From hysteria to hypochondria
Abstract
This paper considers the connexion between hysteria and hypochondria which was observed during the psychoanalytical treatment of a female hysterical patient. Besides a brief introduction giving the main data on the patient’s background, this paper is composed of the following chapters: Hysterical covering and obsessive covering. The “hypochondriacal cyst”, Hypochondria
and confusion, Oral envy. It is discussed how an unconscious phantasy of placing “madness” in the body scheme was unveiled through analysis. The term: “hypochondriacal cyst” indicates the particular configuration of defenses in relation with madness placed in her body. The many phantasies which constituted the cyst are described. These phantasies were related to many different objects: partial or total, damaged or persecutory, and were accompanied by intense confusional states. The onset of confusional states at any attempt at getting through the patient’s defenses encourages us to apply to her case H. Rosenfeld’s theory on hypochondria as a defense against confusional states. Finally we study the patient’s oral envy in connexion with confusion.
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