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(Continued from page 48, Supplement)
variations. The pulse varied between 84 and 112; the blood pressure was 110/85. She was anxious, restless, lachrimose, continually talking about her various viscera and expressing fear of diseases of the latter. In spite of the assurance of many specialists she was convinced that her nervous tension was entirely due to some, as yet undiscovered, physical disease.
She was admitted to a sanatorium on April 31, 1934, where she remained until May 31, 1934. She found fault with the room, the food, and with all the other patients. In the beginning she felt that she was too ill for the rest of the patients, and later she feared that the others had a depressing effect upon her. She claimed that she did not sleep well, although given large doses of somnifiacients. She resisted any form of regime and stated that occupational therapy was foolish. She spent all her time complaining. In the course of the few weeks she thought she had, successively, every major disease in medicine. On occasions she turned from fear of somatic disease to fear of insanity.
It was extremely difficult to use any method that would enable exploration of the unconscious. She was particularly resistive for the first month and then only occasionally could one establish a satisfactory rapport with her. The following information was obtained:
As the youngest of three sisters she was the most pampered and guarded. She recalled, with considerable emotion, witnessing a “primal scene” at the age of six or seven. She felt that it had a marked influence on her future attitude toward sexual relations. The attack of influenza and the onset of menstruation acted as the precipitating factors of certain situations which undoubtedly preexisted. Long before the age of puberty she developed an abhorrence of the physical sexual relation and definite fears of pregnancy and childbirth. In a number of interviews she referred to the “primal scene” as the starting point of her fears.
With the re