Table of contents:
- Sigmund Freud: biography
- The beginning of the history of Sigmund Freud
- Biography of Sigmund Freud
- Freud and psychoanalysis
- What is psychoanalysis
- Freud's psychoanalytic method
- Sigmund Freud: theory
- The id, the ego and the superego
- Defense mechanisms
- The drives in Freud's theory
- Freud's psychosexual theory
- Sigmund Freud: books
- Freud phrases
- Sigmund Freud Biography Summarized (Most Important)
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Who was Sigmund Freud? Sigmund Freud is the most famous psychiatrist and a great researcher in the field of the human mind. He was a neurologist, of Austrian and Jewish origin. Freud dared with innovative theories based on sexuality, unraveling the mystery of neuroses and relating them to sexual trauma. He is the author who gave meaning to terms of such caliber as repression, unconscious or superego.
Currently, Sigmund Freud is considered the father of psychoanalysis and one of the most influential figures in contemporary thought. If you want to know who Sigmund Freud was and what he represents for psychology, keep reading this article Sigmund Freud: biography and his theory of psychoanalysis. Where we will see the most important events of his life and his contributions to psychology. Shall we take a walk through the interesting biography of Sigmund Freud? Come on!
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- Sigmund Freud Biography Summarized (Most Important)
Sigmund Freud: biography
The beginning of the history of Sigmund Freud
The history of Sigmund Freud begins with Dr. Joseph Breuer, one of Freud's great influences. Breuer had a patient, Anna O., who was the primary caregiver for her ailing father for much of his life. When her father passed away, Anna O. began to show a series of strange symptoms that ranged from refusal to eat to partial paralysis to visual hallucinations. After the corresponding medical examinations, it was determined that these symptoms, despite appearing physical, did not have any demonstrable organic cause. Other symptoms displayed by the patient were childish fantasies, drastic mood swings, and suicide attempts. Breuer diagnosed the case with hysteria.
Eleven years later, Breuer and his assistant, Freud, turned their theory of hysteria into a book. The theory explained that hysteria was considered the result of trauma that could not be accepted by the person who had suffered it. The emotions that this traumatic situation would unleash were repressed and expressed through behavioral or physical symptoms. In such cases, when the patient came to understand and accept the trauma and origin of the symptoms, they disappeared.
Patient Anna O. her symptoms gradually improved with Breuer's treatment, but the patient seemed to be falling in love with him. So, for personal reasons, Breuer had to stop treatment. Later, Freud got to the bottom of the matter by openly postulating that behind hysterical neuroses there was a sexual desire.
Biography of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856 in Freiberg, a German city. Son of a wool merchant and a vivacious 21-year-old girl. He had 2 stepbrothers on his father's side and 6 other siblings. Their parents had an age difference of 20 years. Freud received a traditional Jewish education, although he was not a practicing Jew.
In 1860, when Freud was about 3 years old, his family moved to Leipzig and a year later he moved to Vienna, a city where Freud would stay practically his entire life. His parents went through bad financial times, but they always worried about their son's education.
Sigmund Freud was a good student who in 1873, aged 17, got a place in the medical school of the University of Vienna. Something that was not so simple, at the time, for a young Jew in the capital of Austria.
At the Ernst von Brücke Institute of Physiology in 1882, he became passionate about physiology and research with his professor, who believed that the functioning of the organism could be explained by physicochemical forces. Freud was very good at researching neurophysiology, he was even one of the pioneers in postulating the therapeutic use of cocaine. His teacher, Brücke, helped him obtain a scholarship to study with the psychiatrist Charcot at the Salpêtriere hospital in Paris and with Bernheim in Nancy. Who were two great scientists who investigated hypnosis as a treatment for patients with hysteria. This marks the biography of Sigmund Freud.
After completing his training as a neurology resident, Freud returned to Vienna. In 1882, he began work at the Vienna General Hospital. Later, in 1886, he opened his own neuropsychiatry practice with the help of Joseph Breuer. He began to treat hysteria through hypnosis and catharsis, as he had learned from his mentor Breuer in treating Anna O. That same year, he married his fiancee Marta Bernays. With her he had 5 children, including Anna Freud.
In 1889 he attended the First International Congress of Hypnotism. Freud was increasingly focused on "diseases of the nerves" and self-analysis.
Between 1895 and 1900, Freud abandoned hypnosis and catharsis and developed a new technique: free association. This technique consisted of encouraging patients to verbalize any product of the mind, without censorship. With it, the symptoms of patients with hysteria improved.
Another of the most important events in Sigmund Freud's biography was in 1899, when one of his most relevant works was published: The Interpretation of Dreams . Thus initiating a theoretical and practical discipline around the human mind: psychoanalysis.
In 1902, he obtained his extraordinary teaching title and recognition as the creator of psychoanalysis. He earned a reputation as a curator of hysteria. Weekly meetings of the Psychological Society also began, where intellectuals met to share ideas. Sigmund Freud was invited by G. Stanley Hall in 1908 to the United States with the aim that Freud offered a series of conferences to disseminate psychoanalysis.
Freud, with his work and works, acquired fame and many followers, who would later form the psychoanalytic movement. Freud rejected those who disagreed with his theories, establishing rivalry between different schools of thought. Freud was a methodical and rigid man in terms of his customs, he liked to eat at 1 o'clock, go for a walk and visit the Historical Museum of Art.
Freud developed maxillobucal cancer, which is why he was operated on up to 33 times. This disease caused him hearing difficulties and affected his ability to speak. However, he continued to work and write throughout his life.
Vienna was a Catholic city, so Freud's theories about sexuality were a huge scandal. However, that was not what prompted him to leave just before World War II, but the little security that Vienna offered for Jews. It was then that Freud, convinced thanks to Marie Bonaparte, emigrated to England, settling in London.
Sigmund Freud died in London on September 23, 1939 from cancer that had been diagnosed in 1923. His legacy lives on today.
Anna Freud, his daughter, continued her studies and theories on child psychology. Anna Freud was a renowned psychoanalyst, especially in the field of psychological development.
Freud and psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud is known as the founder of psychoanalysis, a current of psychology.
What is psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a stream of psychology that is based on theories about the human mind. This theory offers a model of the mind and a therapy based on that model. Psychoanalysis starts from the idea that we have a large part of the mind that is unconscious and continues with the parts of identity (I, It and Superego).
Currently, psychoanalysis is not part of the branches of scientific psychology. It has been widely refuted as it lacks scientific validation.
Freud's psychoanalytic method
Sigmund Freud developed the psychoanalytic method, which consists of causing the release of the repressed so that it can go to consciousness. The main procedure of Freud's psychoanalytic method is the method of free associations. This method is based on the idea that psychic activity is influenced by unconscious and preconscious impulses. It consists of letting the mind wander freely and explaining everything that comes to consciousness. The goal is to make disturbing unconscious facts that are the cause of the discomfort conscious.
Another procedure of Freud's psychoanalytic method is the study of failed acts. This consists of taking into account and interpreting failed acts, which are unforeseen acts that escape conscious control. Examples of failed acts are mistakes in speech, reading or writing.
Another procedure is the interpretation of dreams. According to Freud, dreams symbolically reveal instinctual drives, repressed or unsatisfied unconscious desires.
Sigmund Freud: theory
Sigmund Freud popularized the conscious and unconscious concepts, understanding the conscious mind as that which is aware of its thoughts, while the unconscious mind, the largest part, is the one that includes everything that is not accessible to consciousness, such as instincts., impulses or trauma. There is also the preconscious, what we are able to remember, that is, what we can bring to consciousness.
The psychological unconscious is the starting point of Freud's theory. According to him, the content of the unconscious mind is the origin of our motivations, motivations that we have a tendency to deny or resist. This is where censorship, acquired through education, comes into play. Said impulses and motivations of the unconscious appear in disguise. The 3 forces (conscious, unconscious and censorship) have dynamic relationships. Personality depends on the combination between them.
The id, the ego and the superego
First of all, the It. The It, for Sigmund Freud, is the body and the nervous system, destined to satisfy our needs such as hunger, thirst, sex and the avoidance of pain. The It translates the needs of the body into motivations, for Freud, the drives or desires. The transformation from need to desire is called the primary process. The purpose of the id is to preserve the pleasure principle, that is, to meet biological needs. For Freud, a baby is practically It. The It is made up of instincts and the repressed, these influence thought and behavior. When a need is not satisfied, for example, we are hungry, it begins to attract more and more attention. That would be the desire breaking into consciousness.
Second, the Self. The I is the conscious part. This part emerges from the Id and is shaped by the influence of the outside world. The I is a more rational part that acts as an intermediary between the Id and the outside world. It allows stopping the impulses of the Id and responding to the demands of the environment. According to Sigmund Freud, the Ego is governed by the principle of reality, which aims to adapt the person's behavior to the environment. The Ego decides whether or not it satisfies the id's impulses. When the ego does not satisfy the impulses of the id, repression is generated.
Finally, the superego. The superego is formed by the influence of parents and other educators. It is the moral aspect that takes into account the demands and standards internalized during education. The superego is the moral conscience and its function is to repress the impulses that do not correspond with the ethical principles.
Freud's theory of personality says that the personality corresponds to the ego and arises from the claims of the id and the repression of the superego.
Defense mechanisms
Defense mechanisms, according to Freud's psychoanalytic theory, are inconsistent strategies that serve to avoid, deny or distort thoughts that produce anxiety. Freud proposed various defense mechanisms, such as: denial, repression, reactive formation, regression, projection, rationalization, compensation and sublimation.
The drives in Freud's theory
The drives, in Freud's theory, are the tensions due to the needs of the Id that exert pressure for action. Distinguish two basic and opposite instincts:
- Eros, the life drive or love instinct. This drive aims to guarantee survival, generate unions and satisfy needs. Seek pleasure and get gratification.
- Thanatos, death drive or destruction instinct. This drive represents the unconscious desire for death, regression and disintegration.
Freud's psychosexual theory
According to Sigmund Freud, the sexual factors are decisive. With his studies he found that the sexual was of great importance. For this reason, psychosexual development is a central element of Freud's theory.
Freud's psychosexual theory holds that instincts produce a psychological energy called libido and that libido develops over 5 stages. Freud's stages are as follows:
- Oral stage. From birth to the first year, the focus of satisfaction is in the mouth. Pleasure is obtained through suction. If there is little or too much gratification of this desire, a psychological fixation can occur that would give rise to a personality with passive, credulous, immature and pessimistic traits.
- Anal stage. From 18 months to 3 years, pleasure is found in the anus. Pleasure is obtained by expelling and retaining stool. Strict toilet training can influence the personality of a child with self-destructive and self-defeating traits.
- Phallic stage. From 3 to 6 years old, the genitals begin to be discovered. It is at this stage that the Oedipus complex and the Electra complex can form. If the gratification is not enough, personality traits such as selfishness, vanity, and shyness can develop.
- Latency stage. From 6 to 12 years old, interest in sexuality is lost and previously developed personality traits are consolidated.
- Genital stage. From puberty to adulthood, sexual interest is in the erogenous zone.
The repercussions of his research and the importance of his theories are still valid today. In the following article you will find more detailed information on Freud's stages of psychosexual development.
Sigmund Freud: books
Sigmund Freud was very interested in writing down his studies and discoveries, where we can find the theories of the psychiatrist. Next, we show a list of the most relevant books by Sigmund Freud:
- Studies on Hysteria (1895)
- The Interpretation of Dreams (1899)
- Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901)
- Three Essays for a Sex Theory (1905)
- Totem and Taboo (1913)
- Introduction of Narcissism (1914)
- Introduction to Psychoanalysis (1917)
- Beyond the pleasure principle (1920)
- The I and the It (1923)
- Inhibition, Symptom and Anguish (1926)
- The Future of an Illusion (1927)
- The malaise in culture (1930)
Freud phrases
Sigmund Freud had a lot of repercussion for his studies and the impact they had. Thanks to his ingenuity, Freud left some famous phrases that are still used. Some of the best-known phrases of Sigmund Freud are the following:
- "You're fine because we haven't named yours."
- "One is the owner of what is silent and a slave to what he speaks."
- "There are two ways to be happy in this life, one is to be an idiot and the other to be."
- "I have been a lucky man in life: nothing was easy for me."
- "The best is the enemy of the good."
Sigmund Freud Biography Summarized (Most Important)
Below is a summary of Sigmund Freud's biography with the most relevant dates. A perfect outline of Freud's life to study.
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