Summary

Freud begins the essay with a section entitled, “Prefatory Remarks,” in which he relates the circumstances behind the publication of Dora’s case history. Writing in first-person, he tell us that in 1895 and 1896 he had written about the psychological processes found in the development of hysteria, and that he is now, in 1905, publishing the account of Dora’s treatment in order to provide evidence to support these earlier views.

Freud spends much of the introduction acknowledging the problems he anticipates in the publication of Dora’s case history. The first problem is one of a scientific nature: that other psychiatrists will not be able to test the results of Freud’s analysis, and can therefore not attest to their validity. Further, he foresees an objection regarding his sharing information from Dora’s life that is of a private and sensitive nature, but argues that...