The Psychopathology of Everyday Life by Sigmund Freud

Freud believed the superego was mostly formed within the first five years of life based on the moral standards of a person’s parents it continued to be influenced into adolescence by other role models. And the superego is the moral voice and conscience that guides the ego violating it results in feelings of guilt and anxiety. The ego is the “I” people perceive that evaluates the outside physical and social world and makes plans accordingly. The id is the primitive, impulsive and irrational unconscious that operates solely on the outcome of pleasure or pain and is responsible for instincts to sex and aggression. Id, ego and superego: These are the three essential parts of the human personality.Some of Freud’s most discussed theories included: He believed one could then discharge it and rid oneself of the neurotic symptoms. His treatment was to empower his patients to recall the experience and bring it to consciousness, and in doing so, confront it both intellectually and emotionally. He believed that the original occurrences had been forgotten and hidden from consciousness. Theoriesįreud's psychoanalytic theory, inspired by his colleague Josef Breuer, posited that neuroses had their origins in deeply traumatic experiences that had occurred in the patient's past.

Meanwhile, Freud continued to refine his own argument. Considering himself first and foremost a scientist, rather than a doctor, he endeavored to understand the journey of human knowledge and experience.Įarly in his career, Freud became greatly influenced by the work of his friend and Viennese colleague, Josef Breuer, who had discovered that when he encouraged a hysterical patient to talk uninhibitedly about the earliest occurrences of the symptoms, the symptoms sometimes gradually abated.Īfter much work together, Breuer ended the relationship, feeling that Freud placed too much emphasis on the sexual origins of a patient's neuroses and was completely unwilling to consider other viewpoints. As a medical student and young researcher, Freud’s research focused on neurobiology, exploring the biology of brains and nervous tissue of humans and animals.Īfter graduation, Freud promptly set up a private practice and began treating various psychological disorders. When he was four years old, Freud’s family moved to Vienna, the town where he would live and work for most of the remainder of his life. Early Life, Education and Careerįreud was born in the Austrian town of Freiberg, now known as the Czech Republic, on May 6, 1856.

His theories on child sexuality, libido and the ego, among other topics, were some of the most influential academic concepts of the 20th century. Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who developed psychoanalysis, a method through which an analyst unpacks unconscious conflicts based on the free associations, dreams and fantasies of the patient.

The Psychopathology of Everyday Life by Sigmund Freud