Sigmund Freud :: essays research papers

Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud, an Austrian born during the Habsburg Monarchy, was one ofthe trailblazers of modern-day psychology. The american historiam williamjohnston sees freud, the father of psychoanalysis, among those personalities"that one made austria a shining example of modernism in a world that had lostorientation."In his function as a neuropathologist freud came to realize that he hadno clear understanding of neurotic patterns despite his throrough studies of thehuman brain. From 1895 in advance he associated intensely with the Vienneseinternist Josef Breuer. Both discovered that hypnosis removed neurotic symptons.The case of patient Anna O. became famous.By applying this method, Freud came to understand the correlationbetween emotional disorders and the ecesis of mental (at that time mainlyhysterical) symptoms. Through hypnosis as a method of "mental catharsis" thepatient recalls and relives repressed traumatic situations and is eventuallyrelieved and hea led. Freud was right off convinced that functional diseases had amental cause. In the following he discovered how mental energies may casuephysical symptoms.After breaking with Breuer Freid found discover that the abnormal emotionalstate of neurotics was almost invariably associated with conflicts involving thesexual impulse. Based on these findings he develoepd his theory on repressionand defense as well as the sexual aspect of neurotic behaviour.Freud was unjustly blamed with "pansexualism". His theories created astorm in meical circles and were often and heavily rejected. However, whatFreud had theoretically taught most of his life was rather a "dialectic of thesexual impulse" than its omnipotence. After breaking with Breuer Freud carriedon his research work alone. Instead of hypnosis he applied the method of "freeassociation" with his patients and in brief recognized the traumtic impact of earlysexual experience during childhood, seducations on the par t of adults, above allthe parents.In 1877, suffering from his own neurotic crisis, Freud discovered in abrave self-analysis that patients fantasies and wishful thinking rather thanreal experiences play an unconscious role in the onset of neuroses. Freudsfindings broke new soil in often misinterpreted areas like infantile sexualityand led to a completely new and expanded understanding of sexuality. Hisepochal achievement was to help surface the existence of the psyche as anindependent system. In "Traumdeutung"/"The interpretation of dreams" publishedin 1900, freud inveiled the dream as a disguised fulfillment of repressed wishes. at bottom the European culture and civilization was a sensational dsclosure ofFreuds (sometimes also personal) fight for self-realization and truth.With his thoughts, Frued not only influenced psychology but also moderntimes macrocosm ofthe world. His principles advanced the technique ofpsychoanalysis, with himself as his first patient.