Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-year-old Boy

8/12/2019 Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-year-old Boy

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Sigmund Freud 1909


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Freuds work viewed the first few years of

life as very important Personality development

Children experience emotional conflicts

Future depends on how these conflicts are

resolved


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Freud has a theme in all of his work that

involves the unconscious mind

This is where we keep our unsolved

conflicts

These conflicts may show up in fantasies

or dreams


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This case about little Hans supported his

idea of the complex (he believed)

Freud thought that during the phallic

stage, the young boy develops an intense

sexual love for his mother and sees his

father as competition and wants to get rid

of him


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to report the findings of the treatment of

a five-year-old boy for his phobia of

horses.


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A case study method was used toinvestigate Little Hans phobia. Howeverthe case study was actually carried out by

the boys father who was a friend andsupporter of Freud. Freud probably onlymet the boy once. The father reported toFreud via correspondence and Freud gave

directions as how to deal with the situationbased on his interpretations of the fathersreports.


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Freud noted that it was the special

relationship between Hans and his father

that allowed the analysis to progress and

for the discussions with the boy to be so

detailed and so intimate. The first reports

of Hans are when he was 3 years old.


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Hans was 3 years old when he developed

an active interest in his widdler (penis),

and also those of other people.

Mummy, have you got a widdler too?


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main theme of his fantasies and dreams

was widdlers and widdling.

When he was about 3 - mother told him

not to touch his widdler or she would call

the dr. to come and cut it off.

Around the same time, Hans mother gave

birth to his sister Hanna


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Hans had considerable interest in other

children, especially girls, and formed

emotional attachments with them.


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Age 5, Hans father wrote to Freud

explaining his concerns. Described the

main problem: He is afraid a horse will

bite him in the street, and this fear seems

somehow connected with his having

been frightened by a large penis.

Statement was made based onconversations the father had with Hans


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His fear of horses had developed just

after the he had experienced some

anxiety dreams about losing his mother,

and around the time he had been warned

about playing with his widdler. Freud

argued that Hans, who enjoyed getting

into bed with his mother, had a repressedlonging for her, and had focused his

libido (sexual energy) on her.


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1 month later, the correspondence

revealed that the phobia was much

worse. Hans father made a connection

between the phobia and Hans interest

with his widdler, so he said to him If you

dont put your hand to your widdler any

more, this nonsense of yours will soon getbetter.


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Hans anxieties and phobia continued, he was afraid to goout of the house because of his phobia of horses.

Hans dream- In the night there was a big giraffe in the roomand a crumpled one: and the big one called out because Itook the crumpled one away from it. Then it stopped calling

out: and I sat down on top of the crumpled one. Freud and the father interpreted the dream/fantasy as being

a reworking of the morning exchanges in the parental bed.Hans enjoyed getting into his parents bed in a morning buthis father often objected. Both Freud and the father believedthat the long neck of the giraffe was a symbol for the large

adult penis. Hans rejected this idea.


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When Hans went to see Freud- he didnt

like horses with black bits around the

mouth.

Freud believed that the horse was a

symbol for his father, black bits were a

moustache. The father recorded an

exchange with Hans where the boy saidDaddy dont trot away from me!;


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Hans' became particularly frightenedabout horses falling over. The fatherasked many leading questions to help the

boy discover the root of his fear. Forexample:

Father: When the horse fell down did youthink of your daddy?

Hans: Perhaps. Yes. Its possible.


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Hans also developed an interest in toilet

functions.

Hans had many long discussions with his

father including conversations about

feces, the birth of his sister, the color of

his mothers underwear and his liking for

going into the toilet with his mother orthe maid.


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Like many children Hans had an imaginaryfriend who he called Lodi after saffalodi,which is a German sausage. Hans father

pointed out to Hans that saffalodi looked abit like feces, and his son agreed.

Hans fear of the horses started to decline

and Freud believed that two final fantasiesmarked a change in Hans and lead to aresolution of his conflicts and anxieties.


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Firstly, Hans had described a fantasywhere he was married to his mother andwas playing with his own children. In this

fantasy he had promoted his father to therole of grandfather.

In the second fantasy, he described howa plumber came and first removed hisbottom and widdler and then gave himanother one of each, but larger.


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At age 19 Hans appeared at Freuds

consulting room having read his case

history. Hans confirmed that he had

suffered no troubles during adolescence

and that he was fit and well. He could not

remember the discussions with his father,

and described how when he read hiscase history it came to him as something

unknown


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Strenghts- Case studies, are particularlyuseful in revealing and treating theorigins of abnormal behavior. Some

forms of psychotherapy rely on buildingup a long and detailed case history as anaid to understanding and then helpingthe client.

The case study provided a very in-depthpicture producing lots of qualitative data.


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Weaknesses- This case study only relates to oneindividual and we therefore have to be carefulgeneralizing from the findings. We have no way ofassessing how typical Little Hans is. Therefore wehave to ask whether this study is unique to therelationship between Little Hans, his Father andFreud or whether we can generalize it to other cases.

This case study is really Freud's interpretations ofHans' father's interpretation of his son's own phobia.

Freud only saw Little Hans on one or two occasions.It can be argued that this leads to a drastic reductionin objectivity, particularly as the father (Max Graf)was a supporter of Freuds ideas.

Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-year-old Boy

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