Resources

In her novel, "Guises of Desire," based on the relationship between Bertha Pappenheim and Dr Joseph Breuer, Hilda Reilly first describes Bertha as a young woman working hard to meet the expectations of her orthodox Jewish family. As the therapeutic relationship between … [Read more...] about What Lies Beneath

Freud biographer, Peter Gay, says that the only relationship Sigmund Freud sentimentalised was the tie between a mother and her son. Freud says that the maternal affection for the son is "the most perfect, easily the most ambivalence-free of all human relationship." Gay also … [Read more...] about A Love That Changed the World

Bertha Pappenheim had the ability to take advantage of the opportunities life offered her. Sensing Joseph Breuer could help her, she embraced the psychotherapy process. Like Bertha, psychotherapy patients are often surprised to discover how much a psychotherapy offers, and … [Read more...] about With Both Hands

Joseph Breuer described Bertha Pappenheim as an intelligent, curious twenty one year old woman, trapped in a genteel existence. Bertha would later condemn this life as made up of "insipid trivia," directed merely at "passing the time." If we imagine the emptiness of Bertha … [Read more...] about Daydream Believer

Sitting with a psychotherapy patient, a therapist can suddenly feel pain, empathy, fear, rage, envy and even boredom.  Images and memories spring to mind. Meanwhile, as far as the patient is concerned, they are simply telling their story. For them, little is happening. At … [Read more...] about Dorothy Pappenheim?