Borrowed from traditional medicine, the notions of indications and contraindications have been very much present in the writings of Freud and his medical following from the very beginnings of psychoanalysis. Moreover, the indications and contraindications for psychoanalysis have changed in the course of theoretical and practical developments that have profoundly altered attitudes toward psychoanalytic treatment.

In Studies on Hysteria (1895d), Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer listed certain conditions for applying the cathartic method: "The procedure is not applicable at all below a certain level of intelligence. . . . The complete consent and complete attention of the patients are needed, but above all their confidence (1895d, p. 264). In "Freud's Psycho-Analytic Procedure" (1904a [1903]), Freud specified further indications and contraindications: "Chronic cases of psycho-neuroses without any very violent or dangerous...