Anna Povernheim Case Study Psychology

Case Study A: Anna. O

Bertha Pappenheim, who was given the pseudonym, "Anna O.," is a perfect example of a case study dealing with somatoform disorder. Specifically, she suffered from conversion disorder, which is a set of "neurological symptoms such as weakness, sensory disturbance and attacks that look like epilepsy but which cannot be attributed to a known neurological disease." (Wikipedia.org, 2006) Pappenheim suffered from epilepsy, she lost control over half of her body including paralysis in her arm. She was psychoanalyzed by Josef Breuer, who co-wrote the book Studies on Hysteria with Sigmund Freud. It is important to note Pappenheim's later work as a sign of her dedication as a person – she traveled "widely in Eastern Europe and
the Middle East, often experiencing hardship, if not danger, to inspect brothels." (Wikipedia.org, 2006) This sense of dedication, which in that case was used to combat the spread of prostitution, could in fact be a key personality trait as to why she suffered paralysis in her arm.
Breuer deduced that the arm with which Pappenheim cradled her father as he died is the same arm with which she suffered paralysis. As Breuer talked with Pappenheim more and more about the events that had occurred around the beginning of her paralysis, Pappenheim's symptoms began to go away. Pappenheim's paralysis was then interpreted as "punishment because she blamed herself for her father's death," and Pappenheim labeled her cure as her "talking cure." (Wikipedia.org, 2006) It would be reasonable to deduce that Pappenheim was so dedicated to her father that she felt very guilty about his death – even more so that he had died in her arms. Breuer labeled the healing technique of talking through one's emotions as Catharsis, Latin from the Greek
Katharsis, which means "to cleanse."
Case Study B: A Beautiful Mind An example of a psychological disorder is the movie A Beautiful Mind.
A Beautiful Mind was directed by Ron Howard and stars Russell Crowe. (IMDB.com, 2006) It depicts John Nash, a brilliant mathematician and economist who suffers from schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined as "impairments to the perception of reality." (Wikipedia.org, 2006) Specifically, John Nash suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. He encounters delusions and hallucinations but still has continuity of thought and does not display disorganized behavior that is seen in other types of schizophrenia. In the movie, Nash envisions several complex delusions. First would be his "college roommate and best friend," Charles. (IMDB.net) Nash also has complex delusions about being involved in secretive CIA decryption plots, and the climax of the film is when Nash believes he is being kidnapped by Soviet agents. Nash had been delivering what he thought were Soviet codes in daily newspapers and magazines, and delivering them to a drop-box. His wife retrieved all of the unopened letters from the drop-box, evidence to Nash that all of his "experiences" involving CIA agents and codes were just delusions. Insulin shock therapy was used in an effort to cure Nash in A Beautiful Mind, and he was prescribed to take an antipsychotic drug. The drug had side effects that placed strain on Nash's relationship with his wife and affected his intellect noticeably. Nash secretly stopped taking the drug and nearly drowned his infant
son because he became distracted. When confronted, Nash said that Charles had been watching over the infant. It is then that Nash realizes that Charles is a hallucination when he notices that Charles' niece never ages. Besides depicting correct symptoms for paranoid schizophrenia, A Beautiful Mind also explores the difficulties of living with such an illness. Nash has difficulty discerning whether new people he meets are real. With the help of newer antipsychotic drugs, Nash is able to live his life normally and wins the "Nobel Prize in Economics for his revolutionary work on game theory." (Wikipedia.org, 2006)
Case Study C: Volunteer Work A great example of a social behavior is volunteer work. Volunteering is usually done through community resources, or through international means such as the Peace Corp. Specifically, volunteering is an example of social behavior that is altruistic, or involves putting others before oneself.