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"In 1880 in Vienna, young Bertha Pappenheim lost her ability to control her voice and body and was treated by Sigmund Freud's mentor, Josef Breuer, who diagnosed her with "hysteria." Pappenheim and Breuer developed what she called "the talking cure"-talking out memories so that symptoms go away-which became the basis for psychoanalysis. Brownstein describes Pappenheim as a brilliant feminist thinker, a crusader against human trafficking, and a pioneer in her own right. He also tells a parallel story about patients today who suffer symptoms very much like Pappenheim's, and about the doctors who are trying to cure them-the story of the neuroscience of a condition now called functional neurological disorder"--
About the author
Gabriel Brownstein is the author of three previous books, most recently The Open Heart Club. For his short stories, he’s won a PEN/Hemingway Award and a Pushcart Prize. He’s an English professor at St. John’s University in New York City.
Summary
The story of a patient who changed the world, and the mystery of her illness.
In 1880, young Bertha Pappenheim got strangely ill—she lost her ability to control her voice and her body. She was treated by Sigmund Freud’s mentor, Josef Breuer, who diagnosed her with “hysteria.” Together, Pappenheim and Breuer developed what she called “the talking cure”—talking out memories to eliminate symptoms. Freud renamed her “Anna O” and appropriated her ideas to form the theory of psychoanalysis. All his life, he told lies about her. For over a century, writers have argued about her illness and cure.
In this unusual work of science, history, and psychology, Brownstein does more than describe the controversies surrounding this extraordinary woman. He brings Pappenheim to life—a brilliant feminist thinker, a crusader against human trafficking, and a pioneer—in the hustling and heady world of nineteenth-century Vienna. At the same time, he tells a parallel story that is playing out in leading medical centers today, about patients who suffer symptoms very much like Pappenheim’s, and about the doctors who are trying to cure them—the story of the neuroscience of a condition now called FND.
The Secret Mind of Bertha Pappenheim argues for the healing art of listening and describes the new “talking cures” emerging out of neuroscience today.
Foreword
The extraordinary life of a brilliant woman whose contributions to science have been lied about and misused-the Henrietta Lacks of psychoanalysis-and whose mental health struggles look different in light of newly emerging research.
