Sigmund Freud

2017-09-08T15:00:08Z

Raiden: I corrected his age of death from 82 to 83 at the top of this entry.

[[Image:freud-thumb.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Sigmund Freud in his study]]
'''Sigmund Freud''' (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was the founder of [[psychoanalysis]], an [[Atheism|atheist]] and [[scientist]]. Because of the groundbreaking nature of most of his theory, Freud remains influential in the field of psychology, literary studies and history.

[[Jewish]] by birth, in 1938 he fled [[Vienna]] and persecution by the [[Nazi]]s to North [[London]], [[England]], where he lived until his death in 1939. Sigmund Freud died of maxillary [[cancer]] at the age of 83 due to cigar smoking.

==Early life==
Born on May 6, 1856 as '''Sigismund Schlomo Freud'''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=CkYxpgNybv0C&pg=PA11 Sigmund Freud: Explorer of the Unconscious]</ref> to Amalia and Jacob Freud.

== Religious studies==
Freud wrote two works on the psychological dimension of religion, ''Moses and Monotheism,'' and ''The Future of an Illusion.''<ref>Gregory Zilboorg, ''Freud and Religion: a Restatement of an Old Controversy,'' 49.</ref> Both, particularly the second, were attacks on religion.

== Theories ==
Today Freud is best known for his theories of the [[unconscious mind]], especially involving the mechanism of [[repression]]; his symbolic interpretation of dreams; his redefinition of sexual desire as mobile and directed towards a wide variety of objects; and his therapeutic technique, especially his understanding of [[transference]] in the therapeutic relationship and the symbolic interpretation of dreams as sources of insight into [[unconscious desire]]s.<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/Unconscious-Before-Freud-Lancelot-Whyte/dp/0312828705 See also The Unconscious Before Freud, by Lancelot Law Whyte, 1979]</ref>

Freud proposed that the human [[psyche]] consists of three parts -- [[ego]], [[super-ego]], and [[id]]—and that [[defense mechanism]]s are an attempt by the mind to resolve conflicts between the super-ego and the id. According to Freud's personality theory, the id represents the innate animal-like drives and instincts of the human being, consisting primarily of sexual and aggressive impulses. The super-ego consists of the learned rules and norms of the human being in their environment, derived from sources such as parental values, societal expectations, and religious teachings. When the id introduces impulses into the consciousness that are in conflict with the "rules" of the super-ego, anxiety can arise. For example, if one feels sexually attracted to the spouse of a family member, the super-ego promptly springs to action to remind us that these impulses are entirely unacceptable and offensive. The conflict between the id and the super-ego is thus born and the ego must resolve it or experience great anxiety.

Freud originally postulated childhood sexual abuse as the cause of neurosis.<ref>Masson, J. M. (1984). The Assault on Truth: Freud's Suppression of the Seduction Theory. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. page 187</ref><ref>Jones, E. (1953). Sigmund Freud: Life and Work. Volume 1. London: Hogarth Press, p. 289</ref> But he retracted this theory and replaced it with the Oedipus complex in the 1890s.<ref>Gay, Peter (1988). Freud: A Life for Our Time, Norton, page 96.</ref>

== Science issues==
Freud's theories are viewed by some as unscientific because they lack [[falsifiability]], as claimed by [[Karl Popper]].<ref>Popper, Karl R.: [http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/popper_falsification.html 'Science as Falsification'], ''Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge'' (London, 1963)</ref> Adolf Grünbaum disagrees with Popper's view, and argues that some of Freud's theories are falsifiable and may conceivably be correct. Grünbaum gives as an example Freud's ideas about the development of [[homosexuality]], referring to Freud's paper "The psychogenesis of a case of homosexuality in a woman."<ref>Grünbaum, Adolf, ''Validation in the Clinical Theory of Psychoanalysis'' (pp 320-321)</ref> Hans Eysenck has said that Freud's theories are falsifiable and therefore are a science, although an incorrect one.<ref>Eysenck, Hans ''Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire'' Transaction Publishers page 14</ref>

Freud's therapeutic methods continue to have a lasting importance in psychotherapy. As recently as 1987 approximately 75% of practicing therapists relied on Freud's psychoanalytic ideas in therapy.<ref>(Pope, K.S., Tabachnick, B. & Keith-Spiegel, P. (1987). Ethics of practice: The beliefs and behaviors of psychologists as therapists. ''American Psychologist, 42,'' 993-1006).</ref> Among the techniques instituted by Freud that are still in use today are:
*''talk therapy'' (simply talking through problems),
*''free association'' (allowing the client to say whatever comes to mind), and
*''transference'' (promoting an emotional relationship between the therapist and client in order to aid in the healing process).

Psychoanalysis as a [[clinical psychology|clinical]] method has in many cases been shown to be as effective as other ''talk therapies''.<ref>[http://ask.metafilter.com/99906/Different-types-of-therapy Different types of therapy]</ref> Freud may have been aware of his work being damaging and unscientific, as he mentioned to a fellow immigrant on the way to America that "[Freud] was bringing [the West/America] the plague," in reference to his work.<ref>"We are bringing them the plague." -Freud on his way to America in 1909. Quoted in Richard Noll, The Jung Cult: Origins of a Charismatic Movement (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), 47.</ref>

On the other hand, Freud's debunkers declare his "cures" to be the product of [[wishful thinking]] and ''conscious fudging'' as well as to suffer from usage of [[circular logic]]. Peter D. Kramer, a psychiatrist and author of a biography of Freud maintains that every particular of Freudian psychology such as the universality of the Oedipus complex, penis envy, and infantile sexuality, is wrong. Even Freud's most orthodox adherents do not defend his entire body of work in all its details.<ref>{{cite web |title=Freud in Our Midst |author=Jerry Adler |publisher=newsweek.com |date=March 26, 2006 7:00 PM |url=http://www.newsweek.com/freud-our-midst-106495 |accessdate=December 25, 2013 |quote=}}</ref>

==World War II==
In order to prevent [[Nazis]] from banning psychoanalysis as "Jewish science", Sigmund Freud thought he needed a non-Jewish spokesperson for the psychoanalysis movement. He choose [[Carl Jung]], an early supporter who later partially diverged from Freud's [[psychiatric]] theories.

==Death==
Freud passed away on September 23, 1939, at the age of 83.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9duCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 Sigmund Freud]</ref>

==Personal life==
Freud had six children. Had a vasectomy in 1923 on the belief that it would bring him physical and mental rejuvenation.<ref>http://www.theturekclinic.com/freuds-vasectomy/</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Anna Freud]]
* [[Edward Bernays]], nephew

== External links ==

*[http://www.jewishmag.com/71mag/freud/freud.htm The Jewish Side of Freud.]

== References ==
<references/>

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Sigmund Freud