Case Study: Rat Man

Case study: Rat Man 
By: Sigmund Freud

       Ernst Lanzer, born in Vienna in 1878 suffered from "obsessional neurosis," an illness that featured having thoughts so persistent and uncomfortable that he would cut his own throat with a razor just to get them to stop. After suffering for it throughout his childhood, in 1907 he went to visit Freud. Lanzer noted that hydrotherapy, or therapy using bathing helped relieve the symptoms, but he also noted that a relationship with someone at the bath house could've been what actually helped. Rat Man claimed to have obsessive thoughts randomly and wouldn't go away unless he harmed himself to distract the mind. These thoughts usually involving harm to those close to him.
     
      The name Rat man came from a particular experience Lanzer described which perfectly illustrates his condition. While serving in the military he learned of a form of punishment involving putting a bucket of live rats on a person's stomach and the rats would try to dig their way through the stomach to escape the bucket. After hearing of this, the thought of it happening to a friend or family member could not escape his mind. One day, Rat Man had ordered a new pair of glasses which needed to be paid for upon pick up. Rat Man quickly learned that his glasses had been paid for and the one who paid for them was the man who taught him the rat punishment. The man wanted this money paid back to him and Rat Man convinced himself that he had personally pay the man back or the he would perform the rat torture on his friends or family.
       
       Rat Man claimed to have become sexually aware at a young age. He had such inappropriate desires that he became embarassed and felt ashamed. He also was very afraid of his parents learning of his thoughts so he began to feel guilt taking control over him. However, after multiple months of psychotherapy, Rat Man became aware of how irrational his thoughts were and he became well enough to end his sessions.

Waude, Adam. “Rat Man Case Study: Sigmund Freud's Search For The Cause Of One Man's Obsessive Thoughts.” Psychologist World, 29 Mar. 2016, www.psychologistworld.com/freud/rat-man-case-study.

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