Freud, S.

Title = “Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-Year-Old Boy”

Aim = to find support for his ideas on
-sex role identification (how boys acquire their masculine sex roles through resolution of the oedipus complex),
-psychosexual stages of development,
-origins of phobias as unconscious conflicts,

Procedure -

Stage 1 (Hans=3.5):

starts to show great interest in phallus (widdler) - entering phallic stage
curious about who does/doesn’t have a phallus - attempted to enter bathroom when an adult was in there,
told by mother that if he continued to touch it, she would send for the doctor to cut it off - he persisted so continued discouragement,
Mr Graf was regularly away on business - Hans would attempt to climb into bed with mother
when asked why he tried to climb into bed, he said he’d had a ‘daydream’ - about a big, tall, loud giraffe who kept calling out and another crumpled giraffe (crumpled paper to demonstrate), caused Mr Graf to write to Freud,
Freud concluded - Hans was in the phallic stage. He had a severe Oedipus complex, desire for his mother. He will likely pass through but may have masturbatory indulgence and a fear of castration. Advised Mr Graf to talk to Hans and reassure him that castration wouldn’t happen.

Stage 2 (Hans=4, 1906/7):

develops a fear of horses, becoming scared to leave the house without his nursemaid and his mother,
After talking to Hans - whilst waiting for Mr Graf to leave on business, Hans heard another man talking to his daughter saying “Don’t put your fingers near the white horse. It’ll bite you.”
Freud concluded - Fear of castration had become unconsciously linked with the horse,
Mr Graf was encouraged to reiterate to Hans he wouldn’t be castrated, however his fear of horses increased becoming most fearful of large cart horses,
Freud concluded - Projection of his fears and resentment of his father due to his Oedipus complex, that his father’s glasses represented horse’s blinkers and his moustache represented the horse’s hair,
Mr Graf then explained that one day when Hans had been out with his mother, he’d seen a bus horse fall sown and kick, presuming it was dying or going to be,
Freud concluded - Hans had a severe Oedipus complex with a wish for his father to die so he could have his mother to himself,

Stage 3 (Hans=4.5, 1908):

Hans has another ‘daydream’ - “I was in the bath and a plumber came and unscrewed it [his widdler]. Then he took a big borer and stick it in my stomach,”
Hans’ mother was pregnant - ‘daydream’ suggests he has some understanding of how this happened, fear and resentment of his father,
Hans was scared of shire horses pulling heavy laden carts - some of fear comes from fear of his mother’s pregnancy,
after his mother had given birth to his sister, Hans became scared of having a bath,
when Mr Graf spoke to him, Hans said he was scared of the big bath not the little bath as he could go under the water [and drown] in the big bath,
Mr Graf tried to reassure him by saying ‘mummy gives you a bath’,
He then asks “perhaps it was because you were naughty and thought she didn’t love you anymore,” - Hans replied yes, he thought he was going to be punished {leading question},
Next, he asks “when you watch mummy give your sister a bath, do you wish she would let her go?” - Hans replied yes,
Freud concluded - the idea of the bath was linked to the idea he didn’t want his sister to be there,

Stage 4 (Hans=4):

still in phallic stage, still scared of horses and the bath,
developed a pretend friend called ‘Lodi’ - he was getting less attention from his mother due to his baby sister,
developed a fear of going to the toilet - anal retention,
interested when people want to the toilet if they had had a ‘lumf’ (poo) or not,
Hans develops stress constipation - suggests anal stage, regression,
‘saffalodi’ = sausage in austrian - Freud concluded - linked his fear of lumf to his pretend friend,

Stage 5 (Hans=5, 1908):

before now Freud has only met Hans once, there was still the hope Hans would pass through to the latency stage,
26th April 1908 - Hans is playing ‘Mummies and Daddies’ with his pretend friends,