This study provides a psychoanalytic analysis of the clinical case of Elisabeth von R., one of Freud’s early hysterical patients, based on a review of the relevant literature, and examines its implications for contemporary psychoanalysis and Christi...
This study provides a psychoanalytic analysis of the clinical case of Elisabeth von R., one of Freud’s early hysterical patients, based on a review of the relevant literature, and examines its implications for contemporary psychoanalysis and Christian counseling. The research explores Elisabeth’s psychological instability-shaped by successive family illnesses and deaths-and her associated hysterical symptoms, including leg pain and gait disturbance. Freud attributed her condition to the conversion of rep ressed unconscious affect into somatic symptoms and emp loyed the pressure technique to overcome therapeutic resistance. Although the treatment alleviated her symptoms, the technique revealed limitations characteristic of Freud’s pre-psychoanalytic period. By evaluating both the contributions and constraints of Freud’s early approach, this study proposes a perspective on human subjectivity that may inform future directions in psychoanalytic practice and Christian counseling.