FREUD

On the dawn of May 6, 1856 in the small, unassuming village of Freiberg, Moravia a child was born that would someday develop theories which would generate a great deal of controversy and, consequently, pave the way for revolutionary approaches to the understanding of the human mind. This child came to be internationally renowned as Sigmund Freud and his theory in now known to the world as psychoanalysis.
Freud was born to a Jewish family of merchants and at the age of four, his family moved to Vienna, where Freud remained for the full duration of his life until the Nazi invasion and occupation in 1938 (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2003). The ethnic rigidity, cultural tumult, and class conflicts in Vienna formed the backdrop of Freud's daily existence (Gay, 1988). At that time, the city was a laboratory for radical advances in politics and philosophy.
Freud grew to be an intellectual and determined young man that was intrigued by classical literature and philosophy and in 1873 he embarked on a journey to study medicine at the University of Vienna, where he was trained as a neurologist. There his early fascination with physiology and neurology prospered into an extensive investigation of the human state under t

Freud and Breuer called this the cathartic method, a cleansing of the mind’s emotional conflicts through talking about them (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2003). The cathartic method was the forerunner of psychotherapy, the treatment of abnormal behavior through psychological techniques. It was this discovery that led Freud to develop psychoanalysis, a theory and system of practice that relied heavily on the concepts of the unconscious mind, inhibited sexual impulses, and early development, as well as the use of the “free association” technique and dream analysis (Halgin & Whitbourne, 2003).

Over the next decade, Freud combined clinical practice with theoretical insights to eventually develop the foundational principles of psychoanalysis, an event that would change the course of history forever. It all began in 1895 when Freud wrote a book with his long time friend and colleague, Josef Breuer. In their book, Studies in Hysteria, Freud analyzed the famous case of “Anna O.” and other women suffering from hysteria (Hock, 2002). Freud and Breuer described how Anna O. was cured of her many and varied hysterical symptoms by the use of hypnosis. In addition, Anna O. urged the two men to allow her to engage in “chimney sweeping,” which she also called the “talking cure (Hock, 2002).” When she was allowed to simply talk about her problems, she felt much better, and her symptoms disappeared (Hock, 2002).

Sigmund Freud’s view of psychological disorders focused on unconscious motives and conflicts (Myers, 2002). His ideas about the cause and treatment of psychological disorders are what really formed the foundation for the psychodynamic perspective. Freud theorized that disorders of the mind produce bizarre and exotic behaviors and symptoms and that these behaviors and symptoms