t husband. Irma, a patient of Freud’s in 1893 showed only partial improvement in response to treatment. Freud believed that successful cures would emerge once the unconscious instigating factors of a patient’s illness were brought to light. However, despite Freud’s ability to analyze the psychological causes of her disorder, Irma did not fully recover. The perplexity of Irma’s case was the background force behind “The Dream of Irma’s Injection”. Felman conjectures that Irma is a riddle to Freud; however, his identification with the female patient can be illustrated by an aspect of his dream: “a portion of the skin on the left shoulder was infiltrated” (107). At the time, Freud was suffering from rheumatism in his shoulder. His ability to relate to Irma is symbolized by pain in both of their shoulders. Felman further supports Freud’s identification with his patients when she states, “he noticed he could not avoid participating in what the hysteric was telling him, and that he felt affected by it” (101). For Freud, the line separating doctor and patient was blurred; he could not help empathizing with the patient. When Freud partakes in a self-analysis, he actually admits to relating to his patients in a letter to his confidante, Wilhelm Fliess, which states, “I had the feeling of being tied up inside (which patients complain of so much” (Masson, 270). Freud’s personal involvement and identification with his patients’ problems therefore demonstrates his desire to cure the root causes of his patients’ disorders. This illustrates that Freud is also a victim of patriarchy, the root source of his female patients’ dissatisfaction. But because Freud does not reject gender roles on a conscious level, he cannot cure his patients or himself.Freud’s inability to heal was such an influential conflict that he unconsciously so...
