Collected papers, Volume I

This foundational collection traces the early development of psycho-analysis through clinical observations, case-based reasoning, and evolving theories of the neuroses. The opening papers examine Charcot’s influence, hysterical symptoms, the relationship between organic and psychological paralysis, and the mechanisms of defence. Further essays explore anxiety neurosis, obsessions and phobias, heredity, hysteria, and the emerging role of sexuality in the origins of psychological distress.

Arranged to make the progression of ideas clear, the volume invites listeners to follow a pioneering investigation as it takes shape. Its later selections turn toward psychotherapy and the psycho-analytic method, offering a practical glimpse of how these ideas were applied, while a historical account reflects on the movement’s development. Read in sequence, the essays reveal theories being tested, revised, and extended in close contact with clinical experience rather than presented as a finished system.