You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to provide a synopsis of the famous Wolf-Man case (Freud 1918/1955), and (2) to assess Freud's analysis and treatment of the Wolf-Man from a self-psychology perspective. My reasons for selecting the Wolf-Man case as a point of departure for this comparison relate not only to the considerable amount of data available about the Wolf-Man and Freud's treatment of him but also because the Wolf-Man almost certainly exhibited a primary disorder of the self (Kohut and Wolf, 1978) that was arguably a narcissistic personality disorder. This diagnosis is supported by several features of the case including: (1) the Wolf-Man's “narcissistic frustration,” (2) the character of his interpersonal relations with his parents and other early-life caregivers, (3) his hypochondria, (4) his persistent depression, and (5) his strong identification with his mother's listless and defeatist approach to life. Thus, the Wolf-Man case would seem to offer an especially appropriate context from which to view and assess similarities and differences between classical and self-psychological psychoanalytic theory and treatment.
The Wolf-Man (Sergius Pankejeff) was born on December 24, (Julian calendar). The Wolf-Man's father was a wealthy Russian aristocrat and landowner. His father experienced depression and his mother experienced a variety of physical problems, including abdominal pains and hemorrhages. Until the Wolf-Man was 5 years old, his family lived in a palatial estate on the banks of the Dnieper River, as well as a summer estate in Tyerni. Later his father sold these estates and moved to an estate in