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Abstract: This paper is a historical study of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis of Edith Banfield Jackson. It relies on primary sources, including unpublished correspondence, to describe her background, the analysis itself, and her subsequent life. This analysis, which began in 1930, had both clinical and training purposes. Freud's actual methods are contrasted with his published recommendations in terms of anonymity, neutrality, and confidentiality. During this analysis, Sigmund Freud took on a number of roles in Edith Jackson's life, including teacher, commentator, social intermediary, recipient of her translation services, and recipient of her philanthropic donations. These roles are described in detail. The implications of Freud's actual methods in this case are fully discussed. Since Freud did not describe the methods he used in this case, they cannot be replicated, and, for clinical purposes, they are lost to history.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the increasing availability of primary source materials has enabled scholars to present a more detailed view of how Sigmund Freud actually conducted his relationships with particular analysands (Lynn, 1993; Lynn, 1997; Warner, 1994; Kris, 1994). A study of Freud's work which included 43 cases tabulated his deviations from three important features which he repeatedly prescribed in his publications concerning psychoanalytic technique (Lynn and Vaillant, 1998). This study found that Freud deviated from anonymity in 100% of the cases, from neutrality in 86%, and from confidentiality in 53%. In addition, Freud engaged in extra-analytic relationships with 72% of the cases. A central implication of these findings is that anyone who seeks to understand Freud's actual methods will need to rely on historical study of explicit source materials.
In this paper, I will provide a detailed narrative of Freud's psychoanalysis of Edith Banfield Jackson, which he conducted from 1930 to 1936. Freud's conduct of this analysis contained all of the deviations listed above. My goals are to shed light on the actual experience of an analysand in her relationship with Freud, and to describe as far as possible the methods Freud actually used. The following sections will describe, in order, Edith Jackson's life before her psychoanalysis by Freud, the analysis itself, and her subsequent life. Finally, I will discuss the important features of Freud's method of conducting this analysis and their implications. As the details...