Who is Freud and why is he famous? Freud

Sigmund Freud(full name - Sigismund Shlomo Freud) - Austrian psychologist, neurologist and psychiatrist. He is credited with founding psychoanalysis - a theory about the characteristics of human behavior and the reasons for this behavior.

In 1930, Sigmund Freud was awarded Goethe Prize, it was then that his theories gained recognition by society, although they remained “revolutionary” for that period of time.

short biography

Sigmund Freud was born May 6, 1856 in the Austrian town of Freiberg (modern Czech Republic), whose population numbered about 4,500 people.

His father - Jacob Freud, was married for the second time, from his first marriage he had two sons. He was engaged in the textile trade. Sigmund's mother - Natalie Nathanson, was half the age of her father.

In 1859 Due to the forced closure of the business of the head of the family, the Freud family moved first to Leipzig and then to Vienna. Zigmund Shlomo was 4 years old at that time.

Study period

At first, Sigmund was raised by his mother, but soon his father took over, who wanted a better future for him and in every possible way instilled in his son a love of literature. He succeeded and Freud Jr. retained this love until the end of his life.

Studying at the gymnasium

Diligence and ability to learn allowed Sigmund to go to school at the age of 9 - a year earlier than usual. At that time he already had 7 siblings. Sigmund's parents singled him out for his talent and desire to learn new things. To the point that the other children were forbidden to study music when he studied in a separate room.

At the age of 17, the young talent graduated from high school with honors. By that time, he was interested in literature and philosophy, and also knew several languages: German perfectly, English, French, Italian, Spanish, studied Latin and Greek.

Needless to say, during the entire period of his studies he was the number 1 student in his class.

Choice of profession

Sigmund Freud's further studies were limited due to his Jewish origin. His choice was commerce, industry, medicine or law. After some thought he chose medicine and entered the University of Vienna in 1873.

At the university he began to study chemistry and anatomy. However, what he liked most was psychology and physiology. Partly due to the fact that at the university lectures on these subjects were given by a famous Ernst von Brücke.

Sigmund was also impressed by the popular zoologist Karl Klaus, with whom he later carried out scientific work. While working under the leadership of Klaus “Freud quickly distinguished himself among other students, which allowed him to become a fellow of the Trieste Institute of Zoological Research twice, in 1875 and 1876.”

After university

Being a rationally thinking person and setting himself the goal of achieving a position in society and material independence, Sigmund in 1881 opened a doctor's office and began treating psychoneuroses. Soon after this, he began to use cocaine for medicinal purposes, first trying its effects on himself.

Colleagues looked at him askance, some called him an adventurer. Subsequently, it became clear to him that cocaine could not cure neuroses, but it was quite easy to get used to it. It took Freud a lot of work to abandon the white powder and gain the authority of a pure doctor and scientist.

First successes

In 1899, Sigmund Freud published the book "Interpretation of Dreams", which caused a negative reaction in society. She was ridiculed in the press; some of her colleagues wanted nothing to do with Freud. But the book aroused great interest abroad: in France, England, America. Gradually, the attitude towards Dr. Freud changed, his stories won more and more supporters among doctors.

Getting acquainted with an increasing number of patients, mostly women, who complained of various ailments and disorders, using hypnosis methods, Freud built his theory about unconscious mental activity and determined that neurosis is a defensive reaction of the psyche to a traumatic idea.

Subsequently, he put forward a hypothesis about the special role of unsatisfied sexuality in the development of neurosis. Observing human behavior, his actions - especially bad ones, Freud came to the conclusion that unconscious motives underlie people's actions.

Theory of the unconscious

Trying to find these very unconscious motives - possible causes of neuroses, he drew attention to the unsatisfied desires of a person in the past, which lead to personality conflicts in the present. These alien emotions seem to cloud the consciousness. They were interpreted by him as the main evidence existence of the unconscious.

In 1902, Sigmund was given the position of professor of neuropathology at the University of Vienna, and a year later he became the organizer "First International Psychoanalytic Congress". But international recognition of his services came to him only in 1930, when the city of Frankfurt am Main awarded him Goethe Prize.

last years of life

Unfortunately, Sigmund Freud's subsequent life was filled with tragic events. In 1933, the Nazis came to power in Germany, Jews began to be persecuted, and Freud's books were burned in Berlin. It got worse - he himself ended up in the Vienna ghetto, and his sisters in a concentration camp. They managed to rescue him, and in 1938 he and his family left for London. But he had only a year to live: he suffered from oral cancer caused by smoking.

September 23, 1939 Sigmund Freud was injected with several cubes of morphine, a dose sufficient to terminate the life of a person weakened by illness. He died at 3 a.m. at the age of 83, his body was cremated, and his ashes were placed in a special Etruscan vase, which is kept in the mausoleum Golders Green.

Freud was born in Freiberg (Moravia) on May 6, 1856. In his youth he was interested in philosophy and other humanities, but constantly felt the need to study the natural sciences. He entered the medical faculty of the University of Vienna, where he received his doctorate in medicine in 1881, and became a doctor at the Vienna Hospital. In 1884 he joined Joseph Breuer, one of the leading Viennese doctors, who was conducting research on hysterical patients using hypnosis. In 1885–1886 he worked with the French neurologist Jean Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière clinic in Paris. Upon returning to Vienna, he began private practice. In 1902, Freud's work had already received recognition, and he was appointed professor of neuropathology at the University of Vienna; He held this post until 1938. In 1938, after the Nazis captured Austria, he was forced to leave Vienna. The escape from Vienna and the opportunity to temporarily settle in London were organized by the English psychiatrist Ernst Jones, the Greek princess Mary Bonaparte and the United States Ambassador to France William Bullitt.

Psychoanalysis

In 1882, Freud began treating Bertha Pappenheim (referred to in his books as Anna O.), who had previously been a patient of Breuer. Her varied hysterical symptoms provided Freud with enormous material for analysis. The first important phenomenon was the deeply hidden memories that broke through during hypnosis sessions. Breuer suggested that they are associated with states in which consciousness is reduced. Freud believed that such a disappearance from the field of action of ordinary associative connections (field of consciousness) is the result of a process that he called repression; memories are locked in what he called the “unconscious”, where they were “sent” by the conscious part of the psyche. An important function of repression is to protect the individual from the influence of negative memories. Freud also suggested that the process of becoming aware of old and forgotten memories brings relief, albeit temporary, expressed in the relief of hysterical symptoms.

At first, Freud, like Breuer, used hypnosis to release repressed memories, and later replaced it with the so-called technique. free association, in which the patient was allowed to say whatever came to mind. Having proposed the concept of the unconscious, the theory of defense and the concept of repression, Freud began to develop a new method, which he called psychoanalysis.

In the process of this work, Freud expanded the range of data required to include dreams, i.e. mental activity that occurs in a state of reduced consciousness called sleep. Studying his own dreams, he observed what he had already deduced from the phenomenon of hysteria - many mental processes never reach consciousness and are removed from associative connections with the rest of experience. By comparing the manifest content of dreams with free associations, Freud discovered their hidden or unconscious content and described a number of adaptive mental techniques that correlate the manifest content of dreams with their hidden meaning. Some of them resemble condensation, when several events or characters merge into one image. Another technique, in which the motives of the dreamer are transferred to someone else, causes a distortion of perception - so, “I hate you” turns into “you hate me.” Of great importance is the fact that mechanisms of this kind represent intrapsychic maneuvers that effectively change the entire organization of perception, on which both motivation and activity itself depend.

Freud then moved on to the problem of neuroses. He came to the conclusion that the main area of ​​repression is the sexual sphere and that repression occurs as a result of real or imagined sexual trauma. Freud attached great importance to the factor of predisposition, which manifests itself in connection with traumatic experiences received during the period of development and changing its normal course.

The search for the causes of neurosis led to Freud's most controversial theory - the theory of libido. The libido theory explains the development and synthesis of the sexual instinct in its preparation for reproductive function, and also interprets the corresponding energetic changes. Freud distinguished a number of stages of development - oral, anal and genital. A variety of developmental difficulties can prevent a person from reaching maturity, or the genital phase, leaving him stuck in the oral or anal stages. This assumption was based on the study of normal development, sexual deviations and neuroses.

In 1921, Freud modified his theory, taking as a basis the idea of ​​​​two opposing instincts - the desire for life (eros) and the desire for death (thanatos). This theory, in addition to its low clinical value, has given rise to an incredible number of interpretations.

The theory of libido was then applied to the study of character formation (1908) and, together with the theory of narcissism, to the explanation of schizophrenia (1912). In 1921, largely to refute Adler's concepts, Freud described a number of applications of libido theory to the study of cultural phenomena. He then tried to use the concept of libido as the energy of the sexual instinct to explain the dynamics of such social institutions as the army and the church, which, being non-hereditary hierarchical systems, differ in a number of important respects from other social institutions.

In 1923, Freud attempted to develop the concept of libido by describing the structure of the personality in terms of the "Id" or "Id" (the original reservoir of energy, or the unconscious), the "I" or "Ego" (that side of the "Id" that comes into contact with with the outside world) and the “Super-I”, or “Super-Ego” (conscience). Three years later, largely under the influence of Otto Rank, who was one of his earliest followers, Freud revised the theory of neuroses so that it was again closer to his earlier concepts; now he characterized the “Ego” as the leading apparatus of adaptation and reworked the very understanding of the general structure of neurotic phenomena.

By 1908, Freud had followers all over the world, which allowed him to organize the 1st International Congress of Psychoanalysts. In 1911 the New York Psychoanalytic Society was founded. The rapid spread of the movement gave it not so much a scientific, but a completely religious character. Freud's influence on modern culture is truly enormous. Although it has declined in Europe, psychoanalysis remains the main psychiatric method used in the US and (to a lesser extent) the UK.

In the United States, psychoanalysis had a significant influence on literature and theater, especially on the works of such famous authors as Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams. Psychoanalysis inadvertently promoted the idea that all repression and suppression should be avoided lest it lead to an "explosion" steam boiler,” and that education should under no circumstances resort to prohibitions and coercion.

Although Freud's observations and theories have always been the subject of debate and often contested, there is no doubt that he made enormous and original contributions to ideas about the nature of the human psyche.

Freud's most famous works

Research hysteria (Studien über Hysterie, 1895), together with Breuer;
Dream interpretation(Die Traumdeutung, 1900);
Psychopathology of everyday life (Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens, 1901);
Lectures on Introduction to Psychoanalysis (Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse, 1916–1917);
Totem and taboo (Totem und Tabu, 1913);
Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci, 1910);
Me and It (Das Ich und das Es, 1923);
Civilization and its dissatisfied (Das Unbehagen in der Kultur, 1930);
New lectures on introduction to psychoanalysis (Neue Folge der Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse, 1933);
The Man Called Moses and Monotheistic Religion (Der Mann Moses und die monotheistische Religion, 1939).

From a young age, Sigmund was distinguished by exceptional abilities and a keen interest in the latest achievements of science. He is mainly attracted by the natural sciences - in their strict laws he hopes to find the key to the secrets of nature and human existence. But his curiosity and breadth of interests do not allow him to limit himself to just one area of ​​cognition. At the University, Sigmund is a member of the student union for the study of history, politics and philosophy, studying the works of Plato and Aristotle, as well as the texts of Eastern philosophers.

After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Vienna, Freud dreams of a career as a scientist, but he is forced to take care of “a piece of bread” and therefore becomes a practicing neurologist. He works in one of the Vienna psychiatric clinics under the leadership of the largest psychiatrist and neurologist of that time, T. Meinert. During this period, Freud wrote several articles about original methods for studying nervous tissue and they quickly gained fame in the scientific world. Subsequently, his observations played an important role in the creation of neural theory - the main tenet of modern neurology. In 1881, Freud received his degree in medicine.

One of the reasons that prompted Freud to care not only about his scientific interests, but also about his material well-being, was his upcoming marriage. In 1882, he became engaged to Martha Bernays. Caring for his family and relationships with loved ones have always been extremely important to him. Subsequently, the problem of relations between fathers and children, as well as the intricacies of desires and duty in family relationships, become one of the main themes of his work.

That same year, an event occurred in Freud’s life that greatly influenced the further development of his views. By this time, Freud begins to feel the limitations of the physiotherapeutic treatment methods offered by neurologists. He becomes a student of Joseph Breuer, a successfully practicing doctor, who later became not only his teacher, but also a close friend. Breuer used light hypnosis to treat his patients and achieved fairly good results. At the end of 1882, Freud became acquainted with the story of Anna O., Breuer's patient. This girl lost her father, after which she developed hysterical symptoms: paralysis of the limbs, impaired skin sensitivity, speech and vision disorders. In addition, she had a split personality. The transition from one personality to another was accompanied by self-hypnosis, accompanied by stories about her daily life. During one of these conditions, she spoke in detail about how she developed one of the symptoms. When she returned to her normal state, she suddenly discovered that this symptom had disappeared. This event prompted Breuer to create a new method of treatment, which he called cathartic: he immersed the patient in a hypnotic state and asked him to tell in full detail about all the events accompanying the appearance of the symptom.

Despite his success in treating Anna O., Breuer suddenly refuses to continue working with her and hastily leaves with his wife for Venice. The reason for this is the passionate feelings that suddenly awakened towards him in the patient. When he refuses further sessions, Anna experiences a severe hysterical crisis, symbolizing childbirth. It turned out that even during treatment with Breuer she developed an imaginary pregnancy, which for some reason was not noticed by the doctor. Breuer is shocked and confused, he cannot find an explanation for this incident.

Since ancient times, hysteria has been called a “deceiving disease.” Usually, doctors did not take hysterical patients seriously, considering them to be ordinary malingerers, skillfully parodying the symptoms of various diseases - paralysis, asthma, stomach diseases, etc. The case of Anna O. awakened Freud's deep interest in this disease.

In 1885, Freud learned about the unusual methods of treating mental illnesses by the French doctor Charcot, nicknamed by his contemporaries “the king of neuroses.” Most of this scientist's work is devoted to the study of hysteria. To study the nature of this disease and its treatment, Charcot, like Breuer, uses hypnosis. The French school of neuropathology had rich clinical material and extraordinary successes in the study of hypnosis and hysteria, but in Vienna these studies were met with rather skepticism. Therefore, Freud decides to go to Paris to personally undergo training with Charcot.

Before leaving for Paris, Freud's fiancée, Martha, finds him engaged in a strange activity: he burns his letters and papers in the stove. He explains to her that he wants to make it difficult for his biographers to work, since he has a pre-existing dislike for them. To her objection that he will not have any biographers, he confidently replies that great people always have biographers... This scene is described by Sartre in his film script “Freud”. When this script was written, Freud's personality had already become legendary, and psychoanalysis acquired the force of one of the new mythologies of the twentieth century. It is difficult to say with certainty whether this conversation actually took place, but there is no doubt that Freud believed in his special destiny and this belief gave him perseverance and determination during the most difficult periods of his life.

Acquaintance with the works of Charcot, the “Parisian period” turned out to be a turning point in his fate. Charcot paid great attention to the patient's fantasy world; he argued that the causes of hysteria lie in the psyche, and not in physiology. In one of his conversations with Freud, he notes that, in his opinion, the causes of a neurotic’s illness lie in the characteristics of his sex life. These ideas, compared with the observations of Freud himself, as well as with the memorable case of Anna O., lead him to think about the existence of a special sphere of the psyche, hidden from consciousness, but having a great influence on our lives. Moreover, this sphere consists mainly of sexual drives and desires, one way or another manifested during treatment.

Nya.
In 1886, Freud returned to Vienna and in October gave a report to the Medical Society “on hysteria in men.” Mainly, he sets out Charcot's ideas in it, seeing in them the possibility of solving the riddle of this disease. However, his message was received rather skeptically and was soon forgotten. Having experienced deep disappointment, Freud returned to neurology, while also practicing medicine. His works “Aphasia” (1891), “Project of Scientific Psychology” (1895), “On Infantile Brain Paralysis” (1897) were published.

Together with Breuer, Freud continued to study hysteria and its treatment using the cathartic method. In 1895, they published the book “Studies on Hysteria,” which for the first time talks about the relationship between the emergence of neurosis and unsatisfied drives and emotions repressed from consciousness. Freud is also interested in another state of the human psyche, similar to hypnotic - dreaming. In the same year, he discovers the basic formula for the secret of dreams: each of them is the fulfillment of a desire. This thought struck him so much that he even jokingly suggested nailing a memorial plaque in the place where it happened. Five years later, he outlined these ideas in his book The Interpretation of Dreams, which he consistently considered his best work.

Developing his ideas, Freud concludes that the main force that directs all human actions, thoughts and desires is libido energy, that is, the power of sexual desire. The human unconscious is filled with this energy and therefore it is in constant conflict with consciousness - the embodiment of moral norms and moral principles. Thus, he comes to a description of the hierarchical structure of the psyche, consisting of three “levels”: consciousness, preconscious and unconscious. The preconscious consists of those desires and thoughts that were conscious, but were repressed; they can be quite easily returned to the area of ​​consciousness. The unconscious is made up of natural forces and instincts, the awareness of which is very difficult. In addition, Freud identifies three qualities of the psyche, three “actors” present in each of us, between whom confrontation constantly occurs. These characters are the Super-ego, the ego and the id. The first of them is the focus of moral norms and stereotypes dictated by society. It is a world of chaos, natural forces and attractions. The I that finds itself between them is forced to reconcile the demands of one and the other, also taking into account the conditions of the external world. Freud wrote: “The ego, driven by the id, constrained by the superego, repelled by reality,” is forced to make all its efforts to harmonize the relations between these three “masters.”

Freud's discoveries were received very coldly by puritanical Vienna. He himself wrote about this: “the attitude towards them was negative, imbued with a feeling of contempt, compassion, or superiority.” Scientifically accurate descriptions of the “other side” of the human soul, the play of instincts and unconscious elements, gave the prim scientists the impression of something base and obscene. Freud's theory was accepted as “a joke in bad taste” (P. Janet). But Freud remains true to the truth of scientific facts, maintaining rigor and impartiality. He doesn't make any compromises

From 1896 to 1902, Freud found himself in complete isolation. Even his mentor Breuer turns away from him, not wanting to harm his career. He devotes his years of solitude to continuing his research and receives new confirmation of the truth of his views. The emptiness that reigned around him was met with great courage and calm; later he calls this period “a wonderful, heroic time.”

Despite the negative reaction of the intellectual elite, Freud's extraordinary ideas are gradually gaining acceptance among young doctors in Vienna. In 1902, students and like-minded people gathered around Freud and a psychoanalytic circle was formed. During this period, Freud wrote “The Psychopathology of Everyday Life” (1904), “Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious” (1905), “Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis” (1909). In 1907, he established contact with the school of psychiatrists in Zurich and the young Swiss doctor K.G. became his student. Jung. Freud pinned great hopes on this man - he considered him the best successor to his brainchild, capable of leading the psychoanalytic community. In 1909, the two of them were invited to the USA to give lectures, where they performed with great success.

However, C. G. Jung is bold and independent in his judgments and he enters into an argument with his teacher. As a result of his own research and observations, Jung cannot agree that the main force driving the will and desires of all humanity is the energy of sexual desire, designated by Freud as libido. Jung also uses this term, but he understands by it an energy of a more general, global nature, a certain fundamental “life force” as such. A relationship that began with mutual admiration ends in litigation. At Freud's request, Jung was “excommunicated” from psychoanalysis and forced to name his method of psychotherapy differently: “analytical psychology.”

Freud is still surrounded by students, but in none of them does he see a worthy successor. He builds the theory of psychoanalysis on the model of natural science, with all its inherent rigor. That is why he demands from his students that they comply with these strict rules and follow clear principles and patterns. But the most talented students, one after another, leave him, creating their own directions. Despite all the blows of fate, Freud does not lose hope. He ends one of his books from this period of his life with the wish that “fate will grant an easy lift to all those who have become uncomfortable in the underworld of psychoanalysis, while the rest may be free to complete the work in its depths.”

Freud continues to work actively, psychoanalysis is becoming widely known throughout Europe, the USA, and Russia. In 1909 he gave lectures in the USA, and in 1910 the First International Congress on Psychoanalysis met in Nuremberg. In 1915-1917 he lectures in his homeland, at the University of Vienna. His new works are being published, where he continues his research into the secrets of the unconscious. Now his ideas go beyond just medicine and psychology, but also concern the laws of development of culture and society. Many young doctors come to study psychoanalysis directly with its founder.

Including S. Spielrein, L. Andreas-Salome, Nikolai Osipov, Moses Wulf from Russia. From 1910 to 1930 psychoanalysis was one of the most important components of Russian culture. In 1914, Freud wrote: “In Russia, psychoanalysis is known and widespread; almost all my books, like those of other adherents of psychoanalysis, have been translated into Russian.” The Russian Psychoanalytic Society included such bright psychologists as N.E. Osipov, L.S. Vygotsky, A.R. Luria. However, from the mid-20s, some of them were forced to change the topic of their research, abandoning psychoanalysis, while others had to continue working outside their homeland. Further development of psychoanalysis in Russia became impossible. The fate of S. Spielrein eloquently testifies to this. Returning to Russia in 1923, full of romantic hopes, she tries to continue her psychoanalytic practice, but ends her life tragically, alone and in poverty...

In the early 20s, fate again subjected Freud to severe trials: he developed jaw cancer caused by an addiction to cigars. The alarming socio-political situation is giving rise to mass unrest and unrest. Freud, remaining faithful to the natural scientific tradition, increasingly turns to topics of mass psychology, the psychological structure of religious and ideological dogmas. Continuing to explore the abyss of the unconscious, he now comes to the conclusion that two equally strong principles govern a person: the desire for life (Eros) and the desire for death (Thanatos). The instinct of destruction, the forces of aggression and violence manifest themselves too clearly around us not to notice them.

In 1933, fascism came to power in Germany and Freud's books, along with many others that were not acceptable to the new authorities, were set on fire. To this Freud remarks: “What progress we have made! In the Middle Ages they would have burned me; nowadays they are content to burn my books.” After the capture of Austria by the Nazis, Freud finds himself in the hands of the Gestapo and only the Queen of England, by paying a ransom for his life, manages to save him from imminent death. Freud and his family emigrate to England, where they spend the rest of their days.

Today, Freud's personality has become legendary, and his works are unanimously recognized as a new milestone in world culture. Philosophers and writers, artists and directors show interest in the discoveries of psychoanalysis. During Freud’s lifetime, Stefan Zweig’s book “Healing and Psyche” was published. One of its chapters is devoted to the “father of psychoanalysis”, his role in the final revolution in ideas about medicine and the nature of diseases. After the Second World War in the USA, psychoanalysis became a “second religion” and outstanding masters of American cinema paid tribute to it: Vincent Minnelli, Elia Kazan, Nicholas Ray, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin. One of the greatest French philosophers, Jean Paul Sartre, writes a script about the life of Freud, and a little later, Hollywood director John Huston makes a film based on it... Today it is impossible to name any major writer or scientist, philosopher or director of the twentieth century who has not experienced would be directly or indirectly influenced by psychoanalysis. Thus, the promise of the young Viennese doctor, which he gave to his future wife Martha, came true - he truly became a great man.

Biography of Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Shlomo Freud, the creator of the movement that became famous under the name of depth psychology and psychoanalysis, was born on May 6, 1856 in the small Moravian town of Freiburg (now Příbor) into the family of a poor wool merchant. He was the first-born of a young mother. After Sigmund, the Freuds had five daughters and another son from 1858 to 1866. In 1859, when the wool trade declined, the family moved to Leipzig, and in 1860 the family moved to Vienna, where the future famous scientist lived for about 80 years. “Poverty and misery, misery and extreme squalor,” - this is how Freud recalled his childhood. There were 8 children in the large family, but only Sigmund stood out for his exceptional abilities, amazingly sharp mind and passion for reading. Therefore, his parents sought to create better conditions for him. While other children learned their lessons by candlelight, Sigmund was given a kerosene lamp. So that the children would not disturb him, they were not allowed to play music in front of him. For all eight years at the gymnasium, Freud sat on the first bench and was the best student. Freud felt his calling very early. “I want to know all the acts of nature that have taken place over thousands of years. Perhaps I will be able to listen to its endless process, and then I will share what I have acquired with everyone who thirsts for knowledge,” a 17-year-old high school student wrote to a friend. He amazed with his erudition, spoke Greek and Latin, read Hebrew, French and English, and knew Italian and Spanish.

He graduated from high school with honors at the age of 17 and entered the famous University of Vienna to study medicine in 1873.

Vienna was then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, its cultural and intellectual center. Outstanding professors taught at the university. While studying at the university, Freud joined the student union for the study of history, politics, and philosophy (this later affected his concepts of cultural development). But of particular interest to him were the natural sciences, the achievements of which produced a real revolution in minds in the middle of the last century, laying the foundation for modern knowledge about the body and living nature. From the great discoveries of this era - the law of conservation of energy and the law of evolution of the organic world established by Darwin - Freud drew the conviction that scientific knowledge is knowledge of the causes of phenomena under the strict control of experience. Freud relied on both laws when he later moved on to the study of human behavior. He imagined the body as a kind of apparatus, charged with energy, which is discharged either in normal or pathological reactions. Unlike physical apparatus, an organism is a product of the evolution of the entire human race and the life of an individual. These principles extended to the psyche. It was also considered, firstly, from the point of view of the individual’s energy resources, which serve as the “fuel” of his actions and experiences, and secondly, from the point of view of the development of this personality, which carries the memory of both the childhood of all humanity and one’s own childhood. Freud, thus, was brought up on the principles and ideals of precise, experimental natural science - physics and biology. He did not limit himself to describing phenomena, but looked for their causes and laws (this approach is known as determinism, and in all subsequent work Freud is a determinist). He followed these ideals when he moved into the field of psychology. His teacher was the outstanding European physiologist Ernst Brücke. Under his leadership, student Freud worked at the Vienna Institute of Physiology, sitting for many hours at a microscope. In his old age, being an internationally recognized psychologist, he wrote to one of his friends that he had never been as happy as during the years spent in the laboratory studying the structure of nerve cells in the spinal cord of animals. Freud retained the ability to work concentratedly, completely devoting himself to scientific pursuits, developed during this period, for subsequent decades.

In 1881, Freud graduated from the university. He intended to become a professional scientist. But Brücke did not have a vacant place at the physiological institute. Meanwhile, Freud's financial situation worsened. Difficulties intensified in connection with his upcoming marriage to Martha Verney, who was as poor as he was. I had to leave science and look for a means of subsistence. There was one way out - to become a practicing doctor, although he did not feel any attraction to this profession. He decided to go into private practice as a neurologist. To do this, he first had to go to work in a clinic, since he had no medical experience. At the clinic, Freud thoroughly mastered the methods of diagnosing and treating children with brain damage (patients with infantile paralysis), as well as various speech disorders (aphasia). His publications about this become known in scientific and medical circles. Freud gains a reputation as a highly qualified neurologist. He treated his patients using the methods of physiotherapy accepted at that time. It was believed that since the nervous system is a material organ, the painful changes that occur in it must have material causes. Therefore, they should be eliminated through physical procedures, influencing the patient with heat, water, electricity, etc. Very soon, however, Freud began to experience dissatisfaction with these physiotherapeutic procedures. The effectiveness of the treatment left much to be desired, and he thought about the possibility of using other methods, in particular hypnosis, using which some doctors achieved good results. One of these successfully practicing doctors was Joseph Breuer, who began to patronize the young Freud in everything (1884). They jointly discussed the causes of their patients’ illnesses and the prospects for treatment. The patients who approached them were mainly women suffering from hysteria. The disease manifested itself in various symptoms - fears (phobias), loss of sensitivity, aversion to food, split personality, hallucinations, spasms, etc.

Using mild hypnosis (a suggested state similar to sleep), Breuer and Freud asked their patients to talk about events that once accompanied the appearance of symptoms of the disease. It turned out that when patients managed to remember this and “talk it out,” the symptoms disappeared, at least for a while. Breuer called this effect the ancient Greek word “catharsis” (purification). Ancient philosophers used this word to denote the experiences caused in a person by the perception of works of art (music, tragedy). It was assumed that these works cleanse the soul of the affects that darken it, thereby bringing “harmless joy.” Breuer transferred this term from aesthetics to psychotherapy. Behind the concept of catharsis was the hypothesis according to which the symptoms of the disease arise due to the fact that the patient had previously experienced an intense, affectively colored attraction to some action. Symptoms (fears, spasms, etc.) symbolically replace this unrealized but desired action. The energy of attraction is discharged in a perverted form, as if “stuck” in organs that begin to work abnormally. Therefore, it was assumed that the main task of the doctor is to make the patient re-experience the suppressed attraction and thereby give the energy (neuro-psychic energy) a different direction, namely, to transfer it into the channel of catharsis, to defuse the suppressed attraction by telling the doctor about it. This version about affectively colored memories that traumatized the patient and were therefore repressed from consciousness, the disposal of which gives a therapeutic effect (movement disorders disappear, sensitivity is restored, etc.), contained the germ of Freud’s future psychoanalysis. First of all, in these clinical studies, the idea “cut through” to which Freud invariably returned. Conflict relations between consciousness and unconscious, but disrupting the normal course of behavior, mental states clearly came to the fore. Philosophers and psychologists have long known that behind the threshold of consciousness are past impressions, memories, and ideas that can influence its work. The new points on which the thought of Breuer and Freud lingered concerned, firstly, the resistance that consciousness provides to the unconscious, as a result of which diseases of the sensory organs and movements arise (up to temporary paralysis), and secondly, resorting to means that allow remove this resistance, first to hypnosis, and then to the so-called “free associations”, which will be discussed further. Hypnosis weakened control of consciousness, and sometimes completely removed it. This made it easier for the hypnotized patient to solve the task that Breuer and Freud set - to “pour out his soul” in a story about experiences repressed from consciousness.

In 1884, Freud, as a resident at the hospital, was sent a sample of cocaine for research. He publishes an article in a medical journal that ends with the words: “The use of cocaine, based on its anesthetic properties, will find its place in other cases.” This article was read by the surgeon Karl Koller, Freud's friend, and at the Stricker Institute of Experimental Pathology he conducted research on the anesthetic properties of cocaine on the eyes of a frog, a rabbit, a dog and his own. With the discovery of anesthesia by Koller, a new era began in ophthalmology - he became a benefactor of humanity. Freud indulged in painful thoughts for a long time and could not reconcile that the discovery did not belong to him.

In 1885, he received the title of privatdozent and was given a scholarship for a scientific internship abroad. French doctors used hypnosis especially successfully; to study their experience, Freud went to Paris for several months to see the famous neurologist Charcot (now his name is preserved in connection with one of the physiotherapeutic procedures - the so-called Charcot shower). He was a wonderful doctor, nicknamed the “Napoleon of neuroses.” Most of the royal families of Europe were treated by him. Freud, a young Viennese doctor, joined the large crowd of trainees who constantly accompanied the celebrity during rounds of patients and during sessions of their treatment with hypnosis. The incident helped Freud get closer to Charcot, to whom he approached with a proposal to translate his lectures into German. These lectures argued that the cause of hysteria, like any other disease, should be sought only in physiology, in disruption of the normal functioning of the body and nervous system. In one of his conversations with Freud, Charcot noted that the source of oddities in the behavior of a neurotic lies in the peculiarities of his sex life. This observation stuck in Freud’s head, especially since he himself and other doctors were faced with the dependence of nervous diseases on sexual factors. A few years later, under the influence of these observations and assumptions, Freud put forward a postulate that gave all his subsequent concepts, no matter what psychological problems they concerned, a special coloring and forever connected his name with the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe omnipotence of sexuality in all human affairs. This idea about the role of sexual attraction as the main driver of human behavior, their history and culture gave Freudianism a specific coloring and firmly associated it with ideas that reduce all the countless variety of manifestations of life to the direct or disguised intervention of sexual forces. This approach, designated by the term “pansexualism,” gained Freud enormous popularity in many Western countries - and far beyond the boundaries of psychology. This principle began to be seen as a kind of universal key to all human problems.

As already mentioned, Breuer and Freud came to the clinic after working in a physiological laboratory for several years. Both were naturalists to the core and, before taking up medicine, they had already gained fame for their discoveries in the field of physiology of the nervous system. Therefore, in their medical practice, they, unlike ordinary empirical doctors, were guided by the theoretical ideas of advanced physiology. At that time, the nervous system was viewed as an energy machine. Breuer and Freud thought in terms of nervous energy. They assumed that its balance in the body is disturbed during neurosis (hysteria), returning to normal levels due to the discharge of this energy, which is catharsis. Being a brilliant expert on the structure of the nervous system, its cells and fibers, which he studied for years with a scalpel and a microscope, Freud made a brave attempt to sketch out a theoretical diagram of the processes occurring in the nervous system when its energy does not find a normal outlet, but is discharged along the paths leading to disruption of the organs of vision, hearing, muscles and other symptoms of the disease. Records have been preserved outlining this scheme, which has already received high praise from physiologists in our time. But Freud was extremely dissatisfied with his project (known as the "Project for Scientific Psychology"). Freud soon parted with him and with physiology, to which he had devoted years of hard work. This did not mean that from then on he considered turning to physiology pointless. On the contrary, Freud believed that over time knowledge about the nervous system would advance so far that a worthy physiological equivalent would be found for his psychoanalytic ideas. But he could not count on contemporary physiology, as his painful thoughts on the “Project of Scientific Psychology” showed.

Upon returning from Paris, Freud opens a private practice in Vienna. He immediately decides to try hypnosis on his patients. The first success was inspiring. In the first few weeks, he achieved instant healing of several patients. A rumor spread throughout Vienna that Dr. Freud was a miracle worker. But soon there were setbacks. He became disillusioned with hypnotic therapy, as he had been with drug and physical therapy.

In 1886, Freud married Martha Bernays. He met Martha, a fragile girl from a Jewish family, in 1882. They exchanged hundreds of letters, but met quite rarely. Subsequently, they had six children - Matilda (1887-1978), Jean Martin (1889-1967, named after Charcot), Oliver (1891-1969), Ernst (1892-1970), Sophia (1893-1920) and Anna ( 1895-1982). It was Anna who became a follower of her father, founded child psychoanalysis, systematized and developed psychoanalytic theory, and made a significant contribution to the theory and practice of psychoanalysis in her works.

In 1895, Freud finally abandoned hypnosis and began to practice the method of free association - talking therapy, later called "psychoanalysis". He first used the concept of “psychoanalysis” in an article on the etiology of neuroses, published in French on March 30, 1896. From 1885 to 1899, Freud conducted intensive practice, engaged in in-depth self-analysis and worked on his most significant book, The Interpretation of Dreams. The exact date is known when Freud deciphered his first dream: July 14, 1895. Subsequent analyzes led him to the conclusion that unfulfilled desires come true in dreams. Sleep is a substitute for action; in its saving fantasy, the soul is freed from excess tension.

Continuing his practice as a psychotherapist, Freud turned from individual behavior to social behavior. In cultural monuments (myths, customs, art, literature, etc.) he sought the expression of the same complexes, the same sexual instincts and perverted ways of satisfying them. Following trends in the biologization of the human psyche, Freud extended the so-called biogenetic law to explain its development. According to this law, the individual development of an organism (ontogenesis) in a brief and condensed form repeats the main stages of development of the entire species (phylogeny). In relation to a child, this meant that, moving from one age to another, he follows the main stages that the human race has gone through in its history. Guided by this version, Freud argued that the core of the unconscious psyche of the modern child is formed from the ancient heritage of humanity. The unbridled instincts of our wild ancestors are reproduced in the child's fantasies and his desires. Freud did not have any objective data in favor of this scheme. It was purely speculative and speculative. Modern child psychology, having vast experimentally verified material on the evolution of child behavior, completely rejects this scheme. A carefully conducted comparison of the cultures of many peoples clearly speaks against it. It did not reveal those complexes that, according to Freud, hang like a curse over the entire human race and doom every mortal to neurosis. Freud hoped that by drawing information about sexual complexes not from the reactions of his patients, but from cultural monuments, he would give his schemes universality and greater persuasiveness. In fact, his excursions into the field of history only strengthened distrust in scientific circles towards the claims of psychoanalysis. His appeal to data concerning the psyche of “primitive people”, “savages” (Freud relied on the literature of anthropology), aimed to prove the similarity between their thinking and behavior and the symptoms of neuroses. This was discussed in his work “Totem and Taboo” (1913).

Since then, Freud took the path of applying the concepts of his psychoanalysis to fundamental questions of religion, morality, and the history of society. It was a path that turned out to be a dead end. Social relationships of people do not depend on sexual complexes, not on libido and its transformations, but it is the nature and structure of these relationships that ultimately determine the mental life of an individual, including the motives of his behavior.

Not these cultural and historical researches of Freud, but his ideas concerning the role of unconscious drives both in neuroses and in everyday life, his orientation towards deep psychotherapy became the center of unification around Freud of a large community of doctors, psychiatrists, and psychotherapists. The time has passed when his books did not arouse any interest. Thus, it took 8 years for the book “The Interpretation of Dreams,” printed in an edition of 600 copies, to be sold out. These days, in the West, the same number of copies are sold monthly. International fame comes to Freud.

In 1907, he established contact with the school of psychiatrists from Zurich and the young Swiss doctor K.G. became his student. Jung. Freud pinned great hopes on this man - he considered him the best successor to his brainchild, capable of leading the psychoanalytic community. The year 1907, according to Freud himself, was a turning point in the history of the psychoanalytic movement - he received a letter from E. Bleuler, who was the first in scientific circles to express official recognition of Freud's theory. In March 1908, Freud became an honorary citizen of Vienna. By 1908, Freud had followers all over the world, the “Wednesday Psychological Society”, which met at Freud’s, was transformed into the “Vienna Psychoanalytic Society”. In 1909, he was invited to the USA; many scientists listened to his lectures, including the patriarch of American psychology, William James. Hugging Freud, he said: “The future is yours.”

In 1910, the First International Congress on Psychoanalysis met in Nuremberg. True, soon among this community, which declared psychoanalysis a special science different from psychology, strife began that led to its collapse. Many of Freud's closest associates broke with him yesterday and created their own schools and directions. Among them were, in particular, researchers who became major psychologists, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Jung. Most parted with Freud because of his adherence to the principle of the omnipotence of the sexual instinct. Both the facts of psychotherapy and their theoretical understanding spoke against this dogma.

Soon Freud himself had to make adjustments to his scheme. Life forced me to do this. The First World War broke out. Among the military doctors there were also those familiar with the methods of psychoanalysis. The patients they now had suffered from neuroses associated not with sexual experiences, but with the traumatic experiences of wartime. Freud also encountered these patients. His previous concept of neurotic dreams, which arose under the influence of the treatment of the Viennese bourgeois at the end of the 19th century, turned out to be unsuitable for interpreting the mental trauma that arose in combat conditions among yesterday's soldiers and officers. The fixation of Freud's new patients on these traumas caused by an encounter with death gave him reason to put forward a version of a special drive, as powerful as sexual, and therefore provoking a painful fixation on events associated with fear, causing anxiety, etc. This special the instinct that lies, along with the sexual, in the foundation of any form of behavior, Freud designated by the ancient Greek term Thanatos, as the antipode of Eros - a force that, according to Plato’s philosophy, means love in the broad sense of the word, therefore, not only sexual love. The name Thanatos meant a special attraction to death, to the destruction of either others or oneself. Thus, aggressiveness was elevated to the rank of an eternal biological impulse inherent in the very nature of man. The idea of ​​the primordial aggressiveness of man once again exposed the anti-historicism of Freud’s concept, permeated with disbelief in the possibility of eliminating the causes that give rise to violence.

In 1915-1917 He gave a large course at the University of Vienna, published under the title "Introductory Lectures in Psychoanalysis." The course required additions, which he published in the form of 8 lectures in 1933.

In January 1920, Freud was awarded the title of full professor at the university. An indicator of real glory was the honoring in 1922 by the University of London of five great geniuses of mankind - Philo, Memonides, Spinoza, Freud and Einstein.

In 1923, fate subjected Freud to severe trials: he developed jaw cancer caused by an addiction to cigars. Operations on this occasion were constantly carried out and tormented him until the end of his life.

In 1933, fascism came to power in Germany. Among the books burned by the ideologists of the “new order” were Freud’s books. Upon learning of this, Freud exclaimed: “What progress we have made! In the Middle Ages they would have burned me, in our days they are content to burn my books.” He did not suspect that several years would pass, and millions of Jews and other victims of Nazism would die in the ovens of Auschwitz and Majdanek, including Freud's four sisters. He himself, a world-famous scientist, would have faced the same fate after the capture of Austria by the Nazis if, through the mediation of the American ambassador in France, it had not been possible to obtain permission for his emigration to England. Before leaving, he had to give a signature that the Gestapo had treated him politely and carefully and that he had no reason to complain. Putting his signature, Freud asked: is it possible to add to this that he can cordially recommend the Gestapo to everyone? In England, Freud was greeted with enthusiasm, but his days were numbered. He suffered from pain, and at his request, his attending physician Max Schur gave two injections of morphine, which put an end to the suffering. This happened in London on September 21, 1939.

http://zigmund.ru/

http://www.psychoanalyse.ru/index.html

http://www.bibliotekar.ru/index.htm

On December 7, 1938, a BBC team visited Sigmund Freud at his new flat in north London, Hampstead. Just a few months earlier, he had moved from Austria to England to escape Nazi persecution. Freud is 81, his speech is extremely difficult - he has incurable cancer of the jaw. On that day, the only known audio recording of the voice of Sigmund Freud, the creator of psychoanalysis and one of the most influential intellectual figures of the 20th century, was created.

Text of his speech:

I started my professional activity as a neurologist trying to bring relief to my neurotic patients. Under the influence of an older friend and by my own efforts, I discovered some important new facts about the unconscious in psychic life, the role of instinctual urges, and so on. Out of these findings grew a new science, psychoanalysis, a part of psychology, and a new method of treatment of the neuroses. I had to pay heavily for this bit of good luck. People did not believe in my facts and thought my theories unsavory. Resistance was strong and unrelenting. In the end I succeeded in acquiring pupils and building up an International Psychoanalytic Association.But the struggle is not yet over.

I began my professional career as a neurologist, trying to bring relief to my neurotic patients. Under the influence of an older friend and my own efforts, I discovered a number of important new facts about the unconscious in mental life, the role of instinctive drives, and so on. From these discoveries grew a new science - psychoanalysis, part of psychology, and a new method of treating neuroses. I had to pay dearly for this little piece of luck. People didn't believe my facts and thought my theories were dubious. The resistance was strong and relentless. In the end I managed to find students and I created the International Psychoanalytic Association. But the fight is not over yet.

One of the incredible and very talented people, whose creations still do not leave any scientist indifferent, is Sigmund Freud (whose years of life and death are 1856-1939). All his works are in the public domain and are used in the treatment of most people.

The biography of Sigmund Freud is rich in many events and incidents. Briefly about the main thing you can learn from this article.

Psychoanalyst, neurologist, psychologist - all this is about him. He managed to reveal many of the secrets of our invisible consciousness, get to the truth of human fears and instincts, understand the secrets of our ego and leave behind an incredible store of knowledge.

Sigmund Freud: date of birth and death

The famous scientist was born on May 6, 1856, and died on September 23, 1939. Place of birth - Freiberg (Austria). Full name: Sigmund Shlomo Freud. Lived to be 83 years old.

Freud Sigmund lived the first years of his life with his family in the city of Freiberg. His father (Jakob Freud) was an ordinary wool seller. The boy loved him very much, as well as his half-brothers and sisters.

Jacob Freud had a second wife - Amalia, Sigmund's mother. There is a very interesting fact that Freud’s maternal grandmother was from Odessa.

Until the age of sixteen, Sigmund’s mother lived with her family in Odessa. Soon they moved to live in Vienna, where the mother met the father of the future talented psychologist. Since she was almost half the age of Jacob, and his older sons were her age, people started a rumor that one of them was having an affair with his young stepmother.

Little Sigmund had his own brothers and sister.

Childhood period

Freud's childhood was quite difficult, since it was precisely because of the events experienced during that period that the young psychologist was able to draw interesting conclusions related to childhood in general and the problems of adolescence in particular.

So, Shlomo lost his brother Julius, after which he felt shame and repentance. After all, he did not always show warm feelings towards him. It seemed to Freud that his brother was taking a lot of time from his parents, and therefore they did not have enough strength for their other children. After this, the future psychoanalyst made two verdicts:

  1. All the children in the family consider each other special rivals, without realizing it. They often wish the worst for each other.
  2. Regardless of how the family positions itself (friendly or unfavorable), if a child feels guilty about something, he develops various nervous diseases.

The biography of Sigmund Freud was predicted by his mother even before his birth. One of the fortune tellers once told her that her first child would be very famous and smart, would be distinguished by a special mindset and erudition, and in a few years the whole world would know about him. This made Amalia too sensitive to Sigmund.

In his first years of life, Freud was indeed different from other children. He began to speak and read early, and went to school a year earlier than other children. He had no problems with speech. Freud knew how to express his point of view well. It is incredible that such a great man could not stand up for himself, and was even bullied by his peers. Despite this, Freud graduated from high school with flying colors. Then it's time to think about the future.

The early years of the life of Sigmund Freud

As a Jew, he could become a doctor, a salesman (like his father), take up a craft, or take the side of law and order. However, his father’s work seemed uninteresting to him, and the craft did not inspire the future great psychiatrist. He could have become a good lawyer, but nature took its toll, and the young man took up medicine. In 1873, Sigmund Freud entered the university.

Personal life and family of a scientist

The professional biography and personal life of Sigmund Freud are closely intertwined. It seems that it was love that pushed him to magnificent discoveries.

Medicine came easily to him, with the help of various diagnostic conclusions he came to psychoanalysis and made his own conclusions, made small observations and constantly wrote them down in his notebook. Sigmund knew that he could become a private doctor, and this would give him a good income. And he needed it for one big reason - Martha Bernays.

Sigmund first saw her when Martha came to his sister's house. Then the heart of the young scientist caught fire. He was not afraid to be frank and knew how to behave with the opposite sex. Freud's beloved received a gift from him every evening - a red rose, as well as a proposal for a meeting. This is how they spent their time secretly, because Martha’s family was very rich, and her parents would not allow an ordinary Jew to marry their daughter. After the second month of meetings, Shlomo confessed his love to Martha and proposed marriage. Despite the fact that her response was reciprocal, Martha’s mother took her out of town.

Young Shlomo decided not to give up and fight for marriage with the young beauty. And he achieved this after entering private practice. They lived together for more than 50 years and raised six children.

Freud's practice and innovations

The chosen profession enriched him financially and morally. The young doctor was going to help people; in order to do this, he had to try out the established techniques on himself. Knowing some of the techniques that he became familiar with in the hospitals where he trained, Freud put them into practice based on the patient's problems. For example, hypnosis was used to penetrate the patient's old memories and help him find the problem that was tearing his flesh apart. Baths or massage showers were practiced to treat nervous aggravations. One day, S. Freud came across research on the benefits of cocaine, which did not gain wide popularity at that time. And he immediately tried the technique.

Freud was sure that this substance did more good than harm. He spoke about the connection of thought and body, that after experiencing bliss, all stress evaporates and goes away. He began to recommend this method of using cocaine to other people, after which he really regretted it.

It turned out that such methods are completely contraindicated for people suffering from acute mental neuroses. Most indicators deteriorated after the first use, and it was almost impossible to restore them. And for Freud this meant only one thing - to look for the cause of all diseases in the human subconscious. And then the psychoanalyst did the following: he divided parts of life into separate fragments, looked for a problem in them and came up with his own hypothesis of the disease. To better understand his own patients, he came up with this method. This method was used in this way: the psychologist named certain words that could somehow influence the patient’s psyche, and in response he named other words that first came to his mind. As Freud argued, in this way he directly explored the psyche. All that remained was to correctly interpret the answers.

This new approach to psychoanalysis amazed thousands of people who came to his sessions. The recordings were made years in advance. This was the beginning for the development of their own theories.

The book “A Study of Hysteria” in 1985 brought even more fame to the scientist, in it he identified three components of the structure of our consciousness: id, ego and superego.

  1. Id is a psychological component, unconscious (instinct).
  2. Ego is a person's own motives.
  3. Superego - norms and rules of society.

The entire book describes these factors in interrelation. To understand this process, you need to understand the relationship of each of them to the person as a whole. Such a scientific development seems too complicated and abstruse, but Freud easily explains it with a simple example. The first factor may be the student’s feeling of hunger in class, the second may be appropriate actions, and the third may be the awareness that these actions will be wrong. From this it follows that the human ego regulates the process between the id and the superego. Thus, the student will not eat during class. Knowing that this is not accepted, he will be able to restrain himself. Then it turns out that people who do not regulate the ego process have various mental disorders.

Developing this idea, the scientist derived the following personality models:

  1. Unconscious.
  2. Preconscious.
  3. Conscious.

In 1902, a community of psychoanalysts was founded, which included famous scientists such as Otto Rank, Sandor Ferenczi, and others. Freud took an active position in this cell. Periodically wrote his works. Thus, he presented the work “Psychopathology of Everyday Life” to the public for the first time, which attracted a lot of people’s attention.

In 1905, S. Freud released his practice entitled: “Three Studies on the Theory of Sexuality,” where he explains the relationship between sexual problems in adulthood and early psychological trauma in childhood. Society did not like such work, and the author was instantly bombarded with humiliating insults. However, there was no end to the patients. It was Freud who introduced normal life circumstances into the concept of sex. He discusses sex issues in a normal everyday context. The scientist explains this by a simple natural instinct that awakens in absolutely everyone. Dreams are also interpreted in order of sexual characteristics.

Based on this teaching, the professor invented a new concept - the Oedipus complex. It is closely connected with the child’s childhood and unconscious attraction to one of the parents. Freud gave parents methodological recommendations for raising children so that they would not have sexual problems in adulthood.

Other methods of Z. Freud

Freud later develops a method for analyzing dreams. It is with the help of them, as he argued, that the human problem can be solved. People dream dreams on purpose, in this way consciousness transmits a signal and helps to find a way out of the current situation, but people, as a rule, do not know how to do this on their own. Sigmund Freud began to receive patients and interpret their dreams; he listened to the most intimate secrets of his acquaintances and complete strangers, increasingly realizing that all difficulties were related to childhood or sexual life.

Such premises were again not liked by the community of psychoanalysts, but Freud began to develop the doctrine further.

Turning years

The years 1914-1919 were a big shock for the scientist; as a result of the First World War, he lost all his money and, most importantly, his daughter. Two more of his sons were on the front line at that time; he was in constant torment, worrying about their lives.

These sensations served to create a new theory - the death instinct.

Sigmund had hundreds of chances to become rich again, he was even offered to become a participant in the film, but the scientist refused. And in 1930 he was awarded a prize for his enormous contribution to psychiatry. This event once again elevated Freud, and three years later he began giving lectures on the topics of love, death and sexuality.

Old patients and strangers began to come to his performances. People asked Freud to hold private receptions for them, promising to pay huge sums of money.

Now Freud becomes a famous neurologist and psychiatrist, colleagues begin to use his works, refer to his methods and even request the right to use them in their own sessions.

For Freud, these were the best years of his life.

Sigmund Freud and his publications

Many terms that psychologists now use in professional speech or simply study in lectures are interpreted by S. Freud himself based on his hypotheses. The institutes have a course of lectures that briefly describes the biography of Sigmund Freud and his main works.

There are dream books according to Z. Freud, as well as books for everyday reading:

  • "I and It";
  • "The Spell of Virginity";
  • "Psychology of sexuality";
  • "Introduction to Psychoanalysis";
  • "Reservations";
  • "Letters to the Bride."

Such books are understandable to ordinary people who are little familiar with psychological terms.

The last days of the great scientist

The scientist spent the best years of his life in constant search and work. Freud's death shocked many. The man suffered from pain in the throat and mouth. A tumor was later found, due to which he underwent dozens of surgeries, losing the pleasant appearance of his face. Over the years of his life, S. Freud managed to make important contributions to many areas of human life. It would seem that with a little more time, he would have created much more.

But, unfortunately, the disease took its toll. The man made an agreement in advance with his attending physician, and when he no longer wanted to endure it, and there was no need to force all his relatives to watch this, S. Freud turned to him and said goodbye to this world. After the injection, he calmly fell into an eternal sleep.

Conclusion

In general, the years of Freud's life were interesting and fruitful. The author of so many scientific articles, theories, books and methods did not live the most modest life. The biography of Sigmund Freud is full of ups, downs and exciting stories. He was able to look beyond human consciousness. Freud achieved a lot in life, despite the fact that he was silent and unable to fight back against his peers. Or maybe it was precisely his isolation that was able to direct his energy in the right direction.

After the death of the scientist, like-minded people and those who mastered his practices were found. They began to sell their services. Today, Freud's research is still relevant and studied, many make huge money from it. Sigmund Freud (years of life and death of the scientist - 1856-1939) made an invaluable contribution to the development of psychology and neurology.