Rat Man

"Rat Man" was the nickname given by Sigmund Freud to a patient whose 'case history' was published as Bemerkungen über einen Fall von Zwangsneurose (1909). The nickname derives from the fact that the patient developed a series of obsessive phantasies in which, In Freud's words, "rats had acquired a series of symbolic meanings, to which...fresh ones were continually being added".

To protect the anonymity of patients, psychoanalytic case-studies would usually withhold or disguise the names of the individuals concerned ('Anna O'; 'Little Hans'; 'Wolf Man', etc.). Recent researchers have decided that the "Rat Man" was in fact a clever lawyer named Ernst Lanzer (1878–1914)—though many other sources maintain that the man's name was Paul Lorenz.

Read more about Rat Man:  'Notes Upon A Case of Obsessional Neurosis', Influence, Criticism of Freud

Famous quotes containing the words rat and/or man:

    A rat eats, then leaves its droppings.
    Hawaiian saying no. 85, ‘lelo No’Eau, collected, translated, and annotated by Mary Kawena Pukui, Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii (1983)

    A man may have no bad habits and have worse.
    Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)