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PSAR 67(1):83-109 (1980)

Freud, Irma, Martha: Sex and Marriage in the “Dream of Irma's Injection”

Author: Alan C. Elms PhD

Abstract

Freud's “Dream of Irma's Injection” has received more attention than any other dream in the history of psychoanalysis. It is not only the first but the most extensively analyzed dream in The Interpretation of Dreams.6a It has been the object of at least seven additional detailed analyses and of numerous briefer references in the dream literature. The dream surely deserves such attention; it tells us more about Freud's inner being than any lyric poem is ever likely to reveal about its creator. In Swan's words, it has “all the look of the crucial dream of a lifetime, bearing the dreamer's most intense concerns into ranges of form and meaning that he will feed on for the rest of his life.”23a

The dream itself is one of the longest (in number of words) presented by Freud.

A large hall—numerous guests, whom we were receiving.—Among them was Irma. I at once took her on one side, as though to answer her letter and to reproach her for not having accepted my “solution” yet. I said to her: “If you still get pains, it's really only your fault.” She replied: “If you only knew what pains I've got now in my throat and stomach and abdomen—it's choking me”—I was alarmed and looked at her. She looked pale and puffy. I thought to myself that after all I must be missing some organic trouble. I took her to the window and looked down her throat, and she showed signs of recalcitrance, like women with artificial dentures. I thought to myself that there was really no need for her to do that.—She then opened her mouth properly and on the right I found a big white patch; at another place I saw extensive whitish grey scabs upon some remarkable curly structures which were evidently modelled on the turbinal bones of the nose.—I at once called in Dr. M., and he repeated the examination and confirmed it…. Dr. M. looked quite different from usual; he was very pale, he walked with a limp and his chin was clean-shaven…. My friend Otto was now standing
Page 83
beside her as well, and my friend Leopold was per

PSAR 67(1):83-109 (1980)

Freud, Irma, Martha: Sex and Marriage in the “Dream of Irma's Injection”

Author: Alan C. Elms PhD

Abstract

The dream itself is one of the longest (in number of words) presented by Freud.

A large hall—numerous guests, whom we were receiving.—Among them was Irma. I at once took her on one side, as though to answer her letter and to reproach her for not having accepted my “solution” yet. I said to her: “If you still get pains, it's really only your fault.” She replied: “If you only knew what pains I've got now in my throat and stomach and abdomen—it's choking me”—I was alarmed and looked at her. She looked pale and puffy. I thought to myself that after all I must be missing some organic trouble. I took her to the window and looked down her throat, and she showed signs of recalcitrance, like women with artificial dentures. I thought to myself that there was really no need for her to do that.—She then opened her mouth properly and on the right I found a big white patch; at another place I saw extensive whitish grey scabs upon some remarkable curly structures which were evidently modelled on the turbinal bones of the nose.—I at once called in Dr. M., and he repeated the examination and confirmed it…. Dr. M. looked quite different from usual; he was very pale, he walked with a limp and his chin was clean-shaven…. My friend Otto was now standing
Page 83
beside her as well, and my friend Leopold was per