ABSTRACT
Psychoanalysis began with the famous case of Miss Anna O., who insisted that her doctor, the Viennese internist Josef Breuer, listen to what she had to say. Psychoanalysis began, therefore, in a therapeutic setting. It was characterized from the beginning by a specific method of observing human behavior and by a specific mode of theory formation. As an example of the relation between method and theory in psychoanalysis, let us consider the investigation of the psychological significance of nursing activities. Neither the most ingenious and empathic interpretations of adult psychological states, however, nor the most "pure" observation of children is sufficient in psychoanalysis. In dreams, the transferences from the Unconscious to the Preconscious attach themselves to "day residues," i.e., to impressions of the preceding day which are in themselves either insignificant or of little practical importance. The development of the memory function from hallucinations is enhanced by experiences of optimal frustration.
