Page:Jung - The psychology of dementia praecox.djvu/54

30 "The beginning of her depression began at the time of a disagreement between her husband and her brother, on account of which the latter no more visited her. She was always much attached to this brother."

Besides this she spoke about a moment in the history of her disease during which, for the first time, "everything became clear"; that is, during which she became convinced that her assumption about being generally despised and intentionally annoyed was true. She gained this assurance during a visit of her sister-in-law who, in the course of conversation, gave utterance to the following words: "If such a thing should happen to me I would not mind it." Mrs. P. at first took this lightly, but when her visitor left her it seemed to her that these words contained a reproach, meaning that she was in the habit of taking serious matters lightly, and since that hour she was sure that she was a victim of common slander. The tone in which her sister-in-law spoke was especially convincing. It was, however, shown that the sister-in-law spoke about another subject before giving utterance to this sentence. She related to the patient that in the father's home there were all sorts of difficulties with the brothers, and added: "In every family many things happen which one would rather keep in darkness, and that if such a thing should happen to her she would take it lightly. Mrs. P. had to acknowledge that her depression was connected with the sentences uttered before the last one. As she repressed both sentences which could recall her relations with her brother and retained only the last meaningless one, she was forced to connect with it the sensation of being reproached by her sister-in-law; but, inasmuch as the contents of this sentence offered absolutely no basis for such assumption, she disregarded it and laid stress on the tone with which the words were pronounced."

After this explanation Freud turned his attention to the analysis of the voices. "It is to be noted that such indifferent remarks as 'here goes Mrs. P.'—'she now looks for apartments' were very painfully felt." The first time she heard voices was after she read the story "Heiterethei," by O. Ludwig. After reading it she took a walk on the highway, and suddenly while passing a peasant's cottage voices told her: "That is just how the house of Heiterethei looked! Here is the well and here the bush!