"I have the impression that I am changing a lot. I will tell you in detail what is happening to me. Charcot, who is one of the greatest doctors and a man of great good sense, is simply thwarting all my goals and opinions. Sometimes I go out of his classes like Notre-Dame, with a totally new idea of perfection. But it leaves me exhausted, after being with him I no longer have any desire to work on my nonsense. I have not done anything for three days and I have no reason to no regrets for this. My brain is as satiated as after an evening at the theater. I don't know if this seed will bear fruit, but I can affirm that no other human being has ever caused such a great effect on me ... "
Freud writes these lines to his future wife Martha and in them he expresses his admiration for Jean-Martin Charcot ...
Charcot was the founder of the school of neurology at the Hospital de la Salpêtrière, where doctors from many countries came to work with him and receive his lessons. This is why Freud applied for a scholarship to study with the greatest specialist in hysteria of the time. Thus Charcot would become Freud's great teacher but also a source of his inspiration to develop in Vienna what years later would be the cathartic method together with Joseph Breuer..
Freud felt such deep admiration for Charcot that, in one evening, he was attracted to but at the same time in need of getting away from the teacher's daughter, pointing out that “nothing is more dangerous than a young woman who possesses the features of the man one admires. "
The encounter with Charcot and hypnosis would change Freud's life forever. On Studies on Hysteria we can observe the influence that Charcot and his idea of "traumatic hysteria" had on later psychoanalytic theory, thus becoming the first foundational text of psychoanalysis.
Now, we are interested in repairing the teacher-student relationship, a transference relationship if you will, between Charcot and Freud..
Let us understand the transference as the projection on the teacher, of the student's feelings in relation to some figure of personal importance. As in therapy, transference is a very frequent phenomenon in this type of relationship. It is very common for students to deposit feelings in the teacher that they have had with other authority figures such as the same parents.
We could say in this case, that the transference relationship between Freud and Charcot was positive and we would dare to think of a projection in relation to a personal figure in Freud's life such as his mother.
"When the father dies, the son becomes
in his own father and in his own son.
Look at your child and see yourself reflected
in your face. Imagine what the child sees
when you look at it and it feels like
he will play the role of his own father. "
Paul auster
With these lines by Paul Auster, we will go on to say that Freud becomes the father of Psychoanalysis and begins to have disciples and dissenters. A clear example of the above is the same Carl Jung who would first embody the role of Freud's foreign disciple and even heir to the psychoanalytic doctrine but who nevertheless later became a dissident.
The last two letters between Freud and Jung show us the break ...
Dear Doctor:
... Consequently, I propose that we abandon our friendship entirely, I do not lose anything with it because my only emotional bond with you, has been for a long time, a thin thread, due to the prolonged effect of past disagreements and you have everything to gain, in in view of the objection he recently made in Munich about the effect of a deep friendship with a man that inhibited his scientific freedom. Therefore I will say: take your "total freedom" and spare me your so-called "personal talks for the benefit of the general interest of your science." You will never have reason to complain about any lack of courtesy on my part. As far as our common understanding and the pursuit of scientific goals are concerned, I mean, there is no more reason for it in the future than in the past..
On the other hand, I expect the same from you..
Greetings"
Freud
Dear Professor Freud:
I agree to his wish to abandon our friendship, but I will never throw mine (overboard) with him. You yourself are the best judge to know what it means to you at this moment..
The rest is silence.
Sincerely, yours,
Jung
Counter-transference can also be observed in the student-teacher relationship. Many times some students arouse a certain sympathy in the teacher because he reminds them of himself when he was young, or because he relates him to some figure in his personal life. In other words, if the teacher experienced a positive counter-transference from a loved one, this can predispose him and unconsciously give special treatment to a certain student. This could be the case of the relationship between Freud and Jung in the beginning. However, the counter-transfer can also be negative.
In his time of fascination, Jung came to confess to Freud his religious transference with him. To which Freud replied that he would do everything possible not to correspond to that transfer. The transfer from religiosity, as everyone knows, seemed fatal to him. Well, this is demonstrated by the end of this promising relationship that ended in a breakup ...
Freud's concern with "the question of the father" was clearly not new. Texts such as Totem and Taboo, and Michelangelo's Moses show it back in 1913-1914
Freud had gone from being fascinated by his great teacher Charcot to being the object of Jung's fascination. He had become the father of Psychoanalysis and the great teacher that Lacan would take up years later making use of the concept "father's name" (significant to represent the paternal function in the unconscious) in the name of the "father."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
POMBO SÁNCHEZ, M. (2009). The Legacy of Sigmund Freud. Bs. As: Publishing place.
ROUDINESCO, E. (2015). Freud in his time and in ours. Bs. As. Debate.
Yet No Comments