Sigmund Freud is one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century because his ideas have been used in the culture today. It is unlikely that a person has never heard of or used a Freudian idea such as a Freudian slip or dream analysis. This paper focuses on Freud’s revolutionary theory of psychoanalysis, its origins, and its impact on psychology today. The principles of this theory are fully explained.

Sigmund Freud was born in Freibeg, Moravia on May 6, 1856 or March 6, 1856. There is controversy surrounding the exact date of his birth. His father was a wool merchant and his mother was a lively woman. She was her husband’s second wife, and she was 20 years younger than he was. Freud was the oldest child in the family and his mother, Amalie’s favorite. He always thought that the strong relationship between him and his mother had a lot to do with his success. When Sigmund was four he and his family moved to Vienna when he lived most of his life (Breger, 2000).

Another way into the unconscious is what Freud calls Para praxes, or slips of the tongue. Freud says that such mistakes, including errors in speech, reading, and writing, are not coincidences or accidents. They reveal something that has been repressed into the unconscious. A third way into the unconscious is jokes. Freud says these too are indicative of repressed wishes.

Another criticism of Freud’s technique is that of free association. Critics argue that free association is neither free or validation evidence for psychoanalytic theory. There is no way of ensuring that the analyst is capable of distinguishing between the patients’ actual memories and imagined memories constructed due to the influence of the analyst’s questions (Spence, 1986).

Spence, D.P. (1989). Are free associations necessarily contaminated? Behavioral and Brain

Breger, Louis. (2000). Freud: Darkness in the midst of vision. Canada: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

The person who influenced Freud the most was Ernst Brucke, who along with colleges founded the materialistic-positivistic movement in psychology. Freud studied the reproductive system of male ells in Bruke’s laboratory. He wrote numerous articles on anatomy and neurology. Freud made the decision to change his career plans because jobs in this area were hard to find and did not pay well. Freud began working at Vienna General Hospital to study with Theodor Meynert, a very well know brain anatomist. Freud thought he was the most brilliant person he had ever known.

According to Freud there is a difference between healthy defense mechanisms and other less healthy defense mechanisms, such as repression, projection, reaction formation or fixation. The defense mechanisms are put up by the ego when the anxiety caused by the conflicting pressures of the id and reality become overbearing. The ego then tries to ease this tension in a less threatening way or by getting rid of it completely by ignoring the id’s desire, by repressing it. When the urge is allowed to be expressed, it is considered to be a successful defense. Freud believed that the only successful defense mechanism was sublimation, which is the substitution of acceptable behavior for unacceptable urges. The sublimated activity resembles the real urges so it permits the expression of the id’s impulse. Freud believed that sublimation was a part of normal development, and it was responsible for some of humanity’s greatest achievements. For example, a writer can satisfy urges by killing characters in a novel. There are many impulses that can’t be sublimated so other defense mechanisms are used by the ego. An example of one of these mechanisms is repression. Repression is an unconscious process of the ego. Threatening material, such as a traumatic memory, is forced into the unconscious. A lot of energy is needed to keep this material unconscious because the material seeks to become expressed.

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