Freud - the True Father of Psychology

Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856 in a small town called Freiberg, which is now known as Pribor, Czech Republic. His father was wool merchant and had a good sense of humor. His mother, who was 20 years younger than his father, had him when she was 21 years old. Although this was not his father’s first marriage and he had two children before Sigmund, Sigmund was her first child. He was also her favorite child and she used to call him “my golden sigi”. During his early childhood, his family moved to Vienna due to an economic crisis. Vienna was where he spent most of his life. Sigmund, like his parents, was highly intelligent and ambitious. His grades were excellent and he was an exemplary student. When Sigmund was only 17 years old, he entered the University of Vienna Medical School and studied life sciences. Freud’s main interests were evolutionary biology and
physiology. He greatly admired his teacher, Ernst Brucke. He aid, “At
length in Ernst Brucke’s physiological laboratory I found rest and full
satisfaction – and men too, whom I could respect and take as my models”.
Brucke was a successful man who contributed to the advances in modern physiology. Freud spent 8 years in Brucke’s laboratory and learned how things are done at the highest level of the scientific profession. Freud worked as a resident physician in the Vienna General Hospital and as a clinical researcher in the Institute of Cerebral Anatomy. It took him 8 years to finish instead of the typical 5 years because he was actively involved in research while he was still a student. In 1881, he received an award of a doctor’s degree in medicine. He received a grant to study the use of hypnosis with hysterics with a psychiatrist in Paris. Sigmund spent a short time as a resident in neurology and directed a child’s ward in Berlin. Then he married Martha Bernays in Vienna in 1882. The couple had six children. Freud set up a practice in neuropsychiatry. His books and
lectures made him famous.
Immediately before WWII, Freud moved to England because Vienna was not a safe place for Jewish people. There was a large amount of discrimination against Jewish people during Freud’s life time. In 1939, he died of cancer of the mouth and jaw.
Most psychologists believe that there is a reason for all human behaviors. According to Freud, human behavior is motivated by drives or life instincts. The instincts perpetuate the life of the person by motivating him or her to seek food and water. The human species is preserved by the strong desire of humans to have sex. These desires are natural and necessary. Freud’s experience caused him to perceive sex as extremely essential because people are generally social beings and sex is a social need. Since humans desire sleep, satisfaction, peace, and to have no more needs it follows that unconsciously they desire death because that fulfills those wishes. This is known as the death instinct. Freud believed that everyone unconsciously wishes to die because death ends all pain and suffering. This was referred to as the Nirvana Principle, which is a Buddhist term translated as “heaven”. Nirvana refers to non existence, which is a major goal of Buddhists. The wish for peace, alcohol, and sleep proves that there is a death instinct.
When the id, ego, and superego create conflicting demands on a person, this often produces anxiety. Anxiety makes people feel stressed, overwhelmed, and threatened. Freud described three different types of anxiety. Realistic anxiety is normal and whatever is causing this type of anxiety would make most people have anxiety. “Moral anxiety is experienced when a threat comes from the internalized social world of the superego” (Boeree, 1997). Shame, guilt, and fear of punishment are perfect examples of moral anxiety. Neurotic anxiety is the fear of being overwhelmed by impulses from the id. People who feel like they are going to lose control or lose their temper are experiencing neurotic anxiety.
Freud paid close attention to dream analysis. Dreams are metaphors created by the unconscious. They can reveal issues that the person admits to no one, including him or herself. Everyone dreams about issues and people that they highly value. Freudian dream interpretation tends to discover many sexual meanings. In his book, The nterpretation of Dreams, dreams regarding death are discussed in detail. Freud wrote, “In none of my women patients have I failed to come upon this dram of the death of a brother or sister. I have found only a single exception” (Freud, 1900). These represent conflicts, sibling rivalry, and secret wishes. How can it be normal for young children to have such evil thoughts? According to Freud, children do not accurately understand the meaning of death; they only understand it to mean that a person is gone. If a person dreams about a loved one that is actually dead, this can represent the dreamers fear regarding his or her own
death. Freud concluded that “dreams are the disguised fulfillment of
unconscious wishes”. For example, a person with a noisy neighbor who is extremely loud during night time hours may dream of screaming at their neighbor, something that would be difficult to do in waking life.
Para praxes, also known as a Freudian slip, are when a person says something without first regarding the consequences. Since Para praxes have not been given any thought before hand, they are perfectly honest. Therefore, they are clues to unconscious conflict. Jokes also can reveal issues in the conscious. Freud believed that every action has a significant meaning. For example, “if a person dials a wrong number it could mean they had unresolved conflicts with a person with a similar phone number or the number represents a friend’s birthday” (Boeree, 1997).
Freud believed that religion was an attempt to cope with the frightening
realities of the world. He was Jewish for his entire life. Freud thought
that cocaine would help people recover from morphine addiction. One must recall that cocaine was perfectly legal at this point in time. Later, Freud learned that cocaine can be addictive and deadly.
Freud was close friends with a classmate named Heinrich Braun. Braun was a leader in the Social Democratic movement and founded a newspaper. Freud’s connections with the Social Democratic political community brought him patients. Like Freud, most Jewish men chose careers in science at that time.
It is a fact that theory therapies are constantly growing. There is always additional, relevant information and experiments being conducted. Freud, along with other experts “continuously revised theories on the basis of new findings” (Hansen, 1994). Freud was inspired by different scientific discoveries during his early years.
“One of the earliest conceptualizations developed by Freud was his belief that three different levels of awareness act to influence personality
development: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious” (Hansen, 1994). There is a limit as to what a person can be conscious of at any particular point in time. For example, a person cannot consciously be aware of his or her family, friends, a job, and events that took place recently simultaneously. However, many of these thoughts can be at the preconscious
level, which is the second level of awareness. These preconscious thoughts
can become conscious at will. For example, a person’s favorite restaurant
can be brought to the conscious level while the person is driving if there
is an advertisement on the radio for this particular place. Before this was
mentioned, the restaurant was a preconscious thought. The unconscious, the
third level of awareness, is the most significant because it is mostly
responsible for human behavior. However, people are not aware of what
occurs in the unconscious. Therefore, people do not understand their own
thoughts or behavior. If an issue is not understood, it cannot be changed
appropriately.
According to Freud, behavior is the result of the id, ego, and superego.
These three elements are present in everyone. The id is “the original
system of the personality” (Hansen, 1994). Therefore, newborns have an id,
but have not yet developed an ego or superego. Human instincts are a result
of the id and sex is one of the most important instincts. “The basic
function of the id is to maintain the organism in a comfortable or low
tension state” (Hansen, 1994). The id only cares about self satisfaction
which is only short term. Irresponsible sexual behavior often occurs as a
result of the id. For example, a young man may engage in sexual activity
with an attractive young woman because he thinks this will bring him
pleasure. He is not considering the potential long term problem of sexually
transmitted diseases and is disregarding everyone’s feelings except for his
own. Fortunately, people also have a superego and an ego which sometimes
prevents destructive behavior. “Unlike the id, the ego is not present at
birth but develops from the id as the individual interacts with the
environment” (Hansen, 1994). Through identification, the ego and the id are
separated. Unlike the id, the ego functions to cope with the outside world,
which is reality. At some point, it is necessary to behave appropriately in
order to balance persona needs with the external demands. This is necessary
for maintaining healthy relationships with others, functioning successfully
at a job, learning, and being in good health. When the id dominates, the
individual will act selfishly, irresponsible, and only think short term
making it impossible for the person to succeed in anything except for
gaining weight! People who lack self discipline and completely disregard
others needs have few if any friends and cannot be productive or successful.
Therefore, the person is unhappy and also causes others to be unhappy. It
is the responsibility of the ego to balance the id and superego. “The
superego is a form of individual internal control” (Hansen, 1994). The
superego is the conscience. It causes some people to act ethically even
when no one is watching. Most highly religious people are dominated by the
superego because of the self discipline involved. “The actual form or
pattern or interaction among the three subsystems is a product of the
individual’s development through the psychosexual stages” (Hansen, 1994).
Freud believed that good mental health is a product of the id, ego, and
superego balancing in harmony.
According to Freud, personality develops during the first five years of
life. “The development of personality, including the various defense
mechanisms the individual uses, is largely dependent on the course of her or
his psychosexual development” (Hansen, 1994). Most of this development
happens during the first five years of life. Freud’s theory was that in
each stage, a particular body part brings the child pleasure. Psychologists
generally agree that every child goes through each stage in a specific
order, but it may occur at different ages. When children do not complete
these stages normally, it results in personality issues which are often a
life time dilemma.
The first three stages of development, the pre genital stages, consist of
the oral, anal, and phallic stages. The oral stage typically lasts through
the first year of life. The baby’s relationship with the primary caregiver,
usually the mother or father, is extremely important because the baby is
completely helpless and dependant on this person. If the baby is completely
smothered and given a huge amount of attention, the baby will often be too
dependent on others in adulthood. An example of this is a woman who
continues to be involved in an abusive relationship with her husband or
boyfriend because she feels the need to always be involved with someone no
matter how unhealthy the relationship is or the consequences. On the other
hand, if the baby is neglected, he or she will have difficulty trusting
others and will feel insecure. These feelings persist unless the person
seeks treatment. Infants suck their thumb because it brings them pleasure.
During the anal stage, which usually occurs at age two, the anal area is the
focus. Toilet training is the main even and must be conducted properly. If
caregivers are overly authoritarian and demand that the child become toilet
trained, a retentive personality is a likely result. “During this stage the
child first attempts to achieve control over him or herself and others”
(Hansen, 1994). For the first time, the child has control over his or her
own bodily functions and often expresses this. This may be why caregivers
call this age “the terrible twos”!
When children are about three years old, they are in the phallic stage until
they reach the ago of five or six. During this time, children receive
pleasure through self manipulation. “As the importance of the genital area
increases, several psychological developments may occur: castration anxiety,
penis envy, and the Oedipus complex” (Hansen, 1994). At this stage,
children realize that boys and girls are different. They are extremely
curious about this matter. When boys realize that girls lack a penis, they
worry about being castrated and often wonder what the girl did wrong to lose
her penis. This is known as castration anxiety. When girls notice that
boys have a penis that they lack, they become jealous and wonder why they
don’t have one. This is called penis envy. Masturbation is very common
during the phallic stage. The last process of the phallic stage is the
Oedipus complex for boys and the Electra complex for girls. “The Oedipus
complex involves the boy’s desire to possess his mother and remove his
father from the scene. The Electra complex is the desire of the girl to
possess her father and remove her mother from the scene” (Hansen, 1994).
Resolving this issue is essential for personality development because these
desires are unattainable. Children gradually eliminate this desire by
desiring others who are more appropriate such as a neighbor who is close in
age and is the opposite sex. Another way to work out this issue is to
relate to the parent of the same sex. “Subsequent attitudes toward people
of the opposite sex and toward those in authority are largely determined by
the individual’s success in working out the Oedipus complex”. This is
extremely important because it impacts future long term relationships.
The latency state takes place after the phallic stage but before puberty.
Although much learning occurs during this time, it is not sexual.
The genital stage occurs when the child enters puberty. In this stage,
people are less narcissistic and deeply care about their peers. When self
esteem is high and developed positively and a person is aware of what they
want in a significant other, they are ready for a mature relationship.
During the genital stage, a relationship with someone of the opposite sex
brings the most pleasure. Homosexual behavior is abnormal according to
Freud.
The psychosexual stages can be extremely difficult and stressful because of
the physical changes in the body and all of the pressures from peers and
parents. People cope with these situations by using defense mechanisms.
Defense mechanisms are self inflicted to protect one’s self esteem.
“Although defense mechanisms may operate effectively for a time, the more
they are used, the more rigid the individual’s personality becomes” (Hansen,
1994). Defense mechanisms can be helpful, but are unhealthy if they cause a
person to have unrealistic perceptions. For example, identification is a
healthy defense mechanism. Identification is when “the individual in an
attempt to reach a certain goal, incorporates the characteristics of another
person into her or his own personality” (Hansen, 1994).
According to classic psychoanalytic theory, abnormal personality is caused
by either “ineffective dynamics among the id, ego, and superego or
inappropriate childhood learning” (Hansen, 1994). Ineffective dynamics
among the id, ego, and superego is when these three elements do not balance
in harmony or when defense mechanisms are used excessively. When they are
used to the point where the person does not face reality, this make problems
worse because the problems will not be eliminated by ignoring them.
According to Freud, the conflict that occurs when one internally desires to
engage in a particular behavior that is rejected by external forces can be
attributed to anxiety disorders.
Catharsis is the sudden and dramatic outpouring of emotion that occurs when
the trauma is resurrected” (Boeree, 1997). Insight is the awareness of the
source of the feelings and of the traumatic event. The biggest portion of
the therapy is finished when catharsis and insight are experienced. At that
point, the person has more potential for satisfaction in life. Freud stated
that the goal of therapy is “to make the unconscious conscious”. If a
person is unhappy, he or she can change the constraint if he or she
understands the cause. Freud’s goal of treatment was “to create a situation
where it was possible for the patient or client to engage in those behaviors
that would lead to the development of insight into the motives which drive
his or her behavior” (Hansen, 1994). This is accomplished by applying the
techniques of free association, transference, and interpretation. Free
association is the practice of having clients speaking exactly what is on
their mind without any revisions. It requires honesty and unconditional
positive regard. If the client is not honest, the therapist will not
accurately understand the client or be able to help. Without unconditional
positive regard, the client probably will not be honest because he or she
will fear being condemned or humiliated. Transference “consists of the
individual’s directing emotional feelings toward the therapist as though the
therapist were the original object that caused the feelings” (Hansen, 1994).
This helps the client become aware of underlying emotional issues and
often helps the client feel relieved. “The therapist uses interpretation to
help the individual intellectualize and to replace superego functions with
ego functions” (Hansen, 1994). Like the other techniques, this helps the
client understand him or herself and cope with reality. Interpretations are
discovered by what is revealed by the client in free association,
transference, or from dream analysis.

“Freud was an active therapist, writer, physician, philosopher,
psychoanalyst, and a psychologist” (Hansen, 1994). He largely contributed
to many important aspects of psychology. The entire psychoanalytic theory
would never be the same without his hard work. Freud has been criticized
for his major emphasis on sex. “Almost everything relates to either the
expression or repression of the sex drive” (Boeree, 1997). Most modern
activities do relate to sex. People have sex to reproduce and for pleasure.
Although it is socially unacceptable to discuss in certain situations, sex
is the most pleasurable activity in the world for many people. Advertising campaigns and movies that focus on sex are often the most popular. Before Freud, young children and babies were not cared for as diligently because people assumed that the first few years of life were meaningless. He proved this to be a huge mistake. Freud was the first to recognize the importance of child psychology. There have been at least 8 bibliographies written about him. Psychoanalytic theories also provided a foundation for other theories. Freud has increased overall knowledge of psychology and communicated techniques that helped many people recover from psychological problems. Freud was a genius and cared deeply about helping people.