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.
January 24, 1897
IX., Berggasse 19
My dear Wilhelm,
It is nice that you take my requests so seriously. But the case of convulsions is certainly not one of the expected ones. I still believe fully in the matter itself. Most of my hunches in neuroticis [in regard to neuroses] subsequently turned out to be true. Incidentally, the whole thing is based on a case in which epileptiform convulsions could with certainty be traced back to similar excitations in later months. I do not yet have new material. The early period before the age of 1 1/2 years is becoming ever more significant. I am inclined to distinguish several periods even within it. Thus I was able to trace back, with certainty, a hysteria that developed in the context of a periodic mild depression to a seduction, which occurred for the first time at 11 months and [I could] hear again the words that were exchanged between two adults at that time! It is as though it comes from a phonograph. The temporal determination of epilepsy (hysterical) and hysterical psychosis therefore lies further back. But there also is a psychotic feature in the periodicity of the mild depression.