Conference Report

Course Outline - Keith Barrett BA PhD

Wk 1: Introduction to the course. The nature and status of psychoanalysis.
Debates and disagreements.

Wk 2: The origins of psychoanalysis. The ‘Anna O’ case history from ‘Studies on
Hysteria’ by Breuer and Freud.

Wk 3: Freud’s early case histories. ‘Lucy R’ and ‘Elizabeth von R’ from ‘Studies
on Hysteria’ by Breuer and Freud.

Wk 4: Freud’s paper ‘The Aetiology of Hysteria’ (1896). The ‘seduction theory’
of the psychoneuroses.

Wk 5: Freud’s method of interpreting dreams. His analysis of his own dream of
‘Irma’s Injection’ in ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’.

Wk 6: Freud’s self-analysis. His letters to Wilhelm Flies from April to October
1897 and his analysis of the dream of the ‘Botanical Monograph’ from
‘The Interpretation of Dreams’.
.
Wk 7: Freud’s ‘Dora’ case history. Psychoanalysis as an exploration of the
patient’s childhood sexual development by means of the interpretation of
his/her dreams.

Wk 8: Freud’s theory of infantile sexuality in ‘Three Essays on the Theory of
Sexuality’ (1905)

Wk 9: Freud’s ‘Rat Man’ case history. Psychoanalysis as an exploration of the
patient’s childhood conflicts by means of the analysis of the ‘transference’.

Wk 10: Freud’s analysis of the case of ‘Schreber’. A theory of homosexuality
and a contribution to the psychoanalysis of religion.

Wk 11: Freud’s ‘Female Sexuality’ (1931) and his later theory of sexuality and
Gender

Wk 12: Conclusion. Freud’s final view of society and the nature of human life.
‘Civilisation and its Discontents’ (1930)