(1955). Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 24:545-559 The Number 13 as a Castration Fantasy
The number 13 has traditionally borne an evil connotation in folklore and religion. The analysis of a patient revealed that this number represented an unconscious threat of castration. The patient was free from overt neurotic symptoms until his two-year-old son, for whom he was caring at the time, fell and injured his head. An operation scheduled for the thirteenth day of the month resulted in the child's death. Meeting the father a year later, the child's physician stated that he would never again schedule an operation for the thirteenth day of the month. After this conversation any reference to the number 13 roused in the patient an obsessive fear of impending danger. For example, if he perceived that 13 was the sum of several smaller numbers, or that a larger number was divisible by 13, he became disturbed and often remained so for days or weeks. The reason he gave for the obsessive thinking and his emotional distress was his belief that the number reactivated his grief [This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.] |
