"Notes upon a Case of Obsessional Neurosis” describes a case of Freud, whose original name is Ernst Lanzer, but nicknamed as “Rat Man”, because of the fact that rats had symbolic meanings for his obsessional fantasies (1909/1925). Lanzer’s complaints included obsessional ideas and compulsive impulses, and Freud shows the persistency of the thoughts and occurrence of irrational compulsions as a result, which is cutting his own throat in this case. According to Freud his obsessional neurosis was at a “moderately severe” level, and he claimed that it was a difficult care compared with hysteria cases. The treatment of Rat Man, lasts for 6 months, where he describes many disturbing memories from his childhood to present day. Here it is important to note the effect of free association on obsessions, since Freud manages to her him gaining an insight while following the stream of consciousness, without any filter or censorship. Also, free associations helps him reaching the unconscious traumatic events of the childhood, that might be associated with his current obsessions. There is a main subject of his obsessions, which is about death, that can be defined as an irrational fear about his father’s and a girl friend’s death. As a source of this fear, Freud manages to find a relative memory, which the Rat Man experiences when he is during …show more content…
The first important contribution of this work is the emphasis on the idea that obsessions are not some symptoms you have, but it is part of what you are. In other words, it is like a part of your body, just like your hair or fingers. Despite the time of his work, his thoughts seem forward-looking and expanding, since he looks at the obsessions at their deeper