ABSTRACT
The Studies on Hysteria include an early reference to travel phobia: “She complained, for instance, of an inability to make journeys of any length by train … I began to suspect … that the secret purpose of her railway inhibition was to prevent her making a fresh journey” (Freud, 1895d, p. 64). This was no different from the symptoms the examining doctor had long been suffering from. On December 13, 1897, Freud wrote to his friend Wilhelm Fliess with whom he regularly met on self-arranged “congresses”: “I envisage our Breslau trip, on my part, as follows: that I shall leave Saturday morning at 8:00 in order to arrive at 2.30. I don’t believe a good night connection can be found. Moreover, travelling at night in an overheated compartment will certainly cost me a (clear) head for the next day” (1985, pp. 85–86).
