The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler, Volume 3 - Journal Articles: 1910-1913 by Adler Alfred

Author:Adler, Alfred [Adler, Alfred]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Alfred Adler Institute of Northwestern Washington
Published: 2011-07-18T05:00:00+00:00

The typewriter that came to mind during his sleepless night belongs to his brother, who refused to have him use it, even for practice. Indeed, when the brother once traveled to Paris he took the typewriter with him, just as he had recently taken their mother to find a summer home.

I do not contend that in order to trigger an attack of fright an accumulation of causes perceived to be humiliating are always necessary. In most cases this appears to be the case, but often such multiple causes also present difficulties when they are examined to ascertain what connects them, and in trying to understand the causes that triggered them. In our case we find first the disappointed expectation and postponement of the journey; and second, the trip the brother had taken with the mother. These are two evident causes that are internally connected (as opposed to the feeling of superiority of the patient over the favorite brother). We also learn how he sees the deferential treatment bestowed on the brother, and how he reacts to him with aggression and death wishes.

With his epilepsy-like attacks when he felt himself defeated, the patient attained what he was after which is that his mother express concern for him. However, she would then again desert her unpleasant patron. At this time the process of his illness seemed to have abated. With his nightly attacks, caused by fright, he reached the same results. In fact, he gained even more! His mother is forced to come to his room and remain with him until his bruised sensibilities were restored. This is the interpretation of his thoughts about the typewriter. It is the reason for his fear and the arrangement of insomnia.

That his attitude was designed to attract others to him is supported by his request the following day for me to visit him, instead, as usual, for him to come to my office.

Another reasonable question that can be asked is why he resorted to an arrangement of fright, and how he came to construct insomnia.

We can derive the first answer from what was learned from a personality analysis. As a child his only fear was of locomotives and their whistles. He exploited that fear by forcing his mother to come to him so that he could bury his head in her lap. Otherwise he was always a courageous boy. This leads to the assumption that his nightly fears were related to the locomotive. Did we not learn that he wanted to travel to Karlsbad, and that his brother had taken a train ride with their mother?

During his second sleepless night, the patient envisioned, aside from the typewriter, the towns of Görz in Istria and Gojau, the latter, as it turns out, being located near Budweis. He had once been in Görz while traveling from Venice on a visit to his mother in Karlsbad. At that time he arrived at one o'clock at night in Budweis, had a two-hour wait in the station, and continued his trip at three o'clock that morning.

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