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Please, never - I mean, never at any time, in any circumstance, endeavor to defend me, if and when you hear abusive remarks made about me and my work.
The title of Borch-Jacobsen's book speaks for itself: the book presents the life stories of 38 of Freud's patients in Vienna, beginning in 1880, before psychoanalysis was created, and continuing through approximately 1930. The stories are offered in chronological order according to when the patients were treated by Freud. The people whose true-life stories are thoughtfully recounted in the book have for the most part remained anonymous to the world; yet they have become famous under the nicknames Freud gave to them in his psychoanalytic studies, such as Anna O., Dora, the Wolf Man or the Rat Man. Freud's Patients strives to redeem the people beneath the psychoanalytic personas and tell their so-called real stories. Borch-Jacobsen selected only patients who sought analysis because of psychic turmoil and burdensome symptoms, excluding patients who came to Freud as part of their analytic training. Another criterion was that there be enough information available to justify a biographical note. This generous look at the patients' lives is the product of thorough research that includes Kurt Eissler's interview series, preserved in the Library of Congress; letters written by Freud and his colleagues as well as by the patients, their family members, and friends; and other historical references. The book was translated from French by Andrew Brown. The original edition was published 10 years ago, and the English edition includes two new biographical notes about Scofield Thayer and Carl Liebmann. The book is nicely designed and includes portraits of most of the patients and other relevant images that beautifully accompany the historical research.
Some of the biographies presented here were new discoveries for me and will, I believe, be quite revealing to most readers. These include the stori