Jung, C. G. (1919). Psycho-analysis and association experiments. In C. G. Jung (Ed.) & M. D. Eder (Trans.), Studies in word association: Experiments in the diagnosis of psychopathological conditions carried out at the psychiatric clinic of the University of Zurich (pp. 297-321). New York, NY, US: Moffat, Yard & Company.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/13030-007
It is not easy to give in a few words the basis of Freud's theory of hysteria and his psycho-analytic method. The nomenclature and Freud's conceptions are still in flux—fortunately, I would add. For despite the extraordinary progress which our knowledge of hysteria has made in the last few years, thanks to Freud's works, neither Freud nor we who follow him have reached finality. Freud was the first to show us the path traversed by the psychological process. He found that the hysterical symptom is essentially a symbol for presentations (sexual in the ultimate analysis) which are not present in the conscious, but are repressed from the conscious by strong inhibitions. Repression arises from the critical presentations being so charged with pain (unpleasure) as to be insupportable to the conscious self. Inseparably bound up with this conception is the psycho-analytic method. It provides us with the knowledge of the repressed material of presentation that has become unconscious. Despite the many valuable experiences which Freud has expounded for us, psycho-analysis is a very difficult art, for every beginner rapidly loses courage and orientation in face of the innumerable obstacles. Safe foundations are wanting from whence to start; when you have to begin with a patient at haphazard, so to say, you are often at a loss where to begin the attack. Association experiments have helped us to get over these first and chief difficulties. I have shown in the chapter on time-measurements (chapter v, this volume) that the emotionally charged presentation complexes give rise to characteristic disturbances in the experiment; their presence and probable nature can be recognized from the disturbances themselves. All psychogenic neuroses contain a complex which is differentiated from normal complexes by being endowed with extremely strong emotional tones, possessing such constellating power that it brings the whole individual under its influence. The complex is hence the causa morbi (given, of course, the predisposition). The associations often enable us to recognize the nature of the complex, thus obtaining valuable clues for causal therapy. Here I would present the connexion between psycho-analysis and association experiments by some practical examples. I choose an ordinary case of a 37 year-old woman with obsessional neurosis which I treated in June 1905. Associations can be a valuable aid for the discovery of the pathogenic complex as well as serving for the shortening and lightening of Freud's psycho-analysis. Associations give us experimentally an insight into the psychological structure of the neurotic symptoms: Hysteria and obsession phenomena arise from one complex. The physical and psychical symptoms are but the symbolical pictures of the psychogenic complex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)