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Did Freud Fail at Hypnosis Because of Substance Abuse?
I have heard that cocaine addiction was the reason why Freud failed at hypnosis, however I have been unable to verify this assertion. At about 40, Freud stopped having sexual relations with his wife claiming that he was too old for that sort of thing. It is hyppothesized that this resulted from an ongoing cocaine habit, although I have seen sources contend that Freud kicked the habit on his own. Yet, the strength of cocaine Freud used would have been stronger than that commonly available on the street today.
This link: http://www.blackpoppy.org.uk/hall_freud.html verifies Freud's addictive personality and offers more info. Is there a hidden agenda here?
This link: http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/cocaine/ suggests A Junkie In The Making
Is there an industry motive to cover his addiction up?
He died in September of 1939 of cancer of the mouth, which he had contracted in 1923 due to his lifelong addiction to cigar-smoking. Though he had had his jaw removed and had undergone more than thirty operations, he continued to smoke, and finally could no longer endure the pain of his cancer. His private physician came to his London home to give him a morphine overdose. Source: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1377
Was Freud’s “theory” to a significant extent influenced by his habitual cocaine use?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Donna Carter on -
I can't remember which book I read, but it was about Carl Jung...who happened to be best friends with Freud in the earlier years. There was mention of severe drug use by both parties.
I'm just mentioning it, because if you are researching it... that 'friendship' and info on Carl Jung might be an avenue to get more info....
Also, Carl Jung's "The Red Book" came out last year, and I hear it references the feud between Freud and Jung and how it took a toll on both of them.
But, I haven't read it. So....
~D.
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Permalink Reply by Susan French on -
Actually, I thought Freud stopped using hypnosis because of poorly-fitting false teeth. I could be wrong.
And, I thought he was addicted to heroin but I could be wrong about that.
I'm grateful to Freud for his ground-breaking work in the 1890's but I think there's new information. I could be wrong about that too.
Susan :-)
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Permalink Reply by AJ on -
How hypnosis got eclipsed in psychology
The young Sigmund Freud studied with Liebault and Bernheim at the Nancy School and initially used hypnosis in his practice. In the end, Freud stopped using hypnosis. The reason declared publicly was that a young female patient had jumped up and kissed him. Freud professed to be shocked and concluded that hypnosis was far too volatile to use. The little known history of hypnosis records a different reason why Freud stopped using hypnosis: his cocaine usage had ruined his gums, and his false teeth did not fit well, causing him not to speak well enough to induce trance easily.
In competition with an excellent hypnotist named Breuer, Freud invented 'talking therapy.' Freud said that his talking therapy would not be a therapy for the poor. It would take 100 to 300 hours to effect a cure. His talking therapy became psychoanalysis and this changed the history of European psychology. Freudian psychoanalysis became the rage in psychology and it became inappropriate to use any other techniques. Consequently, hypnosis was eclipsed.
From Tad James' Hypnosis: A Comprehensive Guide: Producing Deep Trance Phenomena
Source online: http://www.dedroidify.com/mind.htm
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Permalink Reply by AJ on
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Another clue perhaps?
Psychotherapists would surely have a field day with Sigmund's grandson Lucian, looking for childhood clues to the combative, flesh-obsessed, appetite-sickened painter he became. Had there been a significant moment when the child was frightened by some gross adult behaviour? Why yes, there was one thing he witnessed, something so gross, intimate and frightening it would (surely) have traumatised the most steely disposition. It was when his grandfather used to remove his false teeth and snap-snap-snap them at him.
Sigmund used to come to Berlin from his consulting-rooms in Vienna to be treated by a specialist for his jaw cancer. Heaven only knows if it scarred Lucian for life, having his elderly, white-bearded, distinguished grandpa, the master cartographer of our unconscious terrors, gnashing those fangs at his face. But you cannot help wondering what it was that spurred his lifelong battle with the flesh and the spirit, his unflinching gaze at pallid nakedness, his love of vastness and dereliction.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/lucian-freud-...
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Permalink Reply by Antoine Pruyssers on -
I do think Freud made up some very "colorful" theories about the "human psyche".
And the use, and former use of cocaine does do very harmful things to a brain, and the psyche.
But let's be fair, all we can do is speculate, and leave the rest to the imagination.
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Permalink Reply by Saul Rosenfeld on -
Doc,
As you know from having read my book, I believe that Freud failed (miserably!) at hypnosis because he adopted the sadly ineffective highly authoritarian methodology that he'd learned first from Charcot and then from Bernheim.
Not only were ALL of his "one size fits all" inductions ludicrously authoritarian in nature, but his version of hypnotherapy consisted EXCLUSIVELY of COMMANDING his patients to rid themselves of a symptom ("When I count to 3 and snap my fingers your headache will DISAPPEAR! 1,2,3, SNAP!!").
The fact that he was a cokehead probably had little or nothing to do with his failure...
Saul
www.HistoryOfHypnotism.com
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Permalink Reply by AJ on
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The idea you presented is plausible, yet indeterminate. Is there other data relating to this conclusion that you did not publish? Can you substantiate that others who were trained in the same hypnotic methods and techniques failed as well? Are there any other quoted remarks that you have compiled on this topic?
Saul Rosenfeld said:Doc,
As you know from having read my book, I believe that Freud failed (miserably!) at hypnosis because he adopted the sadly ineffective highly authoritarian methodology that he'd learned first from Charcot and then from Bernheim.
Not only were ALL of his "one size fits all" inductions ludicrously authoritarian in nature, but his version of hypnotherapy consisted EXCLUSIVELY of COMMANDING his patients to rid themselves of a symptom ("When I count to 3 and snap my fingers your headache will DISAPPEAR! 1,2,3, SNAP!!").
The fact that he was a cokehead probably had little or nothing to do with his failure...
Saul
www.HistoryOfHypnotism.com
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Permalink Reply by Saul Rosenfeld on
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Doc,
Well, I'd say it's a heck of a lot more than "plausible"- seeing as how my main source was Klein's "Freud and Hypnosis", and the other data was ALL from CONTEMPORARY source material, and much of it came from actual eye-witnesses.
Yes, of COURSE I can substantiate that.....it was taken care of, down to the smallest detail, in those respective chapters on Charcot and Bernheim.
Nope, no other quoted material...I included everything but the proverbial kitchen sink in my book, and left no stone unturned.
Saul
www.HistoryOfHypnotism.com
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Permalink Reply by Melissa Tiers on -
Although Freud's coke habit might have contributed to his general paranoia and egotism, I think, from what I've read, that he was trying to move his "talk therapy" away from any thing that smelled of suggestion. He was pretty insistant that psychoanalysis was a more pure glimpse of the unconscious than hypnosis which was all about suggestion and manipulation. I heard he was also reluctant to touch his patients, which was part of the Charcot authoritative approach as well as his failure to get anything but symptom substitution. One of my students showed me a book of all his collected "Cocain papers". It was massive!
What cracks me up is the idea that psychoanalysis has nothing to do with suggestion. I mean the analyst has a framework that dictates what he/she interperets, calls attention to, and generally guides the "free association" (aint nothin in life that's free) in such a way as to clearly suggest to the patient what markers they are searching for. Oy, don't get me started on all of Freuds letters, where he shows, over and over, his disdain for his patients. Anyone who didn't fit the model he was working in, was clearly resisting his own oedipus complex... with Freud. Including Jung.
Some people think Freud set hypnosis back many years by dissing it and saying it was only good for hysterics (don't get me started on his misogyny!) but I think with his lack of hypnotic skill and limiting ideas about hypnosis, we are better off without him.
and sometimes a cigar...
-Melissa (just joined hypnothoughts a few minutes ago)
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Permalink Reply by AJ on
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Saul, we know that Freud was a failure with hypnosis. My question is "Why?" Was it due to his training alone? Was he the only active practitioner after Bernheim? Did his coke habit not influence his career? Why did he fail? Yes, he was discouraged. Yes, he was challenged? So he just quit being a hypnotherapist? That doesn't add up just right.
Yes he did use it. The History Channel said so in the cocaine segment of the "Hooked: Illegal drugs and how they got that way" documentaries. They also said that cocaine almost ruined Freud's life (he used it morning, noon, and night and started to love it more than his work). He eventually decided to quit when he realized it was detrimental to his health and work (how he managed to quit nobody quite knows.) So if anything, cocaine hurt Freud more than it helped him.
Source: http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100414164031AAP5bnR
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Permalink Reply by Richard Clark MFT on
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I find the whole discussion of Freud's "failure" with hypnosis an interesting phenomena within the hypnotherapy community. It seems to presuppose some things.
1. Anyone that learns hypnosis should be good at it.
2. Anyone that learns hypnosis should like using hypnosis.
3. Anyone that learns and uses hypnosis would never want to do anything else.
It is kind of like asking why J. Willard Marriott failed at the A&W Root Beer Stand Business.
Just some thoughts.
Richard
Doc Regal said:Saul, we know that Freud was a failure with hypnosis. My question is "Why?" Was it due to his training alone? Was he the only active practitioner after Bernheim? Did his coke habit not influence his career? Why did he fail? Yes, he was discouraged. Yes, he was challenged? So he just quit? That doesn't add up just right.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Cole-NLPTrainingQuest.com on -
Very fair statement, Richard.
I think a more interesting question may/may not be, "Why did Freud claim that hypnosis did not work?"
-Was it because of his cocaine addiction (or possibly the fact that he claimed cocaine was not addictive?)
-Was it because he believed most woman suffered from penis envy?
-Was it because he believed that if you suffered a trauma when you were a child, you were essentially screwed for life?
-Was it because he believed that most individuals wanted to sleep with their mother?
Oh, don't get me wrong... Freud was a great thinker and there were obviously a lot of positive outcomes that came from many of his theories (Including, but not limited to the "Pleasure Principle")... I just find it hard to avoid poking fun at him when the opportunity arises... ;-)
Kevin
Live NLP, Life Coach & Hypnosis Training Certification
Richard Clark MFT said:I find the whole discussion of Freud's "failure" with hypnosis an interesting phenomena within the hypnotherapy community. It seems to presuppose some things.
1. Anyone that learns hypnosis should be good at it. 2. Anyone that learns hypnosis should like using hypnosis. 3. Anyone that learns and uses hypnosis would never want to do anything else. It is kind of like asking why J. Willard Marriott failed at the A&W Root Beer Stand Business.
Just some thoughts.
Richard
Doc Regal said:Saul, we know that Freud was a failure with hypnosis. My question is "Why?" Was it due to his training alone? Was he the only active practitioner after Bernheim? Did his coke habit not influence his career? Why did he fail? Yes, he was discouraged. Yes, he was challenged? So he just quit? That doesn't add up just right.
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