Summary

Freud begins his conclusion, entitled “Postscript,” by once again admitting the fragmentary nature of the case history, and providing reasons why this is the case. He explains that some of the results have been omitted, either because they were not definitive, or required time to fully explicate. He also writes that he intentionally left out his psychoanalytic technique, on the grounds that he would not have been able to cohesively write on both the “internal structure of a case of hysteria,” and his method of analysis (103). Freud contends that his fixation on unconscious mechanisms is likely to be controversial, but insists that this approach provides medically significant information about his patients.

Next, Freud addresses the critique that he has approached hysteria psychologically, rather than pathologically; in other words, that he has not rooted his diagnosis in physiological factors. He defends this objection by saying...