a-general-introduction-to-psychoanalysis-sigmund-freud

But mourning is sharply distinguished from neuroses that may be designated
as pathological forms of mourning.
It also happens that men are brought to complete deadlock by a traumatic
experience that has so completely shaken the foundations on which they have
built their lives that they give up all interest in the present and future, and
become completely absorbed in their retrospections; but these unhappy
persons are not necessarily neurotic. We must not overestimate this one
feature as a diagnostic for a neurosis, no matter how invariable and potent it
may be.
Now let us turn to the second conclusion of our analysis, which however we
will hardly need to limit subsequently. We have spoken of the senseless
compulsive activities of our first patient, and what intimate memories she
disclosed as belonging to them; later we also investigated the connection
between experience and symptom and thus discovered the purpose hidden
behind the compulsive activity. But we have entirely omitted one factor that
deserves our whole attention. As long as the patient kept repeating the
compulsive activity she did not know that it was in any way related with the
experience in question. The connection between the two was hidden from
her, she truthfully answered that she did not know what compelled her to do
this. Once, suddenly, under the influence of the cure, she hit upon the
connection and was able to tell it to us. But still she did not know of the end
in the service of which she performed the compulsive activities, the purpose
to correct a painful part of the past and to place the husband, still loved by
her, upon a higher level. It took quite a long time and a great deal of trouble
for her to grasp and admit to me that such a motive alone could have been
the motive force of the compulsive activity.
The relation between the scene after the unhappy bridal night and the tender
motive of the patient yield what we have called the meaning of the
compulsive activity. But both the "whence" and the "why" remained hidden
from her as long as she continued to carry out the compulsive act.
Psychological processes had been going on within her for which the
compulsive act found an expression. She could, in a normal frame of mind,
observe their effect, but none of the psychological antecedents of her action
243