ALS in German, signed “Freud,” one page, 5.25 x 8.25, personal letterhead, June 10, 1912. Letter to a fellow doctor, in full (translated): "Simultaneously with my thanking you for your musical score that I shall be bringing with me to our meeting on Wednesday, I am requesting your presence for one to be remunerated co-consultation in the case of Mrs. Hirschfeld. I am dealing here with a (of course highly exaggerated) compulsion on her part of harming her servant girl because that girl is suffering of bronchial catarrh, which has been diagnosed by Prof. Dr. Fein, a diagnosis Mrs. Hirschfeld is rejecting. You are herewith kindly requested to arrive on Tuesday afternoon between 4:00 and 7:00 to visit the patient, letting her tell you her side. You can subsequently discuss with Dr. Fein the details of the case. In my professional opinion, there is no basis for her compulsion for aggression towards the girl. You are not likely to find Mrs. H. in a pleasant frame of mind. Her traumata are significant, her difficulties dealing with them are at least as considerable.” In fine condition, with writing showing through from opposing sides.
One of Freud’s most well-known patients, Elfriede Hirschfeld first began treatment with the pioneering doctor in 1908. Her case anonymously served as the subject of three of Freud’s articles published in 1913, the most important being ‘The Disposition to Obsessional Neurosis,’ and it was later referenced in at least three more. Despite years of treatment and consultation with his contemporaries—including Carl Gustav Jung, Oskar Pfister, and Ludwig Binswanger—Freud was never able to make much progress with Mrs. Hirschfeld, describing her as his both his ‘grand patient’ and ‘chief tormentor.’ An absolutely spectacular letter concerning a great influence in his psychoanalytic work. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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