The two analyses of a phobia in a five-year-old boy: Little Hans

This volume covers a unique clinical case, in several respects, in Freud's work: the only case of a child, the only "indirect" analysis made from the boy's father's notes, which Freud transcribed and commented on in the clinical history. Freud and Hans met only once, leading some commentators to say that, in this treatment, Freud acted more as a supervisor than as an analyst. Consistent with the vivacity of spirit he demonstrates at various points in the story, Hans is only persuaded to accompany his father on a visit to the office when he tells him that Freud has "a very pretty little daughter." For a child full of questions about sexuality, this argument was enough. After the treatment and the "celebrity" achieved by the case's repercussion in psychoanalytic circles, Freud would only meet Hans when he was 19 years old, and would be pleased to hear him declare that he was feeling well.