Studies on Hysteria, Breuer and Freud (1895)
Preliminary Communication Trauma happens. Throughout life people experience different traumatic events. Often, these events fade from our memories, while at other times they remain intense even years later. When the event fades, we often experience good mental health, but when it doesn’t, we become susceptible to hysteria. Why some traumatic memories fade. Traumatic memories fade when there is initially “an energetic reaction to the event that provokes an affect.” Here’s an example that comes to my mind: A dog snarls at a child, deeply scaring the child, and the child immediately cries. Affects can also be reduced through language, through what the writers refer to as abreaction. Sometimes traumatic events can fade when they’re rectified by other ideas. For example, you remember that after an accident, someone came and rescued you; or after you were humiliated, you put the facts right by considering your own worth. “In this way a normal person is able to bring about the disappearance