Anna O Case Study

Freud observed that in some cases transference could become so intense that it created a transference neurosis (Kahn, 2002). Greenson (2008) described transference neurosis as when the client’s main concern is the analyst and the client repeats the original as well as other variations of the original situation. When the client denies an awareness of transference, or resists accepting transference on their part, it causes resistance (Cabaniss et al., 2010). Cabaniss et al. (2010) described resistance as anything the client does that hinders the treatment process. Using interventions such as directly talking to the clients about their transference might help the client become aware of it (Cabaniss et al., 2010). For example, when the client does

Although Freud did not treat Anna O, he was able to create a hypothesis regarding treatment of neurosis with information shared by Breuer (Jacobs, 2003). Breuer was able to find the source of Anna O’s neurotic symptoms using hypnosis (Jacobs, 2003). Therefore, Freud considered it a method of psychoanalysis. He, later, discarded the idea due to its ineffectiveness and unreliability in the treatment of neurosis (Bachner-Melman and Lichtenberg, 2001).

Freud suggested that all dreams are wishes that are buried and want to be expressed (Kahn, 2002). Freud described dreams as buried emotions and wishes that express themselves in the dreams when the censor is slightly relaxed (Kahn, 2002). The censor protects the dreamer by disguising the wish, therefore, interpretation of the dream is necessary to understand the unconscious wish (Kahn, 2002). Freud believed that the way to understanding unconscious and neurosis was through dreams and thus called it the royal road to the unconscious (Kahn,

Shedler (2010) found that psychodynamic treatment tended to be lasting, improved the client 's personal, professional, and social problems, and helped them beyond reducing symptoms (Taylor, 2008). This could be due to helping the client to develop of their resources so they are able to manage their anxiety (Shedler, 2010).

Freud has had a lot of criticisms and challenges to his theories, methodologies, and concepts (Milton et al., 2011). One of the criticism against Freud’s methods is the lack of empirical evidence due to his work being based on case studies (Kahn, 2002). Freud’s work has also been criticised by feminist who feel that Freud’s work show women in inferior position to men, in particular the concept of penis envy (Milton et al., 2011). Although, it should be noted that Freud’s concepts and theories were influenced by his up-bringing in a patriarchal society (Milton et al.,