Bertha Pappenheim (1859-1936) was a feminist, social pioneer, and the founder of the Jewish Women's Association. She is also one of the most famous patients in history, known as Anna O.
Bertha Pappenheim (1859-1936) was a feminist, social pioneer, and the founder of the Jewish Women's Association. She is also one of the most famous patients in history, known as Anna O.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. This is Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about women who’ve made important contributions to the world of health and wellness.
Today’s Womanican is one of the most famous patients in history. You might know her as Anna O. Today, we’re talking about Bertha Pappenheim.
Bertha was born on February 27, 1859 in Vienna, Austria. She grew up in a wealthy, Orthodox Jewish family and received an education to match: she mastered several languages, studied religion, and practiced needlepoint, piano, and horseback riding. Years later, she would pen an essay calling her education suffocating.
When Bertha turned 20, she began to experience symptoms of psychological stress. Her symptoms appeared around the time her father fell ill, and worsened after his death two years later. She suffered from convulsions, shivers, forgetfulness, phobias, and even partial paralysis, deafness, and blindness. She was prone to telling fantastic, fairytale-like stories, which took on the form of tragedies after her father died.
In 1880, Bertha’s family called on internist Josef Breuer. He was well-respected as a physician, worked in Bertha’s social circle, and, later, would mentor Sigmund Freud. Breuer diagnosed Bertha with “hysteria,” a then-common diagnosis for women. It was often attributed to women who had ungovernable emotional distress– no matter the situation that may have brought them to that distress. After her diagnosis, Bertha developed even more symptoms, including speaking exclusively in English.
Breuer decided to treat Bertha with hypnosis, a widely practiced technique at the time. Early into their treatments, Breuer realized Bertha’s condition improved when she spoke about her dreams and stories. She called these moments of storytelling “talking cures,” or “chimney sweeping.” Breuer thought these exercises might help Bertha to unfold her suppressed, painful memories and thoughts, which would in turn help ease her physical symptoms.
While some of Bertha’s severe symptoms may have eased, she continued to exhibit her behaviors throughout treatment. In 1882, she was transferred to Bellevue Sanatorium in Switzerland. She was readmitted to several psychological institutions over the next 5 years, though the diagnosis was always “hysteria.” These years included harsh treatments for Bertha: many physicians at the time relied on sedatives, chloral hydrate and morphine, and, as a result, she developed an addiction to them.
In 1888, Bertha moved to Frankfurt, where her mother’s side of the family lived. There, she began to recover from her illnesses. She dove into writing, publishing a book of her fairytales and several essays. She also became involved in Jewish social work, volunteering in soup kitchens and an orphanage for young Jewish girls. By 1890, she was able to live independently.
During this time, Bertha’s more infamous alias was born. Breuer, together with his protegee Sigmund Freud, published the story of Bertha’s case in 1895. It was part of a book called “Studies on Hysteria,” in which they publicized Bertha’s story, calling her, “Anna O.” It became one of the fundamental publications in psychology.
“Anna O”’s story is different from Bertha’s. As a study in psychology, her story has been edited and reinterpreted, leading to a mythologized version of Bertha’s actual experience. For example, in 1909, another psychologist proposed that “Anna O’s” symptoms were an expression of incestuous fantasies towards her father, including an episode in which she underwent a hysteric pregnancy and claimed Breuer was the father. Despite the lack of evidence for these theories, Freud presented the interpretation to his audiences as fact.
Even decades after her death, Bertha’s story continued to be editorialized. In 1953, a man named Ernest Jones published a paper that not only re-popularized the alleged hysterical pregnancy story, but also revealed Bertha Pappenheim as the woman behind “Anna O.” The executor of Bertha’s will openly condemned the story, but Bertha’s time as Breuer’s patient is still the subject of speculation today. Perhaps more evidently, Anna O. is often called Freud’s first patient, when in fact, she and Freud never even met.
Meanwhile, Bertha continued to live her life far from the fame of Anna O. She became highly involved in feminist and anti-facist movements. In 1899, she translated Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and published a play criticizing the economic and sexual exploitation of women. She also founded the League of Jewish Women, which offered vocational guidance to help women gain financial independence. Her missions to support women were varied and plentiful: she founded a home for unwed mothers and children, translated a 17th Century Yiddish women’s Bible, and continued to write essays, poems, and books for women. By the 1920s, she was an established feminist leader.
In 1935, Bertha was diagnosed with an illness that was likely cancer. While she was very sick, she was summoned by the Gestapo regarding anti-Hitler statements made by one of the residents of her women’s shelters. Shortly after returning home, she died in her sleep on May 28, 1936. She was 77.
In her will, she asked those who visited her grave to leave a small stone by it as a “quiet promise [...] to serve the mission of women's duties and women's joys.”
All month, we’re honoring women who changed the landscape of health and wellness.
For more information and pictures of the women we’re talking about, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!