The Freud Reader: Peter Gay

The patient that Freud analyzes is Dr. Loernz, also known as "Rat Man." The reason Freud gives him this name is because of an obsession fear he has of a story he heard involving criminals being punished Pots were being turned upside down on the buttocks of the criminal and the rats in the pot bore their way into the criminals anus. Rat man also has a fear of his father dying and of a lady that is in his life who turns out to be his cousin. He wants to slit his own throat. "Rat Man" also seems to have premonitory dreams. For example, he dreamt of going to a child's funeral and sometime after the child died.