Freud and the dream of the the Wolfman

This dream, is of course, one of the most well known in the history of psychoanalysis. It was in the interpretation of this dream the Freud said the patient had been traumatized by witnessing his parent’s sexual intercourse, and the dream was full of castration anxiety. This is, of course, a bit of a stretch, but it did open up the importance of dreams and their reflection of unconscious elements. More information on Freud’s interpretation can be found through the link at the bottom of the page to the Freud Museum in London. It’s a good website and worth reading more.

The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.
Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams

Freud’s Patient Dreams:

I dreamt that it was night and that I was lying in bed. Suddenly, the window opened of its own accord, and I was terrified to see that some white wolves were sitting on a big walnut tree in front of the window. There were six or seven of them. The wolves were quite white, and had big tails and had their ears pricked like dogs when they pay attention to something. In great terror, evidently of being eaten up by the wolves, I screamed, and woke up.

[This dream was just before his patient’s fourth birthday]

Background information from the Freud Museum website:

Sergei Pankejeff (1886-1979), or the ‘Wolf Man’, as he came to be known, was one of Freud’s most famous patients.

A Russian of noble birth, Pankejeff was 23 years old when he began his treatment with Freud in February 1910.

He was in a state of complete mental collapse. A nervous breakdown some years earlier, followed by the suicides of his father and sister, had left him severely depressed.

He was unable to travel alone, or even to dress himself, and felt as though he was cut off from the world by a veil.

Freud published an account of his work with Pankejeff. It only gives a partial account of the work, mostly focusing on Pankejeff’s childhood.

Freud’s aim was to show that adult suffering is rooted in childhood conflicts, and that a key factor in this is sexuality.

As Pankejeff described his early years to Freud, the story of a curious and troubled childhood began to emerge.

His family were aristocrats. They lived on a large country estate, and peasants worked the land – a fairly typical situation in pre-revolution Russia.

His father suffered from depression and alcoholism, and his mother from abdominal problems. He had a difficult relationship with his sister, who was two years older than him. He was looked after by his nanny, who he was very fond of.

Freud and the dream of the the Wolfman

Freud’s Patient Dreams:

Background information from the Freud Museum website:

Sergei Pankejeff (1886-1979), or the ‘Wolf Man’, as he came to be known, was one of Freud’s most famous patients.

A Russian of noble birth, Pankejeff was 23 years old when he began his treatment with Freud in February 1910.

He was in a state of complete mental collapse. A nervous breakdown some years earlier, followed by the suicides of his father and sister, had left him severely depressed.

He was unable to travel alone, or even to dress himself, and felt as though he was cut off from the world by a veil.

Freud published an account of his work with Pankejeff. It only gives a partial account of the work, mostly focusing on Pankejeff’s childhood.

Freud’s aim was to show that adult suffering is rooted in childhood conflicts, and that a key factor in this is sexuality.

As Pankejeff described his early years to Freud, the story of a curious and troubled childhood began to emerge.

His family were aristocrats. They lived on a large country estate, and peasants worked the land – a fairly typical situation in pre-revolution Russia.

His father suffered from depression and alcoholism, and his mother from abdominal problems. He had a difficult relationship with his sister, who was two years older than him. He was looked after by his nanny, who he was very fond of.

More on the Freud Museum website

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