Ordinary Unhappiness 139: Standard Edition Volume 2 Part 11: Studies on Hysteria, Part XI: Technique and Resistance: Fräulein Elisabeth von R Continued Teaser
Apr 4, 2026
Close reading of Freud’s technique in treating Elisabeth von R and the insistence on following free associations. Discussion of what 'resistance' might be, who or what resists, and how it shapes therapy. Exploration of cathexis and psychic investment as metaphors for how painful scenes expand and symptoms localize in the body. Teases how language and metaphor shape symptom experience.
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Pain Spreads Through Accumulating Cathexis
- Freud describes painful regions extending as adjacent areas become cathected over time.
- Abby and Patrick show this links scenes that impress the patient with accumulating cathexis of leg functions and pain.
Cathexis Means Psychic Investment
- Cathexis is glossed as psychic investment or occupation of libidinal energy in Freud's terms.
- Patrick explains James Strachey's translation and links German besetzung to investment, occupation, or fixation.
Overinvestment Can Attach To Body Parts
- Cathexis can mean overinvestment of psychic energy in objects or body parts like a leg.
- Abby and Patrick emphasize it's metaphorical, later linked to libido and the economic model of psyche.