Sigmund Freud Bibliographic Information

Sigmund Freud Bibliographic Information

Freud was born in 1856. He was born named Sigismund Schlomo Freud in Freiberg, Moravia, the Austrian Empire, which is currently Pribor in the Czech Republic. In the year 1877, the Austrian Neurologist abbreviated himself as Sigmund Freud (Starkstein, 2018).

In 1881, Freud received his medical degree. As a medic and researcher, he placed attention on neurobiology, which entails the exploration of the nervous tissue and brain in both animals and humans. After graduating, Freud concentrated primarily on treating patients with psychological problems. Early in his career, he was influenced by his friend Josef Breuer who later left Freud due to Sigmund’s emphasis on an individual’s neuroses and sexual origins, and he reluctant to join Freud. Freud was engaged to Martha B. in 1882 (Starkstein, 2018). They had six children, and Anna Freud was the youngest, who later became a distinguished Psychologist.

Besides, little information is known about Freud’s early life has it was said that he destroyed his papers twice. He first destroyed his documents in 1885 and later in 1907. Then, he carefully guarded his documents in his Archives, and only Ernest Jones could access them, who was his official biographer and other few members of his smaller circle. The work of Jeffrey was the ones that shed some light on the materials.

Anna Freud, his daughter, who was a distinguished Psychologist. She majored in the field of child developmental psychology. Freud is the grandfather of Comedian and writer Clement Freud and a painter named Lucian Freud (Starkstein, 2018). His great-grandchildren were Bella Freud, the fashion designer, Emma Freud, who was a journalist, and Matthew Freud, a PR man.

Freud became interested in hypnotism, and its help on the mental clients. He later abandoned hypnotism and moved to the favor of dreams analysis and free association to develop ‘the talking cure.’ Talking therapy was the core of psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud was interested in learning Hysteria and is now termed as the conversion syndrome. His theories were controversial in the 19th century in Vienna and are still under debate today. His ideas are mainly analyzed and discussed, and the culture in general, besides the continuing debate circulating the scientific and medical treatises available.

Freud flew from Austria while escaping the Nazis in 1938, and he later died in England on 23 September 1939, at the age of 83 years by committing suicide (Starkstein, 2018). Freud had a long time battle with oral cancer and hence ending up requesting a lethal dose of morphine from his doctor.

Theories

Freud was influential and led to the development of the human mind and behavior theory. His significant thoughts are the modern concept of the unconscious. The psychoanalytic approach was inspired by J Breuer, who was his colleague, where it explained that neuroses have origin in the patient’s past traumatic experiences. He believed that those original occurrences had been hidden in the conscious mind. The treatment of this therapy was to facilitate patients’ empowerment in recalling past experiences and bringing it to the conscious mind. By doing this, it assisted them intellectually and emotionally (Barford, Geerardyn & Van de Vijver, 2018). He believed that by discharging those past experiences, one was able to get rid of the symptoms of neurosis.

He also discussed the Id, ego, and superego, which were an essential part of personality in humans. The Id is termed as the primitive, irrational, impulsive part of the unconscious mind. The Id operated on pain, and pleasure outcomes, and is responsible for aggression and sex instincts. The ego is for evaluating the social and physical environment and is responsible for making plans accordingly. On the other hand, the Superego is the conscience and the moral voice guiding the ego. The Superego violates results in feelings of anxiety and other guilt issues (McLeod, 2016). According to Freud, he coined out that the Superego is formed in the first five years following the moral standards that are set by parents, and this is later influenced role models during the adolescent stages.

Additionally, there was the psychic energy where he coined that the Id was the essential source of this energy that drives all the mental processes in an individual. In this case, Freud believed the urge for sex was psychic energy driving the actions in humans. The libido was countered by what was referred to as Thanatos, which was death instincts of destructive behavior. More so, Freud explained the issue of the Oedipus complex, whereby he suggested that between the age of three to five years, kids have normal developmental processes where they are sexually attracted to parents of the opposite sex parents in attempts to compete with the parents of the same sex (Pederson, 2018).

More so, in the dream of analysis concept, Freud believed people have reasons for dreaming in an attempt to cope up with mind problems, which are dealt subconsciously, and not consciously. Freud explained that their wishes fuel a person’s dreams, and he further explained that by analyzing our vision, people could understand it’s a subconscious influence in the current feelings and behavior (Hendrix, 2019).

Finally, while explaining his theories, Freud touched on the defense mechanisms where he told that this happens in cases where people are not willing to face the truth ending up ‘in denial.’ At other times, a person will look for a logical explanation of rationalizing the unacceptable behavior (Maricutoiu & Crasovan, 2016). These are tactics used by the ego protection from anxiety, and the mechanisms include sublimation, denial, regression, repression, and many more.

Experiments

Freud performed experiential ideas to support his ideas, which was difficult to prove or disapprove. The most known case published by Freud was that of Little Hans, the son of Max Graft, a music critic and a friend to Freud. The young boy witnessed an accident of a horse carrying a heavy truck that ended up collapsing in the streets. The five-year-old Han later developed a fear for horses and resisted leaving the house and seeing animals. His father wrote letters to Freud, who directed his treatment. The therapist and the client met for only one session, and there was an improvement. Later on, Han’s father relayed to Freud that he has noted that his son has begun having a strong interest in male genitals, which Freud described as the phallic stage of psychosexual development (Brown, 2017). He also explained that the child might be starting developing the Oedipus complex and become sexually attracted to the mother.

According to Freud, the fear of horses the child is having is like displacement of fear of father on animals so that the father cannot harm him because he liked the mother (Brown, 2017). This fear is believed to have disappeared following acceptance to the situation.

Role in Psychology

One of the significant contributions of Freud to psychology was talk therapy. In this case, he emphasized the notion that talking about problems helps in alleviating them.

Freud’s work leads to support of beliefs that physiological symptoms cause not all mental illnesses and that cultural variations have an impact on behavior and psychology.

Clinical psychologists today utilize the psychoanalysis therapy by Freud by using techniques such as free as so is going to facilitate investigation of a client’s underlying and unconscious motives.

Freud’s theories have contributed to the understanding of abnormal psychology, where he explained in the psychoanalytic approach that abnormal behaviors stem from unconscious thoughts, memories, and desires. He also coined the feelings of the outside environment influences the conscious behavior aspects (Barford, Geerardyn & Van de Vijver, 2018). This concept assists therapists in helping clients uncover past feelings that are causing maladaptive behaviors or distress.

Major Critiques

Freud’s model of psychosexual development was criticized. Some individuals have attacked Freud’s claim of the presence of sexual behaviors among infants and had blamed Freud on having an expanded his notion of sexuality (Pederson, 2018). Additionally, others have accepted the expanded concept of sexuality but have argued that the development patterns were not universal in that it is not necessary for the development of a healthy adult. The critics emphasized the environmental and social patterns of development.

Also, the critics of Freud’s theory Called for attention on social Dynamics, which was de-emphasized or even ignored by Freud, and this includes the class relations. Furthermore, in today’s world, scholars have intrigued the attempts made by Freud in the re-analysis of the cultural materials, and his specific interpretations have been rejected and termed as forced (Tummala-Narra, 2016).

References

Barford, D., Geerardyn, F., & Van de Vijver, G. (Eds.). (2018). The pre-psychoanalytic writings of Sigmund Freud. Routledge.

Brown, R. (2017). The Case of Little Hans: A Ramble. Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis, 24(1), 137-157.

Hendrix, J. S. (2019). The Dream Work of Sigmund Freud.

Maricutoiu, L. P., & Crasovan, D. I. (2016). Coping and defense mechanisms: What are we assessing? International Journal of Psychology, 51(2), 83-92.

McLeod, S. A. (2016). Id, ego, and superego. Simply Psychology, 3, 1-4.

Pederson, T. C. (2018). The economics of libido: Psychic bisexuality, the superego, and the centrality of the Oedipus complex. Routledge.

Starkstein, S. (2018). Sigmund Freud and the Psychoanalytical Concept of Fear and Anxiety. A Conceptual and Therapeutic Analysis of Fear (pp. 231-257). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Tummala-Narra, P. (2016). A historical overview and critique of the psychoanalytic approach to culture and context.