The Secret Mind of Bertha Pappenheim

The extraordinary life of a brilliant woman whose contributions to science have been lied about and misused-the Henrietta Lacks of psychoanalysis-and whose mental health struggles look different in light of newly emerging research.

In 1880, young Bertha Pappenheim got sick-she lost her ability to control her voice and her body. She was treated by Sigmund Freud's mentor, Josef Breuer, who diagnosed her with "hysteria." Together, Pappenheim and Breuer developed what she called "the talking cure"-talking out memories so that symptoms go away-and this, Freud acknowledged, became the basis for what would become the theory of psychoanalysis.

In Freud's mythology Pappenheim was renamed "Anna O," and as he got older his stories about her became more extreme. For over a century, scholars have wondered: Was she really sick? Was talking cure really a cure? Amid all this argument a persistent absence has remained: the actual woman, Bertha Pappenheim. Brownstein's book fills this void, and more.

Brownstein gives us the real Pappenheim--a brilliant feminist thinker, a crusader against human trafficking, and a pioneer in her own right--in the hustling and heady world of 19th century Vienna. At the same time, he tells a parallel story that is playing out in leading medical centers today, about patients who suffer symptoms very much like Pappenheim's, and about the doctors who are trying to cure them-the story of the neuroscience of a condition now called FND.

This is a book about science and history and psychology, about the relations of men and women, of body and mind, but perhaps most of all it's about the medical art of listening, attending to patients long enough to acknowledge the reality of their pain.

"This is a memoir nestled in an investigation, hidden inside a mythology. And it's really about the limits of knowledge: not just about what we know about Pappenheim, but about medicine specifically and about nonfiction in general."

--The New York Times Book Review
"[F]ascinating...Brownstein toggles between Pappenheim's ordeal in the past and the puzzled patients and physicians of the present--and the ways in which the so-called talking cure may, or may not, also fit into current treatment protocols."--The Wall Street Journal
"[A] riveting look at the boundaries between neurology and psychology and the gender dynamics of medicine. This captivates."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The Secret Mind of Bertha Pappenheim braids its fascinating stories together seamlessly. This is a very important contribution to the Pappenheim/Freud literature and to helping people with FND today. I found the book absolutely riveting."--Marion A. Kaplan, Professor Emerita of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University
"Brownstein's wonderful book is part intellectual history, part scientific inquiry, and reads like a detective novel. The mystery concerns Freud's most famous patient, and the wildly satisfying twist is that our most fundamental ideas about the human mind grow out of this very case."--Joe Weisberg, creator of "The Patient" and "The Americans"
"I adored this book. Out of a writer's encounter with his dying psychoanalyst father flashes a revelatory Anna O. who, despite a century's efforts to erase her real life, leaps through a told and retold history -- passionate women as mere lab specimens, a circle of brilliant but flawed men, a moment in Vienna. Exhilarating."--Honor Moore, author of The Bishop's Daughter
"This is a work of courageous and compassionate reexamination of a Jewish feminist icon who deserves to be much better known. Brownstein excavates trauma and grief, mind and brain, silencing and "the talking cure," and moves us with his portrait of Bertha Pappenheim, her passion and her purpose."--Anya Kamenetz, author of The Stolen Year
"With the heart-racing pace of a novel, Brownstein creates a moving portrait of Bertha Pappenheim as he gives her a voice, a heart, and a soul."--Jessica Anya Blau, author of Mary Jane
"In his much-anticipated book, Gabriel Brownstein excavates Bertha Pappenheim's life, finally telling the full story of this extraordinary feminist whose work continues to impact countless patients today."--Lilith Magazine

Gabriel Brownstein is an associate professor of English at St. John's College. His short stories have been published in The Harvard Review, Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope: All Story, and Glimmer Train. He won the PEN/Hemingway Award for his collection of stories, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt 3W, and his 2005 novel The Man from Beyond was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.