Freud’s ‘Little Hans’. Inner Circle Seminar 123 (20 January 2008)

Der Gaulschreck (1920),

pen and ink on Kataster paper,

by Alfred Kubin (1877-1959)
Photograph by Alessandra Comini

Freud’s ‘Little Hans’

The first child psychoanalysis

A centenary investigation

Anthony Stadlen

conducts

Inner Circle Seminar No. 123

Sunday 20 January 2008
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This case study is Freud’s account of how, 100 years ago this month, a small boy, ‘Little Hans’, who had become afraid of horses, was ‘treated psychoanalytically’ for this supposed ‘illness’ by his father under Freud’s supervision. R. D. Laing called this ‘the most alarming of all Freud’s case histories’. Today, we explore the family relationships and the ethics of this ‘treatment’. We shall make use of findings from Anthony Stadlen’s research interviews with Little Hans’s widow and with the family with whom he was staying when, according to Hans himself, he first became afraid of horses.

Venue: Room C, Regent’s College, Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London NW1

Cost: Students £88, others £110, some bursaries, in advance

Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail: stadlen@aol.com