- 
 sonal efforts of parents, educators, clergy- 
 
 84 
 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 men and also along the lines of sound medical 
 advice given to the developing child, that 
 neurotic disturbances can be prevented. 
 The only or favorite child is particularly 
 liable to be spoiled by parental overaffec- 
 tion, thus leading to an attitude of self-love 
 and self-indulgence, which furnishes the basis 
 for many nervous and mental disturbances 
 of puberty and adolescence. 
 
 Q. What is the value of psychoanalysis 
 in explaining character formation? 
 
 A. The unconscious is that region of the 
 mind where the very springs of character 
 take their source and which shape the fun- 
 damental features of the character of an in- 
 dividual. Each individual determines his 
 own character and destiny. The charac- 
 terological traits of a person are not in- 
 herited. The character of a person springs 
 deep from his unconscious and is made up 
 
 85 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 either of his original childhood impulses and 
 experiences, sublimations of these or reac- 
 tions against these. For instance, a timid 
 person might by a sort of compensation be- 
 come aggressive, a spoiled child who has had 
 everything done at his bidding might de- 
 velop into an impatient adult. A day 
 dreaming child might become taciturn or 
 even shut-in in his tendencies or a child with 
 too great self-love can never fall in love 
 later, or if he does so, it is transitory and 
 might lead to social difficulties. All charac- 
 ter formation has an emotional rather than 
 an intellectual origin. Psychoanalysis is 
 able to penetrate to the origin of certain 
 character traits and thus be helpful in elimi- 
 nating characteristics which may be harmful 
 to the individual. 
 
 Q. What is a shut-in personality? 
 
 A. This refers to a peculiar mental make- 
 86 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 up out of which cases of dementia prsecox 
 frequently develop. It is characterized by 
 a tendency to be anti-social, to live a life of 
 reveries and by a disinclination to come into 
 touch with reality. This is an unhealthy 
 mental attitude and should be strictly com- 
 batted if it once appears in a child. 
 
 Q. What is meant by the feeling of in- 
 feriority? 
 
 A. This is a concept introduced to ex- 
 plain the make-up of a neurotic individual. 
 Fundamentally nervous people are those 
 who possess the feeling of inferiority to a 
 greater or less extent, such as timidity, lack 
 of courage or self-confidence. Such types 
 of people attempt to compensate for these 
 feelings of inferiority (in the same way that 
 a weak heart will compensate) and thus lay 
 undue stress upon their defective traits, in 
 order to fortify and strengthen them, the 
 
 87 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 coward for instance becoming superlatively 
 brave. This latter mental adjustment is 
 really a form of sublimation, an attempt to 
 conceal the weak points of the personality. 
 
 Q. Can psychoanalysis help to eliminate 
 character traits which are detrimental to 
 the individual? 
 
 A. It can to a certain extent, particularly 
 after the mechanism of the character forma- 
 tion has been thoroughly revealed. Anal- 
 ysis often shows that character traits of a 
 detrimental nature may be due to feelings 
 of inferiority, to attempts at repression or 
 overcompensation or may arise to cover cer- 
 tain trends for the purpose of concealment. 
 The analysis of character is very complex 
 and its traits have a root deep in the uncon- 
 scious. This shows that character is not a 
 matter of will power but of handling one's 
 inner repressions and the reactions against 
 
 88 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 these. Thus a character trait like a nervous 
 symptom may be all out of proportion to 
 the underlying unconscious source. 
 
 Q. How is the term "wish" used in psy- 
 choanalysis ? 
 
 A. The term "wish" is used in a very 
 broad sense in psychoanalysis, as indicating 
 all desires, yearnings and ambitions. It is 
 a dynamic concept, which furnishes the work- 
 ing basis for dreams, neurotic symptoms, 
 slips of the tongue, mental conflicts and the 
 like. 
 
 Q. What is the psychoanalytic theory of 
 dreams ? 
 
 A. The dream is the true language of the 
 unconscious, its means of expression, al- 
 though not its only means of expression. A 
 dream is always the fulfillment of a wish, 
 although that wish may not be clear in the 
 
 89 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 dream as remembered. The dream as re- 
 membered is termed the manifest content. 
 The wish is concealed in the underlying 
 thoughts which produce the dream. These 
 underlying thoughts are termed the latent 
 content. Every dream has a deep, personal 
 significance for the dreamer, although a 
 dream may be thrown into activity by ap- 
 parently insignificant thoughts or incidents 
 during the day (dream instigators). The 
 latent content of the dream, which contains 
 the dream wish, may become so distorted 
 and symbolized, that the real origin of the 
 dream may be unrecognized in the manifest 
 content. Occurrences during the day or 
 things read, do not cause the dream, they 
 merely throw the latent or unconscious 
 thoughts into activity. 
 
 Q. How is a dream made? 
 
 A. A dream is made by the large mass of 
 90 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 latent thoughts of the dreamer becoming 
 condensed into the momentary dream as it 
 is remembered on awakening. We are 
 aware only of the manifest dream, the latent 
 dream thoughts can only be known through 
 an analysis of the dream. 
 
 Q. What is the psychoanalytic interpre- 
 tation of forgetting? 
 
 A. The forgetting of various places and 
 things with which one is familiar is not 
 caused by a mere deterioration of memory 
 but is an active repression, a purposeful ex- 
 clusion of the memory from consciousness. 
 
 Q. Why do we forget dreams so easily? 
 
 A. The forgetting is a purposeful act. 
 The dream is "forgotten" because it deals 
 with unpleasant material and there is a wish 
 to forget it. The forgetting of a dream is 
 
 91 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 not due to our treacherous memories, but is 
 really a form of resistance. For instance, 
 often in the recital of a dream, a "forgotten 
 portion" is suddenly remembered and this 
 fragment is usually the most important part 
 of the dream. 
 
 Q. Does a dream as remembered, always 
 mean what it says? 
 
 A. No, because the dream as remembered 
 may be highly condensed or symbolized or so 
 distorted as to give an opposite meaning to 
 what the dream really connotes. The un- 
 derlying dream thoughts which produce the 
 dream, conceal the dream wish. The mean- 
 ing of the dream is hidden in these underly- 
 ing dream thoughts. 
 
 Q. Are all dreams wish fulfillments? 
 
 A. Every dream is the fulfillment of a 
 92 
 
 
What is Psychoanalysis. 
 
 wish. The wish may not be clear in the 
 dream as remembered, yet it can always 
 be found through a psychoanalysis in 
 the latent content of the dream. In the 
 dreams of children the wish in the dream is 
 more clearly indicated than in the dreams of 
 adults. In adults the wish is in the latent 
 content and not in the manifest content of 
 the dream. 
 
 Q. From what sources do the wishes in 
 dreams originate? 
 
 A. 1. Wishes that arise during the day, 
 but are unfulfilled and so are fulfilled in the 
 dream, such as dreams of children, who fre- 
 quently dream of dainties or play activities 
 denied them during the day. 
 
 2. The wish may come up during the day 
 but may be rejected and repressed, such as 
 feelings of hatred or desires for revenge. 
 These wishes are then completely fulfilled 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 only in the dream, because the ethical ful- 
 fillment is impossible in reality. 
 
 3. Wishes or desires may arise during the 
 night while sleeping, such as thirst and a wish 
 for water. These wishes are usually ful- 
 filled by a dream of drinking, in order to pre- 
 vent the sleeping subject from awakening. 
 
 4. Wishes deeply buried in the uncon- 
 scious and carried over from early child- 
 hood. This explains why we so often dream 
 of injuring those relatives who are near and 
 dear to us. 
 
 Q. Is the wish fulfillment always clear in 
 the dream? 
 
 A. Xo, because the wish may be highly 
 disguised or distorted and can only be de- 
 termined through an analysis of the dream. 
 
 Q. How is the fact explained that we 
 sometimes dream of the death of one of our 
 
 94 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 parents, whom we certainly do not con- 
 sciously wish dead? 
 
 A. It means that the wish existed at one 
 time in very early childhood and for ethical 
 reasons was repressed. The meaning of 
 death to a child has a different connotation 
 from death to an adult, since the former de- 
 notes merely out of the way for the time be- 
 ing. 
 
 Q. What is the function of dreaming? 
 
 A. To protect sleep from the mass of 
 latent thoughts by making these thoughts 
 momentary and unrecognizable by the 
 sleeper. The only type of a dream which 
 disturbs sleep is a nightmare. 
 
 Q. What is a nightmare? 
 
 A. A nightmare is an anxiety dream. 
 95 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 An anxiety dream is very difficult to ex- 
 plain, since the element of fear in such a 
 dream seems to contradict the theory of wish 
 fulfillment and protection of sleep. This 
 contradiction is more apparent than real 
 however. An anxiety dream means that we 
 have suppressed the desire for certain for- 
 bidden pleasures in the unconscious. The 
 suppression produces conflict and pain, the 
 pleasure is throttled and when it escapes it 
 assumes the character of the suppressed 
 pain. 
 
 Q. What is the place of the dream in 
 psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. Dream analysis can show a man's 
 latent possibilities and his real ambitions and 
 desires. It portrays the psychological situa- 
 tion of the unconscious and hence dream an- 
 alysis is an absolute necessity in psycho- 
 analysis. Dream analysis can never become 
 
 96 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 
 
 mechanical, although it is based on certain 
 technical rules. 
 
 Q. How do the dreams bring out certain 
 things, such as concealed facts unknown to 
 the dreamer? 
 
 A. A dream is the product of the uncon- 
 scious, consequently a dream is an index of 
 unconscious thinking. The free associa- 
 tions of the various elements of dreams fur- 
 nish the material out of which the dream is 
 made. Much of this material consists of 
 repressed desires which were unknown to the 
 dreamer until the dream analysis was made. 
 
 Q. How does dream analysis help the pa- 
 tient? 
 
 A. Through the dreams, the analysis is 
 able to determine the unconscious desires 
 and wishes, the conflicts, transferences and 
 various resistances of the patient. It gives 
 
 97 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 an insight into the unconscious mental life 
 and thus unravels the mechanism of the neu- 
 rosis and the repressed material out of which 
 the neurosis is constructed. Sometimes one 
 dream will be found to contain the secret of 
 the neurosis. An elaborate dream is often 
 of less value than a short one, since the lat- 
 ter often reaches to unconscious levels in 
 which he the very roots of the neurosis. 
 The first dream of the analysis is very im- 
 portant, although in many cases the most 
 difficult to analyse completely, since it often 
 contains the entire mental attitude towards 
 the psychoanalytic procedure. The same 
 theme may appear with many variations and 
 symbols in different dreams. 
 
 Q. What is the practical value of dream 
 analysis? 
 
 A. It gives an insight into the uncon- 
 scious mental life of individuals and of so- 
 
 98 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 cial groups and thus helps in determining 
 the real motives of men and women and of 
 society in general. It has also thrown light 
 on comparative mythology and shown that 
 the psychological structure of a myth is the 
 same as that of a dream. Dream analysis 
 also helps in determining the wishes, resist- 
 ances, mental conflicts, and jealousies of 
 normal individuals. 
 
 Q. If a person does not dream, how is it 
 possible to penetrate the unconscious? 
 
 A. Every one dreams, although in some 
 persons the resistance is so great, that the 
 dreams are speedily forgotten on awaken- 
 ing. If there is an absolute insistence that 
 no dreams took place, then it is necessary to 
 watch the symptomatic actions or even to 
 utilize artificial dreams, for the penetration 
 of the unconscious. 
 
 99 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. What is an artificial dream? 
 
 A. This is a dream which a person con- 
 sciously makes up when requested to fabri- 
 cate what he would consider to be a genuine 
 dream. Artificial dreams contain the same 
 distorting mechanisms and have the same 
 unconscious mental processes as genuine 
 dreams. 
 
 Q. What is meant by typical dreams? 
 
 A. Such dreams as of being insufficiently 
 clothed, flying, of the death of a near and 
 dear relative, such as a parent. They are 
 called typical dreams because nearly every 
 one has dreamed of them in much the same 
 manner. The inner meaning of such dreams 
 arises from emotions which are common to 
 the entire human race. They consequently 
 have the same significance in the case of 
 every dreamer. 
 
 100 
 
What is Psychoanalysis'* 
 
 Q. Can a dream be interpreted arbi- 
 trarily? 
 
 A. Only certain typical dreams can be so 
 interpreted and then only in a superficial 
 manner. A complete dream interpretation 
 requires active cooperation and a knowledge 
 of the person's life interests. 
 
 Q. Can every dream be interpreted and 
 analyzed? 
 
 A. No, because in some dreams the resist- 
 ance is so strong and the material out of 
 which the dream is woven lies in such deep 
 strata of the unconscious, that a complete 
 analysis is impossible. This difficulty is due 
 to the fact that the inner resistances inter- 
 fere with the free associations which are nec- 
 essary for the analysis of the dream. If 
 these resistances can be overcome, the dream 
 can then be analyzed, for instance, it often 
 101 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 occurs during the course of psychoanalytic 
 treatment, that a dream which it was impos- 
 sible to analyze early in the treatment, be- 
 comes easily interpreted later. 
 
 Q. Can a person analyze his own dreams? 
 
 A. Only to a certain extent and then only 
 simple wish dreams, typical dreams or those 
 in which the symbols are distinct. In 
 self-analysis of dreams, the interpretation 
 usually given is the one desired and not the 
 real analysis, since the resistance prevents an 
 insight into the actual meaning of the dream. 
 
 Q. Can dream interpretation also be ap- 
 plied to the workings of normal minds? 
 
 A. Yes, since the dreams of normal indi- 
 viduals often show their repressed wishes, 
 desires, ambitions, jealousies and mental con- 
 flicts. 
 
 102 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. Does heredity have anything to do 
 with a neurosis? 
 
 A. Not directly, only in the sense of an 
 hereditary predisposition. A neurosis is 
 neither inherited nor transmitted, but arises 
 solely from the emotional conflicts of an in- 
 dividual. If we were satisfied with pigeon- 
 holing the neuroses as hereditary, it would 
 have barred the investigation of the cause of 
 the neuroses and stopped all efforts at treat- 
 ment. A neurosis is an acquired character- 
 istic and such a character cannot be inherited. 
 What is so often called heredity in children 
 is merely imitation of their elders. 
 
 Q. Why is it that a nervous illness seems 
 to break out suddenly at some critical emo- 
 tional period? 
 
 A. Because a new adaptation, a kind of 
 a new mental adjustment, becomes suddenly 
 103 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 necessary. Then the neurosis breaks out, 
 not because of an emotional shock or from 
 fatigue, but from the emotional trends which 
 the patient for years has repressed in his un- 
 conscious. In other words, the neurotic has 
 suddenly become the victim of a regression 
 or return to his infantile fixations. The fa- 
 tigue or emotional upheaval or anxiety 
 which often precedes such a nervous break- 
 down, is not its actual cause, but merely its 
 instigator. We are all in danger of a neu- 
 rosis to a limited degree, because when new 
 difficulties arise, we tend to minimize them 
 by retiring within ourselves. In this mental 
 attitude, difficulties are temporarily re- 
 moved, but the attitude itself constitutes the 
 neurosis. In other words, a neurosis means 
 that the patient wishes to avoid some task or 
 get away from some new problem of adapta- 
 tion. 
 
 Q. What is the feeling of unreality? 
 104 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. This feeling of the surroundings ap- 
 pearing unreal is a very frequent symptom 
 of many forms of nervous illness. Its 
 origin is very complex. Briefly, it arises 
 because the subject finds reality too painful 
 to bear and he prefers to live in a world of 
 his own ideas rather than in the world of 
 physical reality. This dominating by the 
 unreality feeling is an unconscious mental 
 process rather than a conscious and deliber- 
 ate act. It is a condition which can be 
 greatly helped and in many cases cured by 
 psychoanalysis. 
 
 Q. Can overwork produce a nervous 
 illness? 
 
 A. Overwork can never produce a neu- 
 rosis unless the soil has already been pre- 
 pared for it. Overwork merely reduces the 
 resistance, enabling the neurosis to make its 
 appearance. It does not produce the neu- 
 105 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 rosis because the symptoms are all out of 
 proportion to the actual physical fatigue 
 which antedated the so-called "breakdown." 
 Furthermore the fatigue of which so many 
 nervous patients complain, is false fatigue 
 and not a genuine physical fatigue. For this 
 reason, such patients feel more tired in the 
 morning and the fatigue actually wears off 
 during the day's activities and this also ex- 
 plains why such patients fail to improve with 
 rest. 
 
 Q. What is a nervous breakdown from a 
 psychoanalytic standpoint? 
 
 A. Neurasthenia or a nervous breakdown 
 cannot be explained on a purely organic 
 basis. The neurasthenic condition really 
 consists of unconscious desires striving for 
 expression. Many so-called "nervous 
 breakdowns" are really cases of mild 
 106 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 periodic depression or of various psycho- 
 neuroses. 
 
 Q. What can psychoanalysis do for these 
 nervous breakdowns? 
 
 A. In many cases it can prevent the 
 recurrence of a periodic nervous breakdown 
 by eliminating its unconscious sources or the 
 breakdown may be cured through psycho- 
 analysis. 
 
 Q. Is it necessary to dig into and unravel 
 all the fantasies which have become re- 
 pressed in the patient's unconscious ? 
 
 A. Yes, because the energy which the 
 patient needs for the restoration to and the 
 maintenance of his mental health, is attached 
 to these repressed fantasies. By dragging 
 the fantasies into consciousness they become 
 detached from the libido and the reserve 
 107 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 energy of the patient can then be utilized 
 to more useful ends, or in technical terms, 
 become sublimated. Thus psychoanalysis 
 helps the patient to adequately meet the 
 tasks of life and in a moral sense, it reedu- 
 cates and reconstructs him. The real cure 
 in psychoanalysis comes from within, for 
 after all the conscious material has been 
 thoroughly considered, the dreams are next 
 investigated, as these furnish the uncon- 
 scious material which is producing the neu- 
 rosis. 
 
 Q. What is hysteria? 
 
 A. Hysteria is due to ideas which are out 
 of harmony with the rest of the personality. 
 These ideas are repressed and this repres- 
 sion is at the basis of all hysterical manifes- 
 tations. It is the repression which causes 
 the dissociation of hysteria. The repressed 
 ideas may be converted into the peculiar 
 108 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 mental states and conditions of forgetful- 
 ness (amnesia) of hysteria or they may be 
 converted into the physical symptoms of 
 hysteria, such as paralysis, blindness, losses 
 of sensation, feelings of unreality, etc. 
 Hysteria is, therefore, the effort of the 
 human mind to disguise its unpleasant 
 thoughts and experiences, and as such, 
 hysteria always represents a mental conflict. 
 
 Q. What is anxiety hysteria? 
 
 A. This is a form of nervous disease 
 which is associated with various morbid 
 fears. With these fears there is associated 
 the usual psychological accompaniments of 
 the emotion of fear, such as difficulty of 
 breathing, palpitation of the heart, trem- 
 bling and sometimes disturbances of the 
 stomach and intestines. Many so-called 
 nervous children are sufferers from anxiety 
 hysteria. 
 
 10*9 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. What is an anxiety neurosis? 
 
 A. This is sometimes difficult to distin- 
 guish from anxiety hysteria. Many cases of 
 stammering and so-called neurasthenia are 
 really cases of an anxiety neurosis. 
 
 Q. What is the psychoanalytic theory of 
 stammering and what can psychoanalysis 
 do for the treatment of stammering? 
 
 A. Stammering is a form of an anxiety 
 neurosis. The motivating mechanism which 
 causes stammering is unknown to the suf- 
 ferer, that is, it is unconscious, the only con- 
 scious reaction being that of anxiety, fear, 
 and difficulty of talking. The distributing 
 element in stammering is mental and not 
 physical, it is more than a mere affection of 
 speech. The attempt to repress from con- 
 sciousness into the unconscious, certain 
 trends of thought or emotions, is the chief 
 110 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 mechanism in stammering. The repressed 
 thoughts, because of fear of betrayal, come 
 into conflict with the wish to speak and not 
 to betray, and hence the stammering arises. 
 The cure for stammering can be attained 
 only through an exploration of the uncon- 
 scious and a complete, breaking down of 
 those resistances which in early childhood 
 produced the, stammering. Phonetic or 
 speech training can accomplish but little or 
 at the most can produce only temporary 
 results in stammering. It is necessary to 
 know all the stammerer's fears and their 
 origin before sound advice can be given con- 
 cerning the mental attitude towards the 
 difficulties of talking. 
 
 Q. What is a compulsion neurosis? 
 
 A. Cases with compulsive thinking, such 
 as obsessions and doubts, constitute a com- 
 pulsion neurosis. It was formerly termed 
 111 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 psychasthenia. A compulsion neurosis is a 
 very complex disturbance and its ramifica- 
 tions in the mental life are deep and far 
 reaching. Its mechanism is probably a 
 transferred self-reproach from something 
 which has been repressed into the uncon- 
 scious. This is particularly shown by the 
 frequent appearance of what may be termed 
 "calamity dreams." These are types of 
 dreams in which harm or evil appears to 
 be happening to others. Such wishes 
 are strongly repressed in the unconscious 
 and consequently are only revealed in the 
 dream. 
 
 Q. What is the psychoanalytic interpreta- 
 tion of kleptomania? 
 
 A. In a case of kleptomania, if feeble- 
 mindedness, and actual insanity can be elim- 
 inated, the kleptomania is very likely a form 
 of a compulsion neurosis. 
 112 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. What is psychoanalysis able to do for 
 cases of manic depressive insanity? 
 
 A. It can be very helpful. Many of the 
 mild cases of manic-depressive insanity, 
 which are termed cyclothemia, are in reality 
 cases of anxiety hysteria. Their only re- 
 semblance to the manic-depressive group 
 is in their periodicity. Many cases of 
 depression and even of exaltation, will be 
 found on analysis to be the patient's method 
 of getting away from reality or in reaction 
 to unconscious emotional strain. The de- 
 pression and excitement arise from mental 
 conflicts. The depression is an overwhelm- 
 ing of the mind by repressed emotions, the 
 excitement is an effort to keep the painful 
 ideas out of the mind. Many cases of 
 periodic neurasthenia or mild periodic de- 
 pression can be distinctly helped or even 
 absolutely cured through the analytic inves- 
 tigation of the underlying cause of the 
 113 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 mental disturbance, since many of these 
 cases are really due to a lack of emotional 
 adaptation. Cases with periodic depres- 
 sion often show a constitutional tendency to 
 depressed states and it is here that psycho- 
 analysis may make a change for the better. 
 
 Q. What can psychoanalysis do for 
 alcoholism? 
 
 A. Provided there are no evidences of 
 alcoholic mental deterioration, psychoanaly- 
 sis can help, and in many instances cure, 
 cases of periodic alcoholism. The drinking 
 habit is due to complex mental factors, which 
 are merely instigated by temptation and 
 opportunity. The real underlying cause of 
 a sudden alcoholic bout is unknown to the 
 sufferer. Psychoanalysis is often able to 
 determine the cause and thus remove it. In 
 many cases, periodic alcoholism is due either 
 to an effort to get away from reality or in 
 114 
 
What is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 reaction to suppressed sexual desires. The 
 impelling cause of many cases of alcoholic 
 indulgence or the compulsive, irresistible 
 f eeling to drink, lies in the unconscious. 
 
 Q. Is it possible to help a case of dementia 
 praecox by psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. Only early, mild or latent cases of 
 dementia praecox are suitable for psycho- 
 analytic treatment. Even if it is impossible 
 to cure a case of dementia praecox, many of 
 the symptoms may be largely relieved. 
 Furthermore, a psychoanalytic investigation 
 of a dementia praecox patient will often 
 furnish information, concerning the prob- 
 lem of regulating the life interests. De- 
 mentia praecox may be interpreted as a 
 functional mental disturbance, a form of 
 dissociation of the personality, with a with- 
 drawal of personal interests from reality in 
 much the same way as hysteria, but of a more 
 intense form. 
 
 115 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Q. How does the usual medical history of 
 a nervous illness differ from a psychoanaly- 
 sis? 
 
 A. The usual accounts given by patients, 
 of their nervous illness, do not reproduce the 
 entire story, no matter how honest the 
 individual may be in his attempt to relate all 
 the facts, or how keen the memory in stating 
 the details. Under these conditions only the 
 superficial data are given, since conscious- 
 ness conveniently "forgets" those incidents 
 which are disagreeable to the personality and 
 represses these into the unconscious. These 
 repressed memories can be withdrawn from 
 the unconscious only by the work of psycho- 
 analysis. 
 
 Q. What is the ethical value of psycho- 
 analysis? 
 
 A. Psychoanalysis teaches that the uncon- 
 116 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 scious gets its gratification through a sym- 
 bolic outlet, either in the form of dreams or 
 of neurotic symptoms. Repression is the 
 most important factor in our civilized life. 
 It keeps individuals from doing harm even 
 if they have evil thoughts. The repressed 
 feelings however are not lost; there is no 
 waste of energy, since these feelings are sub- 
 limated or utilized for a higher and more 
 useful purpose. Psychoanalysis encourages 
 a more honest form of thinking, both in in- 
 dividuals and in social groups. It gives an 
 insight into the real workings of our minds 
 and our feelings and teaches us what we 
 really are. There is a constant tendency in 
 all of us to a self-deception, we conceal our 
 real thoughts and feelings through illogical 
 deductions or in obedience to what we term 
 moral conduct. This process is termed 
 rationalization. Psychoanalysis penetrates 
 into the unconscious motives' of our thoughts 
 and actions, and shows, how without self- 
 117 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 deception, we can best utilize our inner feel- 
 ings for the conduct of life. 
 
 Q. What bearing has psychoanalysis on 
 education? 
 
 A. The purpose of psychoanalysis is to 
 utilize the energy of an individual so that it 
 will find a natural outlet. As such, psycho- 
 analysis is educational in its scope, since it 
 tends to utilize for practical purposes all 
 that is best in an individual. The earliest 
 years of childhood are very important for 
 good health and sound character and it is in 
 these early years that education based on 
 psychoanalytic principles, is most effective 
 for the prevention of a future nervous illness 
 or the formation of undesirable character 
 traits. Many of the bad habits of children, 
 such as lying or stealing, may be early forms 
 of a future compulsion neurosis. Children 
 should be encouraged to find suitable outlets 
 118 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 for their interests, otherwise their interests 
 may be turned inward on themselves, lead- 
 ing to those day-dreams and mental con- 
 flicts, which so often produce a neurosis. 
 Particularly to be avoided, is the impressing 
 of children with feelings of guilt, shame or 
 terror, by insistence on punishment, or 
 frightening the child with bogies. 
 
 Q. What is the future of psychoanalysis? 
 
 A. The future of psychoanalysis depends 
 upon the improvement in its technique, the 
 general cultural advance of psychoanalytic 
 investigation, careful statistical studies of 
 the effect of the method by different workers 
 in the field and finally making physicians 
 more familiar with the theory and practise 
 of psychoanalysis. It will aid in the pre- 
 vention of neuroses by giving an insight into 
 the real mechanisms which produce nervous 
 breakdowns, such as, that nervous invalidism 
 119 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 is not due to overwork, but to repressed 
 emotions and unsatisfied instincts. The 
 psychoanalytic method of investigating un- 
 conscious mental processes is full of promise 
 for the future. 
 
 120 
 
HINTS FOR READING 
 
 K. ABRAHAM— Dreams and Myths— 1913 
 
 A contribution to comparative Mythology 
 showing that the same elements enter into the 
 structure of both dreams and myths. 
 ALFRED ADLER — The Neurotic Constitution 
 —1917 
 
 A psychological analysis of the mental 
 make-up of nervous sufferers. 
 A. A. BRILL Psychoanalysis — 1913 
 
 A series of papers on the theories and the 
 practical application of psychoanalysis. 
 ISADOR H. CORIAT— Abnormal Psychology— 
 1914 
 
 An outline of the entire field of Abnormal 
 Psychology. 
 The Meaning of Dreams — 1915 
 
 A general outline of the meaning of dreams, 
 their relation to the unconscious and the prob- 
 lems of psychoanalysis. 
 The Hysteria of Lady Macbeth — 191& 
 
 A psychoanalytic interpretation of the 
 character of Lady Macbeth. 
 Psychoneuroses Among Primitvoe Tribes — Jour- 
 nal of Abnormal Psychology — 1915 
 121 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 A study of hysterical attacks in the primi- 
 tive men of the Fuegian Archipelago. 
 S. FERENCZI — Contributions to Psycho-Analy- 
 sis — 1916 
 
 A series of papers dealing in a highly tech- 
 nical manner, with various aspects of psy- 
 choanalysis. 
 SIGMUND FREUD— The Interpretation of 
 Dreams — 1914 
 
 The fundamental work on psychoanalysis 
 in which the mechanism of dreams and the 
 functions of the unconscious are discussed in 
 great detail. 
 Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory — 
 1912 
 The entire question of sexual development 
 is discussed from a new and broader view- 
 point. 
 Leonardo da Vinci — 1916 
 
 A psychoanalytic character study of the 
 great Italian painter. 
 Wit and its Relation to the Unconscious — 1916 
 A study of the mental process of wit and 
 laughter. 
 The Psychopathology of Everday Life — 1914 
 A study of the unconscious actions of nor- 
 mal persons. 
 The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis 
 —1910 
 
 122 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 Five Lectures delivered at the Twentieth 
 Anniversary of Clark University, and giving 
 a history of the psychoanalytic movement by 
 its founder. 
 BERNARD HART— The Psychology of Insan- 
 ity— 1912 
 
 A psychoanalytic study of mental dis- 
 eases. 
 E. HITSCHMANN— Freud's Theories of the 
 Neuroses — 1913 
 
 The significance of psychoanalysis for 
 medicine. 
 EDWIN B. HOLT— The Freudian Wish— 1915 
 The relation of psychoanalysis to ethics 
 with a discussion of the function of the "wish" 
 as a key to the mind. 
 ERNEST JONES — Papers on Psychoanalysis— 
 1913 
 
 A collection of papers on the applications 
 of psychonalysis. 
 C. G. JUNG — Psychology of the Unconscious — 
 1916 
 
 A contribution to the history of the evo- 
 lution of thought on the basis of the analy- 
 sis of unconscious thinking. 
 Analytical Psychology — 1916 
 
 A collection of papers previously published, 
 on the various therapeutic aspects of psycho- 
 analysis. 
 
 123 
 
What Is Psychoanalysis? 
 
 OSKAR PFISTER— The Psychoanalytic Method 
 —1917 
 
 The application of Psychoanalysis to the 
 education of children. 
 J. J. PUTNAM— Human Mottoes— 1915 
 
 A study of human motives from a psycho- 
 analytic viewpoint. 
 O. RANK AND H. SACHS— The significance of 
 Psychoanalysis for the Mental Sciences — 
 1916 
 
 A contribution to the cultural aspects of 
 psychoanalysis. 
 WM. A. WHITE— Mechanisms of Character 
 Forma tion — 1 91 6 
 
 Human character interpreted according to 
 psychoanalytic principles. 
 Among journals, may be mentioned the Psycho- 
 analytic Review, published quarterly, 
 and the Journal of Abnormal Psychol- 
 ogy, published bi-monthly. The former 
 is devoted exclusively to the various 
 medical and cultural aspects of psycho- 
 analysis ; the latter contains a large num- 
 ber of psychoanalytic articles. 
 
 124 
 
INDEX 
 
 Alcoholism, 114 
 
 
 Dreams in psychoanalysis, 
 
 Anxiety hysteria, 109 
 
 
 96, 97 
 
 Anxiety neurosis, 110 
 
 
 Dreams, remembering of, 92 
 
 Autistic thinking, 51 
 
 
 self-analysis of, 102 
 source of wishes in, 93 
 
 Censor, 59 
 
 
 theory of, 89 
 
 Character formation, 85 
 
 
 typical, 100 
 
 Character traits, effects 
 
 of 
 
 Dreams as wish-fulfillments, 
 
 psychoanalysis on, 88 
 
 
 92, 94 
 
 Children, sexual hygiene 
 
 of, 
 
 
 56 
 
 
 Education and psychoanal- 
 
 Complex, 42 
 
 
 ysis, 118 
 
 Compulsion neurosis, 111 
 
 
 Efficiency, 78 
 
 Confession, 31 
 
 
 Electra-complex, 44 
 
 Consciousness, divisions 
 
 57 
 Cure, 35, 69, 76 
 
 of, 
 
 Ethics, 116 
 
 
 Fetichism, 55 
 
 Cyclothemia, 113 
 
 
 Foreconscious, definition of, 
 
 57 
 Forgetting, 91 
 
 Dementia, praecox, 115 
 
 
 Determinism, 28 
 
 
 
 Dissociation, 64 
 
 
 Heredity, 103 
 
 Dream analysis, value of, 
 
 98 
 
 Homosexuality, 45 
 
 Dreams, artificial, 100 
 
 
 Hysteria, 108 
 
 construction of, 90 
 Dreams of death, 90 
 Dreams, forgetting of, 91 
 
 function of, 95 
 
 interpretation of, 101, 
 
 lack of, 99 
 
 Illness, history of, 62 
 Inferiority feeling, 87 
 Introspection, 31 
 
 102 
 
 Kleptomania, 112 
 125 
 
Index 
 
 Leonardo da Vinci, 20 
 Libido, 49 
 
 Manic-depressive insanity, 
 
 113 
 Masochism, 55 
 Mental conflicts, 63, 82 
 Mental hygiene, 45, 79, 80 
 
 Narcissism, 56 
 
 Nervous breakdown, 106, 107 
 
 Nervous illness, history of, 
 
 116 
 Neuroses, prevention of, 83 
 Neurosis, outbreak of, 103 
 
 overwork in, 105 
 
 root of, 49 
 
 sexuality in, 51 
 Night mares, 95 
 Normal minds, 29 
 
 GEdipus-complex, 43 
 Overwork, 105 
 
 Projection, 48 
 
 Psychoanalysis, attitude to- 
 wards, 22 
 
 attitude during, 77, 79 
 
 definition of, 13 
 
 difficulties of, 70 
 
 effects of, 71 
 
 failures in, 25 
 
 future of, 119 
 
 harm of, 23 
 
 laws of, 26 
 
 origin of, 14 
 
 partial, 62, 65 
 
 practise of, 22 
 
 proof of, 29 
 
 scope of, 18 
 
 success of, 67, 70 
 
 teachings of, 77 
 
 time required for, 66 
 Psychoanalyst, 76 
 Psychopathology of everyday 
 life, 20 
 
 Rationalization, 117 
 Repression, 47 
 Reserve energy, 36 
 Resistance, 40 
 
 Sadism, 55 
 
 Self-cure, 65 
 
 Sex, definition of, 48 
 
 Sexual fantasies, 55 
 
 Sexual instinct, deviations of, 
 
 55 
 Sexual theory, 50 
 Sexual trauma, 53 
 Sexuality, psychoanalytic 
 
 conception of, 50 
 Shut-in personality, 86 
 Stammering, 110 
 Sublimation, 73, 74 
 Suggestion, 32, 33 
 Symbolism, 60 
 Symptomatic action, 46 
 
 Taboo, 20 
 
 Transference, 37, 39 
 Treatment, 29, 30, 66, 67 
 
 Unconscious, definition of, 57 
 self-knowledge of, 60 
 manifestations of, 59 
 
 126 
 
Index 
 
 Wish, definition of, 89 Wit, 21 
 
 Wishes in dreams, 93 Worry, 83 
 
 Wish-fulfillments in dreams, 
 92, 94 
 
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