Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a method for the treatment of mental disorder and a theory of the mind. His work transformed the understanding of human motivation and had a profound influence on psychology, medicine, and culture in the twentieth century.

Early Life and Medical Career

Freud was born in 1856 in Freiberg, in Moravia, and his family moved to Vienna when he was a child. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna and qualified as a doctor in 1881.

He worked in the physiology laboratory of Ernst Brücke and then in the general hospital, where he specialised in neurology. He studied in Paris with Jean-Martin Charcot, who used hypnosis to treat hysteria.

He returned to Vienna and entered private practice, treating patients with nervous disorders. He collaborated with Josef Breuer on the treatment of hysteria, and the case of Anna O. became a foundation of psychoanalytic theory.

The Discovery of the Unconscious

Freud came to believe that the symptoms of his patients were the expression of unconscious conflicts, often rooted in early experience. He abandoned hypnosis in favour of free association, in which the patient reports whatever comes to mind.

He developed the theory of repression, according to which unacceptable wishes and memories are excluded from consciousness. He also began the analysis of dreams, which he regarded as the royal road to the unconscious.

The Interpretation of Dreams, published in 1900, set out his theory of the dream as the disguised fulfilment of a wish. The book was the foundation of psychoanalysis as a system.

The Theory of the Mind

Freud divided the mind into the id, the ego, and the superego. The id contains the instinctual drives, the ego mediates between the drives and reality, and the superego represents internalised moral standards.

He described the psychosexual stages of development and the Oedipus complex, the child's desire for the parent of the opposite sex. The theory provoked controversy and remains contested.

He also wrote on the theory of the instincts, on the death drive, and on the structure of civilisations. His later works, including Civilization and Its Discontents, explore the tension between the individual and society.

The Movement and Its History

Freud gathered a group of followers, including Carl Jung and Alfred Adler, who later broke with him. The psychoanalytic movement spread throughout Europe and to the United States.

He left Vienna after the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938 and settled in London, where he died in 1939. His library and his papers were preserved, and his daughter Anna continued his work.

The movement was divided by disputes over doctrine, and several schools emerged. Psychoanalysis has influenced psychiatry, literary criticism, and the study of culture.

Legacy

The scientific status of psychoanalysis is disputed, and many of its specific claims have been criticised or rejected. Its influence on the vocabulary of psychology and of the humanities is nevertheless enormous.

Freud introduced concepts, such as the unconscious, repression, and the defence mechanisms, that have entered common usage. He changed the way in which people think about childhood, sexuality, and the self.

His work continues to be studied and debated. He is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of the modern era.

The Case Studies

Freud published a series of case studies that remain among his most influential writings. The case of the Rat Man treated obsessive neurosis, and the case of the Wolf Man treated childhood anxiety.

The case of Dora concerned hysteria and the dynamics of transference. The case of Little Hans used the analysis of a child to develop the theory of the Oedipus complex.

The case studies are admired as literature, and they have been criticised for the way in which the evidence was selected and presented. They nevertheless shaped the clinical practice of psychoanalysis.

Technique and Transference

Freud developed the technique of free association, in which the patient reports whatever comes to mind without censorship. He also analysed the transference, the patient's repetition of early relationships in the relation with the analyst.

He described resistance, the patient's defence against the emergence of disturbing material. The analysis of resistance became a central task of the treatment.

He emphasised the importance of dreams, of slips of the tongue, and of jokes as windows on the unconscious. The Interpretation of Dreams was followed by The Psychopathology of Everyday Life.

Cultural Criticism

Freud applied his ideas to the study of culture and of religion. In Totem and Taboo he proposed an account of the origin of society and of the incest taboo.

In The Future of an Illusion he argued that religion is a projection of the wish for a father and for protection. In Civilization and Its Discontents he described the conflict between the demands of instinct and the constraints of civilisation.

These works made him a figure of controversy and of influence beyond the clinic. They have been debated by philosophers, anthropologists, and theologians.

Critics and Revisionists

Freud's theories were criticised by psychologists who favoured experimental methods. The behaviourists dismissed his work as unscientific, and the empirical evidence for many of his claims has been questioned.

His followers divided into rival schools. Jung's analytical psychology, Adler's individual psychology, and the object relations theory of Melanie Klein all departed from his doctrines.

His daughter Anna Freud developed child analysis and the theory of the ego and its defence mechanisms. The tradition has been carried on by the institutes and the societies that bear his name.

Cultural Influence

Freud's ideas have entered the general culture through literature, film, and criticism. The concepts of the unconscious, of repression, and of the Freudian slip are part of ordinary language.

The surrealists claimed him as an ally, and his work influenced the study of myth and of literature. His consulting room in Vienna has been preserved as a museum.

His reputation has fluctuated, and the scientific value of his work remains contested. He is nevertheless one of the most consequential thinkers of the modern age.

See also

• Psychoanalysis
• Unconscious mind