O conceito de afeto na obra inicial de Freud

Abstract

The concept of affect plays a key role in nearly all frameworks developed to indicate and describe psychological phenomena in Freudian theory. Nevertheless, there is no unambiguous definition for affect, which leads us to consider it as one of the obscure marks in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and, therefore, an aspect that requires full investigation, even in face of the several consummate advances and interpretations on the author’s work. The present work aims to track affect meanings presented in Freud’s early theory, as well as its implications on the comprehension about the origins of neurosis. In order to accomplish those objectives, we have performed an epistemological on Freudian early work, employing textual and conceptual analysis tools for the purpose of enlightening its outlines, its projection lines and the articulation of theses among themselves. The use of the term affect will be investigated in the following texts: “Report on my Studies in Paris and Berlin” (1885-1886), “Observation of a severe case of hemianaesthesia in a hysterical male” (1886), Hysteria (1888), “Mental or psychic treatment” (1890),“Some points for a comparative study of organic and hysterical motor paralyses” (1893), “Extracts from the Fliess papers” (1892- 1899), “Studies in Hysteria” (1893-95), “The Defense Neuro-psychoses” (1894), Project for a scientific psychology (1950 [1895]), “Obsessions and Phobias” (1895), “The Justification for Detaching from Neurasthenia a Particular Symptom-Complex as “Anxiety Neurosis” ” (1895) e “ A Reply to Criticisms on the Anxiety Neurosis” (1895).