Anna O.

Anna O. was the name given to a patient of the psychiatrist Joseph Breuer in his book "Studies on Hysteria", written in collaboration with Sigmund Freud. Her actual name was Bertha Pappenheim. Her sister, Marie Pappenheim, as a medical student, wrote the libretto, depicting a woman's mental breakdown, for Arnold Schoenberg's Erwartung.

She suffered from hysterical paralysis, where one of her arms was paralyzed even though there was nothing mediccally or physically wrong with it. After study, it was discovered this was the arm she had cradled her dying father with. It was theorised that she was unconsciously stopping the use of the arm as punishment because she blamed herself for her Father's death.