"Rat Man" was the nickname given by Sigmund Freud to a patient whose 'case history' was published as Bemerkungen über einen Fall von Zwangsneurose (1909). The nickname derives from the fact that the patient developed a series of obsessive phantasies in which, In Freud's words, "rats had acquired a series of symbolic meanings, to which...fresh ones were continually being added".
To protect the anonymity of patients, psychoanalytic case-studies would usually withhold or disguise the names of the individuals concerned ('Anna O'; 'Little Hans'; 'Wolf Man', etc.). Recent researchers have decided that the "Rat Man" was in fact a clever lawyer named Ernst Lanzer (1878–1914)—though many other sources maintain that the man's name was Paul Lorenz.
Read more about Rat Man: 'Notes Upon A Case of Obsessional Neurosis', Influence, Criticism of Freud
Famous quotes containing the words rat and/or man:
“When a rat crosses a street, everyone shouts and beats it.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Well, I know you haven’t had much experience writing and none at all in pictures. But I’ve heard about you. It all sounded like you’re just the man I wanted for a story about the Navy. I don’t want a story just about ships and planes. I want a story about the officers.... I want this story from a pen dipped in salt water not dry martinis. Do you know what I mean?”
—Frank Fenton, William Wister Haines, co-scenarist, and John Ford. John Dodge (Ward Bond)