ABSTRACT
Psychoanalysis began with Freud’s (1892/1953) exploration into the causes of hysteria and neurosis, which he later determined were the result of unconscious and repressed sexual material in the patient. At the dawn of the twentieth century, he wrote,
Not only does a considerable portion of hysterical symptomology spring directly from the manifestations of sexual excitement …. but even the most complicated symptoms reveal themselves as “converted” representations of phantasies which have a sexual situation as their content. Whoever knows how to interpret the language of hysteria can perceive that the neurosis deals only with the patient’s repressed sexuality.
