Art Criticism - The State University of New York

with the hope of "curing" her hysteria. Interpreting these, Freud decided Dora's
hysteria was a manifestation of her unconscious desire for her father and Herr
K. He did not seem to take into account the limitations imposed on Dora by her
place in society and her sex, and how these too may have contributed to her
hysteriaY Dora's defiant stance in her rejection of Freud, her father and Herr
K, signal that she was not content to "be put in her place" and play the role of
the meek woman.32
Freud's most important contribution to what Breuer had begun was
his recognition that hysteria (and later other neuroses) normally appeared as a
result of a disruption or traumatic event associated with a sexual experience in
childhood. In Studies on Hysteria, Freud writes, "sexuality seems to playa
principal part in the pathogenesis of hysteria as a source of psychical traumas
and as a motive to defense-that is, for repressing ideas from consciousness."33
Freud's Interpretation of Dreams (1899-1900) signaled an important
shift in his approach to psychoanalytical thinking. During the writing of this
book, he became increasingly interested in his own psyche. Analyzing his own
dreams, Freud was able to take his theory of hysteria, linked to sexuality, to an
important new level. He realized that his various hysterical patients had not
always been literally seduced by their loved ones; rather, they wished to have
been on an unconsCious level.34 Freud eventually concluded that the root of
neurosis was the child's wish to kill one parent and marry the other.35
Freud discerned that it was the unconscious mind that was the key to
hysteria. The unconscious displayed itself in preconscious form during hypnotism,
free association, or through the therapist's suggestion. He realized
that the repression of frustrations into the unconscious led to hysteria. What
occurs in a hysterical episode is essentially a reliving, or hallucination, of a
previous event. 36 In order to treat hysteria, Freud used a combination of
Breuer's method of treatment, his own methods, and Weir Mitchell's famous
"rest cure." Thus, out of a synthesis of these primary treatments, Freud arrived
at the incredibly innovative form of treatment that was to becom({ the basis for
psychoanalysis. Freud's method did not, however, fully address the root or
initial cause of the hysteria, which is why his work is often criticized today.
Freud's idea that talking about repressed events or memories hidden
in the unconscious could alleviate symptoms of hysteria acting upon the body
was a truly monumental, revolutionary idea. Never before was such a strong
link made between the mind and the effects it could have on the body.37 Be-.
cause this newfound psycho/soma link, hysteria became, for many decadent
writers, a primary signifier of mounting decadence or the decay of their own
psyche.
What Charcot, Freud, and Breuer describe as hysteria directly conforms
to the makeup of what one can term the decadent personality. It was and
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