Pavlov, psychoanalysis, and neuroses

Pavlov's discovery of experiment neurosis was serendipitous, yet it was made under the influence of Breuer and Freud's case of Anna O. In 1914, Pavlov's disciple N. R. Shenger-Krestovnikova, exploring the limits of visual discrimination in dogs, noticed that when the discrimination was difficult, the dogs' behavior became disorganized. Pavlov drew an analogy between the condition of Shenger-Krestovnikova's dogs and their disorganized behavior with Anna O.'s situation and her neurotic reaction. Pavlov concluded that he had demonstrated in the laboratory the elements of neurosis in animals and human alike. Schilder's criticism of his position, his later study of human neuroses in clinical settings, and the views of Janet may have induced Pavlov to differentiate between animal and human neuroses.