Beschreibung:

FREUD, Sigmund (1856-1939). Autograph letter signed and four autograph correspondence cards signed ('Dr Freud') to an unidentified recipient [Elise Gomperz, wife of the philosopher and classicist Theodor Gomperz], Vienna, 25 July 1892 - 22 January 1893, together 3 pages, 8vo, and 6 pages, 12mo .
FREUD, Sigmund (1856-1939). Autograph letter signed and four autograph correspondence cards signed ('Dr Freud') to an unidentified recipient [Elise Gomperz, wife of the philosopher and classicist Theodor Gomperz], Vienna, 25 July 1892 - 22 January 1893, together 3 pages, 8vo, and 6 pages, 12mo . 'YOU CURED YOURSELF BY YOUR OWN EFFORTS'. Writing to one of his earliest patients, over a period of six months, Freud suggests a variety of treatments for an undiagnosed problem, advising in one card aspirin and massage, in another suggesting simply repeating a treatment, and in a third discounting a treatment by hypnosis, though it could be discussed ('Hypnose machen wir nicht, aber zu besprechen ist die Sache doch'). In the letter, of 7 January 1893, he refers to a 'Wasserprocedurung', and insists that she not abandon a treatment, though they cannot be sure what the source of the problem is: 'Nicht entzagen, weil der Schmerz noch nicht zu Ende ist! ... Wir wollen gar nicht wissen, was sich da im Dunkeln angesponnen hat ...'; he gently mocks her 'need for hero-worship [Bedürfniß nach Heldenverehrung]'. Two weeks later, Freud writes hurriedly, though rather ambiguously, to express agreement with a treatment his patient has sought elsewhere, implying that she has really cured herself: 'Bin also sehr erfreut, gar nicht überrascht, mit allem einverstanden. Weiß, wer und was Sie geheilt hat ... Daneben muß man anerkennen, daß Sie sich die Heilung durch eigene schwere Anstrengung auch selbst verdreut haben'. (5)