freudian revolution essay

The Freudian Revolution

THE most revolutionary changes are changes in man’s basic beliefs about himself. Three such revolutions have occurred in Western thought in the past five hundred years — the Copernican, the Darwinian, and the Freudian — and they have successively dealt shattering blows to man’s pride. Copernicus dethroned man from the center of the universe. Darwin challenged his sense of divinity by tracing his descent to the animal kingdom. And Sigmund Freud, the first cartographer of the unconscious, punctured his conviction that the conscious mind was master of man’s fate. “I belonged,” Freud justly said, quoting the poet Hebbel, “to those who have profoundly troubled the sleep of mankind .”

Freud’s discoveries are the original source of most of the developments and issues discussed in this special supplement of the Atlantic. Psychoanalysis, which is roughly the same age as the twentieth century, has several aspects. On the practical side, it is a specialized diagnostic and therapeutic technique within the domain of psychiatry, the branch of medicine that concerns itself with mental illness. In the United States today, psychoanalysts, with some exceptions, are M.D.’s who have completed a year’s general internship, two years’ psychiatric residence, and a course of study at an accredited psychoanalytic institute, where they must themselves undergo analysis. (Their analytic training alone costs around $20,000.)

Psychoanalysis is also a system of psychology, an organized body of theories about human behavior; and, in spite of Freud’s denials that it was committed to any particular Weltanschauung , it has become, in the hands of his interpreters, a doctrine with its own philosophy. All of these aspects of psychoanalysis — along with popular misconceptions, and with heresies and innovations, some of which may represent progress — have contributed to the cultural revolution which one is forced to call Freudian, even though there is much in it for which Freud himself was not responsible, much that would horrify him.

The impact of this revolution has been incalculably great in the United States. To an extent not paralleled elsewhere, psychoanalysis and psychiatry in general have influenced medicine, the arts and criticism, popular entertainment, advertising, the rearing of children, sociology, anthropology, legal thought and practice, humor, manners and mores, even organized religion.

Several of our contributors observe that psychoanalysis, by force of circumstances, has in effect become a secular religion. This approach places many of the distressing aspects of the Freudian Revolution in their proper perspective. The awful movies depicting quasi-miraculous psychoanalytic cures; the slick novels and dramas in which bad Daddy and possessive Mummy are the source of all evil; the cocktail party sages who have translated gossip into solemn psychoanalytic jargon — these and many other unattractive phenomena of our psychology-conscious age have their counterparts in the vulgarizations and corruptions to which religion has been subjected.

It would seem, indeed, that psychoanalysis is to some extent the victim of its own success. A good many of the complaints voiced against it betray excessive demands or expectations. People point to acquaintances not benefited by analysis as proof that its claims are not substantiated; but no responsible analyst has asserted that worth-while results are achieved in more than 50 to 60 per cent of the cases. One hears, too, gibes about the conduct and competence of analysis which seem to be based on the assumption that the profession should be immune to human fallibility; it is inevitable that there should be a certain number of defective analysts, just as there are mediocre surgeons, bad doctors, and errant priests.

Of course, there is much in the theory, practice, and cultural repercussions of modern psychiatry that invites debate or criticism. Our hope is that this supplement will help to illuminate certain segments of this large and controversial subject. Two principles have guided the editing: breadth of coverage and diversity of opinion. Several schools of thought are represented, and there is a vigorous and varied body of criticism.

It is surely beyond doubt today that modern psychiatry is able to help people who could not previously be helped; anyone who has seen the transformation it can bring about in a painfully disordered child is apt to be impatient with the chronic scoffers. It has emphasized the role of love in normal development and has produced a new awareness of the importance of childhood, a greater generosity of spirit toward the needs of the child. It has provided man with ways and means of deepening his understanding of himself and of his basic problems as a culture-building animal. In sum, it represents, perhaps, a crucial break-through in man’s pursuit of self-knowledge and self-realization.

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1.3: The Freudian Revolution

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Psychodynamic theory (sometimes called psychoanalytic theory ) explains personality in terms of unconscious psychological processes (for example, wishes and fears of which we’re not fully aware), and contends that childhood experiences are crucial in shaping adult personality. Psychodynamic theory is most closely associated with the work of Sigmund Freud, and with psychoanalysis, a type of psychotherapy that attempts to explore the patient’s unconscious thoughts and emotions so that the person is better able to understand him- or herself.

Freud’s work has been extremely influential, its impact extending far beyond psychology (several years ago Time magazine selected Freud as one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century). Freud’s work has been not only influential, but quite controversial as well. As you might imagine, when Freud suggested in 1900 that much of our behavior is determined by psychological forces of which we’re largely unaware—that we literally don’t know what’s going on in our own minds—people were (to put it mildly) displeased (Freud, 1900/1953a). When he suggested in 1905 that we humans have strong sexual feelings from a very early age, and that some of these sexual feelings are directed toward our parents, people were more than displeased—they were outraged (Freud, 1905/1953b). Few theories in psychology have evoked such strong reactions from other professionals and members of the public.

Controversy notwithstanding, no competent psychologist, or student of psychology, can ignore psychodynamic theory. It is simply too important for psychological science and practice, and continues to play an important role in a wide variety of disciplines within and outside psychology (for example, developmental psychology, social psychology, sociology, and neuroscience; see Bornstein, 2005, 2006; Solms & Turnbull, 2011). This module reviews the psychodynamic perspective on personality. We begin with a brief discussion of the core assumptions of psychodynamic theory, followed by an overview of the evolution of the theory from Freud’s time to today. We then discuss the place of psychodynamic theory within contemporary psychology, and look toward the future as well.

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) is probably the most controversial and misunderstood psychological theorist. When reading Freud’s theories, it is important to remember that he was a medical doctor, not a psychologist. There was no such thing as a degree in psychology at the time that he received his education, which can help us understand some of the controversy over his theories today. However, Freud was the first to systematically study and theorize the workings of the unconscious mind in the manner that we associate with modern psychology.

In the early years of his career, Freud worked with Josef Breuer, a Viennese physician. During this time, Freud became intrigued by the story of one of Breuer’s patients, Bertha Pappenheim, who was referred to by the pseudonym Anna O. (Launer, 2005). Anna O. had been caring for her dying father when she began to experience symptoms such as partial paralysis, headaches, blurred vision, amnesia, and hallucinations (Launer, 2005). In Freud’s day, these symptoms were commonly referred to as hysteria. Anna O. turned to Breuer for help. He spent 2 years (1880–1882) treating Anna O. and discovered that allowing her to talk about her experiences seemed to bring some relief of her symptoms. Anna O. called his treatment the “talking cure” (Launer, 2005). Despite the fact the Freud never met Anna O., her story served as the basis for the 1895 book, Studies on Hysteria, which he co-authored with Breuer. Based on Breuer’s description of Anna O.’s treatment, Freud concluded that hysteria was the result of sexual abuse in childhood and that these traumatic experiences had been hidden from consciousness. Breuer disagreed with Freud, which soon ended their work together. However, Freud continued to work to refine talk therapy and build his theory on personality.

LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

To explain the concept of conscious versus unconscious experience, Freud compared the mind to an iceberg (Image 1.13). He said that only about one-tenth of our mind is conscious, and the rest of our mind is unconscious. Our unconscious refers to that mental activity of which we are unaware and are unable to access (Freud, 1923). According to Freud, unacceptable urges and desires are kept in our unconscious through a process called repression. For example, we sometimes say things that we don’t intend to say by unintentionally substituting another word for the one we meant. You’ve probably heard of a Freudian slip, the term used to describe this. Freud suggested that slips of the tongue are actually sexual or aggressive urges, accidentally slipping out of our unconscious. Speech errors such as this are quite common. Seeing them as a reflection of unconscious desires, linguists today have found that slips of the tongue tend to occur when we are tired, nervous, or not at our optimal level of cognitive functioning.

Freud believed that we are only aware of a small amount of our mind’s activities and that most of it remains hidden from us in our unconscious. The information in our unconscious affects our behavior, although we are unaware of it.

According to Freud, our personality develops from a conflict between two forces: our biological aggressive and pleasure-seeking drives versus our internal (socialized) control over these drives. Our personality is the result of our efforts to balance these two competing forces. Freud suggested that we can understand this by imagining three interacting systems within our minds. He called them the id, ego, and superego (Image 1.13).

FREUD AND PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

Perhaps one of the most influential and well-known figures in psychology’s history was Sigmund Freud. Freud (1856–1939) was an Austrian neurologist who was fascinated by patients suffering from “hysteria” and neurosis. Hysteria was an ancient diagnosis for disorders, primarily of women with a wide variety of symptoms, including physical symptoms and emotional disturbances, none of which had an apparent physical cause. Freud theorized that many of his patients’ problems arose from the unconscious mind. In Freud’s view, the unconscious mind was a repository of feelings and urges of which we have no awareness. Gaining access to the unconscious, then, was crucial to the successful resolution of the patient’s problems. According to Freud, the unconscious mind could be accessed through dream analysis, by examinations of the first words that came to people’s minds, and through seemingly innocent slips of the tongue. Psychoanalytic theory focuses on the role of a person’s unconscious, as well as early childhood experiences, and this particular perspective dominated clinical psychology for several decades (Thorne & Henley, 2005).

Remixed from:

Allen, Chris, "The Balance of Personality" (2020). PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources. 26 https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/pdxopen/26 CC BY-NC SA 4.0.

“Psychology, Personality, Freud and the Psychodynamic Perspective.” OER Commons, Commons: Open Educational Resources, www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15352/overview . Accessed 1 May 2021. CC BY-NC 4.0.

Rice University. “Psychology, Introduction to Psychology, History of Psychology.” OER Commons,

Commons: Open Educational Resources, 13 Aug. 2019,

www.oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15295/overview . CC BY-NC 4.0.

CARL JUNG’S PERSONALITY THEORY

Carl Jung brought an almost mystical approach to psychodynamic theory. An early associate and follower of Freud, Jung eventually disagreed with Freud on too many aspects of personality theory to remain within a strictly Freudian perspective. Subsequently, Jung developed his own theory, which applied concepts from natural laws (primarily in physics) to psychological functioning. Jung also introduced the concept of personality types, and began to address personality development throughout the lifespan. In his most unique contribution, at least from a Western perspective, Jung proposed that the human psyche contains within itself psychological constructs developed throughout the evolution of the human species.

Jung has always been controversial and confusing. His blending of psychology and religion, as well as his openness to different religious and spiritual philosophies, was not easy to accept for many psychiatrists and psychologists trying to pursue a purely scientific explanation of personality and mental illness. Perhaps no one was more upset than Freud, whose attitude toward Jung changed dramatically over just a few years. In 1907, Freud wrote a letter to Jung in which Freud offered high praise:

…I have already acknowledged…above all that your person has filled me with trust in the future, that I now know that I am dispensable like everyone else, and that I wish for no one other or better than you to continue and complete my work. (pg. 136; cited in Wehr, 1989)

In 1910, hoping that others would also support Jung, Freud wrote to Oskar Pfister:

I hope you will loyally support Jung, I want him to acquire the authority that will entitle him to leadership of the whole movement. (pg. 136; cited in Wehr, 1989)

However, in a dramatic shift just three years later, Freud wrote to Jung:

I suggest to you that we completely give up our private relationship. By this I lose nothing, since for a long time I have been bound to you emotionally only by the thin thread of previously experienced disappointments. … Spare me the supposed “duties of friendship.” (pg. 136; cited in Wehr, 1989)

Later, in 1922, Freud thanked Oskar Pfister for his help in trying to eliminate Jung’s influence on the psychoanalytic community:

With your ever more thorough and ever more clearly demonstrated dismissal of Jung and Adler, you have for a long time given me great satisfaction. (pg. 136; cited in Wehr, 1989)

Who was this man who inspired such profound confidence from Sigmund Freud, only to later inspire such contempt? And were his theories that difficult for the psychodynamic community, or psychology in general, to accept? Hopefully, this chapter will begin to answer those questions. As evidence of his character, and in contrast to Freud, Jung did not turn his back on his former mentor. Following Freud’s death in 1939, and later in 1957, Jung wrote the following:

[Freud’s work was]…surely the boldest attempt ever made on the apparently solid ground of empiricism to master the riddle of the unconscious psyche. For us young psychiatrists, it was a source of enlightenment… (pg. 29; cited in Wehr, 1989)

…Despite the resounding censure I suffered at the hands of Freud, I cannot, even despite my resentment toward him, fail to recognize his importance as a critical analyst of culture and as a pioneer in the field of psychology. (pg. 39; cited in Wehr, 1989)

In order to distinguish his own approach to psychology from others that had come before, Jung felt that he needed a unique name. Freud, of course, had chosen the term “psychoanalysis,” whereas Alfred Adler had chosen “individual psychology.” Since Jung admired both men and their theories, he chose a name intended to encompass not only their approaches, but others as well. Thus, he chose to call his approach analytical psychology (Jung, 1933).

Analytical psychology, as presented by Jung, addresses the question of the psyche in an open-minded way. He laments the overly scientific approach of the late 1800s and efforts to explain away the psyche as a mere epiphenomenon of brain function. Curiously, that debate remains with us today, and is still unanswered in any definitive way. Jung did not accept the suggestion that the psyche must come from the activity of the brain. This allowed him to consider the possibility of a collective unconscious, and fit well with his acceptance of the wisdom of Eastern philosophers. Indeed, Jung suggests that psychology will find truth only when it accepts both Eastern and Western, as well as both scientific and spiritual, perspectives on the psyche (Jung, 1933).

At the beginning of his autobiography, entitled Memories, Dreams, Reflections , Jung (1961) described his life as “a story of the self-realization of the unconscious.” Jung believed that our personality begins with a collective unconscious, developed within our species throughout time, and that we have only limited ability to control the psychic process that is our own personality. Thus, our true personality arises from within as our collective unconscious comes forth into our personal unconscious and then our consciousness. It can be helpful to view these concepts from an Eastern perspective, and it is interesting to note that “self-realization” was used in the name of the first Yoga society established in America (in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda).

Carl Gustav Jung was born on July 26 th , 1875, in the small town of Kesswil, Switzerland, into an interesting and notable family. His grandfather of the same name had been a physician, and had established the psychiatric clinic at the University of Basel and the “Home of Good Hope” for mentally retarded children. At an early age he had been imprisoned for over a year, for the crime of having participated in a demonstration supporting democracy in Germany. Rumored to be an illegitimate son of the great Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, though there is no convincing evidence, the elder Carl Jung died before his namesake grandson ever knew him. Nonetheless, Jung was greatly influenced by stories he heard about his grandfather. His maternal grandfather, Samuel Preiswerk, was the dean of the Basel (Switzerland) clergy and pastor of a major church. He was one the first people in Europe to suggest a restoration of Palestine to the Jews, thus establishing himself as a forerunner to the Zionists. Samuel Preiswerk also believed that he was regularly surrounded by spirits (or ghosts), something that likely had quite an influence on Jung’s theories (Jaffe, 1979; Wehr, 1989).

REVIEW OF KEY POINTS

As a child, Jung was introduced to a wide variety of cultural and religious perspectives from around the world. As a result of these experiences, he was open to many different perspectives throughout his career.

Jung had extremely vivid dreams, many of which he interpreted as visions (or unconscious communications) intended to guide his actions.

Jung called his approach “analytical psychology” in order to distinguish it from Freud’s “psychoanalysis” and Adler’s “individual psychology.”

An important starting point for Jung’s theories was the concept of entropy, which proposes an eventual balance of all energy. Jung applied this concept to the psychic energy present in the conscious and unconscious psyches.

Jung proposed two distinct realms within the unconscious psyche, the personal and the collective.

According to Jung, the personal unconscious is revealed through its complexes.

Jung advanced the Word Association Test as a means of examining the complexes contained within the personal unconscious.

The collective unconscious communicates through archetypal images. Jung believed the most readily observed archetypes are the shadow, the anima, and the animus.

Another important archetype is the self, the representation of wholeness and the completed development of the personality. The self is often symbolically represented by mandalas.

Jung developed a framework for recognizing particular personality types. He proposed two attitudes, introversion and extraversion, and four functions, thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuition.

Jung’s type theory provided the basis for some practical personality tests. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter are both well-known in the field of psychology.

Jung believed that everyone’s ultimate goal is to fully develop the potential of their personality. Jung called this process individuation.

Development during the first half of life involves the natural aims of survival and procreation. The second half of life offers the opportunity to seek cultural development and the fulfillment of one’s self.

Jungian analysis follows a basic series of stages, involving confession, elucidation, education, and transformation. However, Jung suggested it was better to avoid being locked into a rigid procedure. As a result, he utilized many different techniques, based on each individual patient.

As Freud had before him, Jung developed a grand vision of how analytical psychology might help society as a whole. One unique proposition was that the Western world had much to learn from Eastern cultures.

Jung’s interest in topics such as alchemy and extrasensory perception did not sit well with colleagues seeking to establish psychology as a scientific discipline. This opposition to Jung remains quite strong today, though Western psychology is broadening its perspective.

Kelland, Mark. "Personality Theory". OER Commons. Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, 07 Jul. 2017. Web. 28 Jun. 2022. https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/22859-personality-theory . CC BY 4.0.

Sigmund Freud’s Theories & Contribution to Psychology

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939) was the founding father of psychoanalysis , a method for treating mental illness and a theory explaining human behavior.

Freud believed that events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality. For example, anxiety originating from traumatic experiences in a person’s past is hidden from consciousness and may cause problems during adulthood (neuroses).

Thus, when we explain our behavior to ourselves or others (conscious mental activity), we rarely give a true account of our motivation. This is not because we are deliberately lying. While human beings are great deceivers of others; they are even more adept at self-deception.

Freud’s life work was dominated by his attempts to penetrate this often subtle and elaborate camouflage that obscures the hidden structure and processes of personality.

His lexicon has become embedded within the vocabulary of Western society. Words he introduced through his theories are now used by everyday people, such as anal (personality), libido, denial, repression, cathartic, Freudian slip , and neurotic.

Who is Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud, born on May 6, 1856, in what is now Příbor, Czech Republic (then part of the Austrian Empire), is hailed as the father of psychoanalysis. He was the eldest of eight children in a Jewish family.

Freud initially wanted to become a law professional but later developed an interest in medicine. He entered the University of Vienna in 1873, graduating with an MD in 1881. His primary interests included neurology and neuropathology. He was particularly interested in the condition of hysteria and its psychological causes.

In 1885, Freud received a grant to study with Jean-Martin Charcot, a renowned neurologist who used hypnosis to treat women suffering from what was then called “hysteria.” This experience sparked Freud’s interest in the unconscious mind, a theme that would recur throughout his career.

In 1886, Freud returned to Vienna, married Martha Bernays, and set up a private practice to treat nervous disorders. His work during this time led to his revolutionary concepts of the human mind and the development of the psychoanalytic method.

Freud introduced several influential concepts, including the Oedipus complex, dream analysis, and the structural model of the psyche divided into the id, ego, and superego. He published numerous works throughout his career, the most notable being “ The Interpretation of Dreams ” (1900), “ The Psychopathology of Everyday Life ” (1901), and “ Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality ” (1905).

Despite controversy and opposition, Freud continued to develop his theories and expand the field of psychoanalysis. He was deeply affected by the outbreak of World War I and later by the rise of the Nazis in Germany. In 1938, due to the Nazi threat, he emigrated to London with his wife and youngest daughter.

Freud died in London on September 23, 1939, but his influence on psychology, literature, and culture remains profound and pervasive.

He radically changed our understanding of the human mind, emphasizing the power of unconscious processes and pioneering therapeutic techniques that continue to be used today.

Sigmund Freud’s Theories & Contributions

Psychoanalytic Theory : Freud is best known for developing psychoanalysis , a therapeutic technique for treating mental health disorders by exploring unconscious thoughts and feelings.

Unconscious Mind : Freud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model of the mind, describing the features of the mind’s structure and function. Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind.

The id, ego, and superego have most commonly been conceptualized as three essential parts of the human personality.

Psychosexual Development : Freud’s controversial theory of psychosexual development suggests that early childhood experiences and stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital) shape our adult personality and behavior.

His theory of psychosexual stages of development is predicated by the concept that childhood experiences create the adult personality and that problems in early life would come back to haunt the individual as a mental illness.

Dream Analysis : Freud believed dreams were a window into the unconscious mind and developed methods for analyzing dream content for repressed thoughts and desires.

Dreams represent unfulfilled wishes from the id, trying to break through to the conscious. But because these desires are often unacceptable, they are disguised or censored using such defenses as symbolism.

Freud believed that by undoing the dreamwork , the analyst could study the manifest content (what they dreamt) and interpret the latent content ( what it meant) by understanding the symbols.

Defense Mechanisms : Freud proposed several defense mechanisms , like repression and projection, which the ego employs to handle the tension and conflicts among the id, superego, and the demands of reality.

Sigmund Freud’s Patients

Sigmund Freud’s clinical work with several patients led to major breakthroughs in psychoanalysis and a deeper understanding of the human mind. Here are summaries of some of his most notable cases:

Anna O. (Bertha Pappenheim) : Known as the ‘birth of psychoanalysis,’ Anna O . was a patient of Freud’s colleague Josef Breuer. However, her case heavily influenced Freud’s thinking.

She suffered from various symptoms, including hallucinations and paralysis, which Freud interpreted as signs of hysteria caused by repressed traumatic memories. The “talking cure” method with Anna O. would later evolve into Freudian psychoanalysis.

Dora (Ida Bauer) : Dora, a pseudonym Freud used, was a teenager suffering from what he diagnosed as hysteria. Her symptoms included aphonia (loss of voice) and a cough.

Freud suggested her issues were due to suppressed sexual desires, particularly those resulting from a complex series of relationships in her family. The Dora case is famous for the subject’s abrupt termination of therapy, and for the criticisms Freud received regarding his handling of the case.

Little Hans (Herbert Graf) : Little Hans , a five-year-old boy, feared horses. Freud never met Hans but used information from the boy’s father to diagnose him.

He proposed that Little Hans’ horse phobia was symbolic of a deeper fear related to the Oedipus Complex – unconscious feelings of affection for his mother and rivalry with his father. The case of Little Hans is often used as an example of Freud’s theory of the Oedipal Complex in children.

Rat Man (Ernst Lanzer) : Rat Man came to Freud suffering from obsessive thoughts and fears related to rats, a condition known as obsessional neurosis.

Freud connected his symptoms to suppressed guilt and repressed sexual desires. The treatment of Rat Man further expanded Freud’s work on understanding the role of internal conflicts and unconscious processes in mental health disorders.

Wolf Man (Sergei Pankejeff) : Wolf Man was a wealthy Russian aristocrat who came to Freud with various symptoms, including a recurring dream about wolves.

Freud’s analysis, focusing on childhood memories and dreams, led him to identify the presence of repressed memories and the influence of the Oedipus Complex . Wolf Man’s treatment is often considered one of Freud’s most significant and controversial cases.

In the highly repressive “Victorian” society in which Freud lived and worked, women, in particular, were forced to repress their sexual needs. In many cases, the result was some form of neurotic illness.

Freud sought to understand the nature and variety of these illnesses by retracing the sexual history of his patients. This was not primarily an investigation of sexual experiences as such. Far more important were the patient’s wishes and desires, their experience of love, hate, shame, guilt, and fear – and how they handled these powerful emotions.

Freud’s Followers

Freud attracted many followers, who formed a famous group in 1902 called the “Psychological Wednesday Society.” The group met every Wednesday in Freud’s waiting room.

As the organization grew, Freud established an inner circle of devoted followers, the so-called “Committee” (including Sàndor Ferenczi, and Hanns Sachs (standing) Otto Rank, Karl Abraham, Max Eitingon, and Ernest Jones).

At the beginning of 1908, the committee had 22 members and was renamed the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.

Neo-Freudians

The term “neo-Freudians” refers to psychologists who were initially followers of Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939) but later developed their own theories, often modifying or challenging Freud’s ideas.

Here are summaries of some of the most notable neo-Freudians:

Carl Jung : Jung (1875 – 1961) was a close associate of Freud but split due to theoretical disagreements. He developed the concept of analytical psychology, emphasizing the collective unconscious, which houses universal symbols or archetypes shared by all human beings. He also introduced the idea of introversion and extraversion.

Alfred Adler : Adler (1870 – 1937) was another early follower of Freud who broke away due to differing views. He developed the school of individual psychology, highlighting the role of feelings of inferiority and the striving for superiority or success in shaping human behavior. He also emphasized the importance of social context and community.

• Otto Rank : Rank (1884 – 1939)  was an early collaborator with Freud and played a significant role in the development of psychoanalysis. He proposed the “trauma of birth” as a critical event influencing the psyche. Later, he shifted focus to the relationship between therapist and client, influencing the development of humanistic therapies.

Karen Horney : Horney (1885 – 1952) challenged Freud’s views on women, arguing against the concept of “penis envy.” She suggested that social and cultural factors significantly influence personality development and mental health. Her concept of ‘basic anxiety’ centered on feelings of helplessness and insecurity in childhood, shaping adult behavior.

• Harry Stack Sullivan : Sullivan (1892 – 1949) developed interpersonal psychoanalysis, emphasizing the role of interpersonal relationships and social experiences in personality development and mental disorders. He proposed the concept of the “self-system” formed through experiences of approval and disapproval during childhood.

Melanie Klein : Klein (1882 – 1960), a prominent psychoanalyst, is considered a neo-Freudian due to her development of object relations theory, which expanded on Freud’s ideas. She emphasized the significance of early childhood experiences and the role of the mother-child relationship in psychological development.

• Anna Freud : Freud’s youngest daughter significantly contributed to psychoanalysis, particularly in child psychology. Anna Freud (1895 – 1982) expanded on her father’s work, emphasizing the importance of ego defenses in managing conflict and preserving mental health.

Wilhelm Reich : Reich (1897 – 1957), once a student of Freud, diverged by focusing on bodily experiences and sexual repression, developing the theory of orgone energy. His emphasis on societal influence and body-oriented therapy made him a significant neo-Freudian figure.

• Erich Fromm : Fromm (1900-1980) was a German-American psychoanalyst associated with the Frankfurt School, who emphasized culture’s role in developing personality. He advocated psychoanalysis as a tool for curing cultural problems and thus reducing mental illness.

Erik Erikson : Erikson (1902 – 1994)  extended Freud’s theory of psychosexual development by adding social and cultural aspects and proposing a lifespan development model. His theory of psychosocial development outlined eight stages, each marked by a specific crisis to resolve, that shape an individual’s identity and relationships.

Critical Evaluation

Does evidence support Freudian psychology? Freud’s theory is good at explaining but not predicting behavior (which is one of the goals of science ).

For this reason, Freud’s theory is unfalsifiable – it can neither be proved true or refuted. For example, the unconscious mind is difficult to test and measure objectively. Overall, Freud’s theory is highly unscientific.

Despite the skepticism of the unconscious mind, cognitive psychology has identified unconscious processes, such as procedural memory (Tulving, 1972), automatic processing (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Stroop, 1935), and social psychology has shown the importance of implicit processing (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). Such empirical findings have demonstrated the role of unconscious processes in human behavior.

However, most evidence for Freud’s theories is from an unrepresentative sample. He mostly studied himself, his patients, and only one child (e.g., Little Hans ).

The main problem here is that the case studies are based on studying one person in detail, and regarding Freud, the individuals in question are most often middle-aged women from Vienna (i.e., his patients).

This makes generalizations to the wider population (e.g., the whole world) difficult. However, Freud thought this unimportant, believing in only a qualitative difference between people.

Freud may also have shown research bias in his interpretations – he may have only paid attention to information that supported his theories, and ignored information and other explanations that did not fit them.

However, Fisher & Greenberg (1996) argue that Freud’s theory should be evaluated in terms of specific hypotheses rather than a whole. They concluded that there is evidence to support Freud’s concepts of oral and anal personalities and some aspects of his ideas on depression and paranoia.

They found little evidence of the Oedipal conflict and no support for Freud’s views on women’s sexuality and how their development differs from men’.

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What is Freud most famous for?

Why is freud so criticized, what did sigmund freud do.

His conceptualization of the mind’s structure (id, ego, superego), his theories of psychosexual development, and his exploration of defense mechanisms revolutionized our understanding of human psychology.

Despite controversies and criticisms, Freud’s theories have fundamentally shaped the field of psychology and the way we perceive the human mind.

What is the Freudian revolution’s impact on society?

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Sigmund Freud's Life, Theories, and Influence

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Cara Lustik is a fact-checker and copywriter.

Keystone / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Psychoanalysis

• Major Works
• Perspectives
• Thinkers Influenced by Freud
• Contributions

Frequently Asked Questions

Psychology's most famous figure is also one of the most influential and controversial thinkers of the 20th century. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist born in 1856, is often referred to as the "father of modern psychology."

Freud revolutionized how we think about and treat mental health conditions. Freud founded psychoanalysis as a way of listening to patients and better understanding how their minds work. Psychoanalysis continues to have an enormous influence on modern psychology and psychiatry.

Sigmund Freud's theories and work helped shape current views of dreams, childhood, personality, memory, sexuality, and therapy. Freud's work also laid the foundation for many other theorists to formulate ideas, while others developed new theories in opposition to his ideas.

Sigmund Freud Biography

To understand Freud's legacy, it is important to begin with a look at his life. His experiences informed many of his theories, so learning more about his life and the times in which he lived can lead to a deeper understanding of where his theories came from.

Freud was born in 1856 in a town called Freiberg in Moravia—in what is now known as the Czech Republic. He was the oldest of eight children. His family moved to Vienna several years after he was born, and he lived most of his life there.

Freud earned a medical degree and began practicing as a doctor in Vienna. He was appointed Lecturer on Nervous Diseases at the University of Vienna in 1885.

After spending time in Paris and attending lectures given by the French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, Freud became more interested in theories explaining the human mind (which would later relate to his work in psychoanalysis).

Freud eventually withdrew from academia after the Viennese medical community rejected the types of ideas he brought back from Paris (specifically on what was then called hysteria ). Freud went on to publish influential works in neurology, including "On Aphasia: A Critical Study," in which he coined the term agnosia , meaning the inability to interpret sensations.

In later years, Freud and his colleague Josef Breuer published "Preliminary Report" and "Studies on Hysteria." When their friendship ended, Freud continued to publish his own works on psychoanalysis.

Freud and his family left Vienna due to discrimination against Jewish people. He moved to England in 1938 and died in 1939.

Sigmund Freud’s Theories

Freud's theories were enormously influential but subject to considerable criticism both now and during his life. However, his ideas have become interwoven into the fabric of our culture, with terms such as " Freudian slip ," "repression," and "denial" appearing regularly in everyday language.

Freud's theories include:

• Unconscious mind : This is one of his most enduring ideas, which is that the mind is a reservoir of thoughts, memories, and emotions that lie outside the awareness of the conscious mind.
• Personality : Freud proposed that personality was made up of three key elements: the id, the ego, and the superego . The ego is the conscious state, the id is the unconscious, and the superego is the moral or ethical framework that regulates how the ego operates.
• Life and death instincts : Freud claimed that two classes of instincts, life and death, dictated human behavior. Life instincts include sexual procreation, survival and pleasure; death instincts include aggression, self-harm, and destruction.
• Psychosexual development : Freud's theory of psychosexual development posits that there are five stages of growth in which people's personalities and sexual selves evolve. These phases are the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latent stage, and genital stage.
• Mechanisms of defense : Freud suggested that people use defense mechanisms to avoid anxiety. These mechanisms include displacement, repression, sublimation, and regression.

Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis

Freud's ideas had such a strong impact on psychology that an entire school of thought emerged from his work: psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis has had a lasting impact on both the study of psychology and the practice of psychotherapy.

Psychoanalysis sought to bring unconscious information into conscious awareness in order to induce catharsis . Catharsis is an emotional release that may bring about relief from psychological distress. 

Research has found that psychoanalysis can be an effective treatment for a number of mental health conditions. The self-examination that is involved in the therapy process can help people achieve long-term growth and improvement.

Sigmund Freud's Patients

Freud based his ideas on case studies of his own patients and those of his colleagues. These patients helped shape his theories and many have become well known. Some of these individuals included:

• Anna O. (aka Bertha Pappenheim)
• Little Hans (Herbert Graf)
• Dora (Ida Bauer)
• Rat Man (Ernst Lanzer)
• Wolf Man (Sergei Pankejeff)
• Sabina Spielrein

Anna O. was never actually a patient of Freud's. She was a patient of Freud's colleague Josef Breuer. The two men corresponded often about Anna O's symptoms, eventually publishing the book, "Studies on Hysteria" on her case. It was through their work and correspondence that the technique known as talk therapy emerged.  

Major Works by Freud

Freud's writings detail many of his major theories and ideas. His personal favorite was "The Interpretation of Dreams ." Of it, he wrote: "[It] contains...the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. Insight such as this falls to one's lot but once in a lifetime."

Some of Freud's major books include:

• " The Interpretation of Dreams "
• "The Psychopathology of Everyday Life"
• "Totem and Taboo"
• "Civilization and Its Discontents"
• "The Future of an Illusion"

Freud's Perspectives

Outside of the field of psychology, Freud wrote and theorized about a broad range of subjects. He also wrote about and developed theories related to topics including sex, dreams, religion, women, and culture.

Views on Women

Both during his life and after, Freud was criticized for his views of women , femininity, and female sexuality. One of his most famous critics was the psychologist Karen Horney , who rejected his view that women suffered from "penis envy."

Penis envy, according to Freud, was a phenomenon that women experienced upon witnessing a naked male body, because they felt they themselves must be "castrated boys" and wished for their own penis.

Horney instead argued that men experience "womb envy" and are left with feelings of inferiority because they are unable to bear children.

Views on Religion

Freud was born and raised Jewish but described himself as an atheist in adulthood. "The whole thing is so patently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life," he wrote of religion.

He continued to have a keen interest in the topics of religion and spirituality and wrote a number of books focused on the subject. 

Psychologists Influenced by Freud

In addition to his grand and far-reaching theories of human psychology, Freud also left his mark on a number of individuals who went on to become some of psychology's greatest thinkers. Some of the eminent psychologists who were influenced by Sigmund Freud include:

• Alfred Adler
• Erik Erikson
• Melanie Klein
• Ernst Jones

While Freud's work is often dismissed today as non-scientific, there is no question that he had a tremendous influence not only on psychology but on the larger culture as well.

Many of Freud's ideas have become so steeped in public awareness that we oftentimes forget that they have their origins in his psychoanalytic tradition.

Freud's Contributions to Psychology

Freud's theories are highly controversial today. For instance, he has been criticized for his lack of knowledge about women and for sexist notions in his theories about sexual development, hysteria, and penis envy.

People are skeptical about the legitimacy of Freud's theories because they lack the scientific evidence that psychological theories have today.

However, it remains true that Freud had a significant and lasting influence on the field of psychology. He provided a foundation for many concepts that psychologists used and continue to use to make new discoveries.

Perhaps Freud's most important contribution to the field of psychology was the development of talk therapy as an approach to treating mental health problems.

In addition to serving as the basis for psychoanalysis, talk therapy is now part of many psychotherapeutic interventions designed to help people overcome psychological distress and behavioral problems. 

The Unconscious

Prior to the works of Freud, many people believed that behavior was inexplicable. He developed the idea of the unconscious as being the hidden motivation behind what we do. For instance, his work on dream interpretation suggested that our real feelings and desires lie underneath the surface of conscious life.

Childhood Influence

Freud believed that childhood experiences impact adulthood—specifically, traumatic experiences that we have as children can manifest as mental health issues when we're adults.

While childhood experiences aren't the only contributing factors to mental health during adulthood, Freud laid the foundation for a person's childhood to be taken into consideration during therapy and when diagnosing.

Literary Theory

Literary scholars and students alike often analyze texts through a Freudian lens. Freud's theories created an opportunity to understand fictional characters and even their authors based on what's written or what a reader can interpret from the text on topics such as dreams, sexuality, and personality.

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who founded psychoanalysis. Also known as the father of modern psychology, he was born in 1856 and died in 1939.

While Freud theorized that childhood experiences shaped personality, the neo-Freudians (including Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and Karen Horney) believed that social and cultural influences played an important role. Freud believed that sex was a primary human motivator, whereas neo-Freudians did not.

Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis and published many influential works such as "The Interpretation of Dreams." His theories about personality and sexuality were and continue to be extremely influential in the fields of psychology and psychiatry.

Sigmund Freud was born in a town called Freiberg in Moravia, which is now the Czech Republic.

It's likely that Freud died by natural means. However, he did have oral cancer at the time of his death and was administered a dose of morphine that some believed was a method of physician-assisted suicide.

Freud used psychoanalysis, also known as talk therapy, in order to get his patients to uncover their own unconscious thoughts and bring them into consciousness. Freud believed this would help his patients change their maladaptive behaviors.

Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis and introduced influential theories such as: his ideas of the conscious and unconscious; the id, ego, and superego; dream interpretation; and psychosexual development.

A Word From Verywell

While Freud's theories have been the subject of considerable controversy and debate, his impact on psychology, therapy, and culture is undeniable. As W.H. Auden wrote in his 1939 poem, "In Memory of Sigmund Freud":

"...if often he was wrong and, at times, absurd, to us he is no more a person now but a whole climate of opinion."

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Psychoanalysis: Freud's Revolutionary Approach to Human Personality Kristen M. Beystehner Northwestern University

This paper focuses on Freud's revolutionary theory of psychoanalysis and whether psychoanalysis should be considered a "great" idea in personality. The fundamental principles of the theory are developed and explained. In addition, the views of experts are reviewed, and many of the criticisms and strengths of various aspects of Freud's theory are examined and explained. Upon consideration, the author considers psychoanalysis to be a valuable theory despite its weaknesses because it is comprehensive, serendipitous, innovative, and has withstood the test of time. Consequently, the author contends that psychoanalysis is indeed a "great" idea in personality.

As a therapy, psychoanalysis is based on the concept that individuals are unaware of the many factors that cause their behavior and emotions. These unconscious factors have the potential to produce unhappiness, which in turn is expressed through a score of distinguishable symptoms, including disturbing personality traits, difficulty in relating to others, or disturbances in self-esteem or general disposition (American Psychoanalytic Association, 1998). Psychoanalytic treatment is highly individualized and seeks to show how the unconscious factors affect behavior patterns, relationships, and overall mental health. Treatment traces the unconscious factors to their origins, shows how they have evolved and developed over the course of many years, and subsequently helps individuals to overcome the challenges they face in life (National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, 1998). In addition to being a therapy, psychoanalysis is a method of understanding mental functioning and the stages of growth and development. Psychoanalysis is a general theory of individual human behavior and experience, and it has both contributed to and been enriched by many other disciplines. Psychoanalysis seeks to explain the complex relationship between the body and the mind and furthers the understanding of the role of emotions in medical illness and health. In addition, psychoanalysis is the basis of many other approaches to therapy. Many insights revealed by psychoanalytic treatment have formed the basis for other treatment programs in child psychiatry, family therapy, and general psychiatric practice (Farrell, 1981, p. 202). The value and validity of psychoanalysis as a theory and treatment have been questioned since its inception in the early 1900s. Critics dispute many aspects of psychoanalysis including whether or not it is indeed a science; the value of the data upon which Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, based his theories; and the method and effectiveness of psychoanalytic treatment. There has been much criticism as well as praise regarding psychoanalysis over the years, but a hard look at both the positive and negative feedback of critics of psychoanalysis shows, in my opinion, that psychoanalysis is indeed a "great idea" in personality that should not be overlooked. The Origins of Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud was the first psychoanalyst and a true pioneer in the recognition of the importance of unconscious mental activity. His theories on the inner workings of the human mind, which seemed so revolutionary at the turn of the century, are now widely accepted by most schools of psychological thought. In 1896, Freud coined the term "psychoanalysis," and for the next forty years of his life, he worked on thoroughly developing its main principles, objectives, techniques, and methodology. Freud's many writings detail many of his thoughts on mental life, including the structural theory of the mind, dream interpretation, the technique of psychoanalysis, and assorted other topics. Eventually psychoanalysis began to thrive, and by 1925, it was established around the world as a flourishing movement. Although for many years Freud had been considered a radical by many in his profession, he was soon accepted and well-known worldwide as a leading expert in psychoanalysis (Gay, 1989, p. xii). In 1939, Freud succumbed to cancer after a lifetime dedicated to psychological thought and the development of his many theories (Gay, 1989, p. xx). Although Freud's life had ended, he left behind a legacy unmatched by any other, a legacy that continues very much to this day. Whereas new ideas have enriched the field of psychoanalysis and techniques have adapted and expanded over the years, psychoanalysts today, like Freud, believe that psychoanalysis is the most effective method of obtaining knowledge of the mind. Through psychoanalysis, patients free themselves from terrible mental anguish and achieve greater understanding of themselves and others. Principles of Freud's Theory of Psychoanalysis In An Outline of Psychoanalysis , Freud (1949) explains the principal tenets on which psychoanalytic theory is based. He begins with an explanation of the three forces of the psychical apparatus--the id, the ego, and the superego. The id has the quality of being unconscious and contains everything that is inherited, everything that is present at birth, and the instincts (Freud, 1949, p. 14). The ego has the quality of being conscious and is responsible for controlling the demands of the id and of the instincts, becoming aware of stimuli, and serving as a link between the id and the external world. In addition, the ego responds to stimulation by either adaptation or flight, regulates activity, and strives to achieve pleasure and avoid unpleasure (Freud, 1949, p. 14-15). Finally, the superego, whose demands are managed by the id, is responsible for the limitation of satisfactions and represents the influence of others, such as parents, teachers, and role models, as well as the impact of racial, societal, and cultural traditions (Freud, 1949, p. 15). Freud states that the instincts are the ultimate cause of all behavior. The two basic instincts are Eros (love) and the destructive or death instinct. The purpose of Eros is to establish and preserve unity through relationships. On the other hand, the purpose of the death instinct is to undo connections and unity via destruction (Freud, 1949, p. 18). The two instincts can either operate against each other through repulsion or combine with each other through attraction (Freud, 1949, p. 19). Freud (1949) contends that sexual life begins with manifestations that present themselves soon after birth (p. 23). The four main phases in sexual development are the oral phase, the sadistic-anal phase, the phallic phase, and the genital phase, and each phase is characterized by specific occurrences. During the oral phase, the individual places emphasis on providing satisfaction for the needs of the mouth, which emerges as the first erotogenic zone (Freud, 1949, p. 24). During the sadistic-anal phase, satisfaction is sought through aggression and in the excretory function. During the phallic phase, the young boy enters the Oedipus phase where he fears his father and castration while simultaneously fantasizing about sexual relations with his mother (Freud, 1949, p. 25). The young girl, in contrast, enters the Electra phase, where she experiences penis envy, which often culminates in her turning away from sexual life altogether. Following the phallic phase is a period of latency, in which sexual development comes to a halt (Freud, 1949, p. 23). Finally, in the genital phase, the sexual function is completely organized and the coordination of sexual urge towards pleasure is completed. Errors occurring in the development of the sexual function result in homosexuality and sexual perversions, according to Freud (1949, p. 27). Freud (1949) defines the qualities of the psychical process as being either conscious, preconscious, or unconscious (p. 31). Ideas considered to be conscious are those of which we are aware, yet they remain conscious only briefly. Preconscious ideas are defined as those that are capable of becoming conscious. In contrast, unconscious ideas are defined as those that are not easily accessible but can be inferred, recognized, and explained through analysis (Freud, 1949, p. 32). Freud spent many years hypothesizing about the role of dreams and their interpretation. He defines the states of sleep to be a period of uproar and chaos during which the unconscious thoughts of the id attempt to force their way into consciousness (Freud, 1949, p. 38). In order to interpret a dream, which develops from either the id or the ego, certain assumptions must be made, including the acknowledgment that what is recalled from a dream is only a facade behind which the meaning must be inferred. Dreams are undoubtedly caused by conflict and are characterized by their power to bring up memories that the dreamer has forgotten, their strong use of symbolism, and their ability to reproduce repressed impressions of the dreamer's childhood (Freud, 1949, p. 40). In addition, dreams, which are fulfillments of wishes, according to Freud (1949), are capable of bringing up impressions that cannot have originated from the dreamer's life (Freud, 1949, p. 45). The basic objective of psychoanalysis is to remove neuroses and thereby cure patients by returning the damaged ego to its normal state (Freud, 1949, p. 51). During analysis, a process that often takes many years, patients tell analysts both what they feel is important and what they consider to be unimportant. An aspect of analysis that has both positive and negative repercussions is transference, which occurs when patients view their analysts as parents, role models, or other figures from their past. Transference causes patients to become concerned with pleasing their analysts and, as a result, patients lose their rational aim of getting well (Freud, 1949, p. 52). The method of psychoanalysis involves several significant steps. First, analysts gather material with which to work from patients' free associations, results of transference, dream interpretation, and the patients' slips and parapraxes (Freud, 1949, p. 56). Second, analysts begin to form hypotheses about what happened to the patients in the past and what is currently happening to them in their daily life. It is important that analysts relay the conclusions at which they arrive based on their observations only after the patients have reached the same conclusions on their own accord. Should analysts reveal their conclusions to patients too soon, resistance due to repression occurs. Overcoming this resistance requires additional time and effort by both the analysts and the patients. Once patients accept the conclusions, they are cured (Freud, 1949, p. 57). In the final chapters of An Outline of Psychoanalysis , Freud (1949) insists that it is neither practical nor fair to scientifically define what is normal and abnormal, and despite his theory's accuracy, "reality will always remain unknowable" (p. 83). He claims that although his theory is correct to the best of his knowledge, "it is unlikely that such generalizations can be universally correct" (Freud, 1949, p. 96). Evaluating the Criticisms of Psychoanalysis In his "Précis of The Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Philosophical Critique ," Grünbaum (1986) asserts that "while psychoanalysis may thus be said to be scientifically alive, it is currently hardly well" (p. 228). The criticisms of Freud's theory can be grouped into three general categories. First, critics contend that Freud's theory is lacking in empirical evidence and relies too heavily on therapeutic achievements, whereas others assert that even Freud's clinical data are flawed, inaccurate, and selective at best. Second, the actual method or techniques involved in psychoanalysis, such as Freud's ideas on the interpretation of dreams and the role of free association, have been criticized. Finally, some critics assert that psychoanalysis is simply not a science and many of the principles upon which it is based are inaccurate. Criticisms of Freud's Evidence Grünbaum (1986) believes that the reasoning on which Freud based his entire psychoanalytic theory was "fundamentally flawed, even if the validity of his clinical evidence were not in question" but that "the clinical data are themselves suspect; more often than not, they may be the patient's responses to the suggestions and expectations of the analyst" (p. 220). Grünbaum (1986) concludes that in order for psychoanalytic hypotheses to be validated in the future, data must be obtained from extraclinical studies rather than from data obtained in a clinical setting (p. 228). In other words, Grünbaum and other critics assert that psychoanalysis lacks in empirical data (Colby, 1960, p. 54). Other critics disagree with Grünbaum and insist that although extraclinical studies must and should be performed, clinical data are a reliable and necessary source of evidence because the theory of psychoanalysis would be impossible to test otherwise (Edelson, 1986, p. 232). Shevrin (1986) insists that "Freud's admirable heuristic hypotheses did not come out of the thin air or simply out of his imagination" (p.258) as other critics might have the reader believe. Instead, Shevrin (1986) continues, "extraclinical methods must be drawn upon in addition to the clinical method because the clinical method is the only way we can be in touch with certain phenomena" (p. 259). Only with quantification, many critics assert, can supposedly scientific theories even begin to be evaluated based on their empirical merits. Additional critics contend that Freud's clinical data are flawed or invalid. Greenberg (1986) believes that Freud's case studies do not place enough stress on revealing the outcome of the treatment and that Freud's aim was more to illustrate his theoretical points (p. 240). In addition, Freud fully presented only twelve cases, but he mentioned over one hundred minor cases. Greenberg asserts that many of the presented cases would not even be considered acceptable examples of psychoanalysis and, in short, that virtually all of the case studies had basic shortcomings (p. 240). Finally, Greenberg finds it "both striking and curious" (p. 240) that Freud chose to illustrate the usefulness of psychoanalysis through the display of unsuccessful cases. "We were forced to conclude," maintains Greenberg, "that Freud never presented any data, in statistical or case study form, that demonstrated that his treatment was of benefit to a significant number of the patients he himself saw" (p. 241). Many other powerful criticisms about Freud's inaccurate and subsequently flawed evidence have been published. These critics contend that Freud's evidence is flawed due to the lack of an experiment, the lack of a control group, and the lack of observations that went unrecorded (Colby, 1960, p. 54). In addition, critics find fault with the demographically restricted sample of individuals on which Freud based the majority of his data and theory (Holt, 1986, p. 242). Criticisms of Freud's Technique "Free association" is a method employed in psychoanalysis where the patients speak about any subject matter whatsoever and the analyst draws conclusions based on what is said. According to Storr (1986), "Grünbaum forcefully argues that free association is neither free nor validating evidence for psychoanalytic theory" (p. 260). "For my own part, however," Grünbaum (1986) concludes, "I find it unwarranted to use free association to validate causal inferences" (p. 224). Grünbaum (1986) contends that free association is not a valid method of accessing the patients' repressed memories because there is no way of ensuring that the analyst is capable of distinguishing between the patients' actual memories and imagined memories constructed due to the influence of the analyst's leading questions (p. 226). Spence (1986) is critical of Grünbaum's argument, although he acknowledges that we simply do not know the amount of contamination, the spread of infection within the session, and the extent to which suggested responses are balanced by unexpected confirmations which support the theory and take the analyst by surprise. (p. 259)

Criticisms of the Principles of Psychoanalysis

I have always taken it for granted that the obvious failure of Freudian therapy to significantly improve on spontaneous remission or placebo treatment is the clearest proof we have of the inadequacy of Freudian theory, closely followed by the success of alternative methods of treatment, such as behavior therapy. (p. 236)

Evaluating the Strengths of Psychoanalysis

the teachings of psychoanalysis are based on an incalculable number of observations and experiences, and only someone who has repeated those observations on himself and on others is in a position to arrive at a judgment of his own upon it. (p. 11)

Peer Commentary Analyzing Psychoanalysis Sapna Cheryan Northwestern University Beystehner's article, "Psychoanalysis: Freud's Revolutionary Approach to Human Personality," examines Freud and his field of psychoanalysis in order to determine if the recognition it has received since its inception at the turn of the century has been deserved. In this article, Beystehner reviews various aspects of psychoanalysis, history of Freud, main ideas, and criticisms of psychoanalysis. The article concludes by acknowledging flaws in psychoanalysis, but asserts the value that Freud and his theories have added to the field of psychology. Sigmund Freud was the psychologist responsible for forming and forwarding the first ideas in psychoanalysis. His theories were highly controversial and remain so to this day. The foundation of psychoanalysis is rooted in the idea that humans have unconscious longings that must be analyzed in order to understand behavior. Such unconscious desires are usually sexual and aggressive tendencies. Psychoanalysis is a method to uncover the source and elements of these impulses. Various methods, including free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of slips in conversation are used to identify latent longings. Beystehner classifies critics into three categories. The first group is critical of Freud because of his method of data collection or his lack of data. A second group of critics dislikes techniques that psychoanalysts use to assist their patients. Free association, according to Grünbaum (1986), is "not a valid method of accessing the patients' repressed actual memories because there is no way of ensuring that the analyst is capable of distinguishing between the patients' actual memories and imagined memories constructed due to the influence of the analyst's leading questions" (p. 226). Finally, Beystehner refers to critics who condemn psychoanalysis as not being scientific. Because it is impossible to test, lacks predictions, and has no "interpretive rules," it contradicts many of the fundamental tenets of science. Beystehner does an excellent job of reviewing the history of psychoanalysis and summarizing main ideas. Although she identifies some important critics, many others are left out. Freud has a significant number feminist critics because many of his theories viewed women's sexuality in a negative light. In addition, Beystehner discusses Freud's view that homosexuality is an "error occurring in the development of the sexual function." Such an idea has been criticized with relatively recent emerging research on homosexuality. Therefore, critiques of Freud stretch farther than examined in this article. Nonetheless, Beystehner's conclusion about psychoanalysis is valuable. First, the aspects that make a theory "great" are underscored. Beystehner shows how Freud's theories satisfy such aspects, thereby making it one of the greatest theories about human behavior. Flaws are acknowledged, yet "psychoanalysis is a theory that should not be disregarded." It has helped develop and refine many new fields of psychology.

Peer Commentary Great Ideas, But Great Science? Nathan Jones Northwestern University The paper on psychoanalysis by Beystehner presents an argument that attempts to establish Freud's revolutionary theory of psychotherapy as a "great" idea in the study of personality. Despite the great criticism of him by several scientists, the author believes Freud should not be overlooked. She believes that Freud's theory, by withstanding the tests of time and by influencing so many other ideas in the field of personality, cannot be dismissed. In addition, she believes that psychoanalysis is a scientific method. The arguments are presented in a neat, linear manner that can be followed easily. First, the author gives origins and histories of psychotherapy, and then goes on to explain the theories of Freud. She finally documents important critical and positive viewpoints on the father of psychoanalysis. The paper is strong in its clear presentation, with a final conclusion that is supported by the evidence brought forth in the author's argument. However, many criticisms of Freud are left unresolved. The author does state in her conclusion that Freud's arguments have their weaknesses, but she believes that an idea can still be great if it is flawed. The problem is that the strengths of his work are unclear and are directly refuted by Freud's critics. Perhaps the greatest question left unresolved is the falsifiablity of Freud. Can we interpret his theories as a true science, or are they merely speculations at the human mind? The author believes that psychoanalysis is a scientific method because it is falsifiable, but no concrete proof of that is presented. The author shows that Freud is important because he influenced so much thought in the 20th century, and because he addressed issues previously kept in the dark. However, I believe the author falls short of establishing psychoanalysis as a science. The criticisms are overwhelming, and the author rarely takes the time to refute these points. The criticisms collected regarding psychoanalysis are placed into three categories by the author, criticisms of Freud's evidence, techniques, and principles. Freud and his theories are criticized on all levels. Attacks range from his intentions to his empirical evidence. At one point it is stated: "Greenburg believes that Freud's case studies do not place enough stress on revealing the outcome of the treatment and that Freud's aim was to illustrate his theoretical points." And then almost immediately following: "Critics contend that Freud's evidence is flawed due to the lack of an experiment, the lack of a control group, and the lack of observations that went unrecorded (Colby, 1960, p. 54)." Things that are synonymous with modern scientific theory and method are omitted from Freud's theory. These multiple gaping holes in Freud's work are presented in quick procession, and are followed by no discussion. Instead, the reader is left thinking only of all of Freud's flaws. A mountain of these facts is built up, but it is never knocked down. Instead of defending Freud against the points of the previous section, the portion of the paper evaluating the strengths of Freud concentrates on the influence Freud has had both inside and outside of psychology. The author states that "a good theory, according to many philosophers of science, is falsifiable, able to be generalized, leads to new theories and ideas, and is recognized by others in the field. Clearly psychoanalysis meets many of these criteria." Yet the formerly stated criticisms of psychoanalysis as a science seem too great to ignore; the author offers no resolution to these points. More importantly, the author fails to prove the falsifiability of the theories. The only proof given is that psychoanalysis is falsifiable "because other methods of treatment have been proven effective." This is a vague statement that, even if true, in no way provides a strong foundation to such an important and pivotal argument. Creating falsifiability is vital in establishing psychoanalysis as a scientific theory. Without a reasonable claim at this, it is difficult to discuss a theory as a science. Instead of clearly meeting the criteria of a good, scientific theory, psychoanalysis falls short. Because of this, evaluating psychoanalysis as a scientific method is unreasonable. This is significant in evaluating Freud's theories as "great." The only strengths successfully argued are that his psychoanalysis still lingers today and that it has led to new theories and ideas. I do not believe that the ideas of Freud should be dismissed completely. Freud's influence has been great on many. He has permeated into society and is now commonplace in the public's evaluation of personality. The author of this article explains how Freud's work acted as a catalyst, opening the eyes of several scientists to new theories that otherwise would have been missed. Freud's theories can effectively be applied to the human personality and to the development of the human mind and sexuality. They can even be applied to works outside of the realm of psychology. Yet, in this article, the author does not effectively establish psychoanalysis as a science. The criticisms of Freud (his technique, method, and principles), and the author's failure to prove falsifiability of psychoanalysis make it impossible to accept his theories as a science. Freud's revolutionary thinking and his effect on those who followed clearly establish that his theories have had a "great" impact in the field of personality. However, the author does not provide significant evidence to establish Freud's work as a scientific method.

Peer Commentary Psychoanalysis: A Not-So-Great Idea? Anna S. Lin Northwestern University This paper discusses Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, including an evaluation of whether or not the theory qualifies as a "great" idea of personality. The author notes several strong arguments that critics of the theory have made, but also suggests that the theory is comprehensive enough to remain in consideration. For example, although Beystehner makes the assertion that Freud's data were not scientific, she also points out that the theory is not only still in use after an entire century, but it has influenced many more theories as well. The author describes the theory of psychoanalysis fairly well. Although slightly brief, the outline of psychoanalysis given is understandable if the reader has some knowledge of the topic. Some concepts, such as the latent stage and the Electra complex, could be further elaborated. Similarly, Freudian slips, or "parapraxes," are not explained at all. Beystehner also states that there are both positive and negative aspects of transference, but does not provide adequate descriptions of these. It seems that the criticisms Beystehner makes against psychoanalysis are much more powerful than the defending arguments. For instance, the claims that Freud's data were either "flawed or invalid" indicate that Freud's theory is not scientifically based, a rather large, influential argument against the theory. The comments against Freud's technique of free association fuel the debate on whether his work was done on empirical grounds. Beystehner provides ample support for this criticism, and the reader begins to question whether or not the theory is really based on adequate evidence. It is somewhat contradictory that a theory with such a dubious foundation could remain in existence for so long, let alone serve as the basis for other theories. Beystehner asserts that psychoanalysis is, in fact, a falsifiable theory, and so it is appropriately categorized as a scientific theory. However, her paper lacks the support necessary to convince the reader of this idea. The fact that other types of treatment have been shown to be effective does not satisfy the reader as acceptable evidence that the theory is scientific. The concepts behind Freud's psychoanalysis are nearly impossible to test empirically; how does one go about proving the existence of an id? It is no wonder that Freud's data were "flawed." Psychoanalysis can only be based on observations and interpretations, which are not always standardized, and thus predictions are not always accurate. Beystehner has done well in bringing these problems to light. Nevertheless, psychoanalysis is a very comprehensive theory that can be used to explain many aspects of human psychology. The author evaluates this point as well as other strengths of the theory, but the reasoning in support of the theory is not quite up to par with the arguments against it. The main item that confirms the theory's strength deals with the "longevity of psychoanalysis." The reader is left to wonder how, with all the criticism against it, the theory has remained intact for so long. Although psychoanalysis is extremely comprehensive, contains some valid arguments, and has been utilized in both clinical and research psychology, empirical support in favor of the theory seems to be lacking. Beystehner also seems to draw several conclusions without offering clarifying examples. She states that "irrelevant and false assumptions are made all too frequently" in the field of psychoanalysis, and specific examples could be included. Also, she claims that psychoanalysis "can be applied in practical ways," which is a rather vague description of the theory's usefulness. In her conclusion, Beystehner uses a quote from Freud, in which Freud implies that he has based psychoanalysis on his observations of both himself and others. However, Rand and Torok (1997) have noted that Freud did not completely understand himself, which would contribute to his flawed data results (p. 221). Once again, the validity of psychoanalysis comes into question. Perhaps the case for the theory needs some reconsideration. Undoubtedly, the author has made some very clear points, and should be commended on her accomplishment of compiling such a comprehensive evaluation of psychoanalysis. On the other hand, the justifications for agreeing with the theory fall short of the critique against it, and so the reader can conclude that psychoanalysis may not be as great of a theory as previously thought.

Peer Commentary Freud Alone Ethan R. Plaut Northwestern University Beystehner's essay on psychoanalysis is a good introduction to Freudian theory, and also addresses the issue of whether it holds water as a science, but stops there, which is somewhat misleading. There are even a few simple factual statements that I find questionable, including the statement that the superego's demands are managed by the id. Nothing can really be "managed" by the id, nor the superego, for that matter. These two elements counterbalance each other, but only the ego is capable of "management." The term "Electra phase" is also attributed to Freud, which is a term with which he personally did not agree. In a paper such as this one that addresses Freudian theory, rather than psychoanalysis as a whole, it would be more appropriate to simply note the theoretical gaps in the theory for females. Freud's famous quote "What do women want?" would be appropriate to note. He conceded that he was unable to make his theory a balanced one for both sexes, so why not simply address that in the paper? Neglecting much of the literature is a much more serious offense. Only Freud's writings are addressed as far as psychoanalytic theory goes, and all of the innovations within Freud's framework are ignored. Psychoanalysis has come a long way since Freud's day, including changes that account for the aforementioned inability of Freud's theory to address the issues specific to women. Many criticisms of Freud are briefly noted in the essay, but the only one that is properly addressed is the question of whether psychoanalysis has a solid scientific basis in theory and practice--that is, whether it should be considered a "pure science." This question may be an issue, but I think it is essentially a secondary one. Many modern analysts would simply concede this point, and go on their merry post-Freudian way. Far more important issues regarding sexuality, etc., are simply glossed over and left to rot as loose ends, unaddressed in the paper and, therefore, in the reader's head. There has been a lot of criticism of psychoanalysis, and it has held up very well under fire. To address only the question of scientific status, which is one of the few criticisms that has been conceded by analysts, but is (arguably) a relatively unimportant criticism, is a horrible mistake in a paper that aims to survey the literature on psychoanalysis. The paper is relatively good on the points that it addresses, but for an overview of psychoanalysis, it fails to emphasize the right points.

Peer Commentary Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory Raises Concerns in Light of Modern Culture Purva H. Rawal Northwestern University Sigmund Freud is arguably the most well known psychologist of the 20th century. As the founder of psychoanalysis, he has greatly impacted the development of psychotherapy and treatment methods through the course of the century. His influence on the field remains strong and his theory continues to generate controversy. Psychoanalysis remains embroiled in this controversy as many detractors claim that the theory has its flaws. Its redeeming factor is the legacy it leaves behind, as it has furthered the therapeutic field in unimaginable ways. Contrastingly, opponents of the theory point to the lack of empirical evidence and the heavy reliance on free association techniques as proof of obvious inadequacies. Psychoanalysis is undoubtedly a "great" idea in psychology as the author clearly notes; however, the theory's shortcomings are far from few in the light of modern demands. One of the greatest inadequacies in Freud's theory that the author does not investigate further is the inability of the theory to explain behaviors in our modern culture. In many senses, Freud's theory was only applicable in his own era. The prevalence of same-sex parents raising children in homosexual homes or the even more common phenomenon of single-parent households raise questions that psychoanalysis fails to answer. The psychoanalytic theory is horribly inadequate in its investigation of female emotional and sexual development. Freud concentrated on male development, as he was part of a male dominated era; however the lack of foresight is clear as half the population's development has been insufficiently accounted for under the guidelines of the theory. Difficulties arise when one attempts to explain female development and behavior based on psychoanalytic theory because it is so incomplete in this arena. The demographic scope of investigation of psychoanalysis is apparent when measured against modern standards. The role and interpretation of dreams was one of the cornerstones of Freud's theory. He used dreams and their subsequent interpretations to bring subconscious conflict to the forefront. The author succinctly describes the role of dreams in psychoanalysis; however, more recent evidence refuting Freud's claims is rather interesting. The proliferation of psychotherapy in the modern day has brought controversial and unsettling issues under close scrutiny. The ability of therapists to strongly influence patients' memories has been supported in numerous studies. Loftus (1993a, 1993b, 1995) has also shown in many studies that memories are often reconstructed and that the therapist aids in the construction process through such avenues as dream interpretation and hypnosis. The question of whether dreams are a reliable source of information has been refuted by most in the field; yet, patients continue to reconstruct memories with the aid of therapists. The modern scientific phenomenon has it roots in Freud's original psychoanalytic theory. Clear mention is made of the fundamental technique of free-association in Freud's clinical cases. The reliance on free-association and on dream interpretation point to a greater problem: the lack of empirical evidence. The lack of empirical evidence is a point to which the strongest opponents of psychoanalysis look in criticism of the theory. Perhaps the reason many modern psychologists are unable to reconcile the psychoanalytic theory with modern treatment techniques is due to this apparent lack of empirical evidence. Modern science looks to empirical evidence for confirmation of any theory's validity. Freud was clearly unable to provide the empirical evidence of modern standards; thus, only if we look at the psychoanalytic theory from the ideas it has spurred rather than at its literal meaning can psychoanalysis be considered a "great" idea in personality. Psychoanalysis displays its greatest strength as one views the progress that has been made in the treatment of the mentally ill. Proponents of psychoanalysis have contributed to its widespread influence as it has encouraged other fields of research and investigation. Psychoanalysis fostered interest in human emotional and psychological development traced back to a young age. The human can be seen from a much more holistic viewpoint as one looks at the psychoanalytic theory, which combines the inner workings of the mind and attempts to explain them in the context of a dynamic social environment. The author provides an accurate assessment of Freud's psychoanalytic theory as she points out its two major inadequacies, the demographic restrictions of the subject population and the lack of empirical evidence, while also salvaging the theory by concentrating on the legacy it left behind. Although the specifics of the psychoanalytic theory cannot be supported via empirical evidence and many aspects of the theory cannot explain modern phenomena, Freud still made a considerable and lasting contribution to psychology. The controversy surrounding his theory to this very day is testimony of its greatest strength: its ability to foster and encourage further investigation and the presentation of new theories. Freud brought psychology to a new precipice as he delved into the workings of the inner mind.

Author Response Evaluating the Criticisms: Psychoanalysis and its Legacy Kristen M. Beystehner Northwestern University It seems to me that there are several common criticisms of my paper, "Psychoanalysis: Freud's Revolutionary Approach to Human Personality." First, several commentators are of the opinion that I failed to fully establish falsifiability of Freud's psychoanalytic theory. Second, several commentators believe that I did not adequately describe the most important criticisms of Freudian theory. Third, several commentators feel that I failed to fully resolve or refute the criticisms of psychoanalysis that I detailed in my paper. In this response, I will attempt to reply to these and all of the other valuable criticisms made by the authors of the peer commentaries on my article. In her commentary, "Analyzing Psychoanalysis," Cheryan cites two weaknesses of my paper to be the omission of feminist critics of psychoanalysis and the omission of recent research concerning homosexuality. As Cheryan writes, "Critiques of Freud stretch farther than examined in this article." I am in agreement with this point. Clearly Freud and psychoanalysis have been criticized and attacked from nearly every angle. In choosing to classify the criticisms of Freud into the three categories of criticisms of Freud's evidence, Freud's technique, and the basic principles of psychoanalysis, I was attempting merely to highlight some of the criticisms that appeared to be significant and mentioned by many authors. Perhaps with a bit more research, I would have found more criticisms of the type Cheryan mentions, but because of the vast number of criticisms against Freud and his work, it was necessary that I select several areas of criticism on which to focus my article. Like Cheryan, Rawal points out in her article that I failed to investigate psychoanalysis' inability to explain certain behaviors in our modern world. She too cites the examples of homosexuality and the overall inadequacy of the theory's positions on the sexual and emotional development of females. I have to agree with Rawal and Cheryan that one of the greatest oversights of Freud was his failure to develop his theory well enough for females. This was due, as Rawal notes in her commentary, to the time period in which Freud worked, an era that was definitely male-dominated. In his commentary, "Freud Alone," Plaut mentions a statement in my paper with which he finds fault. In my paper, I stated that the superego's demands are managed by the id. Plaut goes on to explain how "nothing can really be 'managed' by the id, nor the superego." Upon review of my sources, I have to conclude that I misinterpreted some information. In short, this statement in my paper is, in fact, false. To correct this error, I wish to emphasize the fact that the demands of both the superego and the id are managed by the ego. Plaut also cites my use of the term "Electra complex," a term with which Freud did not personally agree. Once again, Plaut is correct here. The term was first used by Jung, and Freud did, in fact, argue against its introduction in one of his papers. I must admit that I did realize that Freud did not coin the term "Electra complex," but I included it in my paper for two reasons. First, the term is used by many critics and appears to be generally accepted, and second, I felt that the term made differentiating between the developmental experiences of males and females easier for the reader to comprehend. Plaut states in his article that "only Freud's writings are addressed as far as psychoanalytic theory goes, and all of the innovations within Freud's framework are ignored." He is correct here, and I agree with him that psychoanalysis has come a long way since Freud. However, the purpose of my particular paper was not to provide a current update of those innovations. Instead, I attempted to provide an overview of Freud's theory, not the theories of his successors. Finally, I evaluated whether or not I believe Freud's specific theory of psychoanalysis, not the practice of psychoanalysis in general, is indeed a valuable theory of human personality. Plaut also asserts that I failed to emphasize the right points. He believes that, although the question of whether or not psychoanalysis has a solid, scientific foundation may be an important issue, "it is essentially a secondary one." I disagree. Many of the foremost critics of psychoanalysis find fault with the theory because they believe that it is not scientific. Consequently, I believe that the arguments for and against this argument are indeed extremely important, far more important than Plaut acknowledges. Finally, Plaut asserts that many modern analysts would simply concede that psychoanalysis is a science and "go on their merry post-Freudian way." However, I find this hard to accept because I have found criticisms stating the exact opposite of Plaut's remark. As I stated in my paper, Storr (1981) insists, "Only a few fundamentalist psychoanalysts of an old-fashioned kind think that Freud was a scientist or that psychoanalysis was or could be a scientific enterprise" (p. 260). There is quite a difference between "many modern analysts," as Plaut asserts and "only a few fundamentalist psychoanalysts," according to Storr. This and the importance of the issue of whether psychoanalysis is indeed a science are definite sources of disagreement between Plaut's beliefs and my own. In "Psychoanalysis: A Not-So-Great Idea?" Lin first cites my omission of Freudian slips as a significant error. Although I did allude to Freudian slips, or "parapraxes" in the section of my paper detailing the method of psychoanalytic treatment, Lin is correct in stating that I failed adequately to explain their nature. In regards to this and other brief descriptions of various topics in my paper of which Lin would like to see more explanation, I was merely trying to be succinct. I highlighted the basics of Freud's theory, and I maintain that the primary aspects of his psychoanalytic theory are explained quite adequately. Lin also cites my use of one of Freud's quotations in my conclusion and the fact that recent research has shown that, according to Lin, "Freud did not completely understand himself, which would contribute to his flawed data results." In regards to this point, I must admit that I am not familiar with the research Lin cites, and I can only offer my intent for including this quotation, which was merely to illustrate Freud's opinion that only individuals schooled in the details of psychoanalytic theory are in a position whereby they can offer their views of psychoanalysis. Perhaps more important though is the criticism of both Lin and Jones that I failed to establish psychoanalysis as a falsifiable theory. However, I believe that falsifiability is a somewhat straightforward issue. In my opinion, because methods of treatment other than psychoanalysis have been used successfully in the treatment of mental illness, psychoanalysis has indeed been falsified. Among the alternative methods that have been proven effective are behavior and cognitive therapy, not to mention spontaneous remission or placebo treatment (Eysenck, 1986, p. 236). Lin also considers the conclusion of my paper to be vague and in need of more examples. In attempting to be brief, I may have inadvertently neglected a few of the details that Lin mentions. First, in regards to my statement that "irrelevant and false assumptions are made all too frequently" in the field of psychoanalysis, I was referring primarily to the types of generalizations whereby psychoanalysts, for instance, define the causes of all sorts of mental issues to be due to unresolved Oedipal and Electra complexes. This type of generalization is, in my opinion, exaggerated and lacking in common sense. Second, in regards to my statement that psychoanalysis "can be applied in practical ways," I was referring to its use as a method of treatment of various mental illnesses, its attempt at explaining the inner workings of the human mind in the context of the world and the environment, and its ability to serve as a catalyst for further investigation of other psychological theories. I apologize for this apparent lack of clarity. Lin and Jones both believe that the strengths of psychoanalysis that I detailed do not stack up to the many criticisms of the theory. However, I disagree. The fact that psychoanalysis has withstood the test of time so well indicates without a doubt that at least parts of the theory are accurate. In addition, Freud's influence on the field of psychology remains strong even today. The legacy that Freud left behind is tremendous, and his theories have furthered the field of psychology in an infinite number of ways. Although my paper detailed many criticisms of Freud's theory, I believe that these only serve to further illustrate one of psychoanalysis' greatest strengths: its controversiality. As a direct result of Freud's theory, additional psychological theories and hypotheses have been developed that otherwise may have been missed. This, in my opinion, is by far the greatest achievement of Freud's psychoanalytic theory and overshadows any and all of its many criticisms. In his commentary "Great Ideas, But Great Science?" Jones asserts the primary weaknesses of my article to be many of the same criticisms made by Lin , as I have noted previously. These include the arguments that the criticisms of psychoanalysis are left unresolved, that the strengths of psychoanalysis are vague and do not stack up well against its many criticisms, and that the falsifiability of the theory is not well-established. In addition, Jones finds fault with my categorization of the criticisms of Freud and his theory. He emphasizes that, "Freud and his theories are criticized on all levels. Attacks range from his intentions to his empirical evidence." I strongly agree with Jones on this issue. Jones seems to be bothered by the conflicting criticisms and my lack of discussion regarding each one. However, I believe much of the criticism that I detailed is somewhat self-explanatory, and in response to Jones' assertion that the "reader is left thinking only of Freud's flaws," I believe that the strengths of Freud's theory, including its legacy, serendipitous quality, and controversiality, are indeed strong enough to overpower the many arguments against it. Jones , like Lin , maintains that the falisifiability of psychoanalysis is not well-established though he insists this is in part due to the somewhat vague statement in my conclusion that "other methods have been proven effective." As I mentioned previously, behavioral and cognitive therapy have both been successful in the treatment of mental illnesses. Therefore, I would like to reiterate that psychoanalysis has definitely been falsified as was noted by Eysenck (1986) and many other critics. As a result, contrary to the opinion of Jones, psychoanalysis does meet this aspect of the definition of a scientific theory and should therefore, in my opinion, be considered scientific. All of the criticisms from each of the peer commentators are valuable and interesting. However, I believe that no critic can deny the fact that psychoanalysis is indeed a "great" idea of human personality. Clearly, psychoanalysis is an important tool in practice. It provides great insight into the inner workings of the human mind, provides a deeper understanding as to the fundamental problems that cause mental illness, and its controversiality has resulted in the investigation and development of many other psychological theories. In my opinion, these tremendous achievements of Freud and his theory far outweigh the many criticisms. It is my desire, along with many other supporters of psychoanalysis, that the theory of psychoanalysis be fully appreciated for its relevance and profound effects on modern-day psychology as well as its use in the clinical environment, despite the many criticisms against it.

References American Psychoanalytic Association (1998, January 31). About psychoanalysis [WWW document]. URL http://www.apsa.org/pubinfo/about.htm Colby, K. M. (1960). An introduction to psychoanalytic research. New York: Basic. Edelson, M. (1986). The evidential value of the psychoanalyst's clinical data. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 232-234. Erwin, E. (1986). Defending Freudianism. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 235-236. Eysenck, H. J. (1986). Failure of treatment--failure of theory? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 236. Farrell, B. A. (1981). The standing of psychoanalysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Freud, S. (1949). An outline of psychoanalysis. New York: Norton. Gay, P. (1989). Sigmund Freud: A brief life. In J. Strachy (Ed.), An outline of psychoanalysis (pp. vii-xx). New York: Norton. Greenberg, R. P. (1986). The case against Freud's cases. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 240-241. Grünbaum, A. (1986). Précis of The foundations of psychoanalysis: A philosophical critique. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 217-284. Holt, R. R. (1986). Some reflections on testing psychoanalytic hypotheses. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 242-244. Loftus, E. F. (1993a). Desperately seeking memories of the first few years of childhood: The reality of early memories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 122, 274-277. Loftus, E. F. (1993b). The reality of repressed memories. American Psychologist, 48, 518-537. Loftus, E. F. (1995, March-April). Remembering dangerously. Skeptical Inquirer, 20-29. National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (1998, January 31). The making of a psychoanalyst [WWW document]. URL http://www.npap.org/inst.htm Notturno, M. A., & McHugh, P. R. (1986). Is Freudian psychoanalytic theory really falsifiable? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 250-252. Popper, K. (1986). Predicting overt behavior versus predicting hidden states. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 254-255. Rand, N., & Torok, M. (1997). Questions for Freud: The secret history of psychoanalysis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Spence, D. P. (1986). Are free associations necessarily contaminated? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 259. Wax, M. L. (1986). Psychoanalysis: Conventional wisdom, self knowledge, or inexact science? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 264-265.

Freudian Psychology

Freud is everywhere, at 161, sigmund freud is still "alive.".

Posted May 5, 2017 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

• What Is Freudian Psychology?
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Freud revolutionized the understanding and treatment of mental disorders. He created the psychoanalytic theory of personality . But beyond this, he profoundly changed our understanding of humanity, thought, and culture. Freud, like Darwin, disturbed the sleep of the world by revealing hitherto unpalatable, but fundamental, truths about human nature.

Contested and criticized, Freudian theory still permeates Western culture and scholarship. Modern neuroscience confirms Freud’s insight that most of mental life takes place outside of awareness. That the sexual drive and aggressive impulses are inseparable from human thought and action has been generally acknowledged.

Though inevitably subject to continuing advances and modification, Freud's basic formulations about the functioning of the human mind have stood the test of time.

Initially a research neurologist, Freud contributed original technical medical studies of aphasia and childhood cerebral palsy. But he gradually abandoned neuropathology, broadening his efforts to more comprehensive studies of mental or psychological conditions that interfered with successful human functioning.

Freud's initial proposition was that the root causes of dysfunctional psychological symptoms (neuroses) that interfered with normal human functioning were the continuing harmful effects of traumatic experiences that had been repressed from conscious awareness but continued to control an individual’s conduct, feelings, and thinking.

The repressed memory of trauma resembled a fenced-off foreign body analogous to encapsulated lesions of tuberculosis. This focus on psychic trauma and its unconscious effects manifested in human thought and behavior made it possible to apply the scientific method to the study of consciousness, despite the inability of science at that time to connect consciousness with neurological structures and activities.

Freud, however, looked beyond patients who continued to suffer from the effects of traumatic psychic experiences and recognized the universal role of unconscious conflict and fantasy in all persons.

In particular, he inferred that sexual and aggressive fantasies were among the universal determinants of emotion , thought, and behavior. Moreover, to elaborate a scientific approach to cause and effect in studying these determinants of human personality, Freud proposed that the human sexual drive influenced mental life in a developmental sequence. He loosely referred to the sexual drive as "libido" and to the organizing psychological effects as “libidinal phases of development," which he identified as the now well-known oral, anal, and phallic libido phases. Freud’s theories of personality development were a necessary precursor to the development of today’s far more complex psychoanalytic theories of personality.

Freud’s profound influence grew not only from the breadth of his theoretical interests but also from the universality of his sources. His genius was reflected in his integration of isolated, diverse, and often inconsistent sources.

Foremost, he relied upon his self-analysis, primarily accomplished through dreams and free associations, implicitly recognizing that human psychic processes are universal. He also learned from the myths and legends of antiquity and the intuitive insights of the great writers, philosophers and artists of different times, places and cultures, e.g. Sophocles and Shakespeare, Goethe, and Schopenhauer, Dostoyevsky and Dickens, Leonardo and Michelangelo.

As a child, Freud learned the Yiddish and German of his parents and the rudiments of the Czech dialects of his nursemaids. As a youth, he learned English to read Shakespeare, and Spanish to read Cervantes. Freud’s education exposed him to the tensions of particularity and universality in language itself, which he later applied to his studies of dreams.

Freud understood sleep and dreams in a profoundly different way than prior cultures, such as ancient Greece. In his view, dreams continued to be a source of important knowledge, but not knowledge of future events. For Freud, dreams provided self-knowledge by recapturing our recent and remote past.

Freud distinguished between manifest (conscious) and latent (unconscious) content of dreams and daydreams. He determined that the manifest content was constructed, defensively, to disguise unacceptable latent content. His ideas about psychological defenses, such as denial , repression , regression , projection , isolation, undoing, reaction formation , and reversal, became part of commonplace understanding ("The lady doth protest too much" Shakespeare, Hamlet ). The latent content of dreams encompassed forbidden, usually sexual and aggressive, wishful fantasies of childhood.

Freud captured the educated public’s attention with his ideas of the Oedipus complex, castration complex, primal scene, and family romance, all formulated from Freud's self-analysis of his own dreams and associations. Dreams and associated screen memories were disguised and distorted pathways to the reconstruction of the formative events of our childhood, which could be revealed in clinical psychoanalysis .

For Freud, dreams were "the royal road to the understanding of the unconscious mind." He considered The Interpretation of Dreams as his masterwork. "We are of such stuff as dreams are made on," (Shakespeare, The Tempest ).

It is no longer possible to see a play or other work of art without drawing upon Freud's penetrating vision. No modern biography is without inquiry into the subject's childhood, family, and traumatic as well as beneficial early experience.

While Freud was courageous and even firm in his convictions, he invited change and development to his theories in the light of new knowledge and experience. He regarded femininity as a "dark continent," aware that his formulations concerning women were highly controversial and subject to future transformation.

Finally, Freud’s influence has depended not only on the power of his theoretical insights and the breadth of his interests and sources, but also on his remarkable capacity to distinguish the significant from the insignificant, and his ability to communicate with great clarity, precision, and goal direction, without jargon, or distracting and superfluous detail. His speech and writing were characterized by elegant construction with ample metaphors, analogies, anecdotes, and illustrations. Freud's case histories read like detective novels or suspenseful short stories with themes further illustrated by repetition and expansion. Freud wrote for the educated general public, not just technicians.

Still with us, Freud remains indispensable as part of the continuing dialogue among students of psychology and behavior, and among members of the general public concerned with issues of mental health, politics , and culture.

About the Author: Dr. Harold Blum is Executive Director Emeritus for the Sigmund Freud Archives. and a Distinguished Fellow, American Psychiatric Association and President, Psychoanalytic Research and Development Fund.

Kristen Beesley, Ph.D., a psychoanalyst in private practice in Detroit, is on faculty at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute.

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Psychoanalysis: A History of Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

However, psychoanalysis is much more than a quirky approach to understanding the human mind. It’s a specific form of talking therapy, grounded in a complex theory of human development and psychological functioning.

In this article, we’ll introduce the history of psychoanalytic theory, the basic tenets of the psychoanalytic model of the mind, and the clinical approach called psychoanalysis. We’ll explain the differences between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy and consider some criticisms of psychoanalysis.

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This Article Contains

What is psychoanalysis a definition and history of psychoanalytic theory, the approach: psychoanalytic perspective, techniques of psychoanalytic therapy, psychodynamic vs. psychoanalytic theory, psychoanalysis vs. psychotherapy, psychoanalysis test: the freudian personality test, criticisms of psychoanalytic theory, a take-home message.

Psychoanalysis is a talking therapy that aims to treat a range of mental health issues by investigating the relationship between the unconscious and conscious elements of psychological experience using clinical techniques like free association and dream interpretation (Pick, 2015).

Contemporary psychoanalysis has evolved a great deal from its roots in the classical Freudian approach, which developed in Vienna during the late 19th century.

Today, there are several psychoanalytic schools that adhere to different models of the mind and clinical approaches. These include the object relations school associated with Klein and Winnicott, Jung’s analytic psychology, and Lacanian psychoanalysis (Gaztambide, 2021).

Many controversies abound between these different approaches today, although all can be classified as an approach to psychoanalysis.

A common thread between them is their focus on the transference and countertransference dynamics between the analyst and analysand as the vehicle of psychological transformation and healing (Pick, 2015). This is explained further below.

Freudian theory: Sigmund Freud & psychoanalysis

The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, was born in Austria and spent most of his childhood and adult life in Vienna (Gay, 2006). He entered medical school and trained as a neurologist, earning a medical degree in 1881.

Soon after his graduation, he set up in private practice and began treating patients with psychological disorders. His colleague Dr. Josef Breuer’s intriguing experience with a patient, “Anna O.,” who experienced a range of physical symptoms with no apparent physical cause (Breuer & Freud, 1895/2001) drew his attention.

Dr. Breuer found that her symptoms abated when he helped her recover memories of traumatic experiences that she had repressed from conscious awareness. This case sparked Freud’s interest in the unconscious mind and spurred the development of some of his most influential ideas.

You can read more about the clinical origins of psychoanalysis in the original text Studies on Hysteria (Breuer & Freud, 1895/2001).

Models of the mind: Ego, id, & superego

Perhaps Freud’s greatest impact on the world was his model of the human mind, which divides the mind into three layers, or regions.

• Conscious Housing our current thoughts, feelings, and perceptual focus
• Preconscious (sometimes called the subconscious) The home of everything we can recall or retrieve from our memory
• Unconscious At the deepest level of our minds resides a repository of the processes that drive our behavior, including biologically determined instinctual desires (Pick, 2015).

Later, Freud proposed a more structured model of the mind that better depicted his original ideas about conscious and unconscious processes (Gaztambide, 2021).

In this model, there are three components to the mind:

• Id The id operates at an unconscious level as the motor of our two main instinctual drives: Eros, or the survival instinct that drives us to engage in life-sustaining activities, and Thanatos, or the death instinct that drives destructive, aggressive, and violent behavior.
• Ego The ego acts as a filter for the id that works as both a conduit for and check on our unconscious drives. The ego ensures our needs are met in a socially appropriate way. It is oriented to navigating reality and begins to develop in infancy.
• Superego The superego is the term Freud gives to “conscience” where morality and higher principles reside, encouraging us to act in socially and morally acceptable ways (Pick, 2015).

The image offers a context of this “iceberg” model of the mind, which depicts the greatest psychological influence as the realm of the unconscious.

Defense mechanisms

Freud believed these three components of the mind are in constant conflict because each has a different goal. Sometimes, when psychological conflict threatens psychological functioning, the ego mobilizes an array of defense mechanisms to prevent psychological disintegration (Burgo, 2012).

These defense mechanisms include:

• Repression The ego prevents disturbing memories or threatening thoughts from entering consciousness altogether, pushing them into our unconscious.
• Denial The ego blocks upsetting or overwhelming experiences from awareness, leading us to refuse to acknowledge or believe what is happening.
• Projection The ego attempts to resolve discomfort by attributing our unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and motives to another person.
• Displacement The ego satisfies an unconscious impulse by acting on a substitute object or person in a socially unacceptable way (e.g., expressing the anger you feel toward your boss at work with your spouse at home instead).
• Regression Ego functioning returns to a former stage of psychological development to cope with stress (e.g., an angry adult having a tantrum like a young child).
• Sublimation Similar to displacement, the ego overcomes conflict by channeling surplus energy into a socially acceptable activity (e.g., channeling anxiety into exercise, work, or other creative pursuits).

It is built on the foundational idea that biologically determined unconscious forces drive human behavior, often rooted in early experiences of attempting to get our basic needs met. However, these remain out of conscious awareness (Pick, 2015).

Psychoanalysis engages in a process of inquiry into adult defenses against unacceptable unconscious desires rooted in these early experiences and emphasizes their importance as the bedrock of adult psychological functioning (Frosh, 2016).

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A modern psychoanalyst may use a range of different interventions, depending on their school of psychoanalytic thought (e.g., object-relational, Lacanian, Jungian, etc.; Gaztambide, 2021).

However, there are four component techniques specific to psychoanalysis that we explain below.

What are the four ideas of psychoanalysis?

Interpretation

Interpretation refers to the analyst’s hypothesizing of their client’s unconscious conflicts. These hypotheses are communicated verbally to the client.

Generally, the analyst will attempt to make their client more aware of their defense mechanisms and their relational context, including their unconscious conflicts and the client’s motivation for mobilizing a particular defense mechanism (Kernberg, 2016).

There are three stages of interpretation (Kernberg, 2016):

• Clarification Where the analyst tries to clarify what is going on in the patient’s conscious mind
• Confrontation Gently aims to bring nonverbal aspects of the client’s behavior into their awareness
• Interpretation When the analyst proposes their hypothesis of the unconscious meaning that relates each aspect of the client’s communication with the other

Transference analysis

Transference refers to the repetition of unconscious conflicts rooted in the client’s relational past in the relationship with the analyst. Transference analysis involves tracking elements of the client’s verbal and nonverbal communications that aim to influence the analyst’s behavior toward the client (Racker, 1982).

For example, a client with a history of childhood trauma may begin to relate to the analyst as a threatening or predatory authority figure by expressing suspicion of the analyst’s motives, missing sessions, or becoming angry with the analyst.

The analysis of a client’s transference is an essential component of psychoanalysis and is the main driver of change during treatment. It provides the raw material that informs an analyst’s interpretations (Racker, 1982).

Technical neutrality

Technical neutrality refers to the analyst’s commitment to remain neutral and avoid taking sides in the client’s internal conflicts. The analyst strives to remain neutral and nonjudgmental by maintaining a clinical distance from the client’s external reality .

Additionally, technical neutrality demands that analysts refrain from imposing their value systems on the client (Kernberg, 2016).

Technical neutrality can sometimes seem like indifference or disinterest in the client, but that is not the goal; rather, analysts aim to serve as a mirror for their clients, reflecting clients’ own characteristics, assumptions, and behaviors back at them to develop a client’s self-awareness .

Countertransference analysis

Countertransference refers to the analyst’s responses and reactions to the client and the material they present during sessions, most especially the client’s transference.

Countertransference analysis involves tracking elements of the analyst’s own dispositional transference to the client that is co-determined by the client (Racker, 1982).

Countertransference analysis enables the analyst to maintain clinical boundaries and avoid acting out in the relationship with the client.

Following on from the example given above, an analyst working with a client with a history of childhood trauma may respond to the client’s transference by feeling dismissive or contemptuous of a client that misses sessions or expresses suspicion.

However, countertransference analysis enables the analyst to understand that such feelings are a response to the client’s transference rooted in their past relational conflicts. The analyst’s feelings are then observed as material for interpretation rather than expressed (Racker, 1982).

Psychodynamic theory agrees that clinical problems in adult life often originate in a client’s early relationships. It also considers a client’s current social context and their interactions with the immediate environment.

Both theoretical approaches agree on the following:

• The existence of unconscious drives/instincts and defense mechanisms
• The impact of the unconscious on human personality and behavior
• The importance of our earliest experiences in shaping later relational patterns
• The impact of internal factors on behavior, meaning behavior is never under a client’s complete control (Berzoff et al., 2008)

It may be helpful to further distinguish between the two by providing some examples of the differences and similarities in clinical approach.

First, both the psychoanalyst and the psychodynamic therapist work with transference and countertransference. In fact, any therapeutic approach that acknowledges and works with transference and/or countertransference may be termed psychodynamic, in part (Shedler, 2010).

Therefore, a psychodynamic therapist attends to their client’s communications to detect how deep-rooted unconscious conflicts may contribute to problematic behaviors, thoughts, and feelings in the present.

However, they also attend to the here-and-now social context of a client’s life to understand how real-world situations such as poverty, grief, abuse, violence, racism, sexism, and so on contribute to a client’s suffering (Berzoff et al., 2008).

A psychoanalyst will see their client (termed a patient, usually) every weekday over an indeterminate period of years. Meanwhile, a psychodynamic therapist will see a client less frequently, perhaps once or twice a week for several months or a few years, depending on the client’s needs. Psychodynamic therapy is more client centered in this respect (Berzoff et al., 2008).

A psychodynamic therapist may include techniques that are not psychoanalytic to work with transference and countertransference. These may include communication skills, such as active listening , empathy , and expressive arts interventions. Psychodynamic therapists are not limited in their approach by the traditional pillars of psychoanalytic technique mentioned above (Shedler, 2010).

A psychoanalyst works with their client on a couch to encourage regression and access unconscious material (Pick, 2015), while a psychodynamic therapist works face to face with a client sitting upright.

Now that we’ve clarified the differences between psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapy, let’s look at the difference between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy overall.

A psychoanalyst has a particular set of skills gained from their specific psychoanalytic training. Meanwhile, psychotherapists can train in a range of therapeutic modalities, including psychodynamic , cognitive-behavioral , humanistic , or integrative approaches (Wampold, 2018).

However, both professions focus on helping people via talk therapy. Both use their skills to help their clients gain insight into their inner worlds, address their psychological problems, and heal.

In fact, a psychoanalyst is a type of psychotherapist who specializes in psychoanalysis. Therefore, every psychoanalyst is also a psychotherapist, but not every psychotherapist is a psychoanalyst (Wampold, 2018).

Although you’ll need to consult a psychoanalyst for a more valid and reliable classification, this test can give you an idea of how psychoanalysts conceptualize personality .

The test is composed of 48 items rated on a five-point scale from Disagree to Agree. The results are in the form of scores ranging from 0% to 100% across eight personality types:

• Oral-receptive
• Oral-aggressive
• Anal-expulsive
• Anal-retentive
• Phallic-aggressive
• Phallic-compensative
• Classic hysteric
• Retentive hysteric

To understand more about Freud’s theory of psychosexual development and how it relates to personality, check out the video below.

Although psychoanalytic theory laid the foundations for much of modern psychology, it is not without flaws. Psychoanalysis is still practiced today, and psychoanalytic theory has since been updated because of our improved understanding of human behavior , neuroscience , and the brain (Frosh, 2016).

However, serious criticisms of the theory and its applications remain (Eagle, 2007).

The major criticisms include the following:

• Many of the hypotheses and assumptions of psychoanalytic theory cannot be tested empirically, making it almost impossible to falsify or validate.
• It emphasizes the deterministic roles of biology and the unconscious and neglects environmental influences on the conscious mind.
• Psychoanalytic theory was deeply rooted in Freud’s sexist ideas, and traces of this sexism still remain in the theory and practice today.
• It is deeply Eurocentric and unsupported cross-culturally and may only apply to clients from Western Judeo–Christian and secular cultures.
• Freud emphasized pathology and neglected to study optimal psychological functioning.
• The theory was not developed through the application of the scientific method, but from Freud’s subjective interpretations of a small group of patients from a specific cultural background and historical period (Eagle, 2007).

Given these valid criticisms of psychoanalytic theory, it is wise to approach Freud and his theories with skepticism.

Although his work formed the foundations of modern psychology, it did not develop from a scientifically validated evidence base and is not falsifiable. Therefore, Freud’s students and followers have borne the burden of attempting to provide evidence to support the scientific and clinical validity of psychoanalysis.

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While Freud’s classical psychoanalytic theory and traditional clinical technique have earned widespread criticism for their lack of a scientific evidence base or testability, the explanatory power of psychoanalytic theory has become part of popular culture in the West.

For example, we all know about the Freudian slip and generally accept that people often remain “unconscious” of certain aspects of themselves, their motives, behavior, and the impact they have on others.

Various defense mechanisms have become part of the everyday language of popular psychology, such as denial, repression, and projection.

There is also no denying that Freud’s interpretation of dreams has led to the widespread belief that our dreams actually mean something, rather than just being a series of random events that occur when we’re sleeping.

Meanwhile, the central therapeutic concepts of transference and countertransference have informed a widely accepted psychodynamic understanding of relationships, especially in health and social care settings. These ideas have also informed the development of safeguarding practices that uphold professional boundaries.

Some of Freud’s ideas may seem eccentric and of their time, but his legacy is far reaching and has influenced areas of thought far beyond the clinical practice of psychoanalysis.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. For more information, don’t forget to download our three Positive CBT Exercises for free .

Ed: Updated April 2023

• Berzoff, J., Flanagan, L. M., & Hertz, P. (2008). Inside out and outside in: Psychodynamic clinical theory and psychopathology in contemporary multicultural contexts . Jason Aronson.
• Breuer, J., & Freud, S. (2001). Studies on hysteria. In J. Strachey (Trans., Ed.), Complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. II (1893–95) . Vintage. (Original work published 1895)
• Burgo, J. (2012). Why do I do that? Psychological defense mechanisms and the hidden ways they shape our lives . New Rise Press.
• Eagle, M. N. (2007). Psychoanalysis and its critics. Psychoanalytic Psycholog y, 24 (1), 10–24.
• Frosh, S. (2016). For and against psychoanalysis . Routledge.
• Gay, P. (2006). Freud: A life for our time . W. W. Norton.
• Gaztambide, D. J. (2021). A people’s history of psychoanalysis: From Freud to liberation psychology . Lexington Books.
• Kernberg, O. (2016). The four basic components of psychoanalytic technique and derived psychoanalytic psychotherapies. World Psychiatry , 15 (3), 287–288.
• Racker, H. (1982). Transference and countertransference . Routledge.
• Pick, D. (2015). Psychoanalysis: A very short introduction . Oxford University Press.
• Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologis t, 65 (2), 98–109.
• Wampold, B. E. (2018). The basics of psychotherapy: An introduction to theory and practice . American Psychological Association.

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Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking World

Reflections on Freud, the first “wild analyst”

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• By Todd Dufresne
• May 6 th 2017

Sigmund Freud was a more radical and speculative thinker than many have been willing to concede. This is apparent in his many discussions of childhood sexuality . For example, few really understand how Freud’s conclusions about childhood sexuality predate by decades the clinical observations of actual children – later done by dutiful analysis, most often by women analysts like Melanie Klein and Freud’s own daughter Anna Freud, most often of children within their own families or close friends. Beyond that, readers sometimes forget that Freud’s commitment to speculation is practically institutionalized within psychoanalysis as the “metapsychology,” Freud at his most theoretical – and also most misunderstood. But it’s really very simple: the metapsychological speculations of the middle period (1912-1920), culminating with the death drive theory of Beyond the Pleasure Principle , simply developed the late Romantic philosophy and materialism of the early (1897-1912) and pre-psychoanalytic periods (before 1897); while the cultural works of the final period (1920-1939) simply developed and ratified the metapsychology of the previous three periods.

Yet instead of finding continuities between these four periods, scholars routinely favor a history characterized by disruption, internal revolution, and discontinuity. Instead of simply accepting the role that Freud himself assigned to metabiological speculation, scholars have spent a lot of effort minimizing or effacing it (thus ‘saving Freud from Freud’). Consequently, instead of seeing Freud’s final phase of cultural works as the natural culmination of Freud’s thinking about history and psychoanalysis, scholars have mostly treated it as a sideshow, sometimes an embarrassing sideshow, of incidental importance to the basic ‘discoveries’ of psychoanalysis.

But these scholars are wrong, as informed readers have known since the publication of Jones’s Freud biography in 1957; or since the publication of Frank Sulloway’s Freud, Biologist of the Mind in 1979. In both works one is left with a very clear picture of Freud’s commitments to biology. Take Freud’s last complete work, Moses and Monotheism , which has at times been dismissed as the ramblings of a self-loathing misanthrope with failing intellect. While that’s a convenient way to avoid thinking about Freud’s lifelong investment in biology, there’s no evidence at all that the quality of Freud’s thinking declined with age and sickness – only its quantity. The Moses is not, furthermore, a reassuring example of the so-called “late style” – as claimed by Edward Said – since Freud’s misanthropy and brooding late Romanticism didn’t just pop up at the end. On the contrary, and as Said should have known, the so-called “late style” is practically a staple of Freud’s thought throughout his life. Far from disposable, therefore, Moses and Monotheism is the inevitable consequence and, indeed, crowning achievement of Freud’s lifelong Lamarckianism.

Freud’s rude quip that an American patient was unsuited for psychoanalysis because he ‘had no unconscious’ doubles as my own quip to scholars, who refuse to follow Freud down the path of his own most radical speculations. Freud’s own version of the unconscious, based on psycho-Lamarckianism, is mostly missing from the literature – American and European.

This motivated gap in the literature on psychoanalysis, fueled by an incuriosity bordering on professional malpractice, is easily addressed by simply reading Freud. In Moses and Monotheism , Freud playfully enacts, through his rhetoric of repetition, the very theory of Lamarckian inheritance that characterizes his thinking. Such amused yet meaningful playfulness is hardly new in Freud’s work, and its appearance in his last major publication should reassure us that we are very far from an aberrant and therefore disposable ‘old Freud’. In fact, I think just the opposite. In my view the late Freud is very plainly and expertly instructing readers about the meaning of psychoanalysis, the meaning of his own legacy, and the foundation of his life’s work – all of it. And yet his playful discussion of repetition and recapitulation has never, to my knowledge, been fully interpreted in the vast literature on psychoanalysis – nor has it been understood. That’s pretty stunning for a work that was published about 80 years ago.

So why, again, was it missed? Well, the “American” tradition of psychoanalysis – notoriously practical-minded, optimistic about cure, love, and work, and more generally about the future – has made this work of interpretation, based on the fact of Freud’s psycho-biologism, especially difficult. The metabiology, even after Sulloway’s landmark book, remains nearly invisible. Yet Freud was always inclined toward abstraction and philosophy, always driven toward a brooding view of human nature, and, on the basis of his analysis of prehistory, was always pessimistic about change, cure, and the future. Freud’s psychoanalysis was not, in short, “American.” It was perversely European, but on its own terms, in its own way, always eccentrically (so much so that European thinkers of Freud have rarely understood this Freud any better than the Americans).

Freud was the first and only authorized ‘wild analyst’. This isn’t a complaint. The radicality of Freud’s vision, however dated and scientifically untenable, remains the most compelling and interesting aspect of his contested legacy. His passion for thinking is what outlives all his mistakes. It behooves us to respect that legacy, and not simply ignore or transform it into something else, something convenient, something un-Freudian.

Featured image credit: Group photo 1909 in front of Clark University. Front row: Sigmund Freud, G. Stanley Hall, Carl Jung; back row: Abraham A. Brill, Ernest Jones, Sándor Ferenczi. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons . 

Todd Dufresne is Professor of Philosophy at Lakehead University. He is a critic of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis, and has published books on Freud that have been translated into Japanese and Chinese. He is the author of the Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies article “ Sigmund Freud .”

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Recent Comments

Freud, the first “wild analyst”? Dufresne should reread Freud’s paper on “wild analysis”. The invitation still stands for Dufresne to visit the Hamilton Centre for Psychoanalysis and debate his criticisms of Freud.

Thank you,Armie,

I found this article incredibly enlightening!

Anyone who puts his own daughter on the couch and inquires about her Oedipus complex deserves to be called more than a “wild analyst.” He deserves to have his medical license revoked, be prosecuted by the Vienna authorities for child abuse, and not allowed visitation rights after serving a term in prison.

Sorry I didn’t see these replies until today. Thanks for the comments Norman, Linda, and Robert (if I may). Norman: I have, of course, read Freud’s essay on wild analysis; that is why I use the phrase… So if your remark is meant to be informative or, perhaps, vaguely cutting — it really isn’t. My small point, probably made popular by Paul Roazen in the 1970s, is that Freud may have created the rules but he felt free to ignore them. In this respect, his essay on wild analysis isn’t really the important source. I’d suggest, instead, that readers consult Freud’s essays on technique (1911-15) — which are striking as a very late discussion about a practice (“psychoanalysis) he named years earlier in 1896. Thanks for the invite, Norman — but I am uninterested in doctrinal debates with practitioners. If you want to know what I think, read my interviews or just read my latest book, The Late Sigmund Freud. I think you’ll find that I am very fair to Freud. Linda: thanks for your kind remark. I have a couple other recent blogs posted at Cambridge University Press, and an interview at The Vienna Psychoanalyst. Easy to find with a Google search — if you’re interested. Robert: Precisely. I was being kind. I’m trying hard these days to think about the *positive* aspects of Freud’s legacy — because the failings have been omnipresent in my mind for many years. Maybe readers other than critics will have an easier time digesting the bad or at least uncomfortable news. Or not.

Todd is uninterested in doctrinal debates with practitioners? Does NASA talk/confer with its astronauts? As for trying hard to think about the positive aspects of Freud’s legacy, try perusing the case histories of thousands of patients –reported by Freud, Karl Abraham, Helene Deutsch, Jean Lample de Groot and those in the current journals: THE PSYCHOANALYTIC QUARTERLY. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS.

Comments are closed.

Reasons for the Freudian revolution

• PMID: 335422

Freud's revolution may be viewed as the discovery of a way of locating in the mind objective entities which can be studied like physical things. If Freud's is representative of scientific revolutions, perhaps what Thomas Kuhn has described as a change of paradigm might generally consist of the demonstration of new entities. This particular revolution occurred in the setting of a prevalent concern about the entities underlying all of the sciences. Because of his genius for structural thought, Freud was able to respond satisfactorily to a challenge that all the sciences were facing. It is that common challenge rather than a popular exemplary model, such as mechanics or hydraulics, that shaped Freud's theory.

Publication types

• Historical Article
• Conflict, Psychological
• Forecasting
• Freudian Theory*
• History, 19th Century
• History, 20th Century
• Mental Disorders / etiology
• Mental Processes
• Philosophy, Medical
• Psychoanalysis / history
• Psychoanalytic Theory*

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Freud and His Discontents

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By Lee Siegel

• May 8, 2005

"CIVILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS" first appeared in 1930, and on the occasion of its 75th anniversary has been reissued by Norton ($19.95). A new edition of a classic text of Western culture is a happy occasion, not least because it offers the opportunity to debate the book's effect on the way we see the world -- or whether it has any effect at all. "Classic" can mean that an intellectual work is indisputably definitive in its realm, or it can mean that its prestige has outlived its authority and influence. Being leatherbound is sometimes synonymous with being timebound.

Freud's essay rests on three arguments that are impossible to prove: the development of civilization recapitulates the development of the individual; civilization's central purpose of repressing the aggressive instinct exacts unbearable suffering; the individual is torn between the desire to live (Eros) and the wish to die (Thanatos). It is impossible to refute Freud's theses, too. All three arguments have died in the minds of many people, under the pressure of intellectual opposition, only to remain alive and well in the minds of many others. To clarify the status of Freud's influence today is to get a better sense of a central rift running through the culture we live in.

In one important sense, Freud's ideas have had an undeniable impact. They've spelled the death of psychology in art. Freud's abstract, impersonal concepts have worn away the specificity of fictional character. By the 1950's, here and in Western Europe, it was making less and less sense to fashion the idiosyncratic, original inner and outer lives of a character in a novel. His or her behavior was already accounted for by the universal realities of id, ego, superego, not to mention the forces of repression, displacement and neurosis.

Thus the postwar rise of the nouveau roman, with its absence of character, and of the postmodern and experimental novels, with their many strategies -- self-annulling irony, deliberate cartoonishness, montage-like "cutting" -- for releasing fiction from its dependence on character. For all the rich work published after the war, there's barely a fictional figure that has the memorableness of a Gatsby, a Nick Adams, a Baron Charlus, a Leopold Bloom, a Settembrini. And that's leaving aside the magnificent 19th century, when authors plumbed the depths of the human mind with something on the order of clairvoyance. Of course, before that, there was Shakespeare. And Cervantes. And Dante. And . . . It seems that the further back you go in time, away from Freud, the deeper the psychological portraits you encounter in literary art. Nowadays, often even the most accomplished novels offer characters that are little more than flat, ghostly reflections of characters. The author's voice, or self-consciousness about voice, substitutes mere eccentricity for an imaginative surrender to another life.

But if we have Freud to blame for the long-drawn-out extinction of literary character, we also have Freud to thank for the prestige of film. The depiction of fictional people's inner lives is not the strength of the silver screen. Character gets revealed to us by plot turns, camera angles, musical scores -- by abstract, impersonal forces, much like Freud's concepts. In a novel, character is shaped from the inside out; in a film, it's molded from the outside and stays outside. How many movie characters can you think of -- with the exception, perhaps, of Citizen Kane -- whose names have the archetypal particularity of Isabel Archer or Sister Carrie?

For better or for worse, film's independence from character is the reason it has replaced the novel as the dominant art form in our culture. Yet Freud himself drew his conception of the human mind from the type of imaginative literature his ideas were about to start making obsolete. His work is full of references to poets, playwrights and novelists from his own and earlier periods. In the latter half of his career, he applied himself more and more to using literature to prove his theories, commenting, most famously, on Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky. "Civilization and Its Discontents" brims with quotations from Goethe, Heine, Romain Rolland, Mark Twain, John Galsworthy and others. If Freud had had only his own writings to refer to, he would never have become Freud. Having accomplished his intellectual aims, he unwittingly destroyed the assumptions behind the culture that had nourished his work.

Freud's universal paradigm for the human personality didn't mean only the decline of character in fiction. Its authoritative reduction of the human personality to developmental flaws undermined authority. The priest, the rabbi, the minister, the politician, the general may refer to objective facts and invoke objective truths and even ideals. They may be decent, reasonable people who have a strong sense of the reality principle, and of the reality of other people. But in Freud's eyes, they are, like everyone else, products of their own narrow, half-perceived conditions, which they project upon the world around them and sometimes mistake for reality. Nothing they say about the world goes unqualified by their conditions.

"Civilization and Its Discontents" itself is the product of a profoundly agitated, even disturbed, mind. By the summer of 1929, when Freud began the book, anti-Semitism -- long a staple of Austrian politics -- had become at least as virulent in Austria as in neighboring Germany. Hatred of Jews played a central role in Austria's Christian Socialist and German Nationalist parties, which were about to win a majority in parliament, and there was widespread enthusiasm for Germany's rapidly growing National Socialists. It's not hard to imagine that Freud, slowly dying from the cancer of the mouth that had been diagnosed in 1923, and in great pain, felt more and more anxious about his life, and about the fate of his work.

Perhaps it's this despairing frame of mind that leads Freud into sharp contradictions and intellectual lapses in "Civilization and Its Discontents." He writes at one point that "the low estimation put upon earthly life by the Christian doctrine" was the first great expression of hostility to civilized society in the West; yet elsewhere, he cites the Christian commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself as "one of the ideal demands, as we have called them, of civilized society." Later, in the space of two sentences, he gets himself tangled up when he tries to identify that commandment with civilization itself. He describes the sacred injunction as being "undoubtedly older than Christianity," and then catches himself, as if realizing that the idea of universal love was unique to Christianity, and adds, "yet it is certainly not very old; even in historical times it was still strange to mankind." Throughout the essay, Freud's hostility to Christianity is so intense that he seems determined to define civilization in Christian terms. The book should have been called "Christian Society and Its Discontents." That is what it really is.

And then there is the aggressive instinct, a universal impulse that Freud claims presents the sole impediment to Christian love and civilized society, but which he cannot quite bring in line with his earlier theories. It's as if he were, understandably, sublimating into theory his own feelings about the Christian civilization that, even before Hitler's formal ascension to power in 1933, seemed about to devour him and his family. Certainly, Freud's rage against the dark forces gathering against him has something to do with his repeated references, throughout the book, to great men in history who go to their deaths vilified and ignored. In one weird, remarkable moment, Freud introduces the idea of "the superego of an epoch of civilization," thus supplanting even Jesus Christ with a Freudian concept -- thus supplanting Christ with Freud.

But the most enigmatic, or maybe just incoherent, element of "Civilization and Its Discontents" is Freud's contention -- fancifully laid in 1920, in "Beyond the Pleasure Principle" -- that every individual wishes, on some level, to die. In "Civilization and Its Discontents," he does not account for this outrageously counterintuitive idea, explain his application of it to history or even elaborate on it. The notion appears toward the end of the book and then does not occur again. Nine years later, in exile in England, weak and ill, Freud committed physician-assisted suicide, asking his doctor to give him a lethal dose of morphine. For all Freud's stern kindness toward humanity, for all his efforts to lessen the burden of human suffering, Thanatos seems to be the embittered way in which he universalized his parlous inner state.

It hampers the understanding to read "Civilization and Its Discontents" without taking into consideration all these circumstances. If Freud has taught us anything, it's that any evaluation of authority has to examine the condition of those who stand behind it. As for repairing to "Civilization and Its Discontents" to gain essential elucidation of our own condition, the work seems as severely circumscribed by its time as by its author's situation.

Today, Freud's stress on the formative effect of the family romance seems less and less relevant amid endless deconstructions and permutations of the traditional family. His argument that society's repressions create unbearable suffering seems implausible in a society where permissiveness is creating new forms of suffering. His fearless candor about sex appears quaint in a culture that won't stop talking about sex. And a great many people with faith in the inherent goodness of humankind believe that they are living according to ideal sentiments, universal principles or sacred commandments, unhampered by Freudian skepticism. Yet there are, unquestionably, people for whom Freud's immensely powerful ideas are a permanent condition of their lives. Behind the declaration of ideal sentiments, universal principles and sacred commandments, they see a craven sham concealing self-interest, greed and the wish to do harm.

Neither of these two groups will ever talk the other out of its worldview. In this sense the conflict is not between the Islamic world and the "liberal" West; it is between religious people everywhere and people who, like Freud, see faith as an illusion, a set of self-deceiving notions about life.

To put it another way, Freudianism is not a science; you either grasp the reality of Freud's dynamic notion of the subconscious intuitively -- the way, in fact, you do or do not grasp the truthfulness of Ecclesiastes -- or you cannot accept that it exists. For that reason, the most intractable division in the world now is between those who believe that the subconscious plays a fundamental role in human life, and those who don't. That's the real culture war, and maybe even the real clash of civilizations.

ESSAY Lee Siegel is the book critic for The Nation, the television critic for The New Republic and the art critic for Slate.

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Freud and the 20th century. The Freudian revolution analyzed.

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This chapter discusses the impact of Freud on the twentieth century, describing the positive and negative outcomes of the "Freudian Revolution." Freud's extraordinary achievement was to show us, in scientific terms and through an unyielding insistence on the importance of sexuality, the primacy of natural desire, the secret wishes we proclaim in our dreams, the mixture of love and shame and jealousy in our relations to our parents, the child as father to the man, the deeply buried instincts that make us natural beings and that go back to the forgotten struggles of the human race. It is now possible to say that it is precisely Freud's old-fashioned scientific rationalism, his need to think of man as a physical being rather than a "psychological" one, that explains the primacy of Freud's discoveries. Perhaps it is because Freud was born a century ago that he had the old-fashioned belief that nothing is so important as carrying your ideas beyond the point at which everybody already agrees with you. What mattered most to Freud was relentlessly carrying on the revolution of human thought. (Reprinted from the New York Times Magazine, May 6, 1956.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)

Published: Jan 1, 1957

Keywords: Freud; Freudian revolution; sexuality; psychoanalytic theory; psychoanalysis; rationalism

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Sigmund Freud: Reflection

Sigmund Freud: Reflection example

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Regardless of the reaction and understanding of Sigmund Freud’s scientific legacy, the fact that his name is directly associated with the progress in psychology leads us to believe that Sigmund Freud had a significant impact not only on the field of psychology, but other branches of science as well. Generally speaking, his findings and theories, even receiving a large amount of denial in the post-Freudian era by other practicing psychologists, served as an impetus in development of the more relevant and accurate theories in the area of psychology that we know today.

As it was noted by a number of modern psychologists, many aspects of Freudian theory are indeed out of date (Westen, 1998). However, this notion can only be attributed to the general scientific progress of psychology. Freud died in 1939, and his legacy was only revised and reasserted in the aftermath, bringing new notions and sharpening the ones that we have already established. In that sense, the critique of Freud’s work, could be seen as a form of evolving in the context of scientific thought, as from Freudian views of the 1920s many theories and ideas gained a chance to be studied with the implementation of the modern day technologies and methodology. Freud’s work contributed to our understanding of the continuity of personality and the role of childhood experiences, notion of unconscious, human development, thus, providing a vast ground for many psychologists of today to establish further accuracy in investigation of the human psyche.If studied outside of the context of time, Freud’s views have significantly contributed to the development of contemporary thinking among practicing psychodynamic psychologists and psychiatrists. Since psychodynamic theory deals with similar thematic body that was studied by Freud, many of his theories could be regarded as the beginning of the long investigation of psychodynamic tendencies (Crews, 1996). Regarding studies in the area of social, cognitive, and personality psychology, it is fair to say that many of Freud’s propositions (including two instinctive drives – Eros and Thanatos) found their place in modern psychology, undergoing further development (Crews, 1996).

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September 1, 2015

Copernicus, Darwin and Freud: A Tale of Science and Narcissism

Freud did not originate his famous description of Copernicus and Darwin as deflators of humanity's anthropomorphic world-view.

By John Horgan

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

In a recent column I wrote : “In spite of all the blows dealt to our egos by science—beginning with the demonstration that the Sun and not the Earth is the center of the Solar System—many of us remain convinced that this universe was created for us, and that our destiny is unfolding according to a pre-ordained divine plan.”

The notion that heliocentrism was a blow to humanity’s narcissism is commonly attributed to Freud. But after reading my column, my buddy Gabriel Finkelstein, a historian of science at the University of Colorado, Denver, informed me that Freud got the idea from the 19th-century German physiologist-polymath Emil du Bois-Reymond, about whom Gabriel wrote a terrific biography. ( See this 2013 interview with Gabriel about his book .) As Gabriel details below, Freud was well aware of du Bois-Reymond’s work, as were other pioneers of mind-science. But first, consider this quote from Freud’s A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis (delivered as lectures 1915-1917 and first translated into English in 1920):

“Humanity has in the course of time had to endure from the hands of science two great outrages upon its naive self-love. The first was when it realized that our earth was not the center of the universe, but only a tiny speck in a world-system of a magnitude hardly conceivable; this is associated in our minds with the name of Copernicus, although Alexandrian doctrines taught something very similar. The second was when biological research robbed man of his peculiar privilege of having been specially created, and relegated him to a descent from the animal world, implying an ineradicable animal nature in him: this transvaluation has been accomplished in our own time upon the instigation of Charles Darwin, Wallace, and their predecessors, and not without the most violent opposition from their contemporaries. But man's craving for grandiosity is now suffering the third and most bitter blow from present-day psychological research which is endeavoring to prove to the ‘ego’ of each one of us that he is not even master in his own house, but that he must remain content with the veriest scraps of information about what is going on unconsciously in his own mind. We psychoanalysts were neither the first nor the only ones to propose to mankind that they should look inward; but it appears to be our lot to advocate it most insistently and to support it by empirical evidence which touches every man closely.”

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I love how Freud narcissistically suggests that his blow to our narcissism is mightier than those delivered by Copernicus and Darwin. Now compare Freud’s comments to the eulogy, “Darwin and Copernicus,” that du Bois-Reymond gave in Berlin after Darwin’s death of Darwin in 1882 (reprinted in Nature in 1883):

“Darwin seems to me to be the Copernicus of the organic world. In the sixteenth century Copernicus put an end to the anthropocentric theory by doing away with the Ptolemaic spheres and bringing our earth down to the rank of an insignificant planet. At the same time he proved the non-existence of the so-called empyrean, the supposed abode of the heavenly hosts, beyond the seventh sphere, although Giordano Bruno was the first who actually drew the inference. Man, however, still stood apart from the rest of animated beings— not at the top of the scale, his proper place, but quite away, as a being absolutely incommensurable with them. One hundred years later Descartes still held that man alone had a soul, and that beasts were mere automata… [After On the Origin of Species ] all things were seen to be due to the quiet development of a few simple germs; graduated days of creation gave place to one day on which matter in motion was created; and organic suitability was replaced by a mechanical process, for as such we may look on natural selection, and now for the first time man took his proper place at the head of his brethren… Though many links are still missing, we may fairly consider the knowledge of the existence of primeval man as the beginning of the long-looked-for connection between him and the anthropoids on the one hand, and between them both and their common progenitors on the other.”

Finkelstein adds the following comments on du Bois-Reymond’s influence on Freud and others:

“Freud planned to study with du Bois-Reymond but never made it to Berlin. Instead, he studied in Vienna with the professor of physiology at that university, Ernst von Brücke, who was du Bois-Reymond's best friend. Brücke was another mechanist physiologist (like du Bois-Reymond) from Berlin who had trained with Johannes Mülller; as students in 1842 he and du Bois-Reymond swore their famous pact to reject vitalist explanations in biology. Freud read du Bois-Reymond's popular essays on science and culture, including ‘Darwin and Copernicus,’ du Bois-Reymond's short obituary address, which was the source of Freud's trope.

“William James actually did make it to Berlin in 1867 to study neurophysiology with du Bois-Reymond, but he couldn't hack it and quit his studies. He also chafed under du Bois-Reymond's mechanism, and most of his early essays refer to du Bois-Reymond in some way. Wundt didn't study with du Bois-Reymond, but he did with his other close Berlin friend, Hermann von Helmholtz, who started his career in Berlin as another mechanist physiologist. Finally, Pavlov didn't study with du Bois-Reymond, but was inspired by du Bois-Reymond's student, Ivan Sechenov, sometimes called the father of Russian physiology. Sechenov discovered neural inhibition in 1863 in du Bois-Reymond's lab. So du Bois-Reymond had a direct or indirect influence on the four founders of the discipline of psychology. All from a guy who said that we would never understand the mind" (see Addendum ).

Finkelstein says that—to be fair to Freud--du Bois-Reymond “got most of his good ideas from people before him. I guess the moral is a) good ideas are timeless b) it's very hard to come up with anything new.”

Addendum : I didn’t get my idea for my book The End of Science from du Bois-Reymond, but I should have, because he wrote extensively—and presciently—about the limits of science. For more on his career, see Emil du Bois-Reymond: Neuroscience, Self, and Society in Nineteenth-Century Germany , by Gabriel Finkelstein. MIT Press. Also check out his 1874 essay “ Limits of Our Knowledge of Nature ,” The Popular Science Monthly . It spells out what philosopher Owen Flanagan has dubbed the mysterian perspective, which holds that consciousness is not solvable. 141 years later, mysterianism is as viable as ever.