The case of Dora, who had a complex sexual history involving her father, mother, and a married couple. Freud interpreted her symptoms of aphonia, cough, and depression as expressions of her repressed oedipal desires and conflicts.
Freud’s Dora case study is one of his most controversial and criticized works, involving a young girl who suffered from hysteria and other symptoms.
Freud analyzed her dreams, fantasies, and associations, and came up with a complex theorization that involved repressed sexual desires, oedipal conflicts, and transference.
He claimed that Dora was unconsciously attracted to her father and to a family friend, Herr K., while resenting her mother and Herr K.’s wife.
He also suggested that Dora had been sexually abused by Herr K. when she was 14, but denied it and developed hysterical symptoms as a result.
Freud’s treatment consisted of trying to make Dora aware of her repressed feelings and fantasies, and to resolve the conflicts that stemmed from them.
However, the outcome was not successful, as Dora abruptly terminated the analysis after only 11 weeks, feeling dissatisfied and misunderstood by Freud. She later recovered from her symptoms on her own, without psychoanalytic intervention.