"A considerable number of persons are able to protect themselves against the outbreak of serious neurotic phenomena only through intense work"
About this Quote
Work, in Karl Abraham's telling, isn't just a paycheck or a Protestant virtue; it's psychic sandbagging. The line lands with the cool severity of early psychoanalysis: neurosis isn't an occasional visitor but a pressure system, and for many people the only thing keeping it from making landfall is relentless labor. "Protect themselves" is the key phrase. Abraham frames productivity as a defensive maneuver, not a freely chosen ambition, suggesting that what looks like discipline can be a symptom-management strategy: keep moving, keep busy, don't let the inner material surface.
The subtext is faintly accusatory toward a culture that admires overwork without asking what it's warding off. Intense work becomes an acceptable alibi for emotional avoidance, a socially rewarded form of repression. Abraham also implies an uncomfortable fragility in the modern subject: remove the structure and the "serious neurotic phenomena" may "outbreak" like an infection. That medical metaphor matters. It treats neurosis as both latent and contagious in the sense that conditions can trigger it - war, upheaval, family strain, the thinness of everyday supports.
Contextually, Abraham sits inside Freud's circle, writing in an era that was industrializing time itself, tightening the screws on attention, schedules, and performance. His patients were often members of an educated bourgeoisie with enough leisure to suffer - and enough work ethic to cover it up. The intent isn't to romanticize hustle; it's to diagnose why hustle can feel necessary. The line quietly questions a society that calls this "functioning" rather than a truce.
The subtext is faintly accusatory toward a culture that admires overwork without asking what it's warding off. Intense work becomes an acceptable alibi for emotional avoidance, a socially rewarded form of repression. Abraham also implies an uncomfortable fragility in the modern subject: remove the structure and the "serious neurotic phenomena" may "outbreak" like an infection. That medical metaphor matters. It treats neurosis as both latent and contagious in the sense that conditions can trigger it - war, upheaval, family strain, the thinness of everyday supports.
Contextually, Abraham sits inside Freud's circle, writing in an era that was industrializing time itself, tightening the screws on attention, schedules, and performance. His patients were often members of an educated bourgeoisie with enough leisure to suffer - and enough work ethic to cover it up. The intent isn't to romanticize hustle; it's to diagnose why hustle can feel necessary. The line quietly questions a society that calls this "functioning" rather than a truce.
Quote Details
| Topic | Mental Health |
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