Note 19 — Chapter III · The Case of Miss Elisabeth v. R.

To my surprise I once discovered that such subsequent ab-reaction—through other impressions than nursing—may form the content of an otherwise enigmatic neurosis. It was the case of a pretty girl of nineteen, Miss Matilda H. whom I first saw with an incomplete paralysis of the legs, and months afterward I was again called because her character had changed. She was depressed and tired of living, entertaining lack of consideration for her mother, and was irritable and inapproachable. The whole picture of the patient did not seem to me to be that of an ordinary melancholia. She could easily be put into a somnambulic state, and I made use of this peculiarity to impart to her each time commands and suggestions to which she listened in her profound sleep and responded with profuse tears, but which, however, caused but little change in her condition. One day while hypnotized she became talkative and informed me that the reason for her depression was the breaking of her betrothal many months before. She stated that on closer acquaintance with her fiance the things displeasing to her and her mother became more and more evident. On the other hand, the material advantages of the engagement were too tangible to make the decision of a rupture easy, thus, both of them hesitated for a long time. She then merged into a condition of indecision in which she allowed everything to pass apathetically, and finally her mother pronounced for her the decisive “no.” Shortly after, she awoke as from a dream and began to occupy herself fervently with the thoughts about the broken betrothal, she began to weigh the pros and cons, a process which she continued for some time. At present she continues to live in that time of doubt, and entertains daily the moods and the thoughts which would have been appropriate for that day. The irritability against her mother could only be explained if we took into consideration the circumstances that existed on that decisive day. Next to this thought activity she found her present life a mere phantom just like a dream. I did not again succeed in getting the girl to talk—I continued my exhortations during deep somnambulism. I saw her each time burst into tears without however receiving any answer from her. But one day, it was near the anniversary of the engagement, the whole state of depression disappeared. This was attributed to my great hypnotic cure.