Letter from Ludwig Binswanger to Freud, February 27, 1909

27 February 1909

7B

Dear Professor Freud,

I have not reported to you earlier because no significant change in our patient's condition has occurred. He clings to his illness with unshakable obduracy; but when he is diverted he can be charming, talks animatedly, plays the piano very beautifully, and takes an interest in everything. I consider it a small step forward that recently he let me coax him into coming to supper with me and my wife, that he plays the piano regularly, and that he recently said that he now realises that it is a good thing that he is here. I was very interested to observe how he torments his mother. During her last visit, he talked so much about suicide and about how he had to prepare her for it that she was completely dissolved in tears. I then appealed to his conscience and have temporarily stopped his mother's visits, which were infrequent enough even before that.

Since the patient's complaints are always the same, I hardly think I can tell you anything new. I am very interested in the case, quite apart from my personal interest in the young man. The patient has been saying that he may want to stay on in March.

I must also tell you that I recently gave a lecture on psychoanalysis1 in Constance to an association of doctors from Baden and Switzerland and that they listened to me with interest. The suggestion came from an ophthalmologist and several general practitioners. A much more appreciative audience than psychiatrists!

[Yours, L. Binswanger]