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Freud (Procedure (Freud used a case study method to investigate Little…
Freud
Procedure
Freud used a case study method to investigate Little Hans' phobia. He applied his own method derived from therapy called PSYCHOANALYSIS.
Just before he was three, Hans started to show a lively interest in his wider and also those of others (human and animal). At the time he had a tendency to masturbate (touch his penis), bringing threats from his mother to send for Dr A. to cut it off (castration).
Around the same time (3 1/2), Hans gained a baby sister, Hanna, whom he resented (jealousy) and subsequently, subconsciously, wished his mother would drop her in the bath so she would drown.
Later Hans developed a fear of being bitten by white horses, especially those with blinkers and black around the mouth. This seemed to be linked to two incidences: i) Overhearing a father say to a child, "Don't put your finger to the white horse or it will bite you." ii) Seeing a horse that was pulling a carriage fall down and kick about with its legs. His fear was then generalised to carts and buses.
Both before and after the development of the phobias (of the bath and the horses), Hans was both anxious his mother would go away and prone to fantasies and daydreams. These included: The giraffe fantasy, two plumber fantasies and the marriage/ parenting fantasy.
Having received 'help' from his father and Freud, after the parenting/marriage fantasy, both the 'illness' and analysis came to an end
Freud notes that it was the special relationship between Hans and his father that allowed the analysis to progress and for the discussions with the boy to best detailed and so intimate. The first reports of Hans are when he was 3 years old.
The study by Freud is an example of "action research". This is where the researcher collects evidence at the same time as attempting to bring about a change in the situation.
Key findings
The Lumf complex-Hans also developed an interest in toilet functions, especially 'lump' (faeces). He also had an imaginary friend,Lodi,which is named after a type of German sausage, which his father pointed out looked a bit like lump, and his son agreed.
Little Hans' fear of horses was considered, by Freud, as an unconscious fear of his father. This is because the dark around the mouth of a horse and the blinkers resembled the moustache and glasses work by his father. He was fearful of his father because he was experiencing the Oedipus complex. Hans once said, "daddy, don't trot away from me", supporting Freud's notion that the fear of horses represented a fear of his father
During the analysis, Little Hans' father asked many leading questions, e.g "When the horse fell down did you think of your daddy?"
Hans' fantasy about the two giraffes was a representation of his trying to take his mother (the crumpled giraffe) away from his father (the big giraffe) so he could have her to himself- another feature of the Oedipus complex
Hans' parenting/ marriage fantasy (where he was married to his mother and was playing with his own children-his father has the role of the grandfather) is again linked to his experiencing the Oedipus complex
Hans' fantasy about the plumber (he described how a plumber came and first removed his bottom and wider with a pair of pliers and then gave him another one of each, but larger) was interpreted as his now identifying with his father and having passed through the Oedipus complex.
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Aim
To document the case of Little Hans to show how his fears/phobia, dreams and fantasies were symbolic of his unconscious passing through the phallic stage of psychosexual development.
To support his ideas about the origins go phobias, his theory of infantile sexuality/psychosexual stages and the Oedipus complex, and his belief in the effectiveness of psychoanalytic therapy.
Research method
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Data was gathered by Little Han's father (a firm believer of Freud's ideas) regularly observing and questioning Hans. He then sent, via letter, records of the events and conversations to Freud who interpreted the information and replied to Little Hans' father with advice on how to proceed.
Sample
One boy from Austria, Little Hans (real name Herbert Graft), who was a 5 year old boy (by the time Freud published the case) although historical evidence, from the age of 3, was also used.