Studies On Hysteria (Basic Books Classics) (Paperback)

by Joseph Breuer (Author), Sigmund Freud (Author) "A CHANCE observation has led us, over a number of years, to investigate a great variety of different forms and symptoms of hysteria, with a..." (more)
Key Phrases: hypnotic analysis, intracerebral excitation, artificial hypnosis, Frau Emmy, Fräulein Elisabeth, Frau Cäcilie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"If the Studies is not on everybody's list of Great Books, it should be." -- The New York Times

Product Description
This cornerstone of modern psychoanalytic knowledge sets forth the cathartic method, in which patients' symptoms are cured as they recollect and express buried emotions.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1 edition (February 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465082769
• ISBN-13: 978-0465082766
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #636,427 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The hidden drives beneath hysteria, January 27, 2001

By	Maurizio Pompili ("Sapienza" University of Rome, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Italy & McLean Hospital - Harvard Medical School, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A fascinating book that explores the hidden factors behind anxiety, written when Freud was still studying his first hysterical patients that became famous in the psychoanalytic literature. The collaboration with Breur was actually sealed with this book, but ironically it was also the end of their friendship. Apart from the psychoanalytic concepts, the reader can really enjoy the five case studies included in "Study on hysteria". Only one case study was written by Breur and this goes to show that Freud really wanted to go deep into the unconscious whereas Breur after the first patient didn't go any further; basically because he would have had to confront himself with the patient's sexual drives as well as his instincts. This is a very stimulating book that allows the reader to appreciate the kind of female patients affected by hysteria before the 20th century, that were not understood by most psychiatrists. Freud menaged to understand why the repression of the sexual instinct led to a neurosis.

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading in public schools , January 28, 2008

By	random reader (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I'm not disputing the first reviewer who gave the book one star because it is a poor translation. Strachey's translation is good enough, though, to make the book readable, and it should be read by everyone. Freud's clarity of thought and insight and pure intelligence is well represented in this book, and it serves as a decent introduction to elementary psychoanalysis.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars an inferior translation, January 10, 2006

By	Craig Chalquist, PhD, author of TERRAPSYCHOLO... (Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

There is a version available at Amazon translated by Nicola Luckhurst. It is excellent, although almost any version would be preferable to Strachey's mechanistic translations of Freud's work.

STUDIES IN HYSTERIA is a seminal study for both psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. It was written by Freud and Breuer. A long-standing but unfounded lie first told by Freud and passed on by Ernest Jones blames Breuer for abandoning "Anna O"--Bertha Pappenheim, the first analytic patient--because he couldn't handle her falling for him, but in truth he treated her long after the supposed cure he reports here. A case could be made for Breuer and Pappenheim being the actual originators of psychotherapy as a modern healing method.