This lecture examines the origins of C. G. Jung’s 1905 study “Analysis of the Associations of an Epileptic Patient” and its historical context. The starting point is Jung’s own childhood experience of a feigned “traumatic epilepsy,” which he later regarded as a decisive turning point in his early life. After joining the Burghölzli Clinic in 1900, Jung worked closely with Alfred Ulrich, senior consultant at the Swiss Institute for Epileptics. Together they conducted association tests with 158 patients, producing one of the earliest psychological-experimental investigations of epileptic thought processes. These studies were carried out at roughly the same time as the experiments that formed the basis of Experimental Research into the Association in Healthy Subjects (1904).
The lecture focuses on the case of the epileptic Joseph M., whose identity and biography can now be reconstructed. It also explores wider developments in the treatment of epilepsy around 1900, including scientific advances, the role of Christian welfare institutions, and the emergence of pharmacological therapies.
