6. The beginning of the technique known as psychoanalysis
Freud had a colleague and collaborator named Josef Breuer, who also used non-suggestive hypnosis in the treatment of a patient whom they identified in a subsequent paper as Anna O. Anna presented several symptoms, both physical and psychological, and after some time treating her through hypnosis Breuer suggested he dispense with placing her in a hypnotic state, with her simply talking to him, saying whatever came to mind. The treatment was the beginning of what came to be known as “free association”. Ultimately the treatment was unsuccessful, and Anna – whose real name was Berth Pappenheim – was placed in a sanitarium.
Despite placing the patient in a sanitarium, and confiding to Freud that she was “deranged”, Breuer later claimed the treatment had been a success, and Freud and Breuer noted the treatment had been successful in published papers. Carl Jung ridiculed the claim, stating in a seminar, “So the famous first case he treated together with Breuer and which was vastly praised as an outstanding therapeutic success was nothing of the sort”. Modern investigators of the case have stated that Breuer (and Freud) misdiagnosed the case entirely, and that Anna O. had suffered from neurological, rather than psychological problems.