Freudian case history Lucy R

The case of Miss Lucy R. was one of Freud’s early attempts to understand hysteria through his developing psychoanalytic method. She was a 30-year-old English governess who suffered from olfactory hallucinations—she persistently smelled burnt pudding and cigars, even when no such odors were present. Along with this, she experienced chronic sadness and emotional distress.

Freud’s Analysis

Freud rejected the common neurological explanations of the time and instead linked Miss Lucy R.'s symptoms to repressed emotions and psychological trauma. Through free association and hypnosis, he uncovered that she was secretly in love with her employer, the father of the children she cared for. However, she repressed these feelings because she saw them as socially and morally unacceptable.

Additionally, she had experienced humiliating incidents in which her employer had dismissed her emotional needs and subtly reminded her of her low social status. The smell of burnt pudding, Freud suggested, was linked to a specific distressing memory: she had once been unfairly scolded over a cooking mistake, which reinforced her feelings of unworthiness and rejection.

Conclusion and Treatment

Freud believed her symptoms were caused by repressed love and unexpressed grief, and once she consciously acknowledged these emotions, her symptoms improved. This case reinforced Freud’s idea that hysteria could be treated by bringing repressed thoughts into conscious awareness—a cornerstone of psychoanalysis.