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147A
Berlin
27 December 1912
Dear Professor,
It is only today that I find time to send you a sign of life. The indisposition that began in Vienna worsened somewhat over the next few days. Now I am better and do not want to delay any longer in sending you, first of all, my thanks. What for is, however, difficult to enumerate. And it is almost impossible to thank with words for the warm reception in your home, and for all the personal interest you showed in me. If a recent criticism made of you is justified—that you treat your followers like patients1—then I have to reproach you with several grave technical errors. First, you spoil your patients, and it is well known that one should not do so. Second, you have given presents to the patient, which might give him a completely wrong idea of the treatment. And finally, before my departure from treatment, you had secretly been in my hotel to pay the bill. “If you had been a psychoanalyst”, you would not have done such a thing, since, at the end of the cure, the patient should know as much about his case as the physician. You, however, kept a secret from me. And you do know, after all, how easily a feeling of guilt can lead to a hostile attitude! But since I was in general satisfied with the “treatment”, I shall not make a complaint, and can only give you once again my heartfelt thanks for everything. Please give the enclosed lines2 to your wife!
There is not yet much else to say today. I shall, if possible, despatch the grandparents paper3 within the next few days. After that, a short article about a screen-memory4 is to follow very soon.