The Influence of Sigmund Freud

The power of the human mind enables us to solve difficult problems, make effective decisions, and generate great ideas to improve the quality of our lives. Because the brain is a mysterious and complex organ, the scientific and psychological communities have exerted significant efforts to help understand how the human mind functions. Sigmund Freud was a pivotal psychological thinker who developed many controversial concepts and innovative methods that have had a significant influence on the psychological community and that have helped enhance our understanding of the mind.

Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 and raised by a merchant in Austria. After moving to Vienna as a child, Freud was an outcast because of his Jewish faith, and the stigmatization of the Jews prohibited him from being allowed to fulfill many noble professions, prestigious positions, or public offices. The very ambitious Sigmund Freud studied diligently and extensively during his youth, with his early studies focusing primarily on science and medicine at the University of Vienna (Hunt, 1993). While in school, Freud became an admirer of Ernst Brucke, who was a leading professor of physiology and who became a scientific mentor and father figure to Freud. Freud studied physiology intensely by dissecting and observing animals, and evaluating nerve pathways, and in 1881 he received his MD in medicals studies.

Needing a career that could pay him a sufficient amount of money so he could remain financially comfortable, Freud spent 3 years working at the Vienna General Hospital, where he studied brain anatomy, neuroscience, brain damage, and brain disease. During this period, Freud began collaborating with Josef Breuer, a prestigious physician and physiologist 14 years older than Freud. Breuer had a significant influence on the career and concepts developed by Freud. For instance, Breuer informed Freud of an important case involving a wealthy and Jewish 21-year-old girl who was a patient of Breuer. The girl was very closely attached to her father, nursed him during his illnesses, and then began suffering from severe hysterical symptoms that caused her to be bedridden with muscular weakness, paralysis in her right arm, and a refusal to drink water. Two months later, the death of her father exacerbated the symptoms and caused her to suffer from delusional hallucinations of black snakes and skeletons while experiencing blackout mental “absences.” During these absences, Breuer became aware that she would mutter certain words to express thoughts, and with moderate hypnosis, Breuer was able to extract the keywords and encourage the patient to elaborate on those words so he could observe the specific thoughts and fantasies occurring in her mind during these absences. After the moderate hypnosis sessions, the patient would suddenly be liberated from mental confusion, which was generally the beginning of the “talking cure” method. The method seemed effective, for during the absences, the girl would express the reason a given symptom appeared and then would no longer suffer from the symptom. For instance, during the absences, she informed Breuer that she began to avoid drinking water after being disgusted by a dog drinking water out of a glass and that her right arm became paralyzed after it had become numb while tending to her father on the hospital bed (Hunt, 1993). When she would come back from the trance, the symptoms would vanish and never again return, which indicated that the talking cure had been successful. However, later reports indicated that she was not entirely cured, and only after spending years in a sanitarium was she able to overcome all symptoms, enter the real world, and fulfill a successful life.

Meanwhile, four years after hearing the story, Freud opened his own office as a neurological specialist in brain disorders, at which point he began treating hysteria patients by placing electrodes on their bodies. However, Freud detected that the success was not caused by electrodes, but the power of suggestion as he would assure the patients of impending success during hypnotic trances. This method of inducing a hypnotic trance and assuring that the symptoms are being healed only temporarily alleviated symptoms, as problems would recur relatively soon after sessions. Also, having the patients talk about symptoms during the trance would typically eliminate the initial problem, but then replace it with a brand new symptom.

Developing the talking therapy method eventually enabled Freud to invent the revolutionary psychological theory of psychoanalysis. Freud realized that the most effective strategy of allowing patients to access and express repressed memories was to facilitate talking and then allow the patients to simply talk without any specific probing. Freud’s influential method was to have the patients lie on a couch, close their eyes, dig for memories and talk about those memories. The difficulty many patients had conjuring and expressing memories caused Freud to realize that memories were difficult to retrieve when the memories reflected painful experiences. To stimulate the revival of these memories, Freud often pressed his hand upon the forehead of the patient while informing the patient that the pressure would evoke the forgotten memories (Hunt, 1993). Thus, Freud began to concentrate on the immense powers of the unconscious, the tendency for forgotten memories to reside in the unconscious, and the importance of accessing the unconscious to retrieve those memories and overcome the symptoms of mental distress. Additionally, the focus on the unconscious enabled Freud to perpetuate his notion of the mind being split into three units, with the id representing the part of the mind motivated only by pleasurable gratification of desires and impulses without concerns for reality. The ego then adapts and modifies those desires to accommodate reality and to maximize the chances of the desires being gratified. Furthermore, the superego instills the mind with moral and ethical restraints based on cultural values.

Another important aspect of Freud’s psychoanalytic technique was to interpret dreams. Freud was among the first psychologists to realize and concentrate on the symbolic qualities and meaningful elements of dream sequences. According to Freud, the conscious part of the mind repressed painful memories into the unconscious to protect us from experiencing the pain associated with the memories. However, when the conscious part of the mind is inactive during the dream state, the unconscious expresses its hidden materials into our view through the symbolism of imaginative dreams. Freud also believed that secret wishes suppressed into the unconscious are also revealed and expressed during the dream state (Hunt, 1993). The contents of the unconscious are not directly and specifically addressed in the dream sequences. Instead, the contents of the unconscious are revealed through the symbolic elements of the dreams, and psychoanalysis and free-association talk therapy enable the psychologist to interpret the symbolism and detect the meaning of dreams.

Sexuality was another significant and consistent emphasis of Freud’s theories about the unconscious. Freud believed that sexual urges had an exceptionally powerful impact on our personalities and mental conditions. Because repressed sexual desires and fears resided in the unconscious, Freud believed that sexual urges were the primary forces in the unconscious causing mental distress. Furthermore, Freud believed the conflict of sexual desires and fears began in childhood, with a theory known as the oedipal complex. In the Greek tragedy, Oedipus murders his father to marry his mother. To Freud, the symbolism of the story reflected his belief that every child has the natural desire to have sex with their mother and to view their father as a rival impeding on this desire (Hunt, 1993). However, due to the fact that our fathers are much stronger than us and would defeat us competitively or physically, Freud believed that children suppress those desires and fears in the unconscious. Thus, Freud attributed many conditions of mental illnesses as being caused by the repression of sexual desires, struggles, and fears.

Freud initially achieved significant success with his theories and with his talk therapy psychoanalysis methods. For instance, many psychologists have approved of the emphasis Freud asserted regarding the power of the unconscious to contain precious materials, express repressed memories and desires, and to determine our personalities and neurotic symptoms. Freud was also praised for the innovative development of dream interpretation, for many psychologists agree that the creative sequences of dreams contain symbolic elements through which the unconscious attempts to reveal its contents (Andrews and Brewin, 2000). However, Freud’s psychoanalytic theories also generated controversy and criticism.

Many psychologists during and after Freud have disagreed with the theories of Freud, citing that his concepts were not supported by compelling scientific evidence and instead merely supported by anecdotal observations. Freud’s sexual theories have garnered a significant amount of disagreement and debate among the psychological and scientific communities. Although Freud had many supporters during his career and in the succeeding generations, many psychologists have also disagreed with the Oedipus complex theory and have criticized Freud’s extreme obsession with sexuality as the primary cause of almost all cases of mental distress. For instance, the great psychologist Carl Jung was a young contemporary and early admirer of Freud because Jung also emphasized the immense and mysterious powers of the unconscious as the primary source of personality formation and mental distress. Jung also agreed with the importance of extracting symbolism during dream interpretation procedures. However, Jung gradually came to split apart from Freud, for he disagreed with Freud’s tendency to obsess over sexual urges as the exclusive answer to all issues of the unconscious and problems of mental disorders. While Freud would typically assert repressed sexuality as the most primary force in the unconscious, Jung believed that the unconscious was much more complex and versatile. Jung emphasized the concept of “collective unconscious,” which entailed the ability of the unconscious to possess memories that we inherit from our earliest ancestors and that we share with other humans. Thus, Jung was influenced by Freud but would later expand on the concept of the unconscious and diversify the characteristics of the unconscious.

Although during the 20th century many detractors would emerge to criticize the psychoanalytic theories and methods of Freud, Sigmund Freud nonetheless developed many innovative concepts and established a method of psychoanalysis that is still being utilized today. Perhaps Freud’s most significant contribution to the evolution and history of psychology was his preference towards talk therapy, for the strategy of allowing patients to talk while the psychologist listens became the primary method of delivering psychological treatment to patients. Despite the controversial theories, Freud had a significant influence on the history of psychology by being one of the first thinkers to concentrate on the powers of the unconscious, the importance of retrieving hidden memories, the struggles of sexual repression, and the benefits of dream interpretations.

References

Andrews, B., & Brewin, C. (2000, December 1). What Did Freud Get Right?. The Psychologist. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm/volumeID_13-editionID_51-ArticleID_155-getfile_getPDF/thepsychologist%5Cfreud1.pdf

Hunt, M. (1993). The story of psychology. New York: Anchor Books.