FREUD - LITTLE HANS
Aim- The aim of the study was to report the findings of the treatment of a 5 year old boy for his phobia of horses.
Procedure-
Freud used a case study method to investigate Little Hans phobia. The case study was carried out by the boys father who was Freud's supporter and friend.
Freud noted that it was the special relationship between Hans and his father that allowed the analuysis to progress and for the decisions with the boy to be so detailed and so intimate. The first reports of Hans are when he was 3 years old.
Results
Little Hans and his 'widdler' - When he was 3, Little Hans developed an interest in his 'widdler' (penis), and also those of other people. For example on one occasion he asked "Mummy, have you got a widdler too?"
Hans, like all small children, had an interest in that part of his body he called is widdler. He reasoned that this organ was a key distinction between animate and inanimate things. Hans observed that animals had big ones espcially an animal like a horse. He assumed that both his parents had big ones because they were fully grown.
The fear of horses"- When Hans was 5, his father write to Freud explaining his concerns about Hans. He described the main problem as: "He is afraid a horse will bite him in the street, and this fear seems somehow connected with his having been frightened by a large penis". Together, Freud and the father tried to understand what the boy was experiencing and undertook to resolve his phobia for horses.
Freud noticed that Hans fear of horses had developed just after he had experienced some anxiety dreams about loosing his mother, and around the time he had been warned about playing with his widdler. Freud argues that Little Hans, enjoyed getting into bed with his mother, had a repressed long for her, and had focused his libido (sexual energy) on her.
One month later, the correspondence revealed that the phobia was much worse. Hans father made a connection between the phobia for horses and his interest for his widdler, so he said to him, " If you don't put your hand to your widdler anymore, this nonsense will get better soon".
The giraffe Dream- Hans anxieties and his phobia continued and he was afraid to go out of the house becaus e of his phobia of horses. Hans told his father a dream he had :
"In the night, there was a big giraffe in the room and a crumpled one. The big one called out because I took the crumpled one away from it. Then it stopped calling out, and I sat on top of the crumpled one."
Freud interpreted the dream as being a reworking of the morning exchanges in the parental bed. Hans enjoyed getting into his parents bed, but his father objected. Both freud and the father believed that the giraffes long neck was a symbol of the large adult penis. However, Hans rejected this idea.
Horses and the Father- Freud suggested that this was a good opportunity to tell Hans that his fear of horses was actually fear of his father. Th eblack around the horses mouth and the blinkers in front of their eyes were symbols for his fathers mustache and glasses. Freud went on to suggest that these are "Priviliges of a grown-up" i.e to have his mothers love.
This revaluation appeared to release Hans and enable him to deal more directly with his phobia.
The resolution- Hans had always had an ongoing fantasy about his own children and how he was going to look after them. One day he was playing a game with these imaginary children and his father asked, "Are your children still alive?". Hans replied that boys couldn't have children, he had been their mummy, but now he is their daddy. This led Freud to conclude that Hans had at least over come his Oedipus Complex and was now able to identify with his father.
At the age of 19, Hans appeared at Freud's consulting room having read his case history, Has confirmed that he had suffered no troubles during adolescence and that he was fit and well. He could not remember the discussions with his father, and described his case study as it being unknown to him.
