ANXIETY freud (1909) Flashcards
(12 cards)
aim
describe development of phobia of white horses in a five year old boy little hans
and his recovery
case history
longitudinal case study
hans development between 3-5 years
hans father freud glazer
wrote letters and info and observations and convos abt son
freud spoke to hans only once but offered father advice about talking to son about fears
interest in widdlers
talked about widdler = his penis
asked parents if they had one
pointed it out on large animals like horse cow lions
age 3.5 mother scolded him for touching penis
said doc wld cut it off
interpreted as start of castration anxiety
interpreting giraffe fantasy
told his mum of giraffe fantasy
large giraffe and smaller crumpled giraffe in room
hans took crumpled away
big called out
when big stopped calling out hans sat on crumpled
thought to symbolise hans’ desire for his mother
mother often let him get into bed w her
father said she should stop
large giraffe = father
smaller = mother
fear of white horses
developed fear of white horses
specfically being bitten
distressed when in street w mother
eventually dw leave house
father thought fear linked w desire to be at home w mother
but also horses large widdlers
hans used defense mechanism of displacement to transfer fear of castration by father to fear of being bitten by horse
freud told hans father not angry w him abt love for mother
said his father loved him too
identification with his father
aged 5 hans told father about dream
plumber removed his penis w pliers and replaced w bigger one
played a game where he became a father
father became grandfather
both dream and game = hans finding resolutions for oedipus complex
both indicated hans wanted to become more like father
conclusion
hans’ fear of horses signified castration anxiety
important feature of oedipus complex
identification w father helped resolve the complex and phobia
strength qualitative data
from letters from hans father
extracts of convos that happened in privacy of family home
father made notes abt interesting convos rather than rely on memory
important bc rare that therapist gains access to this level of insight into nature of relationship between child and parents
strength longitudinal
corresponded w dad for years
info abt events when fear first developed
intensified
gradually resolved
longitudinal approach = multiple observations of same child over time
comparisons between hans behaviour at beginning and end of phallic stage
weakness case study generalisability
one child only
hans first child of 2 parent family
wealthy district in vienna austria
lot of time w mother
mother didn’t work
modern children may not experience oediupus complex same way
so less valid explanation for childhood phobias
weakness selective info
olga graf mother lsot father and brother to suicide
genetic predisposition to anxiety and depression that ran in her fmaily?
said to have abused hans’ little sister hanna
abandoned and rejected the children
blum 2007 highlights role of trauma and child abuse as cause of hans’ phobia
freud’s interpretation based on limited info about priv life of the family
use of children in psych research
children likely to show demand charac bc diff in power between adults and kids bc social factors
freud study hans said maybe yes about did you think abt daddy when horse collapse
simply to agree w father not bc he rlly thought it???????
