ABSTRACT
There is a history to the discovery of the identity of Ferenczi's Case of "R. N.," as he called Elizabeth Severn in his Clinical Diary. This diary was written from January 7, 1932 until October 2, 1932 unbeknownst to Freud or his traditional analytic community. It was intended to be a "scientific diary written during his 'grand experiment'. Balint, Ferenczi's student was a witness to the Ferenczi/Severn analysis, which he called the "grand experiment." The Clinical Diary was preserved by passing the document from Mrs. Ferenczi to Michael Balint and then to Judith Dupont, which allowed the case of Elizabeth Severn to now be considered a significant part of analytic history. Balint felt that publishing the analysis of Ferenczi's most difficult case during the period of 1950 through the 1960s would produce a split in the analytic community and reinforce the negative perception of Ferenczi in traditional circles. Severn also acknowledged Ferenczi's influence on a psychoanalytic theory of trauma.
