Original painting by Stefano Frassetto[2].

 

 

“…In the afternoon (Monday, March 30) father and son came to me me during visiting hours… The father begun saying that notwithstanding all the explanations, the fear for horses didn’t diminish…

But, while I was listening to Hans telling about his phobia for horses, I was watching at both of them sit in front of me, and a new piece of the solution has been flashing in my mind…

Jokingly I asked Hans if maybe his horses were having glasses, but he negatively answered, then I asked if his father was having glasses, and again he answered negatively and then if, against any evidence, by black around the mouth he meant the mustache : then I could reveal to him that he feared his Dad because Hans loved so much Mom…

Maybe he believed that the matter made Dad angry but that was not true, because his Dad loved Hans and he could tell everything to Dad…

‘Why on earth do you think I’m angry with you ? – at that point the father interrupted me – ‘Did I scold, or hit you ?’

‘Oh, yes, you hit me’, Hans corrected.

‘That’s not true. And when ?’

‘This morning’, warned the child and his father remembered that Hans had hit him surprisingly with the head in the stomach, and he as a consequence had given Hans a blow with the hand. It was interesting that he didn’t remember the detail as linked with the neurosis. However now he meant that as a hostile frame of the child towards him, maybe also as a demonstration of the need for punishment…

After that consultation, I received almost daily reports on changes of conditions of the young patient… As you could see, now a possibility opened to reveal his own unconscious productions, and his phobia took its course…”[3]

 

                                                     Marina Bilotta Membretti / Cernusco sul Naviglio – October 27, 2020

 

 

[1] “Ereditare da un bambino. Perché no?”, Marina Bilotta Membretti (2014) Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso SpA (oggi GEDI Gruppo Editoriale SpA) Isbn 978 88 91081 63 6 – short essay on individual competence in the cure of thinking.

[2] Stefano Frassetto is born in Turin in 1968. After his degree in Architecture at ‘Politecnico’ he begun as graphic novelist for local magazines. In the ‘90s he edited in France too, on ‘Le Réverbère’ and on ‘Libération’ : then he created ‘Ippo’ for ‘Il Giornalino’ and then the stripe ‘35MQ’ for the swiss magazine ‘20 Minuti’. In 2000 he came into ‘La Stampa’ as portraitist for cultural page and the insert ‘Tuttolibri’, then for the weekly ‘Origami’. Today he works also for the swiss magazine ‘Le Temps’.

 

[3] “Il piccolo Hans”, Sigmund Freud (1908) – Feltrinelli Editore Univ. Economica (2010) pp. 155-156 : when his parents turn to Freud, Hans is less than five.