A Supplement to Freud's Case History of “Frau Emmy v.N.” in Studies on Hysteria 1895

In one of the great European newspapers, with a wide circulation in several countries, there appeared, about forty years ago, an obituary notice announcing the death of an old lady. The comments on her life and personality were not the private eulogies generally expressed on such occasions, but formed part of the actual news content of the paper. The readers were reminded that the deceased had been a well-known philanthropist and patron of the arts, who had looked upon philanthropy as the natural duty of a person in her position and with her wealth. She had been especially devoted to the temperance movement, and furthermore, many artists and talented persons had been enabled, thanks to her financial aid, to develop their abilities.

The woman described in this way was “Frau Emmy v.N.”, the first patient treated by Freud with “Breuer's technique of investigation under hypnosis”. Her benevolent personality traits may be somewhat exaggerated, as is generally the case in obituaries, but I think that we shall be justified in assuming that that “Frau Emmy v.N.”, at the time of her death, about 35 years after her