The Domestic Economy of the Soul: Freud's Five Case Studies

This is the first major analysis of Freud's five most celebrated case studies - Little Hans, Dora, the Rat Man, the Wolf Man and Schreber. John O'Neill sets out the details of each case and critically engages with the narratives using a mixture of psychoanalytical insight and social theory.

The book provides a clear and powerful account of the five major case studies that helped to establish the Freud legend; situates the cases and the analysis into the appropriate social and historical contexts; offers distinctive interpretations of the symptomatic body, of illness as a language, dream work and the Madonna complex; and challenges us to revisit the canonical texts of psychoanalysis.

The book will be of interest to students of psychoanalysis, social theory and sociology.