ABSTRACT
Human thought leads us to wonder about the origin and nature of things. Despite Freud's being a "godless Jew", the impact of his own religious heritage has been the topic of considerable interest. Given the evolution of Freud's theorising over time, he invoked the concept of splitting to describe a dividedness of consciousness between the id and the ego, the ego and the superego, and within the ego itself. In Mary's case as well as Anna O's, there was growing clinical evidence of both hysterical, visual symptoms and hypnoid states associated with amnesia. The memories of childhood trauma that emerged were sparked by seeing a painting of a woman braiding a young girl's hair while straddling her with the legs wide apart. Intergenerational transmission of trauma has also been described in other such cases. This unique and idiosyncratic assemblage of representations has survival value and, despite major disturbances in relationships, could result in areas of very high ego functioning.
