Psychoanalysis Before Freud

As I was doing my research I came across a quote from a man named David Livingston. He was a Scottish missionary who explored Africa in the early 1800's. While he was exploring Africa, he was attacked by a lion.

To this he said: "The shock produced a stupor...it caused a sort of dreaminess...there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, though I was quite concious of all that was happening. This particular state is probably produced in all animals killed by carnivora...and is a merciful provision by our benevolent creator for lessening the pain of death."

David Livingston said this when Freud was probably just a young child, as they shared some of the same time period. This quote is eerily close to what Freud would say in the future. Although Freud never talked about that the state of dreaminess could be a survival mode for when human beings are attacked by animals. Freud also never said that it was a gift from our creator that we can go into the dreamlike state to lessen the pain of our own death. All of these make so much sense, both scientifically and spiritually.

In my paper I talk about a surfer, Bethany Hamilton, who was attacked by a tiger shark. She said that she felt no pain during the attack. Scientists have proven that during an attack, the human body is on an overload of senses. This overload of the senses renders the body feeling nothing and putting the body into that dreamlike state both Livingston and Freud talked about.