Traumatization of the Libido, With the Report of Three Cases

For twenty years I have been interested in the etiology of dementia praecox. During all these years I have observed two characteristics in the schizophrenic: first, that their morals are very high and sensitive, and second, that their sexual life is subject to conflicts. It is the purpose of this paper to show that the libido in the praecox is traumatized; that is, when this creative energy tries to fixate itself on an oppositely sexed individual and it fails in its fixation, which is due to some faulty embryological development, it is traumatized, and that the degree of injury varies in individual cases. For example, in one case just a mere contact or social relation between a schizophrenic and an oppositely sexed member of society may cause an attack; in other cases attacks may occur either during courtship, after courtship, or even in marriage. For instance in case one, the libido was traumatized twelve years after marriage; in case two, the traumatization of the libido occurred during the infatuation of the individual for a young lady. In case three there was merely a contact between the girl and the man in dancing and this precipitated an attack which required hospitalization.

Let us assume the libido or creative energy shows a definite proportion in the normal individual, as diagram one: Here we see the components of heterosexuality in larger proportion than homosexuality, and the perversions and narcism in like proportions as we know this occurs from the investigations of Freud. (See “Three Contributions to Sexual Theory,” translated by Dr. A. A. Brill, N. Y.) In diagram two, there is a disproportion of the components. Homosexuality, narcism, and the perversions are liberated.

My contention is that there must be something abnormal in the embryological development of the libido that makes certain individuals susceptible to traumatic attacks, but this phase of investigation will be discussed in a later paper in which I will try to show why it is that certain type