Sigmund Freud ANALYSIS OF A PHOBIA IN A FIVE YEAR OLD BOY

Sigmund Freud ANALYSIS OF A PHOBIA IN A FIVE YEAR OLD BOY

BACK GROUND AND CONTEXT Sigmund Freud was a practising therapist who developed his theories from his own observations of his patients, and his reflections on his own experience. He wrote case histories in terms of his recollections and interpretations of the interviews and did not keep complete ongoing records. Little Hans is a child patient which Freud reported on. Freud s theoretical aspects of work are referred to as psychoanalysis. One of the key themes of Freud s work is the importance of the first few years of life in the subsequent development of personality. He also believed that children experience emotional conflicts, and their future adjustment depends on how well these conflicts are resolved. This case study confirmed the oedipal complex set out in Three essays on the Theory of Sexuality. The study also demonstrated the origin of phobias, and use of dream analysis and free association. This study is unusual in two respects. First it is the analysis of a child (Hans) and freud usually dealt with adults. Secondly, the therapy was carried out by correspondence and interview with the boy s father, rather than with the child himself.

KEY TERMS Psychoanalysis- Freud s theory of personality which describes how human behaviour is affected by unconscious thoughts and feelings Unconscious mind- The part of our mind that is beyond our conscious awareness Libido- Frued s concept of internal motivational energy commonly taken to mean the sex drive Phobia- An anxiety disorder characterized by persistent fear out of proportion to the danger, a compelling desire to escape the situation, and a recognition that the fear is excessive Oedipus Complex- According to Freud, the conflict between a boy s desire for his mother, and the fear of punishment by castration for that desire by his father Symptom substitution-the situation where the treatment and removal of one symptom is ultimately followed by the development of another symptom, because the cause of the disorder has not been dealt with Widdler = penis; Widdling = peeing; Lumf = faeces (poo); Coaxing = cuddling; Castration = having penis cut off

AIM & HYPOTHESIS To understand and treat the phobia of a five year old boy To use case study approach as a form of helping and as a piece of scientific research To report the findings of the treatment of a five-year-old boy for his phobia To support freud s theory of sexuality and genesis of mental disorders such as phobia Hypothesis-

METHODOLOGY Sample: Hans, a five year old boy with problems of phobia Research Design (Case Study Method) Data: Qualitative data (Interviews, recorded conversations) Main Variable (DV)- Phobia Treatment Variable- Psychoanalysis

PROCEDURE Case study happened during 3-5 years of Hans. His father recorded events and conversations with Hans and sent these regularly to Freud. Both Freud and Father offered interpretations of Hans behaviour Confronted Hans with unconscious causes by revealing to him his hidden motivations and consciously discussing them One occasion Hans was taken to meet Freud.

TIME LINE Year Hans age Event 1903 Hans Born 1906 3-3 ¾ First Reports 3 ¼ - 3 ½ Summer Holidays, First Visit to Gmunden 3 ½ Castration anxiety 3 ½ Hanna Born 1907 3 ¾ First Dream 4 Removal to New Flat 4 ¼ - 4 ½ Second Visit to Gmunden, episode of biting horse 1908 4 ¾ Episode of falling horse, start of phobia 5 Recovery, end of analysis

RESULTS Event Freudian Interpretation Conclusion Anxiety of Mother s desertion Arousal for taken into mothers bed for

FINDINGS Hans was fascinated by his widdler. He observed that animals had big ones and probably so did both his parents because they were grown ups Hans spent lot of time alone with his mother over the summer holiday and realized he liked having her to himself. He wished that his father would stay away. He also felt hostile towards his new baby sister who further separated Hans from his mother. He expressed this indirectly in his fear of baths because he thought his mother would drop him ( in fact, he wished his mother would drop his little sister, the desire he projected elsewhere because of the anxiety it aroused) Horses and anxiety: (1) Hans once heard a man say to a child do not put your finger to the white horse or it will bite you (2) Hans asked his mother if she would like to put her finger on his widdler. His mother told him that would not be proper. Therefore Hans learned that touching a white horse or a widdler was undesirable. Hans desire for his mother created a sense of anxiety and fear that she might leave him if he persisted in asking her to touch his widdler. Unconsciously this anxiety gave him fright of being bitten by a white horse

FINDINGS More anxiety was created by the fact that Hans mother told hans that if he played with his widdler, it would be cut off. Hans father told him that women have no widdlers. Hans reasoned that his mother s must have been cut offand she might do the same to him Dream about Giraffe-Hans dreamt that there were two giraffes one crumpled and one big. He took away the crumpled and this made big one cry out. This might represent Hans wish to take away his mother (crumpled) causing his father to cry out. Symbolism- Freud suggested to hans that the black around horses mouth and the blinkers in front of their eyes were like his father s moustaches and glasses. Hans might envy these symbols of adulthood because they might give him the right to have woman s love. Further horse anxieties- Hans told his father that he was afraid of horses falling down and if they were laden (with furniture) this might lead them to fall down. Hans also remembered seeing a horse fall down and thinking it was dead. He secretly wished his father would fall down dead and this made Hans more anxious.

FINDINGS The lumf obsession- Hans became preoccupied with bowel movements. Freud suggested that laden vehicles represented pregnancy and when they overturn it symbolises giving birth. Thus falling horse was both his father dying and mother giving birth The plumber- Hans was in a bath and the plumber stuck a big borer into his stomach. Freud called this a fantasy of procreation. The bath is the mother s womb and the borer s father s penis, which created him. The resolution- Hans became less afraid of horses because he had worked through his fantasies and understood their real meaning- they were no longer unconscious and he could deal with them. He developed two final fantasies which showed that his feelings about his father were resolved. (1) the plumber came and first took away my behind with a pair of pincers, and then he gave me another and then the same with my widdler (2) Hans told his father that he was now the daddy and not the mummy of his imaginary children, thus showing that he had moved from wishing his father dead to identifying with him

CONCLUSION This Provides support for Freud s theory of Psychosexual development, and evidence for Freud s explanation of the origins of disordered behaviour Neuroses in early childhood are relatively normal. Phobias area the conscious expressions of repressed anxieties Freud concluded that it might be generally useful to apply the same principles of psychoanalysis to all children to free them of repressed wishes that inevitably arise during childhood

EVALUATION ethonocentric Reductionist Experimente r s effect Androcentric bias validity ethics Freud Study Evaluation usefulness Case study application Longitudinal vs snap shot Qualitative vs quantiative

EVALUATION Reductionist-A major problem with Freud's arguments is that other explanations can be found for Little Hans' phobias. For example, Bowlby, who was also a psychoanalyst, argued that Hans' phobia could be explained in terms of attachment theory. Bowlby believed that most of Hans' anxiety arose from threats by the mother to desert the family. A further, and simpler, explanation for Hans' phobia is that he was classically conditioned to fear horses. Or in other words, Hans witnessed a horse fall and collapse in the street. Hans then generalised this fear to all horses. Experimenter s effect-as the analysis and the discussions were mostly carried out by the father, who already had favourable view of freudian s theory which therefore may have caused his influence in discussions. Case Study-The case study provided a very in-depth picture producing lots of qualitative data. Application-Case studies, such as this one carried out by Freud, are particularly useful in revealing and treating the origins of abnormal behaviour. In fact some forms of psychotherapy rely on building up a long and detailed case history as an aid to understanding and then helping the client Generalization-This case study only relates to one individual and we therefore have to be careful generalizing from the finding

EVALUATION Validity- This case study is really Freud's interpretations of Hans' father's interpretation of his son's own phobia. Freud only saw Little Hans on one or two occasions. It can be argued that this leads to a drastic reduction in objectivity, particularly as the father was a supporter of Freud s ideas. Androcentric - This study describes the Oedipus complex which is of course unique to boys. Girls, Freud argued, develop penis envy, which later becomes converted into a desire to bear children as the young child begins to recognise that it is impossible for her to develop a penis of her own. Ethnocentric- The idea of the Oedipus complex is ethnocentric because Freud assumed that all boys must experience this stage. This may only apply to families where both parents live and rear the children together. There may be other cultures or cases where single parents raising children and this may not be applicable then. Usefulness- The conclusions drawn from this study has upheld freudian s psycho sexual development, defense mechanisms and unconscious mind, and childhood experiences influencing the personality development. Quantitative Vs qualitative data- Use of qualitative data enhances the validity of the study but would limit generalization

EVALUATION Longitudinal Vs snap shot- the study was undertaken for period of three years to understand and offer treatments to phobia. Though little Hans was remedied of phobia, it takes time and effort, and expertise in psychoanalysis to serve its purpose. Ethics Harm: Suggestibility as symptom substitution typically done in psychoanalysis may also lead to new problems while solving the one up front. So, there is a greater risk that it may exacerbate the problems. As parents have brought the child into therapy, it does satisfy the informed consent. But objectivity, confidentiality or privacy seem to have been breached although it is for a better reason so as to contribute to the paradigm. There are no issues of deception or debriefing in this study.