Sigmund Freud - A brief explanation
- medpod
- Jun 16, 2020
- 2 min read
This month, we decided to share a brief history about Sigmund Freud.
“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
—Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud, was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a method which an analyst unpacks unconscious conflicts based on the free associations, dreams and fantasies of the patient.
He qualified as a doctor of medicine in 1881 at the University of Vienna. Upon completing his habilitation in 1885, he was appointed a docent in neuropathology and became an affiliated professor in 1902. After his graduation Freud considered himself more of a scientist rather than a physician. Freud was highly influenced by his friend, Josef Breuer, who discovered that when a hysterical patient talks uninhibitedly about past experiences their symptoms get abated. Based on this information Freud posited that patients might have their symptoms based on deeply traumatic experiences. Thus, he encouraged patients to recall and confront those experience. Freud and Breuer published their theories and findings in Studies in Hysteria (1895).
Later (1905), Freud described the mind via icebergs’ appearances’. Surface is the consciousness, portion where we can control; sea level is pre-consciousness, consists of retrievable memory; lastly, unseen and the most important part of the iceberg symbols unconsciousness. Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind, he presumed that unconscious mind has greater impact on our behavior than people suspect. (Theory of The Unconscious Mind)
In 1923, Freud developed his iceberg metaphor and explained the mind as id (instincts), ego(reality) and superego (morality). All of these elements make demands upon humans. Therefore, inner conflict is inevitable. When there is conflict between the goals of the id and superego, the ego must act as a referee and mediate this conflict. The ego can deploy various defense mechanisms. (The Physche)
Freud sought to understand the nature and variety of these illnesses by retracing the sexual history of his patients. This was not primarily an investigation of sexual experiences as such. Far more important were the patient’s wishes and desires, their experience of love, hate, shame, guilt and fear – and how they handled these powerful emotions.
Freud believed that children are born with a libido – a sexual (pleasure) urge. There are a number of stages of childhood, during which the child seeks pleasure from a different ‘object’:
1 . Oral
2 . Anal
3 . Phallic
4 . Latent
5 . Genital
Mental abnormality can occur if a stage is not completed successfully. This particular theory shows how adult personality is determined by childhood experiences.
Freud's many theories were no doubt influenced by other scientific discoveries of his day and his work has been both rapturously praised and hotly critiqued, but no one has influenced the science of psychology as intensely as Sigmund Freud.
Freud fled Austria to escape the Nazis in 1938. He died in England on September 23, 1939 at age 83 by suicide, after requesting a lethal dose of morphine from his doctor, following a long and painful battle with oral cancer.
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