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syntax; she no longer conjugated verbs, and eventually
she used only infinitives, for the most part incorrectly formed
from weak past participles; and she omitted both the definite and
indefinite article. In the process of time she became almost
completely deprived of words. She put them together laboriously out
of four or five languages and became almost unintelligible. When
she tried to write (until her contractures entirely prevented her
doing so) she employed the same jargon. For two weeks she became
completely dumb and in spite of making great and continuous efforts
to speak she was unable to say a syllable. And now for the first
time the psychical mechanism of the disorder became clear. As I
knew, she had felt very much offended over something and had
determined not to speak about it. When I guessed this and obliged
her to talk about it, the inhibition, which had made any other kind
of utterance impossible as well, disappeared.
       This change coincided with a
return of the power of movement to the extremities of the left side
of her body, in March, 1881. Her paraphasia receded; but
thenceforward she spoke only in English - apparently, however,
without knowing that she was doing so. She had disputes with her
nurse who was, of course, unable to understand her. It was only
some months later that I was able to convince her that she was
talking English. Nevertheless, she herself could still understand
the people about her who talked German. Only in moments of extreme
anxiety did her power of speech desert her entirely, or else she
would use a mixture of all sorts of languages. At times when she
was at her very best and most free, she talked French and Italian.
There was complete amnesia between these times and those at which
she talked English. At this point, too, her squint began to
diminish and made its appearance only at moments of great
excitement. She was once again able to support her head. On the
first of April she got up for the first time.
     
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    Studies On Hysteria
    26
     
       On the fifth of April her adored
father died. During her illness she had seen him very rarely and
for short periods. This was the most severe psychical trauma that
she could possibly have experienced. A violent outburst of
excitement was succeeded by profound stupor which lasted about two
days and from which she emerged in a greatly changed state. At
first she was far quieter and her feelings of anxiety were much
diminished. The contracture of her right arm and leg persisted as
well as their anaesthesia, though this was not deep. There was a
high degree of restriction of the field of vision: in a bunch of
flowers which gave her much pleasure she could only see one flower
at a time. She complained of not being able to recognize people.
Normally, she said, she had been able to recognize faces without
having to make any deliberate effort; now she was obliged to do
laborious ‘recognizing work’¹ and had to say to
herself ‘this person’s nose is such-and-such, his hair
is such-and-such, so he must be so-and-so’. All the people
she saw seemed like wax figures without any connection with her.
She found the presence of some of her close relatives very
distressing and this negative attitude grew continually stronger If
someone whom she was ordinarily pleased to see came into the room,
she would recognize him and would be aware of things for a short
time, but would soon sink back into her own broodings and her
visitor was blotted out. I was the only person whom she always
recognized when I came in; so long as I was talking to her she was
always in contact with things and lively, except for the sudden
interruptions caused by one of her hallucinatory
‘ absences ’.
       She now spoke only English and
could not understand what was said to her in German. Those about
her were obliged to talk to her in English; even the nurse learned
to make herself to some extent understood in this way. She was,
however, able to read French and Italian.