What's Going On with Dora? An Interpersonal Perspective

Abstract

Freud views Dora's symptoms as displacements of conflictual fantasies and/or affects. In this essay, the focus is shifted to Dora's body in relation—a vehicle for communication. The schism between her soma and psyche—or act and word—is understood as Dora's response to the mystifying, hypocritical relatedness in her family. Freud's bifurcation of theory and clinical praxis may repeat this pattern at moments when metapsychological interpretations do not jibe with the interactive moment. A detailed inquiry regarding the often embodied transference-countertransference matrix is therefore explored toward better understanding and integration.