Summary:
A review of Sigmund Freud's famous case of Dora, in which he tests his theories of dream analysis.
Sigmund Freud's work as a psychologist brought him to an almost unparalleled fame in the psychoanalytic world. Freud can be seen as the predecessor of modern psychology. His views on the unconscious mind were groundbreaking to the 19th century world. He became interested in women's psychoanalysis and the fact that their sexual drive could cause them to become hysterical. During this time the world had believed that humans had control over both the knowledge they retained about themselves and their environment. This was when Freud came up with the idea of the unconscious mind. Through this theory, Freud suggested that individuals do not even know what they are thinking most of the time. In the case of Dora, Freud would conclude that she was sexually attracted to her father, his mistress, and the husband of her father's mistress subconsciously.
In doing this, some people see Freud as a pioneer in the science of psychoanalysis. However, Freud is far from what most people consider to be scientific in both his methods and the facts he uses as evidence. Freud applies his theories to Dora and her case of hysteria; but he does it in such a way that is very unscientific and as a result is not convincing.
Freud had developed his theory of hysteria and how its origin came from repressed sexual desire. He diagnosed Dora as someone who was suffering from hysteria as a result of this repressed desire. He used the fact that when Herr K. was not around, Dora was unable to talk, and that showed that her symptoms of hysteria were directly correlated with Herr K. He concluded from his invalid evidence, which consisted of Dora's dreams and her past childhood experiences, that she was indeed repressing her love for Herr K. and this came out in the form of sexual desire towards her father. He believed that her hysterical symptoms were her punishing herself for her sexual desires, and caused by her own self-repression. It is possible that Dora did have sexual desires for the people around her, but Freud fails to account for a number of other factors that would undoubtedly have negative effects on a young girl. It is possible these other influences were as much or more the cause of her hysteria than her sexual feelings, but they were not taken into account by Freud.
This use of unacceptable evidence is one reason that Freud cannot be considered a scientist. He also uses the fact that Dora displaces her affection for Herr K. onto his children by acting as a mother-figure toward them. Again, Freud assumes that this affection toward the children is a way of displacing Dora's sexual desire for their father. Freud does not seem to take into account that it is possible that she has a love for children, and it has nothing to do with any sexual adoration that she has for Herr K. Freud fails to consider an alternative explanation for Dora's hysteria aside from reasons that would benefit him and his earlier theory on hysteria stemming from sexual aspirations.
In Freud's analysis of Dora's dream there are a number of crucial factors affecting her psyche he fails to account for. Dora's father is more concerned with his relationship with Frau K. than he is with the relationship he has with his own daughter. He essentially trades Dora off to Herr K. in order to ensure that his relationship with Frau K. is able to continue. In essence the father is attempting to trade sex with Dora for sex with Frau K., and Freud fails to attribute this to the problems that Dora is experiencing. If Freud wanted to make his theories more believable he should have addressed these other things affecting Dora and explained why they were not the cause of her hysteria.
Freud fails to recognize the politics of the family and attributes everything to sexual desire. In doing this he neglects circumstances that would affect the psyche of any young girl. The father is only concerned with his relationship with Frau K., so that when Dora relates the incident that took place at the lake with Herr K. to him, he brushes it off as nothing more than a sexual fantasy. Freud fails to account for the trauma that this lack of support from a young girls own father would have on her; rather he continues to just attribute her problems to her own sexual desires.
Freud also fails to separate the gender inequalities that exist between males and females. The theories that Freud has are all based on the fact that the society of the time is male dominated, and thus his treatment of Dora is extremely biased. Freud believes that a passionate kiss from a mature man would elicit sexual pleasure in a fourteen year old girl. He has no understanding for the possibility that a young girl like Dora might not have an attraction for someone such as Herr K. Freud simply sees Dora's reaction of repulsion to Herr K. as hysteria because instead of exhibiting the expected reaction of pleasure, she only showed utter disgust. He believes Dora's hysterical symptoms are merely caused by her own self repression of her sexual desires. He does not realize that it is possible for a young girl with a disease of her genitalia might be ashamed to engage in sexual relations with a man because then he would realize she has such a disease.
However Freud makes a compelling point on the fact that individuals do not have control over all of the aspects of their mind, and therefore their true feelings are not expressed. It is hard to imagine that there could be anything powering dreams while we sleep except for our unconscious mind. By dreaming, individuals are capable of tapping into an area of their mind that they are unfamiliar with due to the fact that they cannot control their entire train of thought all at once. Due to the fact that humans focus on specific things in their lives at times, feelings from experiences can be stashed away deep within the unconscious mind. Freud's dream analysis appears to be an effective method for uncovering subconscious thoughts and feelings. It is in Freud's analysis of these dreams that opens him up to be second guessed as he fails to account for factors other than sexual desire.'
It is Freud's theories as to what is causing these suppressed feelings that are hard to comprehend. In the case of Dora, it appears that there are obvious reasons why any young girl in this situation would be hysterical; yet Freud tries to tie everything in to sexual desire. It appears much more logical that she suffers from hysteria as a result of her father's affair with Frau K. and him not believing her story about her encounter with Herr K. at the lake, than the fact that she has sexual desires for her father and for Herr K. It appears as though Freud is more concerned with proving his earlier theories and defending his theory that the origin of hysteria is the sexual drive, than correctly diagnosing Dora. This reveals how unscientific Freud is. He was looking for a case to substantiate his earlier work and he found the Dora case one where he could apply his theories to convince people they were accurate. The problem was that in Dora's case her sexual desires do not appear to be the cause for her hysteria but rather her family problems. However Freud fails to consider that in his diagnosis because he is only concerned with Dora admitting to her sexual desires.
Freud believed that a person's dreams fulfilled wishes and gave that person a sense of accomplishment to something that may only be achieved in the unconscious. Although Freud may have had persuasive views on certain issues, he by no means goes about proving these views in a scientific way. His approach is entirely skewed because he is trying to make Dora fit into his model theory so that her case provides concrete evidence to support those theories. However in doing this, he disrupts the natural essence of Dora. Scientists act in the reverse manner, in that they try to observe things in their natural state without disturbing them. Freud's biased views and way of conducting his sessions make it hard to believe that he has any suitable scientific data to support his theory, and thus is not to be considered a real scientist.
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