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| Sigmund Freud |
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Image :Sigmund Freud
around 1898
© Copyright by
Christian Brandstätter
Verlag, Vienna |
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Freud, Sigmund, b. Příbor, Czech Republic (then
Freiberg), May 6, 1856, d. London (United Kingdom), Sept. 23, 1939,
neurologist, physician; founder of psychoanalysis, the theory of the
unconscious mind. Father of Anna Freud. From 1876-1882 worked at the
Vienna Physiological Institute of E. W. von Brücke and under T.
Meynert and became lecturer of neuropathology in 1885. Conducted
research on the narcotic and anaesthetizing properties of cocaine
and thus initiated further developments in the field of local
anaesthesia. In 1885/86 he studied the technique of hypnosis and
problems originating from hysteria under J. M. Charcot in Paris, and
under Liébault and Bernheim in Nancy in 1889. Became associate
professor in 1902 and was awarded the Goethe Prize in 1930. Had to
emigrate to London in 1938.
In Vienna F.'s research was at first based on J. Breuer's "cathartic-therapeutic"
method. However, he soon replaced Breuer's method of cure based on
hypnosis by his own psychoanalytic method of treatment, known as the
technique of free association (repressed unpleasant experiences and
memories are brought into consciousness). He focused on the general
idea that experiences during childhood constitute the reason for the
development of certain mental illnesses.
F.'s psychoanalytic theory provided the basis for modern depth
psychology and psychotherapy and led to the evolution of further
concepts, such as A. Adler's individual psychology, C. G. Jung's
complex psychology, W. Stekel's theory. Psychoanalysis, which
started as a theory of drives, developed into a comprehensive theory
of the overall personality of the human being. His ideas and work
not only influenced modern psychology, particularly in the
Anglo-American world, but also had effects on other fields of
cultural life, such as aesthetics, theology, literature and
ethnology. F. was also a notable author.
In 1971 a museum was established in his home in the 9th district of
Vienna, Berggasse 19. |
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| Freud and Psychoanalysis |
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Freud married Martha Bernays in 1886, after opening
his own medical practice, specializing in neurology. After
experimenting with hypnosis on his neurotic patients, Freud
abandoned this form of treatment, in favor of a treatment where the
patient talked through his or her problems. This came to be known as
the "talking cure". (The term was initially coined by the patient
Anna O. who was treated by Freud's colleague Josef Breuer.) The "talking
cure" is widely seen as the basis of psychoanalysis.
Freud held the opinion (based on personal experience and observation)
that sexual activity was incompatible with the accomplishing of any
great work. Since he felt that the great work of
creating and establishing psychotherapy was his destiny, he told his
wife that they could no longer engage in sexual relations. Indeed from about the age of forty until his death Freud was
absolutely celibate "in order to sublimate the libido for creative
purposes," according to his biographer Ernest Jones.
Nonetheless, there has been persistent gossip, which has always been
staunchly denied by Freud loyalists, about the possibility that
around this time a romantic liaison had blossomed between Freud and
his sister-in-law, Minna Bernays, who had moved into Freud's
apartment at 19 Berggasse in 1896. This rumour of an illicit
relationship has been most notably propelled forward by Carl Jung,
Freud's disciple and later his archrival, who had claimed that Miss
Bernays had confessed the affair to him. It has been suggested that
the affair resulted in a pregnancy and subsequently an abortion for
Miss Bernays. A hotel log dated August 13, 1898 seems to support the
allegation of an affair.
In his 40s, Freud "had numerous psychosomatic disorders as well as
exaggerated fears of dying and other phobias" (Corey 2001, p. 67).
During this time Freud was involved in the task of exploring his own
dreams, memories, and the dynamics of his personality development.
During this self-analysis, he came to realize the hostility he felt
towards his father (Jacob Freud), and "he also recalled his
childhood sexual feelings for his mother (Amalia Freud), who was
attractive, warm, and protective" (Corey 2001, p. 67). Corey (2001)
considers this time of emotional difficulty to be the most creative
time in Freud's life.
After the publication of Freud's books in 1900 and 1901, interest in
his theories began to grow, and a circle of supporters developed in
the following period. Freud often chose to disregard the criticisms
of those who were skeptical of his theories, however, and even
gained a few direct opponents as a result, the most
famous being Carl Jung, who was originally in support of Freud's
ideas.
Carl Jung, the Swiss psychotherapist, told a colleague about his
first visit with Sigmund Freud in the year 1907. Jung had much that
he wanted to talk about with Freud, and he spoke with intense
animation for three whole hours. Finally Freud interrupted him and,
to Jung's astonishment, proceeded to group the contents of Jung's
monologue into several precise categories that enabled them to spend
their remaining hours together in a more profitable give-and-take. |
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Image: Sigmund Freud, 1938.
© Copyright by Christian Brandstätter Verlag, Vienna |
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| Freud's ideas |
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| Freud has been influential in two related but
distinct ways. He simultaneously developed a theory of how the human
mind is organized and operates internally, and how human behavior
both conditions and results from this particular theoretical
understanding. This led him to favor certain clinical techniques for
attempting to help cure psychopathology. |
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| Early work |
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Since neurology and psychiatry were not recognized
as distinct medical fields at the time of Freud's training, the
medical degree he obtained after studying for six years at the
University of Vienna board certified him in both fields, although he
is far more well-known for his work in the latter. As far as
neurology went, Freud was an early researcher on the topic of
neurophysiology, specifically cerebral palsy, which was then known
as "cerebral paralysis." He published several medical papers on the
topic, and showed that the disease existed far before other
researchers in his day began to notice and study it. He also
suggested that William Little, the man who first identified cerebral
palsy, was wrong about lack of oxygen during the birth process being
a cause. Instead, he suggested that complications in birth were only
a symptom of the problem. It was not until the 1980s that Freud's
speculations were confirmed by more modern research.
Freud hoped that his research would provide a solid scientific basis
for his therapeutic technique. The goal of Freudian therapy, or
psychoanalysis, was to bring to consciousness repressed thoughts and
feelings. According to some of his successors, including his
daughter Anna Freud, the goal of therapy is to allow the patient to
develop a stronger ego; according to others, notably Jacques Lacan,
the goal of therapy is to lead the analysand to a full
acknowledgment of his or her inability to satisfy the most basic
desires.
Classically, the bringing of unconscious thoughts and feelings to
consciousness is brought about by encouraging the patient to talk in
free association and to talk about dreams. Another important element
of psychoanalysis is a relative lack of direct involvement on the
part of the analyst, which is meant to encourage the patient to
project thoughts and feelings onto the analyst. Through this process,
transference, the patient can reenact and resolve repressed
conflicts, especially childhood conflicts with (or about) parents.
The origin of Freud's early work with psychoanalysis can be linked
to Joseph Breuer. Freud actually credits Breuer with the discovery
of the psychoanalytical method. One case started this phenomenon
that would shape the field of psychology for decades to come, the
case of Anna O. In 1880 a young girl came to Breuer with symptoms of
what was then called female hysteria. Anna O. was a highly
intelligent 21-year-old woman. She presented with symptoms such as
paralysis of the limbs, split personality and amnesia; today these
symptoms are known as conversion disorder. After many doctors had
given up and accused Anna O. of faking her symptoms, Breuer decided
to treat her sympathetically, which he did with all of his patients.
He started to hear her mumble words during what he called states of
absence. Eventually Breuer started to recognize some of the words
and wrote them down. He then hypnotized her and repeated the words
to her; Breuer found out that the words were associated with her
father's illness and death.
In the early 1890s Freud used a form of treatment based on the one
that Breuer had described to him, modified by what he called his "pressure
technique". The traditional story, based on Freud's later accounts
of this period, is that as a result of his use of this procedure
most of his patients in the mid-1890s reported early childhood
sexual abuse. He believed these stories, but after having heard a
patient tell the story about Freud's personal friend being the
victimizer, Freud concluded that his patients were fantasizing the
abuse scenes.
In 1896 Freud posited that the symptoms of 'hysteria' and
obsessional neurosis derived from unconscious memories of sexual
abuse in infancy, and claimed that he had uncovered such incidents
for every single one of his current patients (one third of whom were
men). However a close reading of his papers and letters from this
period indicates that these patients did not report early childhood
sexual abuse as he later claimed: rather, he arrived at his findings
by analytically inferring the supposed incidents, using a procedure
that was heavily dependent on the symbolic interpretation of somatic
symptoms. |
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| Ego, super-ego, and id |
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In his later work, Freud proposed that the psyche
could be divided into three parts: Ego, super-ego, and id. Freud
discussed this structural model of the mind in the 1920 essay Beyond
the Pleasure Principle, and fully elaborated it in The Ego and the
Id (1923), where he developed it as an alternative to his previous
topographic schema (conscious, unconscious, preconscious).
Freud acknowledges that his use of the term Id (or the It) derives
from the writings of Georg Grodeck. It is interesting to note that
the term Id appears in the earliest writing of Boris Sidis,
attributed to William James, as early as 1898. |
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| Psychotherapy |
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Freud's theories and research methods were
controversial during his life and still are so today, but few
dispute his huge impact on psychologists and the academically
inclined.
Most importantly, Freud popularized the "talking-cure"—an idea that
a person could solve problems simply by talking over them, something
that was almost unheard of in the 19th century. Even though many
psychotherapists today tend to reject the specifics of Freud's
theories, this basic mode of treatment comes largely from his work.
Most of Freud's specific theories—like his stages of psychosexual
development—and especially his methodology, have fallen out of favor
in modern experimental psychology.
Some psychotherapists, however, still follow an approximately
Freudian system of treatment. Many more have modified his approach,
or joined one of the schools that branched from his original
theories. Still others reject his theories entirely, although their
practice may still reflect his influence.
Psychoanalysis today maintains the same ambivalent relationship with
medicine and academia that Freud experienced during his life. |
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