"Dora" I

I think that this case study could be considered literature. It’s interesting to note that Freud thinks that this could be considered literature because “many physicians” may decide to read this as something “designed for their private delectation.” The introduction was difficult to read but this was due to my lack of knowledge of the technical terms that he used. Once he finished that and moved into the case history and analysis it became mush easier to follow. At times it was possible to forget that I was reading a psychoanalysis case study. As soon as this would happen there would be a mention of how the subject related to his analysis. I think that case studies need to read like literature in order to capture interest and keep people reading. If this had just been in technical terms without the detailed case history and explanation of how it applies no one outside of the psychoanalytic community would be able to read and understand this. The biggest way in which the case study differs from literature is the repetition. I understand that repetition is necessary to emphasize his points and that many different areas of the reading are interrelated and connect back to his points but it became monotonous to read the same thing multiple times.

While reading this I did notice some “blind spots” that seemed to be obvious things that he should have done in order to better analyze the study. Freud spends a section of the introduction explaining that since he “cannot make notes during the actual sitting with the patient” that he recorded the material that the conversation covered from memory. Furthermore, the case history “was only committed to writing from memory, after the treatment was at an end.” This practice could have led him to remember things incorrectly which could invalidate part of his results. I also noticed that Freud only talked to Dora and her father. He pieced together her relationship with her family members “from the accounts given by the girl and her father.” Did it not occur to him that they may be accurately portraying the remaining family members? I think that this is probably the biggest “blind spot” because this led me to believe that of the father hadn’t taken Dora to begin therapy that Freud wouldn’t have spoke to anyone besides her for a description of the history of her illnesses and her relationships with other people.