[The case of little Hans: a prototype of family therapy?].

Abstract

The clinical case of little Hans is the story of a five-year-old child's phobia; it was published by Freud in 1909 using material gathered from his supervision of the "analytical treatment" brought before the child's father. Freud put the case as a clinical confirmation of the relative theory of infantile sexuality and the existence of an infantile neurosis based on the castration complex and oedipal conflict. Freud also focused his attention on the development of the "theories" the child uses to understand the world: the analysis is constructed as the hermeneutics of the private conditions with which the mind develops omnipotent cognitive theories about external reality. In addition to the clinical material, the peculiar conditions of the setting opened up new avenues in psychoanalysis; the case of little Hans in particular is considered a prelude to infantile analysis. This work emphasizes how Han's cure is the result of a complex interaction involving the entire family nucleus and proposes a possible relational significance of the kind of therapeutical operation which develops through the father of little Hans.