This has to be the most confusing reading we have had so far on OCD, I seriously had to read it more than once to try and understand it and I think I still don't. The name "Rat Man" came from his fear of a story that the patient was told about a punishment that they would do to inmates, which consisted of putting rats on the inmates buttocks and covering it with a bucket and the rats would make it up the anus. Rat man suffered fears of something happening to two people: his dad and a woman he admired, he also suffered impulse to injure the woman he admired, prohibitions, and cutting his throat with a razor. What I didn't understand was what his masturbation had to do with his OCD and why he was afraid of his father being harmed if he was already dead. To me Rat man lived a very confusing life, there was way too much going on in that head and the fact that Freud could sit down and analyze all the events and people that effected his life.What I valued most from this article was Freud's professionalism and dedication to this craft, he lived by the "fundamental rule" of psychoanalysis: to speak freely, without censorship, no matter how insignificant or senseless or disagreeable it might be, he let Rat man say what he wanted to say and at what ever time he wanted; to me it was very unorganized and confusing but Freud valued this and he believed that stepping back and letting Rat man just talk was the best way to learn more about him and be able to help him.
I agree, I still don't understand this reading - I felt the more I read the more confused I was - was he OCD'ing in his dreams as well as everyday life....
ReplyDeleteI literally read this 3 times to try and understand it! After tackling one paragraph at a time, dissecting the confusion, I was finally able to make some sense of it. I believe that Rat Man masturbated so excessively as he did because it was a ritual of his. From what Freud was able to make of it, the patient had a childhood memory of his father discouraging him from partaking in such an act. This later surfaced as a fear of his to show any affection with his "small tool" and led him to masturbate in order to cope with his OCD. I hope that I am right after all this time I spent trying to understand this. I agree that this was very unorganized as you said, partially because it was Rat Man's stream of thoughts over the course of several months, but hopefully we can go over it better in class tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I wasn't the only one wondering what in the world the Rat man was talking about most of the time! I agree that this reading was very confusing. Also, I agree with you on Freud's part and how he sat back and listened to what the Rat man had to say and somehow helped him throughout it all in the end.
ReplyDeleteI read it two times. I cant believe there are people in the world living like this. I have heard of people living with phobias but this completely goes beyond that. My heart went out to the "Rat Man" and I just sat and read with my mouth at the floor wondering how he went about his life with such fear trailing behind him. For you to have mentioned Freuds professionalism was great as well because that didn't even cross my mind however, your right he really listened to the man and put whatever thoughts or judgements he had to the side in order to help him. It showed how much he really cared about his job.
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