Freud’s biography
- The founder of psychoanalysis: He tried to treat mental illness by focusing on the contents of
the mind rather than the workings of the brain.
- Birth: He was born in 1856 to a Jewish family in Freiberg, a city now in the Czech Republic,
but then part of the Austrian Empire.
- Family life: He did not get on well with his father; his half-brothers were considerably older
and his closest childhood companion was his nephew John. The love-hate relationship, such
as the one between the young John and Sigmund, is a central part of Freud’s theories.
- Neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot: He introduced Freud to the idea that mentally-ill patients
might have a problem with their mind, rather than their brain functions.
- In the 1900s Freud’s work in psychoanalysis began. He came up with several concepts such as
the id, the ego and the superego, as well as Freudian slips, free association and the Oedipus
complex.
- In 1938 he decided to leave Vienna after it was annexed by Nazi Germany. He died the
following year in London.
Freud’s theory of the unconscious
The picture shows a symbolic representation of the human mind as an iceberg according to Freud’s
view of the conscious and unconscious mind. Freud studied the importance of the unconscious in the
understanding of conscious thought and behavior. He called dreams the ‘royal road to the
unconscious’ because they were a means of revealing the workings of the unconscious mind. He
developed his first theory of the psyche in The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), in which he stated
that the unconscious is where dreams and all the automatic thoughts that arise spontaneously without
a recognisable cause are formed. The unconscious is where the forgotten memories lie in a dormant
state and they may become accessible to the conscious mind at a later time. It is also the container of
implicit knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation.
The id, ego and superego
Freud believed that our personality develops through interaction between the three main parts of the
human mind - the id, ego and superego -, which are in constant conflict. Here are their characteristics:
- Id: the most primitive; contains the inherited components of personality; operates entirely
unconsciously; not related to the external world; does not change with time or experience.
- Ego: rational, pragmatic part; less primitive than the id; both conscious and unconscious;
‘reason’ and ‘common sense’; a set of psychic functions.
- Superego: social rules and morals; ‘conscience’; develops around the age of 3-5; consists of
two systems: the conscience (which can make the ego feel guilty) and the ideal self (which
creates an imaginary picture of how you ought to be and behave in society).
Freud’s psychoanalysis
- it helps individuals to become aware of the factors determining their emotions and behavior;
- it helps overcome unhappiness;
- it increases self-esteem
- it helps trace back one’s origins; it is a method for learning how the mind works;
- it contributes to child education;
- it creates an intimate relationship with the therapist; it creates dependence;
- it can be more easily replaced by talking to friends or relatives;
- it creates a sort of spiral which is difficult to get out of. Moreover, students could be
encouraged to mention and quote the authors or artists they have studied on whom Freud’s
influence is most evident. Changes within society should also be highlighted.