Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis

Part 1

INTRODUCTORY LECTURES ON PSYCHO-ANALYSIS

SCHWIND, “THE PRISONER’S DREAM.”

See p. 113 for analysis. ]

INTRODUCTORY LECTURES ON PSYCHO-ANALYSIS A COURSE OF TWENTY-EIGHT LECTURES DELIVERED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA

BY PROF. SIGM. FREUD, M.D., LL.D. VIENNA

AUTHORIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY JOAN RIVIERE

WITH A PREFACE BY ERNEST JONES, M.D. President of the International Psycho-Analytical Association

LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD. RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. 1

First Published in Great Britain in 1922

(All rights reserved)

PREFACE

Among the many difficulties confronting those who wish to acquire a knowledge of psycho-analysis, not the least has been the absence of a suitable text-book with which they could begin their studies. They have hitherto had their choice among three classes of book, against each of which some objection could be urged from the point of view of the beginner. They could pick their way through the heterogeneous collection of papers, such as those published by Freud, Brill, Ferenczi, and myself, which were not arranged on any coherent plan and were also for the greater part addressed to those already having some knowledge of the subject. Or they could struggle with more systematic volumes, such as those by Hitschmann and Barbara Low, which suffer from condensation because of the difficulty of having to compress so much into a small space. Or, finally, it might be their fate to come across one of the numerous books, which need not be mentioned by name, that purport to give an adequate account of psycho-analysis, but whose authors have neglected the necessary preliminary of acquiring a proper knowledge of the subject themselves. The gap in the literature of psycho-analysis has now been filled by the writer most competent of all to do it—namely, Professor Freud himself, and the world of clinical psychology must be grateful to him for the effort it must have cost to write such a book in the midst of his other multitudinous duties. In the future we can unhesitatingly deal with the question so often asked, and say: This is the book with which to begin a study of psycho-analysis.

Even here, however, the reader should be warned that it is necessary to add a few modifications to the statement that the present volume is a complete text-book of psycho-analysis. The circumstances of its inception forbid its being so regarded. The book consists of three separate courses of lectures delivered at the University of Vienna in two winter sessions, 1915–1917. The first two of these presuppose absolutely no knowledge of the subject, and the style in which they were delivered constitute them an ideal introduction to the subject. But in the third year Professor Freud, doubtless assuming that those of his audience who had pursued their studies so far would by then have widened their reading otherwise, decided to treat them no longer as mere beginners, and so felt himself free to deal more technically with the more difficult subject-matter of the third course—the psycho-analysis of neurotic affections. The result is that the second half of the book is of a much more advanced nature than the first, a fact which, it is true, has the advantage that the author was able here and there to communicate some of his latest conclusions on obscure points. Every student of psycho-analysis, therefore, however advanced, will be able to learn much from this volume.

One must also remark that the book does not convey an adequate impression of the extensive bearing that psycho-analysis has on other humanistic studies than those here dealt with. Apart from a few hints scattered here and there, there is little indication of the extent to which psycho-analysis has already been applied, to sociology, to the study of racial development, and above all, to the psychology of the normal man. The book is definitely confined to its three topics of psychopathology of everyday life, dreams, and neuroses, these having been chosen as constituting the most suitable subject-matter with which to effect the author’s purpose—namely, to introduce students to psycho-analysis.

An American translation of the book has already appeared, but, apart from its deficiencies of style, it contained so many serious falsities in translation—a passage, for instance, to the effect that delusions cannot be influenced is translated in such a way as to commit Professor Freud, of all people, to the statement that obsessions cannot be cured—that it was decided to issue a fresh translation. This has been carried out with scrupulous care by Mrs. Riviere, aided by drafts carried out by Miss Cecil M. Baines of the eleven lectures in Part II. I have compared the whole book with the original, and have discussed doubtful and difficult points with Professor Freud and Mrs. Riviere. Mrs. Riviere’s English translation will be its own recommendation: I can give the reader the assurance that it is a faithful and exact rendering.

ERNEST JONES.

December 1921.

CONTENTS

PAGE PREFACE 5

PART I

LECTURE 1. INTRODUCTION 11 2. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ERRORS 19 3. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ERRORS (continuation) 31 4. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ERRORS (conclusion) 47

PART II

DREAMS

5. DIFFICULTIES AND PRELIMINARY APPROACH TO THE SUBJECT 67 6. PRELIMINARY HYPOTHESES AND TECHNIQUE OF INTERPRETATION 82 7. MANIFEST CONTENT AND LATENT THOUGHTS 94 8. CHILDREN’S DREAMS 105 9. THE DREAM-CENSORSHIP 114 10. SYMBOLISM IN DREAMS 125 11. THE DREAM-WORK 143 12. EXAMPLES OF DREAMS AND ANALYSIS OF THEM 155 13. ARCHAIC AND INFANTILE FEATURES IN DREAMS 168 14. WISH-FULFILMENT 180 15. DOUBTFUL POINTS AND CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS 193

PART III

GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

16. PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND PSYCHIATRY 207 17. THE MEANING OF SYMPTOMS 218 18. FIXATION UPON TRAUMATA: THE UNCONSCIOUS 231 19. RESISTANCE AND REPRESSION 242 20. THE SEXUAL LIFE OF MAN 255 21. DEVELOPMENT OF THE LIBIDO AND SEXUAL ORGANIZATIONS 269 22. ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT AND REGRESSION. ÆTIOLOGY 285 23. THE PATHS OF SYMPTOM-FORMATION 300 24. ORDINARY NERVOUSNESS 316 25. ANXIETY 328 26. THE THEORY OF THE LIBIDO: NARCISSISM 344 27. TRANSFERENCE 360 28. THE ANALYTIC THERAPY 375 INDEX 389

PART I

Part 2

FIRST LECTURE INTRODUCTION

I do not know what knowledge any of you may already have of psycho-analysis, either from reading or from hearsay. But having regard to the title of my lectures—Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis—I am bound to proceed as though you knew nothing of the subject and needed instruction, even in its first elements.

One thing, at least, I may presuppose that you know—namely, that psycho-analysis is a method of medical treatment for those suffering from nervous disorders; and I can give you at once an illustration of the way in which psycho-analytic procedure differs from, and often even reverses, what is customary in other branches of medicine. Usually, when we introduce a patient to a new form of treatment we minimize its difficulties and give him confident assurances of its success. This is, in my opinion, perfectly justifiable, for we thereby increase the probability of success. But when we undertake to treat a neurotic psycho-analytically we proceed otherwise. We explain to him the difficulties of the method, its long duration, the trials and sacrifices which will be required of him; and, as to the result, we tell him that we can make no definite promises, that success depends upon his own endeavours, upon his understanding, his adaptability and his perseverance. We have, of course, good reasons, into which you will perhaps gain some insight later on, for adopting this apparently perverse attitude.

Now forgive me if I begin by treating you in the same way as I do my neurotic patients, for I shall positively advise you against coming to hear me a second time. And with this intention I shall explain to you how of necessity you can obtain from me only an incomplete knowledge of psycho-analysis and also what difficulties stand in the way of your forming an independent judgement on the subject. For I shall show you how the whole trend of your training and your accustomed modes of thought must inevitably have made you hostile to psycho-analysis, and also how much you would have to overcome in your own minds in order to master this instinctive opposition. I naturally cannot foretell what degree of understanding of psycho-analysis you may gain from my lectures, but I can at least assure you that by attending them you will not have learnt how to conduct a psycho-analytic investigation, nor how to carry out a psycho-analytic treatment. And further, if anyone of you should feel dissatisfied with a merely cursory acquaintance with psycho-analysis and should wish to form a permanent connection with it, I shall not merely discourage him, but I shall actually warn him against it. For as things are at the present time, not only would the choice of such a career put an end to all chances of academic success, but, upon taking up work as a practitioner, such a man would find himself in a community which misunderstood his aims and intentions, regarded him with suspicion and hostility, and let loose upon him all the latent evil impulses harboured within it. Perhaps you can infer from the accompaniments of the war now raging in Europe what a countless host that is to reckon with.

Continue reading Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis free in the Wunder reader →