ABSTRACT
A funny thing happened on Freud’s way into the unconscious. You will recall our presentation of him as a fairly young medical specialist trying to alleviate hysterical symptoms with his method of analyzing and interpreting free associations. A number of his patients were young ladies of good families. Yet, it was not long before disturbing evidence began to come to light. Some female patients reported memories from childhood that involved being sexually aroused by men in their families. Often the father was implicated. These recollections were highly conflictual and seemed to Freud to have had significant effects in the patients’ later neuroses. Most readers are also aware that Freud was soon alerted to the significance of erotic impulses in the psychological structures underlying symptoms.
