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IJP 34:219-227 (1953)

Twin Relationship and Womb Fantasies in a Case of Anxiety Hysteria1

Author: Hilda C. Abraham

Abstract

This case of anxiety hysteria is not presented for the sake of its pathology, although it shows many interesting features well worth detailed description. It was chosen to demonstrate the remarkable conscious and unconscious relationship between the patient and her twin brother, particular attention being paid to the strength of her wishes for identity with, and resentment of her difference from, her non-identical twin. During the three years of analysis an abundance of fantasy material about the twin relationship was produced.

The patient was referred for analysis after two interviews with a psychiatrist, who had been consulted by her twin brother. At the first of these interviews the consultant was so impressed by the patient's timidity and inability to speak up for herself that she sent her to a psychologist for testing. The latter's report stresses explicitly that the patient's anxiety made her very slow and hesitant and that she was unable to do herself justice. In spite of this her I.Q. was 117, according to the Stanford Binet test, and her intelligence may therefore be regarded as above average.
The patient began her analysis in October 1948, at the age of thirty-one. She was a fair slender woman, and rather short: she described herself as 'five foot nothing'. In her first interview she looked anxious, very red in the face, and was tense and apologetic in manner. She was most eager to talk and ready for any treatment that offered her the chance of a cure. For about ten years she had had such anxiety symptoms as fear of blushing, inability to eat in company or mix with people, especially men, and fear of insanity. She had also during this period had occasional attacks of what she described as 'queer feelings'. Her anxieties had led to difficulties in working which, since her twin brother's marriage about three years previously, had become increasingly severe. Her fear of meeting people made her unable to hold down any position, and she had even been

IJP 34:219-227 (1953)

Twin Relationship and Womb Fantasies in a Case of Anxiety Hysteria1

Author: Hilda C. Abraham

Abstract

The patient was referred for analysis after two interviews with a psychiatrist, who had been consulted by her twin brother. At the first of these interviews the consultant was so impressed by the patient's timidity and inability to speak up for herself that she sent her to a psychologist for testing. The latter's report stresses explicitly that the patient's anxiety made her very slow and hesitant and that she was unable to do herself justice. In spite of this her I.Q. was 117, according to the Stanford Binet test, and her intelligence may therefore be regarded as above average.
The patient began her analysis in October 1948, at the age of thirty-one. She was a fair slender woman, and rather short: she described herself as 'five foot nothing'. In her first interview she looked anxious, very red in the face, and was tense and apologetic in manner. She was most eager to talk and ready for any treatment that offered her the chance of a cure. For about ten years she had had such anxiety symptoms as fear of blushing, inability to eat in company or mix with people, especially men, and fear of insanity. She had also during this period had occasional attacks of what she described as 'queer feelings'. Her anxieties had led to difficulties in working which, since her twin brother's marriage about three years previously, had become increasingly severe. Her fear of meeting people made her unable to hold down any position, and she had even been