Freud and Survivor Guilt

• Survivor Guilt, Submissive Behavior, and Evolutionary Theory by Lynn E. O'Connor and Jack W. Berry and Joseph Weiss, 5/25/97
  
  

It has long been a mystery to Freudian biographers how someone like Freud could have had a subservient relationship with someone of the caliber of Wilhelm Fliess. I think the concept of survivor guilt clears up the mystery quite nicely. Freud remained subservient precisely because he recognized his own superiority.

I wonder, though, whether the bottom line in Freud's case wasn't his need for the relationship at this time in his life. This need led him to submit to Fliess by way of maintaining a sense of solidarity. What I am trying to explain is the fact that Freud's subservience to Fliess was temporary. As he needed the relationship less, his subservience subsided, even though residual guilt undoubtedly remained.

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