Freud: The Rat Man

A detailed Summary of Freud: The Rat Man

Appignanesi (1979) illustrates Freud's encounter with a patient he dubbed the Rat Man. The Rat Man was obsessed with a Chinese torture technique in which "a pot is filled with rats and tied upside-down on the victim's buttocks," so that the rats "gnaw their way out through the anus," (p. 103). Imagining that the torture would befall his loved ones, the Rat Man "had to follow a set of bizarre, self-imposed 'instructions,'" (p. 104). Whereas a modern-day psychiatrist would promptly issue the Rat Man anti-psychotic drugs, Freud relied only on psychoanalysis to help the patient, tracing his obsession

Although Freud's therapy appears illogical, supported only by his own theories and practiced only on a case-by case basis, the story of the Rat Man is remarkable. The intensive psychoanalysis that the Rat Man was subjected to extricated the root causes of his obsession and neurotic behavior without his having to rely on medication. Therefore, Freud's theories, will flawed, may have valid real-world applications.

Freud drew several conclusions, all based on his psychoanalytic theories. First, Freud noted that in the Rat Man, "Sexual arousal became linked with punishment and hostility against his

Some common words found in the essay are:
Rat Sexual, Rat Rat, , loved ones, freud noted,

Approximate Word count = 402
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science

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Freud: The Rat Man

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