Has anyone read about the Schreber case? 3 books

[Beth Andrea]

So...this may be triggering for some, because it's about someone who potentially was transgender. Just fyi.














I found (in my "recommended reading" list on Amazon) a book by Paul Schreber who apparently had a nervous breakdown at the turn of last century (1903ish). During this event he had intense feelings of wanting to be a woman. He wrote a book called "Memoirs of My Nervous Illness."

I've ordered it, but haven't read it yet. I also found two other books related to it, Freud's book "The Schreber Case", and "My Own Private Germany: Daniel Paul Schreber's Secret History of Modernity (Santner)

Quote from The Schreber Case (Freud)

In 1903, Judge Daniel Schreber, a highly intelligent and cultured man, produced a vivid account of his nervous illness dominated by the desire to become a woman, terrifying delusions about his doctor, and a belief in his own special relationship with God. Eight years later, Freud's penetrating insight uncovered the impulses and feelings Schreber had about his father, which underlay his extravagant symptoms.

Has anyone read these books, or heard about the case? If you have, what are your thoughts on it? And if you haven't, do you have any opinions or insights, perhaps related to Freud or the other authors, or related to the history of medical treatment/public perception of people who are transgender?

Just wondering before I start reading, if there are intellectual/emotional pitfalls I may encounter in reading these.

[Dee Marshall]

Not about this case, no, but much about Freud and his theories. Although an important pioneer of techniques, Freud's theories had no actual scientific basis as we know it today. They were not and are not scientifically testable. Also , his concepts of the Oedipus and Electra complexes and "penis envy" have no basis. Early on he began to suspect that some of his female patients had been molested by their fathers or older siblings. He colleagues, offended, convinced him that this couldn't be true. We now know it was entirely possible. Take any scientific statements with a grain of salt in those books.

For honesties sake I must admit that my leanings are cognitive behaviorist.