ABSTRACT
When in 1887 Sigmund Freud favourably reviewed the German translation of Weir Mitchell's book, the rest cure was a widely used approach to treat middle-class and upper middle-class hysterics. There is even a reference to the use of 'high tension electric currents' in one of Freud's early cases, but none of the violent or coercive spirit characteristic of his contemporaries can be found in his writings. When the topic of hypnosis came up, Freud explicitly argued against those who defended the patient's liberty. From a political point of view, psychoanalytic therapy can be seen as having its origins partly in Freud's lack of prejudices against a method of treatment which was generally seen as alien to German medicine. He presented psychoanalytic therapy as part of a capitalist commodity transaction, which enables patients to increase their income. For Freud, neurotics always fell ill of an internal, unconscious conflict.
