You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Budapest, May 1, 1909
VII., Erzsébet-körút 54
Dear Professor,
Finally the great journey has been irrevocably decided upon. I am very happy about it, especially since the first—Mediterranean plan—is to be
carried out. Please let me know the amount I owe so that I can send it to you with thanks.
I thank (I never get away from thanking) you as well as Martin1 for your kind information about Mathilde's condition; I hope that she is now completely well and that I will soon be able to greet Mr. and Mrs. Hollitscher here.
I would like to spare you “researches,” but a serious case necessitates my seeking your assistance. It has to do with the nephew of a busy doctor who underwent a syphilitic infection and has uneven and sluggishly reacting pupils with induced knee reactions. Other signs of tabes2 or paralysis are not present. The psychic manifestations are: colossal talkativeness i—[several words are missing because part of the letter has been torn off] symptoms, indecisiveness, fear of every activity, lack of any self-confidence, fear of everything having to do with the court, exaggerated cleanliness, pensiveness, etc. (along with this, various paresthesias). All that would fit very well the diagnosis of “obsessional neurosis,” and it is precisely these symptoms which encourage me to make a favorable prognosis. Unfortunately, a month has gone by already without my having accomplished anything. The patient is a frightful chatterer,- he has no lack of ideas, but the things that he brings up don't amount to anything. I couldn't use the method of “letting him talk himself out” this time; by forcefully interrupting him and inquiring about the motivation for particulars, I brought out the fact that he is a sperm hypochondriac but represses this hypochondria and transforms it into symptoms. The court phobia has to do with the fact that he unconsciously fantasizes about divorce. Despite the fact that these things have come out, he maintains unshakably that he loves his wife, that he