Anna O.

Anna O.
By: Your Name

Anna O.

Anna O.

The birth of psychoanalysis was the case study of a young woman with the pseudonym Anna O. Her
real name was Bertha Pappenheim from Vienna. She was the care-taker of her aged father, with whom
she was very close. When he died, she developed a number of strange nervous symptoms. She was
just 20 years old when these strange symptoms including muscular spasms and paralysis, hearing loss,
blurry vision, hallucinations and loss of consciousness, a sever cough and periods where she could no
longer even understand her native language, German, and had to communicate only in English and
French. (Ellenberger 1972) Her physician at the time, Josef Breuer, a colleague of Sigmund Freud,
was bewildered, to say the least. Breuer diagnosed her with Hysteria, and her case was so intriguing,
that it was published in his book, Studies on Hysteria, written with Freud. Although Breuer and Freud
collaborated on the case study, they took differing views on treatment and analysis of this case. Jung
contributed to the role of the unconscious, and in certain aspects of psychoanalysis, differed from
Freud.

Compare and contrast Freud's view of the unconscious with Jung's view and apply this case example in
your explanations.
Freud's main focus concerning the mind was the unconscious. Before Freud, the unconscious, though
known to and named, held no real place in science. Freud changed all of that by carving out a
legitimate place for the unconscious and pioneered the study of psychology. Central to Freud's focus
concerning the importance and influence of the unconscious is repression. (Wolheim) Freud believed
that people repress experiences, or at least the emotional impact of certain experiences, and hence these
things lurk in the unconscious, often times unbeknownst to the patient. Under certain circumstances,

Anna O.

the patient acts in a way that is actually influenced by the repressed emotions from past emotional
responses to past especially emotional situations.

Jung, on the other hand, viewed the unconscious in two parts: The personal unconscious and the
collective unconscious based on Darwin theory of evolution. The collective is one that all humans
have, and it is this that is the foundation of both personal unconscious and personality.

On what specific points would they agree and disagree regarding the purpose and manifestation of the
unconscious in the case of Anna?
Because Freud's work is the most popular work on human behavior, and hiss theory of personality and
psychotherapy, his influence tends to overshadow that of Breuer. With that in mind, Breuer's views on
the unconscious are often not fully articulated in modern research. Breuer treated Anna O. It is during
this treatment that he developed his theory of how the unconscious has an effect on the conscious.
Anna O had lost her father. From that pain she manifested symptoms. Breuer figured out, via this
patient, that Anna's symptoms arose from her unconscious process in dealing with the death of her
father. The moment that the unconscious in made conscious, believed and proved through his
treatment of Anna, the symptoms that arose from the unconscious unreconciled feelings of past pains,
disappear. For example, Anna's symptoms disappeared as she communicated them to Breuer.

Jung and Freud believed that the mind is greatly influenced by the unconscious. For Anne, her
unconscious influenced her erratic behavior.

Anna O.

How might they each approach the treatment of Anna? What might be those specific interventions?
Freud would approach Anna a bit differently than did her physician, Breuer. Freud thought that Breuer
discounted the sexual attraction, and its interactions and influences, of Ann's relationship with Breuer
and her father. Specifically, in contrast to Jung, Freud approached the treatment of Anna as an
individualized analysis of just Anna, and her life experiences. Freud would focus on her repressed
memories in rehabilitating her symptoms.

Jung, on the other hand approached this case from both Freud's position, and from a more universal
perspective. He opined that Anne's manifestations of her symptoms are the result of her automatic and
learned responses to tragedy. However, both Jung and Freud believed that Anne's repressed pain from
her memories of her father's death greatly influenced her hysterical behavior. (Elliot, 2002)

How might Anna experience these interventions considering her history?

Anna said herself that her healing came through talking out her problems with Breuer. If Freud were to
treat her, as stated above, he would focus on both her sexual attractions and influences, and her
repressed memories and their influence on her behavior. Anna needed to be healed, not studied.
Breuer, as a physician, was in the businesses of curing ailments. Hence, as Anna progressed, and as the
symptoms subsided, he believed his method was rehabilitative. Freud, on the other hand, seems to
dwell on the various aspects of Anna's neurosis, rather than focus on her recovery. Jung, similar to
Freud, used the Anna case to further his universal theory that Anne is not unlike most people whose
unconscious influences the conscientious. Anna responded best to Breuer, and was not ever treated by
Freud or Jung, so it is difficult to speculate on her reaction to both of those individual psychologists.

Anna O.

That being said, Anna would most likely stayed in her neurosis if she were treated by Freud and/or
Jung because she would have seen herself as an anomaly, disturbed sexually, questioned herself as an
individual, and remained stagnant in her hysteria because these treatments are aimed at study, not the
curing of past, painful memories, and their physical manifestations, as with Anna.

Anna O.

References

D Edinger, Bertha Pappenheim: Freuds Anna O (Highland Park, Ill.: Congregation Solel, 1968)

Elliot,A.(2002).Psychoanalytic theory: an introduction. Duke University Press

H F Ellenberger, 'The story of Anna O.: A critical review with new data', Journal of the History of
the Behavioral Sciences, 8/3 (1972), pp 267-79

L C Hurst, (1982), What Was Wrong With Anna O., Jounal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1437275/

Richard Wollheim, (1981), Freud. London, Fontana Press, pp. 157-176.