Sigmund Freud

1856-1939

In 1896, Sigmund Freud coined the term Psychoanalysis. His approach to psychology
was arguably one of the most influential, and his life’s work is evident in popular
knowledge, even to this day.

Freud was born May 6th 1856 in a poor Jewish neighbourhood in Czechoslovakia. He
grew up during a time when poor mental health was a taboo subject, and individuals
suffering from it were cast out of society and treated as second class citizens.
At age seventeen, Freud graduated high school and in 1873 he began his medical
studies at the University of Vienna, he finished in 1881, three years longer than
normal. In October 1885, Freud spent a year in Paris studying with renowned
neurologist Jean Martin Charcot, director of the Salpêtrière Asylum. Together they
worked on cases of Hysteria, where Charcot introduced Freud to the idea of
Hypnotism. Whilst Freud eventually discarded Hypnotism as he believed it
introduced too much suggestion, it did lead him to consult his old friend and respected
physician, Josef Breuer.

Back in 1882, Breuer had told Freud of the case of ‘Anna O’ a young woman who has
nursed her seriously ill father until she collapsed from exhaustion. She presented with
a severe nervous cough, visual disturbances, hallucinations and paralysis of the right
arm and neck. She became mute and, when she did begin to speak again, it was in
English, not her native German. Breuer repeated back to her, the words she spoke in a
trance-like state, encouraging her to talk about her hallucinations. She called this her
‘Talking Treatment’. It was this treatment that eventually led Freud to develop his
theory of ‘Free Association’ wherein the patient is free to say whatever is on their
mind, without any censorship or urging.

After his father’s death in 1896, Freud began a period of self analysis, during which
he began to write his book ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’, published in 1899. The
book detailed his belief that dreams were the ‘Royal Road’ to understanding the
Unconscious, which Freud believed was an important part of understanding the mind
as a whole. Dreams contained symbols, which could be translated to things repressed
in the Unconscious, such as traumatic experiences or unacceptable sexual desires.
These symbols could then be analysed in counselling sessions.
Freud likened the mind to an iceberg, the very tip of which is the Conscious, the part
which contained our thoughts and perceptions. Below the surface, we have the
Preconscious, containing easily accessible memories and stored knowledge, and the
Unconscious wherein lie repressed memories, fears, violent motives, unacceptable
urges etc. He stated that like an iceberg, pieces occasionally break off and drift to the
surface, causing symptoms such as dreams or phobias.

Another important aspect of understanding the mind, according to Freud, was his
theory on the Psyche, or personality. In 1923, Freud published ‘The Ego and The Id’
in which he stated that the personality can be broken into three parts, the Id, the Ego
and the Superego. The Id is the centre for all our desires, our wants and our needs. It
is the part of the personality that seeks instant gratification, food, warmth, sex etc. We
are all born with the Id, it is particularly important to newborns to ensure their basic
needs are met. By the age of three approximately, the Ego develops as a way to
control the Id and, eventually, the Superego. The Ego takes into account reality, and
controls the Id’s desires until an appropriate outlet becomes available. In a healthy
person, the Ego is the strongest part of the personality. By age five, we develop the
Superego, our moral centre. It is just as relentless as the Id, our inner ‘Jiminy Cricket’.
An imbalance between the three will lead to anxiety. To deal with this anxiety, the
Ego creates Defense Mechanisms, such as Regression (reverting back to past states),
Denial (pretending the problem does not exist) or Displacement (taking anger out on a
less threatening target). In 1936, Freud and his daughter Anna published “Ego and the
Mechanisms of Defense” in which they detailed the many different forms of defense
mechanism and their causes.

Freud and his followers (The Vienna Psychoanalytic Society formed by Freud in
1902) were among the first to use the Free Association method, which can still be
seen in practice today. His terminologies and ways of thinking brought many aspects
of his school of thought into public consciousness. When we speak of ‘Freudian slips’
‘oral fixations’ ‘anally retentive’ and ‘subconscious thought’ we are honouring the
memory of one of Psychology’s greatest minds.