Psychology is a discipline which focuses on the study of mind and behavior as described by the American Psychological Association. The mind is considered dynamic, and conditions related to it are not easily treated since one must first understand the root of the problem (Jay, 2022). One of the most known psychologists has to be Sigmund Schlomo Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, described as a theory which explains human behavior and a clinical method for treating mental illness. Freud was an Austrian neurologist born on May 6 1856, in Freiberg, a Moravian town and died in England at 83 on September 23 1939 (Cherry, 2022). This paper explores Freud’s life taking into account his theories and work.
Freud was born to Amalie Nathansohn and Jakob, Jewish parents. Due to economic reasons, his family moved to Leipzig and Vienna when he was four. He later graduated from the University of Vienna as a doctor of medicine in 1881, where he had joined in 1873 and had chosen to concentrate initially on biology carrying out research for six years in physiology under the direction of the University’s Physiology Laboratory’s director, the eminent German scientist Ernst Brücke (Cherry, 2022). Freud later specialized in neurology entering Vienna General Hospital as a clinical assistant in 1882. Moreover, he received appointments as a neuropathology docent in 1885 and an attached professor in 1902.
Freud married Martha Bernays in 1886 and was blessed with six children, with Anna, the youngest becoming a distinguished psychoanalyst. During his time in Paris between 1885 and 1886, Freud was significantly impressed by the work of French neurologist Jean Charcot, who employed hypnosis to treat hysteria and other mental disorders (Ciccarelli & White, 2020). Later, he went back to Vienna and began working with Josef Breuer, a friend and coworker who had learned that enabling a hysterical patient to openly discuss their early instances of the symptoms could occasionally cause them to reduce gradually.
Freud developed the theory that many neuroses, including some forms of paranoia, have their roots in traumatic events that happened long ago to patients but have since been forgotten or buried from consciousness. The method developed as treatment allowed patients to recall the instances and face them profoundly, emotionally and intellectually, solving the root cause of the neurotic symptoms (Jay, 2022). The book Studies in Hysteria, published by Breuer and Freud, elaborates on the mentioned technique and the theory behind the whole technique.
Freud and Breuer later parted ways after Breuer disagreed with Freud concerning the excessive emphasis, which Freud placed, on the nature of neuroses and sexual origins, with Freud focusing on developing and refining the theory and psychoanalysis practice. Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams after a period of self-analysis in 1900, with the work being termed his best composition. Freud further published The Psychopathology of Everyday Life in 1901, followed by Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (Jay, 2022). Freud developed most theories when he entered private practice and specialized in psychological disorders treatment.
The psychoanalytic theory by Freud was initially not welcomed or well received, with instances of its existence being acknowledged by people scandalized by Freud’s emphasis on sexuality. According to Ciccarelli and White (2020), Freud’s importance began gathering recognition during the first International Psychoanalytical Congress held at Salzburg. The recognition increased even more in 1909, with Freud invited to give a series of lectures in the United States of America. His book Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis was made possible by these lectures, which boosted his renown and fame and encouraged him to write more than twenty-one volumes of clinical research and theoretical writings.
Freud, despite being a highly original thinker, some of his theories were based on diverse factors that worked to shape his thoughts. His book The Interpretation of Dreams was inspired by the mental crisis he went through during his father’s death and the series of dreams he encountered during the period (Cherry, 2022). Freud realized that he had mixed feelings towards his father, with love, shame, admiration and hate all interconnected. He also felt that his father was his rival when it came to having his mother’s affection and had seen his father as his competitor hence the theory of the Oedipus complex.
Freud developed various theories based on the judgement that thoughts influence the behavior of humans, urges and unconscious memories. He also contends that the psyche consists of three parts: the id, ego, and superego, with the superego functioning in both the conscious and unconscious minds while the ego only functions in the aware mind and the id in the unawareness or unconscious mind (Jay, 2022). Freud believed childhood events significantly impact our adulthood and greatly influence our personality (Ciccarelli & White, 2020). Freud dedicated his life to understanding the hidden structure and process of personality. The case of Anna O was a turning point for Freud when he learned talk therapy from Breuer’s success in treating Anna by helping her recall memories; she had forgotten the traumatic events. Through talk therapy, Anna’s symptoms were lessened with Pappenheim, Anna’s real name, referring to the technique as talk therapy.
Freud also concluded that personality was affected by factors like anticathexis and cathexis, together with life and death instincts. According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the libido creates all psychic energy, and two opposing forces, anticathexis and cathexis, have an impact on our mental states. (Jay, 2022). He explained cathexis as an investment of one’s mental energy in an idea or object, while anticathexis involves blocking socially unacceptable needs of the id by the ego. In cathexis, the ego harness power from the id.
In response to the psyche and according to Freud, the human mind is divided into conscious and unconscious parts, with things we are aware of being in the conscious part. In contrast, the unconscious consists of things outside our awareness (Jay, 2022). Freud further divides human personality into the id, the primitive part of our personality, and the ego, which deals with reality and satisfies the id’s needs in a realistic, socially acceptable and safe manner. At the same time, the superego holds the internalized standards and morals that we gain as we grow up in society (Ciccarelli & White, 2020). Freud also mentions the defense mechanisms used when someone has difficulty coming to terms with some painful truth through rationalizing or living in denial. The ego uses these techniques to protect itself from anxiety.
Conclusion
According to Freud, the unconscious mind influences a person’s personality to a greater degree. He outlines an adult’s personality consisting of three aspects: id, ego and superego. Additionally, he asserts that the superego functions in both the conscious and unconscious minds, while the id function in the unconscious mind with the ego operating in the conscious mind (Jay, 2022). His theories have faced criticism and are not easily amendable to scientific inquiry leading to hypotheses that are nonspecific despite their contribution to understanding the human psyche (Cherry, 2022). Freud died of cancer in 1939 while in exile in England
References
Cherry, K. (2022, October 12). An Overview of Sigmund Freud’s Theories. https://www.verywellmind.com/freudian-theory-2795845#:~:text=Sigmund%20Freud’s%20theory%20suggests%20that,operates%20in%20the%20conscious%20mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/freudian-theory-
Ciccarelli, S., & White, J. N. (2020). Revel for Psychology (6th ed.). Pearson.
Jay, M. E. (2022, October 19). Sigmund Freud – Psychoanalytic theory. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sigmund-Freud/Psychoanalytic-theory
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