Case of Anna O - Research Paper Example

Psychology Case of Fräulein Anna O The part of the mind in which psychic activities take place or, unconscious mind, can be viewedas a pitch-black part of the conscious mind. Various psychoanalysts have tried to explain this part of the mind with Carl Jung and Freud S. being among the reputable in this field. Jung had a desire to harmonize religious belief and science in his research concerning the unconscious mind. Freud on the other hand did his research without inclination to religion but mostly used a deterministic approach, whereby an individual was viewed as a complicated system of powers that reflect bodily and social influences (Skues, 2009).

Both Jung and Freud held a belief of the mind having unconscious and conscious levels. They however differed on the unconscious levels with Jung asserting that the integral part of the unconscious mind is driven by the distant gone past of individual’s existence. This was unlike Freud who held that the integral part of the unconscious mind comes from personal situations undergone. Freud in his research concludes that certain drives and the nervous system made up the unconscious mind. Freud described needs for survival as bodily related that pressure an individual and seek to maintain a balance in the individual.

Freud cites sexual instincts and self-preservation as basic instincts of human that have to be regulated (Skues, 2009). Jung considers the mind as a self-regulating scheme that makes attempts to maintain a state of balance. However, Jung also indicates that it can be tensioned if the conscious mind attitude turns to be too inclined to one thing and overrules the unconscious leading to activities that might harm an individual.In the case of Anna, both Freud and Jung would agree that the patient suffered from unconscious processes, due to the stress she might have undergone while taking care of her father ("Who Was Anna O."). However, Freud would probably argue that the likelihood of the woman suffering could be traced to some point when she was young that she might have seen some snakes in her compound that made her afraid and which she constantly remembered.

Jung on the contrary might maybe explain that it is hereditary to experience such suffering in her family while under stress.The preferred method of treatment by Freud was hypnosis. He would administer some drug to hypnotize the patient then allow the patient to say whatever came in his mind because he believed this was imperative to the patient’s life or contained some hidden meaning. The treatment had five phases; the oral phase, anaphase, phallic phase, latency phase and the genital phase ("Freud and Charcot").

Jung would have approached the treatment using a therapeutic method consisting of four stages. The first stage being confession where the patient speaks out whatever he thinks is troubling him, the next stage is that of elucidating or finding a way to get a deeper understanding of the confession. The third stage that of education and then lastly there is the transformative stage whereby the patient is able to regain his individualism and become complete again.The patient, Anna, would probably feel better using Freud’s treatment, since it would probably reawaken memories of there being snakes near her home and she would be able to talk out all that has been disturbing her.

It would also probably even give a clearer understanding of her relationship with the parents and perhaps change her fear of the death. Using Jung’s treatment on the other hand would probably elicit more questions than answers, as the confession stage might not provide much that can be linked to the problem. References"Freud and Charcot." The Hysteria Diagnosis: Freud, Charcot, Breuer and Anna O. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. ."Who Was Anna O.?" About.com Psychology. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. .Skues, R. (2009).

Sigmund Freud and the history of Anna o: Reopening a closed case. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.