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“Myth is neither a lie nor a confession; it is an inflection.”
—Roland Barthles, in Mythologies
I therefore claim to show not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact.”
—Claude Levi Strauss, in The Raw and the Cooked
Clearly, the myth of Oedipus provided the rhythmic pulse that gave psychoanalysis its first voice. The myth throbs with conflict, murderous aggression, incest, and guilt. The myth caused psychoanalysis to pulsate with these same themes, which Sigmund Freud developed into a metapsychology of psychoanalysis. However, Sándor Ferenczi gave psychoanalysis a contrasting, although not opposing, treatment-oriented voice. Ferenczi's treatment-oriented voice is especially heard in his work with the traumatized American patient Elizabeth Severn, known as R.N. in The Clinical Diary (1932). In revisiting this landmark case I highlight not only Ferenczi's voice, but also the voice of patient and clinician Elizabeth Severn, as well as the obscure and all too easily overlooked voice of a phenomenon they called “Orpha,” a life-organizing fragment of Severn's personality. I offer an expanded understanding of the universality of Orpha, its links to the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, as well as its relevance for present-day treatment of trauma.
In contrast to the myth of Oedipus, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice aches with separation, fragmentation, suffering from acts of violation, as well as attempts at reclamation motivated by love. These are themes in Ferenczi's trial-and-error work with Severn. In the bright light of the current Ferenczi renaissance, it must not be forgotten that Ferenczi and Severn