The ghost of Anna O

Seán Manning

doi:10.9791/ajpanz.1999.02

Seán Manning

DOI: https://doi.org/10.9791/ajpanz.1999.02

Abstract

The origin of the Freudian notion of 'the unconscious' is examined through the history of 'Anna O' (Bertha Pappenheim) and the early mistakes of Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud are highlighted. The theory of the unconscious, based on the idea of repression and conversion, is rejected as a mistake, caused by diagnostic error and the myth of 'hysteria'. With reference to the developmental theory of Daniel Stern and the brain research of Joseph LeDoux, an alternative view of the unconscious is approached.

Author Biography

Seán Manning

As recorded in 1999.

Seán Manning (BSc(Hons), DipSW, DipGrad, ITAA(PTM), MNZAP) is a psychotherapist in private practice in Dunedin. He has worked as a social worker, therapist, supervisor, lecturer and trainer over a 25-year period in psychiatric hospitals, addiction and employment programmes, social work and counselling agencies, therapeutic communities and tertiary institutions in Ireland, Scotland and Aotearoa New Zealand. Having emigrated to this country from Belfast, Ireland at the age of 30, he maintains contact with his cultural origins, mostly through music, and has complemented this over his 23 years here by becoming familiar with Maori language and custom, leading to a keen interest in cross-cultural communication and the culturally bound nature of psychotherapy.