Analysis of a Phobia of a Five year old Boy Freud, S (1909)

Terminology
Psychiatrist Psyche Id wants, needs, desires Ego moral responsibility Super ego conscience, supervises between id and ego Psychoanalysis Phobia Psychoanalytic theory Psychotherapy Case study: intense observation, usually focus on one person with a rare experience, disorder of ability, it doesnt involve independent variable and can span for a long period of time Qualitative data Oedipal theory Castration anxiety

AIM:
To treat little Hans, a young boy who was suffering from anxiety and phobia Freud uses this case study to support his psychoanalytic ideas

CASE STUDY: Information is provide via the Father (possible human errors, information can be inaccurate)

Massive criticism: Freud did not have direct contact with the boy (inefficient method of collecting data) Qualitative data Freud was treating the boy while trying to prove his theory at the same time (ethical problem?) Three year old Hans developed an interest in his penis (widdler), and also those of other people (become obsession?) The main theme of his fantasies and dreams was widdlers and widdling (masturbation) Does he understand the purpose of widdling? When he was about 3.5 his mother told him not to touch his penis or she would call the doctor to come and cut it off When he was 3.5 his mother had a baby girl, Hannah. He was resentful of the baby (he had to share his mothers affection with his sister/father rivals?) He developed a phobia of the bath Later developed a fear of horses o He overheard a father tell his child Dont put your finger on the white horse or it will bit you (accuracy?) o Similar to his mothers threat (dont put your fingers on) o He saw a horse pulling a carriage fall down and kick about with its legs This fear went on to generalize to carts and busses Throughout the study Hans expressed anxiety that his mother would leave him (abandonment) Hans fantasies; o Being the father of his children, whom he made widdle (to themselves) o That his mother showed him her widdle o That he had taken a smaller crumpled giraffe away from a taller giraffe o The giraffes represent Mom and Dad o Introspection o That the plumber snaked out of his belly o That the plumber replaced his behind and penis with larger ones (like his father) o That he was the father of his own children with his mother and that his father was their grandfather

After the last fantasy and the help he received from Freud & his father, his anxieties and phobias and the psychoanalysis came to an end

METHOD OF ANALYSIS: Freud never actually treated Hans. All help was received through his father. Inferring the unconscious causes of Hans behaviour through interpretation and decoding of psychoanalytic symbols (the giraffes symbolize his parents) Confronting Hans with these unconscious causes by telling him about them and discussing them consciously

Freud this case to support his ideas Issues and debates: The application of psychology to everyday life (its usefulness) Ecological validity Ethics Ethnocentric bias Reliability and validity Individual and situational explanations Nature and nurture Psychometrics Quantitative and qualitative data Generalisation Snapshot and longitudinal data The use of children in psychological research The use of animal in psychological research Reductionism