sigmund freud theory research paper

• DOI: 10.2991/assehr.k.200425.051
• Corpus ID: 219037785

Psychoanalysis: The Influence of Freud’s Theory in Personality Psychology

• Songyan Zhang
• Published 29 April 2020

13 Citations

The personality structure and defense mechanism of the main character in the euphoria series (2019), a psychoanalytic analysis of the character of theo faber in alex michaelides novel silent patient, psychological approach in the interpretation of 20th century kazakh postmodern literature., digital cultural behavior in the documentary the social dilemma (2020): psychoanalysis, unveiling the complex characters in the glass menagerie : a psychological analysis of intriguing personalities, jimmy mcgill’s conflicts and defense mechanism by anna freud in better call saul (2015), hadith prohibiting binge eating disorder in sigmund freud’s psychoanalytic perspective, masculinity of arthur dismmesdale in the novel the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthrone, the character development of phoney bone from bone one volume edition by jeff smith, evolutionary features of personality research and leadership traits. a comprehensive analysis, 22 references, a psychoanalytic discursive psychology: from consciousness to unconsciousness, psychology and the soul.

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Sigmund Freud, 1856–1939

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Sigmund Freud

Sigismund Schlomo Freud was born on 6th May 1856 to Jewish parents, Amalia and Jakob Freud, in a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire now in the Czech Republic. When Sigmund was three, the Freuds moved to Vienna. He excelled academically, developing a passion for literature, languages and the arts that would profoundly influence his thinking about the human mind. Freud became very interested in medical and scientific research, and went on to study medicine at the University of Vienna. While studying, Freud developed a particular fascination with neurology, and later trained in neuropathology at the Vienna General Hospital. In 1885, Freud travelled to Paris to study at the Salpêtrière Hospital with Jean-Martin Charcot, a famous neurologist studying hypnosis and hysteria. Freud was deeply affected by Charcot’s work, and upon returning to Vienna he started using hypnosis in his own clinical work with patients.

Out of these experiments in hypnosis, and in collaboration with his colleague Josef Breuer, Freud developed a new kind of psychological treatment based on the patient talking about whatever came to mind – memories, dreams, thoughts, emotions – and then analysing that information in order to relieve the patient’s symptoms. He would later call this process ‘free association’. Early forays into this new ‘talking cure’ by Breuer and Freud yielded promising results (notably in the famous case of ‘Anna O.’) A year before marrying his fiancée Martha Bernays, Freud published Studies on Hysteria (1895) with Breuer, the first ever ‘psychoanalytic’ work. In this book, Freud and Breuer described their theory that the symptoms of hysteria were symbolic representations of traumatic, and often sexual, memories. By 1896, Freud had abandoned hypnosis and started using the term ‘psychoanalysis’ to refer to this new clinical method and its underlying theories. The following year, Freud embarked upon a self-analysis, which he deemed necessary both as a means of expanding and testing his theory of the mind, and as an exercise in honesty and self-knowledge. This self-investigation led him to build upon his and Breuer’s original theory that neurosis was caused by early trauma, and to develop substantially his ideas about infantile sexuality and repression. In the coming years and decades, Freud’s clinical work with his patients – among them the famous ‘Dora’, ‘Rat Man’, and ‘Little Hans’ – would remain the basis and core of his work, and would provide the vital material for his continual advancement and refinement of his theory of the mind.

In 1899 Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams. In this, one of his most important works, he described dreams as a form of wish-fulfilment, and asserted that: “[T]he interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.” In his formulation, dreams were the result of the unconscious trying to resolve conflicts or express desires that, in our conscious minds, are not allowed to be acknowledged. He saw the preconscious mind as a kind of censor or bodyguard, only allowing unthreatening thoughts into the conscious mind. According to Freud, in dreams this censorship becomes weaker, and forbidden wishes can become visible to our sleeping minds, albeit in some kind of symbolic disguise or code. Freud believed these dream symbols were far from simple to interpret, often embodying several meanings at once. It was also in The Interpretation of Dreams that Freud introduced perhaps his most famous concept of the Oedipus Complex, and it was here that he first mapped out his topographical model of the mind. Between 1901 and 1905 Freud continued to elaborate and expand his model of human psychology, and he wrote two more very important works. In 'The Psychopathology of Everyday Life', he introduced the idea of ‘Freudian’ slips and ‘verbal bridges’, and in 'Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality,' he delineated his early thinking about psychosexual development and infantile sexuality.

By the beginning of the twentieth century Freud’s ideas were drawing interest from several colleagues in Vienna. In 1902 a group of physicians and psychiatrists formed the Wednesday Psychological Society, which met every week in Freud’s apartment at Berggasse, 19. The original group was made up of Freud, Wilhelm Stekel, Alfred Adler, Max Kahane, and Rudolph Reitler, all Viennese physicians. By 1906 the group had grown to a membership of sixteen, including Carl Jung and Otto Rank, both of whom would go on to be highly influential psychoanalytic thinkers. At this point the group decided to re-name and establish itself as the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Freud and Carl Jung quickly became close colleagues and friends, both fascinated and enthused by the possibilities of psychoanalysis. In 1909 they travelled, along with Hungarian analyst Sándor Ferenczi, to the USA, where Freud gave a series of psychoanalytic lectures. It was after these American lectures that Freud’s renown and influence began to grow far beyond the confines of the Viennese medical community. American psychologists and neurologists were galvanised by Freud’s new ideas, and within a few years both the New York Psychoanalytic Society and the American Psychoanalytic Association were founded.

A year after the outbreak of the First World War, at the age of sixty, Freud gave his ‘Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis’ at the University of Vienna. In them he outlined the key tenets of psychoanalytic theory, as he had developed them over the past two decades, including his ideas of repression, free association and libido. The lectures were published two years later, and went on to become his most popular publication. The year after the end of the war, in 1919, Freud examined soldiers traumatized by their experience of fighting. He did not write much explicitly about the psychological damage done by warfare, but it nevertheless influenced his thinking significantly, for example in his concepts of repetition compulsion and the death instinct.

In 1920 Freud suffered a personal tragedy when his daughter Sophie died from the influenza eviscerating an already war-damaged Europe. She was aged only twenty-seven when she died, pregnant, and a mother of two. Three years later Freud would also lose Sophie’s son Heinerle, his grandson, at the age of four. He wrote in a letter: “I have hardly ever loved a human being, certainly never a child, so much as him.” He said he had never felt such grief. The year of Sophie’s death, Freud published 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle', a paper introducing his concepts of repetition compulsion and the death instinct, and building upon his earlier description of the function and operation of dreams. It is in this work that he revised his theory that human behaviour is almost entirely driven by sexual instincts, instead portraying the psyche in a state of conflict between opposites: creative, life-seeking, sexual Eros; and destructive, death-bent Thanatos. In Freud’s formulation, the death instinct was an expression of a fundamental biological longing to return to an inanimate state. This new theory was not well received by most of his analytic colleagues in Vienna, though it would, in time, have a big impact on the thinking of several preeminent psychoanalytic thinkers, notably Jacques Lacan and Melanie Klein.

In 1923 Freud published his important paper, 'The Ego and the Id'. Here he further developed and elucidated his model of the human mind, introducing his ‘Superego-Ego-Id’ formulation to supersede the 'conscious-preconscious-unconscious' structure described in The Interpretation of Dreams. In this year Freud also discovered a pre-cancerous growth in his jaw, certainly caused by his regular and liberal consumption of cigars. He nonetheless found himself unable to give them up, and likened his addiction to them to his obsessional collecting of antiquities. The growth later turned into cancer and would ultimately cause his death sixteen years later.

At the invitation of the League of Nations and its International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation at Paris, in 1932 Albert Einstein initiated an exchange of letters (for subsequent publication) with Freud, concerning the subject of war and how it might be avoided. Einstein and Freud had met several years earlier in Berlin, and were very interested in one another’s work. Only a year after this epistolary exchange, 1933 Hitler was elected Chancellor of the German Reich. In 1930 Freud had been awarded the Goethe Prize for his contributions to psychology and German literary culture, but in January 1933, the newly empowered Nazis seized Freud’s books, among many other psychoanalytic and Jewish-authored works, and publicly burned them in Berlin. The Nazis described this destruction as acting, "[A]gainst the soul-destroying glorification of the instinctual life, for the nobility of the human soul!” Meanwhile Freud’s comment on these barbaric proceedings was rather more ironic: "What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now, they are content with burning my books."

As the Nazis gained power and territory, and their policies grew ever more flagrantly discriminatory, Freud continued to write and practise in Vienna. As the 1930s wore on, friends and colleagues encouraged him to consider leaving Vienna but, even after the Anschluss in March 1938 and the ensuing displays of anti-Semitic brutality, he showed no desire to move. Ernest Jones was very worried about this determination to stay in what was becoming an increasingly dangerous place for Jews, and he flew into Vienna soon after the annexation, determined to get Freud to move to Britain. Freud at last agreed and, after much financial and political negotiating with the Gestapo on the part of Jones and others, he and his daughter Anna left for London in June 1938. They moved into 20 Maresfield Gardens, in Hampstead (now the Freud Museum ), where Freud continued to write and treat patients, despite the painful advancement of his jaw cancer. In London Freud worked on his final books, Moses and Monotheism, and the incomplete Outline of Psychoanalysis. He was visited by Salvador Dalí – a passionate devotee –, his fellow Viennese writer Stefan Zweig, Virginia and Leonard Woolf, and H.G. Wells.

By the autumn of 1939, the progression of Freud's cancer was causing him severe pain and had by this point been declared inoperable. He asked his doctor and friend, Max Schur, to euthanize him with a high dose of morphine, and he died on 23rd September 1939, not long after the outbreak of World War Two. His body was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. Ernest Jones and Stefan Zweig spoke at his funeral.

Eleanor Sawbridge Burton 2015

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Freud developmental theory.

Sarah E. Lantz ; Sagarika Ray .

Affiliations

Last Update: December 5, 2022 .

• Definition/Introduction

Freud's developmental theory on psychosexual development was among the first attempts to bring psychology under the same scientific structure and methodology of medicine. This unification was accomplished by first defining normative human sexual development. Freud organized psychosexual maturation into 5 distinct phases. Each stage symbolizes the concentration of the libido or instincts on a different area of the body (ie, erogenous zones). To mature into a well-functioning adult, one must progress sequentially through each of the aforementioned psychosexual stages. When libidinal drives are repressed or unable to be appropriately discharged, the child is left wanting and unsatisfied. Freud identified this dissatisfaction as fixation. Fixation at any stage would produce anxiety, persisting into adulthood as neurosis. This dynamic formed the foundational bedrock for Freud's psychoanalytic sexual drive theory. [1]  

• Issues of Concern

The primary tenet of Freudian psychosocial development revolves around the causal relationship between sexual conflict and the subsequent precipitant psychoneurosis. This principle has incited controversy since its inception. Opponents of Freud have argued that neuroses can develop independently without the need for a psychosexual impetus. [2]  

Experimenter bias is another common critique of Freud. Friedman and Downey, in their paper Biology and the Oedipus Complex, explore the likelihood that the Oedipal Complex is just mistaken evolutionary-based play behavior that manifests through competition. [3]  Despite these areas of concern, psychoanalysis remains influential in contemporary mental health care.

• Clinical Significance

Psychosexual Development Stages

Each of the 5 stages of Freudian psychosexual development theory is associated with a corresponding age range, erogenous body part, and clinical consequence of fixation.

Stage I: 0-1 year, oral, mouth

Oral desire is the center of pleasure for the newborn baby. The earliest attachment of a baby is to the one that provides gratification to his oral needs, usually his mother. If the optimal amount of stimulation is unavailable, libidinal energy fixates on the oral mode of gratification, resulting in subsequent latent aggressive or passive tendencies. 

Stage II : 1-3 years old, anal, bowel, and bladder

Toilet training is an especially sensitive task during this period. The parents' desire for adequate performance shifts the libidinal energy from the oral to the anal area. The child faces increased chances of being reprimanded, feeling inadequate, and an increased ability to perceive a negative evaluation from a caretaker if he fails to perform appropriately. Fixation at this stage can manifest in anal retentiveness (incessant orderliness) or anal expulsiveness (whimsical disorganization).

Stage III: 3-6 years old, phallic, genitalia

This is perhaps the most controversial stage of Freud's psychosexual development. This is the stage in which the child begins to experience pleasure associated with their genitalia. In this period of primitive sexual development, the child can establish the roots of fixation with the opposite sex parent, the Oedipus complex. 

Stage IV: 6 - 12 years old, latency, dormant sexual feelings

During this time, the libido is relatively repressed or sublimated. Freud did not identify any erogenous zone for this stage. The child begins to act on their impulses indirectly by focusing on school, sports, and building relationships. Dysfunction at this stage results in the child's inability to form healthy relationships as an adult.

Stage V: 13-18 years old, genital, mature sexual feelings

The child's ego becomes fully developed during this stage, and they are subsequently seeking independence. Their ability to create meaningful and lasting relationships is concrete, and their sexual desires and activities are healthy and consensual. If a child or young adult experiences dysfunction during this period, they are unable to develop meaningful healthy relationships. [2]

Structural Theory

One must address his structural theory of mind to explicate Freud's developmental theories. The latter suggests that the psyche (personality) encompasses three psychic structures: the id, ego, and superego. 

The id 

The id is the instinctual aspect of the psyche, consisting of sexual and aggressive drives. It is essentially the individual's biological, instinctual, unconscious drive as it is involved in gratification. A newborn's behavior is driven purely by innate instincts (id). As the child matures, the ego differentiates from the id.

The ego is the decision-making aspect of personality. In contradiction to the id, which operates by the pleasure principle and immediate gratification, the ego operates by the reality principle, seeking satisfaction via practical strategies. The ego mediates the interaction between the id and the "real" world. It is rational by nature, whereas the id is irrational. [4] [5]  

The superego

The last psychic structure to develop is the superego, which incorporates the morals and values of society. This construct develops during the phallic stage and is analogous to one's moral compass. [4] [6]  These structures can help explain pathologic behavior and sources of anxiety. 

Freud's developmental theories form the basis for psychoanalysis and subsequent derivatives that make up contemporary psychotherapy. [7] [8] [9]

• Nursing, Allied Health, and Interprofessional Team Interventions

One example of how dysfunction in Freud's psychosexual development can influence patient care is discussed in a 2008 paper that investigates the change of shift handover ritual between psychiatric nurses. The handover from one nursing shift to another fits all the criteria as a ritual as defined by psychoanalytic theory. This ritual is influenced by the nurse's anxieties and their resultant perception of the patient. It is suggested that the handover acts as a ritual through which the nurses can keep their anxieties manageable and continue caring for the patient. [10]  

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Disclosure: Sarah Lantz declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Sagarika Ray declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits others to distribute the work, provided that the article is not altered or used commercially. You are not required to obtain permission to distribute this article, provided that you credit the author and journal.

• Cite this Page Lantz SE, Ray S. Freud Developmental Theory. [Updated 2022 Dec 5]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-.

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• The current status of the psychoanalytic theory of instinctual drives. I: Drive concept, classification, and development. [Psychoanal Q. 1983] The current status of the psychoanalytic theory of instinctual drives. I: Drive concept, classification, and development. Compton A. Psychoanal Q. 1983 Jul; 52(3):364-401.
• Review The transference neurosis in Freud's writings. [J Am Psychoanal Assoc. 1990] Review The transference neurosis in Freud's writings. Reed GS. J Am Psychoanal Assoc. 1990; 38(2):423-50.
• Review Revisiting the crisis in Freud's libido theory and Abraham's concept of the oral-sadistic phase as a way out of it. [Int J Psychoanal. 2016] Review Revisiting the crisis in Freud's libido theory and Abraham's concept of the oral-sadistic phase as a way out of it. Dahl G. Int J Psychoanal. 2016 Oct; 97(5):1263-1278. Epub 2016 May 30.
• As the wheel turns: a centennial reflection on Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. [J Am Psychoanal Assoc. 2005] As the wheel turns: a centennial reflection on Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Person ES. J Am Psychoanal Assoc. 2005 Fall; 53(4):1257-82.
• Sigmund Freud and money. [J Am Acad Psychoanal. 1989] Sigmund Freud and money. Warner SL. J Am Acad Psychoanal. 1989 Winter; 17(4):609-22.

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Collection Sigmund Freud Papers

A chronology of the key events in the life of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of psychoanalysis.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

1856, may 6.

Born Sigismund Schlomo Freud, Freiberg, Moravia

Moved with family to Vienna, Austria

Graduated summa cum laude, Leopoldstädter Kommunal-Real-und Obergymansium, Vienna, Austria

Changed first name to Sigmund

Conducted research on the nervous system at Ernst Brücke's Institute of Physiology, Vienna, Austria

Fulfilled compulsory military service

Doctor of medicine, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Clinical assistant in Hermann Nothnagel's Department of Internal Medicine, General Hospital, Vienna, Austria

Met and became engaged to Martha Bernays

Worked in Theodor Meynert's psychiatric clinic, General Hospital, Vienna, Austria

Joined Department of Nervous Diseases, General Hospital, Vienna, Austria

Began studying the effects and potential medical uses of cocaine

Appointed lecturer in neuropathology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Received grant to study neuropathology with Jean-Martin Charcot in Paris, France

Established private practice, Vienna, Austria

Married Martha Bernays

Began corresponding with Wilhelm Fliess

Traveled to Nancy, France, to study Hippolyte Bernheim's hypnotic techniques

Established residence and office at Bergasse 19, Vienna, Austria, where he would remain until 1938

Treated "Elizabeth von R." (Ilona Weiss) in what Freud described as his first full length analysis of hysteria

Published with Josef Breuer Studien über Hysterie [ Studies in Hysteria ] (Leipzig: F. Deuticke. 269 pp.)

First used the term "psychoanalysis"

Began self-analysis

Published Die Traumdeutung [ The Interpretation of Dreams ] (Leipzig: F. Deuticke. 371 pp.)

Published Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens [ Psychology of Everyday Life ] (Berlin: S. Karger. 80 pp.)

Founded the Psychologische Mittwoch-Gesellschaft (renamed the Wiener Psychoanalytische Vereinigung in 1908)

Appointed Professor Extraordinarius, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Published "Bruchstück einer Hysterie-Analyse" ("Dora" case study), Monatsschrift für Psychiatrie und Neurologie, 18:285-310

Published Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewussten [ Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious ] (Vienna: F. Deuticke. 205 pp.)

Published Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie [ Three Contributions to the Sexual Theory ] (Leipzig: F. Deuticke. 83 pp.)

First International Congress of Psychoanalysis, Salzburg, Austria

Lectured on psychoanalysis at Clark University, Worcester, Mass.

Published "Analyse der Phobie eines fünfjährigen Knaben" ("Little Hans" case study), Jahrbuch für psychoanalytische und psychopathologische Forschungen, 1:1-109

Published "Bemerkungen über einen Fall von Zwangsneurose" ("Rat Man" case study), Jahrbuch für psychoanalytische und psychopathologische Forschungen, 1:357-421 

Published über Psychoanalyse [ The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis ] (Vienna: F. Deuticke. 62 pp.)

Founding of the International Psychoanalytical Association

Establishment of the "Committee," a group composed of Freud's closest associates including Karl Abraham, Sándor Ferenczi, Ernest Jones, Otto Rank, and Hanns Sachs who consulted regularly on issues relating to Freud and the psychoanalytic movement  

Published Totem und Tabu: einige übereinstimmungen im Seeleben der Wilden und der Neurotiker [ Totem and Taboo ] (Leipzig: H. Heller. 149 pp.)

Published "Aus der Geschichte einer infantilen Neurose" ("Wolf-Man"case study), Sammlung kleiner Schriften zur Neurosenlehre IV (Vienna: F. Deuticke.  139 pp.)

Published Jenseits des Lustprinzips [ Beyond the Pleasure Principle ] (Vienna: Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag. 60 pp.)

Diagnosed with cancer of the jaw and palate

Published Das Ich und das Es [ The Ego and the Id ] (Vienna: Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag. 77 pp.)

Awarded the Goethe Prize by the city of Frankfurt, Germany

Published Das Unbehagen in der Kultur [ Civilization and Its Discontents ] (Vienna: Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag. 136 pp.)

Bronze plaque erected by the city of Příbor, Czechoslovakia (formerly Freiberg, Moravia) at Freud's birthplace

Published with Albert Einstein Warum Krieg? [ Why War? ] (Paris: International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation. 61 pp.)

Public burning of books by the Nazis on May 10 in Berlin, Germany; included were books by Freud.

Left Vienna, Austria, and settled in London, England

Published Der Mann Moses und die monotheistische Religion [ Moses and Monotheism ] (Amsterdam: A. de Lange. 241 pp.)

1939, Sept. 23

Died, London, England

• Freud Collections in the Library of Congress
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The Sigmund Freud Archives, Inc. is an independent, non-profit organization. The mission of the Archives is to advance the study of Sigmund Freud's life, career, and ideas, and to promote research into the development of psychoanalysis and the history of science and culture during Freud's lifetime.

Founded in 1951, the Sigmund Freud Archives has assembled and preserved the largest and most wide-ranging collections of manuscripts, papers, correspondence, and biographical materials from Sigmund Freud's life and work, and has made them accessible to readers and researchers worldwide. The collections include manuscript drafts and notes, personal, family, and general correspondence, films and photographs, professional writings and notebooks, and memorabilia and records related both to Freud's biography and to the history of psychoanalysis. They contain audiotaped interviews with Freud's family, friends, colleagues, and patients, together with transcripts of those interviews. The collections are housed at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

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Sigmund Freud Archives and the Library of Congress

At the time of its founding in 1951, the Sigmund Freud Archives contracted with the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., for the Library to become the depository, cataloguer, and conservator of the writings, documents, and artifacts assembled by the Archives. Across decades of work by both the Sigmund Freud Archives and the Library of Congress, the Freud collection of papers, films, photographs, interviews, and related materials has grown to approximately 50,000 items.

The Freud Papers comprise the core of more than one hundred other collections relating to Sigmund Freud and the history of psychoanalysis assembled by the Library of Congress. These collections include the Anna Freud Papers, as well as the papers of other eminent psychoanalysts and members of the Freud family.

Sigmund Freud Papers, Films, Photographs, and Audio Recordings

The Sigmund Freud collections are currently organized according to papers, films, photographs, and audiotapes. The Sigmund Freud Papers are housed in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. The Sigmund Freud films are conserved in the Library of Congress' National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Sigmund Freud photographs are located in the Library's Prints and Photographs Division. The audiotapes of the interviews with family, friends, colleagues, and patients are preserved in the Recorded Sound Section of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, with interview transcripts included in the Sigmund Freud Papers.

The entire contents of the Sigmund Freud Papers, films, photographs, and audio recordings are open to the public, with the exception of records or information still subject to restrictions placed upon them by donors or their estates. All documents are released unaltered except in instances when patients' names have been deleted to preserve anonymity and confidentiality.

Digital Collections

The Sigmund Freud Archives works in close cooperation with the Library of Congress to preserve the Freud collections and to create ever-widening accessibility, most recently through the process of digitization. The digitized Freud collections include the digital Freud Papers, the digitized Freud films and photographs, and the digitized audiotapes of interviews that the Archives' Founding Executive Director Kurt R. Eissler conducted with Freud's family, associates, and patients. All of the digital collections are available at the Library of Congress website.

Three successive Executive Directors of the Sigmund Freud Archives-Harold P. Blum, Anton O. Kris, and Louis Rose-were early proponents of making the Freud Papers available online. In 2017, with the support of The Polonsky Foundation (a U.K. cultural heritage nonprofit) and with the assistance of the Sigmund Freud Archives, the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress completed the digitization of thousands of documents, artifacts, and pages in the Freud Papers. The digital Freud Papers on the Library of Congress website includes Freud's manuscripts, correspondence, and records; transcripts of Kurt R. Eissler's interviews; and written recollections assembled by Eissler.

In 2018, the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center of the Library of Congress placed the Freud family films online.

The Recorded Sound Section of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center is the depository of the original audiotapes of all of the Eissler interviews. In 2021, the Sigmund Freud Archives, with the support of the New-Land Foundation, completed the digitization of those recordings. George Blood LP carried out the technical engineering. In 2023, the Recorded Sound Section completed the transfer of the digitized audiotapes to the Library of Congress website. The audio available on the website contains not only all the many interviews for which Eissler prepared written transcripts, but also the audio of several interviews without transcripts. The digitized recordings can be listened to on site at the Library of Congress or through the Library of Congress website.

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Acknowledgments

The Sigmund Freud Archives thanks Margaret McAleer; Claire Lober; and Ian Clarke, Clarke Computer Systems, Inc. , for their contributions to the creation of this website.

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Frequently Asked Questions

If you've ever taken or are currently taking psychology, chances are that you've spent a fair amount of time learning about Sigmund Freud's theory. Even those outside the psychology field often have some awareness of Freudian psychoanalysis, the school of thought created by Sigmund Freud.

In simple terms, Freud's theory suggests that human behavior is influenced by unconscious memories, thoughts, and urges. This theory also proposes that the psyche comprises three aspects: the id, ego, and superego . The id is entirely unconscious, while the ego operates in the conscious mind. The superego operates both unconsciously and consciously.

Knowing more about Freudian psychology, along with the key concepts in psychoanalysis—like the unconscious, fixations, defense mechanisms , and dream symbols —can help you understand the influence Freud's theories have had on contemporary psychologists .

Click Play to Learn More About Sigmund Freud's Theories

This video has been medically reviewed by Daniel B. Block, MD .

In this brief overview of Freudian theory, learn more about some of the major ideas proposed by Sigmund Freud.

Sigmund Freud's Theory of Talk Therapy

One of Freud's greatest contributions to psychology was talk therapy , the notion that simply talking about problems can help alleviate them. It was through his association with his close friend and colleague Josef Breuer that Freud became aware of a woman known in the case history as Anna O .

The young woman's real name was Bertha Pappenheim. She became a patient of Breuer's after suffering a bout of what was then known as hysteria . Symptoms included blurred vision, hallucinations, and partial paralysis.

Breuer observed that discussing her experiences provided some relief from her symptoms. It was Pappenheim herself who began referring to the treatment as the "talking cure."

While Anna O. is often described as one of Freud's patients, the two never actually met. Freud often discussed her case with Breuer, however, and the two collaborated on an 1895 book based on her treatment titled Studies in Hysteria .

Freud concluded that her hysteria was the result of childhood sexual abuse , a view that ended up leading to a rift in Freud and Breuer's professional and personal relationship. Anna O. may not have actually been Freud's patient, but her case informed much of Freud's work and later theories on therapy and psychoanalysis .

Freud's Theory of Personality

According to Freud's theory, there are a few different factors that affect personality. They include cathexis and anticathexis, along with life and death instincts.

Cathexis and Anticathexis

According to Freud's psychoanalytic theory, all psychic energy is generated by libido . Freud suggested that our mental states were influenced by two competing forces: cathexis and anticathexis .

• Cathexis was described as an investment of mental energy in a person, idea, or object.
• Anticathexis involves the ego blocking the socially unacceptable needs of the id. Repressing urges and desires is one common form of anticathexis, but this involves a significant investment of energy.

If you are hungry, for example, you might create a mental image of a delicious meal that you have been craving. In other cases, the ego might harness some energy from the id (the primitive mind) to seek out activities related to the desire in order to disperse excess energy from the id.

Sticking with the same example, if you can't actually seek out food to appease your hunger, you might instead thumb through a cookbook or browse through your favorite recipe blog.

According to Freud's theory, there is only so much libidinal energy available. When a lot of energy is devoted to suppressing urges via anticathexis, there is less energy for other processes.

Life Instincts and Death Instincts

Freud also believed that much of human behavior was motivated by two driving instincts: life instincts and death instincts .

• Life instincts (Eros) are those that relate to a basic need for survival, reproduction, and pleasure. They include such things as the need for food, shelter, love, and sex.
• Death instincts (Thanatos) are the result of an unconscious wish for death, which Freud believed all humans have. Self-destructive behavior was one expression of the death drive, according to Freud. However, he believed that these death instincts were largely tempered by life instincts.

Sigmund Freud's Theory of the Psyche

In Freudian theory, the human mind is structured into two main parts: the conscious and unconscious mind .

• The conscious mind includes all the things we are aware of or can easily bring into awareness.
• The unconscious mind , on the other hand, includes all of the things outside of our awareness—all of the wishes, desires, hopes, urges, and memories that we aren't aware of yet continue to influence behavior.

Freudian psychology compares the mind to an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg that is actually visible above the water represents just a tiny portion of the mind. On the other hand, the huge expanse of ice hidden underneath the water represents the much larger unconscious.

There is some question as to whether the iceberg metaphor came from Freud himself or one of his biographers, as some researchers indicate that there was no mention of an iceberg in Freud's writings.

In addition to these two main components of the mind, Freudian theory also divides human personality into three major components: the id, ego, and superego .

• The id is the most primitive part of the personality that is the source of all our most basic urges. The id is entirely unconscious and serves as the source of all libidinal energy.
• The ego is the component of personality that deals with reality and helps ensure that the demands of the id are satisfied in ways that are realistic, safe, and socially acceptable.
• The superego is the part of the personality that holds all of the internalized morals and standards that we acquire from our parents, family, and society at large.

Freud's Theory of Psychosexual Development

Freudian theory suggests that as children develop, they progress through a series of psychosexual stages . At each stage, the libido's pleasure-seeking energy is focused on a different part of the body.

The five stages of psychosexual development are:

• The oral stage : The libidinal energies are focused on the mouth.
• The anal stage : The libidinal energies are focused on the anus.
• The phallic stage : The libidinal energies are focused on the penis or clitoris.
• The latent stage : A period of calm in which little libidinal interest is present.
• The genital stage : The libidinal energies are focused on the genitals.

The successful completion of each stage leads to a healthy personality as an adult. If, however, a conflict remains unresolved at any particular stage, the individual might remain fixated or stuck at that particular point of development.

A fixation can involve an over-dependence or obsession with something related to that phase of development. For example, a person with an "oral fixation" is believed to be stuck at the oral stage of development. Signs of an oral fixation might include excessive reliance on oral behaviors such as smoking, biting fingernails, or eating.

Freud's Theory of Dream Analysis

The unconscious mind played a critical role in all of Freud's theories, and he considered dreams to be one of the key ways to take a peek into what lies outside our conscious awareness.

He dubbed dreams "the royal road to the unconscious" and believed that by examining dreams, he could see not only how the unconscious mind works but also what it is trying to hide from conscious awareness.

Freud believed the content of dreams could be broken down into two different types:

• The manifest content of a dream included all the actual content of the dream—the events, images, and thoughts contained within the dream. The manifest content is essentially what the dreamer remembers upon waking.
• The latent content , on the other hand, is all the hidden and symbolic meanings within the dream. Freud believed that dreams were essentially a form of wish fulfillment. By taking unconscious thoughts, feelings, and desires and transforming them into less threatening forms, people are able to reduce the ego's anxiety.

Freud often utilized the analysis of dreams as a starting point in his free association technique. When working with a client, he would focus on a particular dream symbol, then use free association to see what other thoughts and images immediately came to the client's mind.

Freud's Theory of Defense Mechanisms

Even if you've never studied Freud's theories before, you have probably heard the term "defense mechanisms." When someone seems unwilling to face a painful truth, you might accuse them of being " in denial ." If they try to look for a logical explanation for unacceptable behavior, you might suggest that they are "rationalizing."

For instance, rationalizations for smoking might include "one cigarette won't hurt me" or "if I quit, I'll just gain weight."

Denial and rationalization represent different types of defense mechanisms, or tactics that the ego uses to protect itself from anxiety. Some of the best-known mechanisms of defense include denial, repression , and regression , but there are many more.

Freud's Theory of Female Psychology

Freud's perspective on women was, and continues to be, one of his most controversial. One of his theories relating to female psychology is known as the Electra complex, also sometimes referred to as penis envy.

According to Freud, females start out close to their mothers. But once they realize they don't have a penis, they start to hate their moms for mutilating them, then become close to their dad. At the same time, females start to imitate their mom because they fear the loss of her affection.

The Electra complex is the opposite of the Oedipus complex , which Freud contended is when a male child develops a sexual attachment to his mother, viewing his father as a sexual rival.

Freud's Theory of Religion

Freud theorized that religious beliefs are essentially delusions, and also that turning away from these types of ideologies is preferable because religion does not lead to happiness and fulfillment; in fact, it is a belief structure not based on evidence.

Freud felt that a person's religious views were, at least in part, a result of their relationship with their father. He believed that people tend to depict their idea of a "God" based on the qualities and traits of the father figure in their life and that these qualities changed as their relationship with their father changed.

It is believed that Freud's theory of religion was influenced by his relationship with his own father. Freud had a Jewish upbringing, which he said he had no desire to change, yet he also stated that he was "completely estranged from the religion of his fathers—as well as from every other religion."

Impact of Freudian Theory

While Freud's theories have been widely criticized, they are still important because his work has made contributions to psychology as we know it today.

Psychotherapy

Many contemporary psychologists do not give credence to Freud's ideas, but the theories remain important. And research has validated the effectiveness of various forms of talk therapy, such as one finding that psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy were both effective for treating anxiety in college-age students. Freud's belief that mental problems could be resolved by actually talking about them helped revolutionize psychotherapy.

When the patient and analyst are well suited to work together, they can see how the patient's past gets reactivated in their current therapy and much learning takes place.

Freud's theories have also sparked a major change in how we view mental illness by suggesting that not all psychological problems have physiological causes.

Freud's contributions have also impacted the foundational science of what we know about psychology today. His idea that our thoughts are largely unconscious has withstood scientific scrutiny, for instance, retaining their importance in understanding human development and behavior.

Freud has even influenced thoughts about how society has formed into what it is today. Some believe that his theories help explain some of the successes of modern society while also explaining some of its failures.

Final Thoughts

To understand where psychology is today, it is essential to take a look at where we've been and how we got here. Freud's work provides insight into an important movement in psychology that helped transform how we think about mental health and how we approach psychological disorders .

By studying Freud's theories and those that came after, you gain a better understanding of psychology's fascinating history. Many terms such as defense mechanism , Freudian slip , and anal retentive have become a part of our everyday language. By learning about his work and theories, you can understand how these ideas and concepts became woven into the fabric of popular culture.

After starting his career as a doctor at Vienna General Hospital, Freud entered private practice, specializing in the treatment of psychological disorders. It was during this time in private practice that Freud started to develop his theories.

These theories were later refined through Freud's associations with Josef Breuer, a colleague and friend who was treating a patient with hysteria. Based on this case, Freud developed the theory that many neuroses originate from trauma that has transitioned from the conscious mind to the unconscious mind.

While Freud's psychosexual theory is rooted in basic needs and physiological driving forces, Erikson's psychosocial theory places more emphasis on one's environment.

Erikson's and Freud's theories also vary in terms of stages of development. For instance, the first stage of development according to Freudian theory is the oral stage, while the first stage of development according to Erikson's theory is trust versus mistrust.

Another difference is the length of development, with Freud believing that most development occurs in early childhood and Erikson contending that people continue to develop well into their adult years.

Freud's theory has shaped the field of psychology, both in theory and treatment applications. It has also inspired others in the field to better understand the mind and how it develops, developing their own theories in turn. Without Freud, we might not have talk therapy, which research supports for helping people manage and treat mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

Freud's psychosexual theory is hard to test scientifically, leaving questions about its validity. Another concern is that the theory is based on case studies versus research. Some have issues with Freud's theory being focused more on male psychosexual development, offering very little insight into females.

It also refers to homosexual preferences as a deviation of normal psychosexual development, though many psychologists today feel that sexual orientation is more biological in nature.

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Sigmund Freud’s Theories & Contribution to Psychology

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Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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On This Page:

Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939) was the founding father of psychoanalysis , a method for treating mental illness and a theory explaining human behavior.

Freud believed that events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality. For example, anxiety originating from traumatic experiences in a person’s past is hidden from consciousness and may cause problems during adulthood (neuroses).

Thus, when we explain our behavior to ourselves or others (conscious mental activity), we rarely give a true account of our motivation. This is not because we are deliberately lying. While human beings are great deceivers of others; they are even more adept at self-deception.

Freud’s life work was dominated by his attempts to penetrate this often subtle and elaborate camouflage that obscures the hidden structure and processes of personality.

His lexicon has become embedded within the vocabulary of Western society. Words he introduced through his theories are now used by everyday people, such as anal (personality), libido, denial, repression, cathartic, Freudian slip , and neurotic.

Who is Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud, born on May 6, 1856, in what is now Příbor, Czech Republic (then part of the Austrian Empire), is hailed as the father of psychoanalysis. He was the eldest of eight children in a Jewish family.

Freud initially wanted to become a law professional but later developed an interest in medicine. He entered the University of Vienna in 1873, graduating with an MD in 1881. His primary interests included neurology and neuropathology. He was particularly interested in the condition of hysteria and its psychological causes.

In 1885, Freud received a grant to study with Jean-Martin Charcot, a renowned neurologist who used hypnosis to treat women suffering from what was then called “hysteria.” This experience sparked Freud’s interest in the unconscious mind, a theme that would recur throughout his career.

In 1886, Freud returned to Vienna, married Martha Bernays, and set up a private practice to treat nervous disorders. His work during this time led to his revolutionary concepts of the human mind and the development of the psychoanalytic method.

Freud introduced several influential concepts, including the Oedipus complex, dream analysis, and the structural model of the psyche divided into the id, ego, and superego. He published numerous works throughout his career, the most notable being “ The Interpretation of Dreams ” (1900), “ The Psychopathology of Everyday Life ” (1901), and “ Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality ” (1905).

Despite controversy and opposition, Freud continued to develop his theories and expand the field of psychoanalysis. He was deeply affected by the outbreak of World War I and later by the rise of the Nazis in Germany. In 1938, due to the Nazi threat, he emigrated to London with his wife and youngest daughter.

Freud died in London on September 23, 1939, but his influence on psychology, literature, and culture remains profound and pervasive.

He radically changed our understanding of the human mind, emphasizing the power of unconscious processes and pioneering therapeutic techniques that continue to be used today.

Sigmund Freud’s Theories & Contributions

Psychoanalytic Theory : Freud is best known for developing psychoanalysis , a therapeutic technique for treating mental health disorders by exploring unconscious thoughts and feelings.

Unconscious Mind : Freud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model of the mind, describing the features of the mind’s structure and function. Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind.

The id, ego, and superego have most commonly been conceptualized as three essential parts of the human personality.

Psychosexual Development : Freud’s controversial theory of psychosexual development suggests that early childhood experiences and stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital) shape our adult personality and behavior.

His theory of psychosexual stages of development is predicated by the concept that childhood experiences create the adult personality and that problems in early life would come back to haunt the individual as a mental illness.

Dream Analysis : Freud believed dreams were a window into the unconscious mind and developed methods for analyzing dream content for repressed thoughts and desires.

Dreams represent unfulfilled wishes from the id, trying to break through to the conscious. But because these desires are often unacceptable, they are disguised or censored using such defenses as symbolism.

Freud believed that by undoing the dreamwork , the analyst could study the manifest content (what they dreamt) and interpret the latent content ( what it meant) by understanding the symbols.

Defense Mechanisms : Freud proposed several defense mechanisms , like repression and projection, which the ego employs to handle the tension and conflicts among the id, superego, and the demands of reality.

Sigmund Freud’s Patients

Sigmund Freud’s clinical work with several patients led to major breakthroughs in psychoanalysis and a deeper understanding of the human mind. Here are summaries of some of his most notable cases:

Anna O. (Bertha Pappenheim) : Known as the ‘birth of psychoanalysis,’ Anna O . was a patient of Freud’s colleague Josef Breuer. However, her case heavily influenced Freud’s thinking.

She suffered from various symptoms, including hallucinations and paralysis, which Freud interpreted as signs of hysteria caused by repressed traumatic memories. The “talking cure” method with Anna O. would later evolve into Freudian psychoanalysis.

Dora (Ida Bauer) : Dora, a pseudonym Freud used, was a teenager suffering from what he diagnosed as hysteria. Her symptoms included aphonia (loss of voice) and a cough.

Freud suggested her issues were due to suppressed sexual desires, particularly those resulting from a complex series of relationships in her family. The Dora case is famous for the subject’s abrupt termination of therapy, and for the criticisms Freud received regarding his handling of the case.

Little Hans (Herbert Graf) : Little Hans , a five-year-old boy, feared horses. Freud never met Hans but used information from the boy’s father to diagnose him.

He proposed that Little Hans’ horse phobia was symbolic of a deeper fear related to the Oedipus Complex – unconscious feelings of affection for his mother and rivalry with his father. The case of Little Hans is often used as an example of Freud’s theory of the Oedipal Complex in children.

Rat Man (Ernst Lanzer) : Rat Man came to Freud suffering from obsessive thoughts and fears related to rats, a condition known as obsessional neurosis.

Freud connected his symptoms to suppressed guilt and repressed sexual desires. The treatment of Rat Man further expanded Freud’s work on understanding the role of internal conflicts and unconscious processes in mental health disorders.

Wolf Man (Sergei Pankejeff) : Wolf Man was a wealthy Russian aristocrat who came to Freud with various symptoms, including a recurring dream about wolves.

Freud’s analysis, focusing on childhood memories and dreams, led him to identify the presence of repressed memories and the influence of the Oedipus Complex . Wolf Man’s treatment is often considered one of Freud’s most significant and controversial cases.

In the highly repressive “Victorian” society in which Freud lived and worked, women, in particular, were forced to repress their sexual needs. In many cases, the result was some form of neurotic illness.

Freud sought to understand the nature and variety of these illnesses by retracing the sexual history of his patients. This was not primarily an investigation of sexual experiences as such. Far more important were the patient’s wishes and desires, their experience of love, hate, shame, guilt, and fear – and how they handled these powerful emotions.

Freud’s Followers

Freud attracted many followers, who formed a famous group in 1902 called the “Psychological Wednesday Society.” The group met every Wednesday in Freud’s waiting room.

As the organization grew, Freud established an inner circle of devoted followers, the so-called “Committee” (including Sàndor Ferenczi, and Hanns Sachs (standing) Otto Rank, Karl Abraham, Max Eitingon, and Ernest Jones).

At the beginning of 1908, the committee had 22 members and was renamed the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.

Neo-Freudians

The term “neo-Freudians” refers to psychologists who were initially followers of Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939) but later developed their own theories, often modifying or challenging Freud’s ideas.

Here are summaries of some of the most notable neo-Freudians:

Carl Jung : Jung (1875 – 1961) was a close associate of Freud but split due to theoretical disagreements. He developed the concept of analytical psychology, emphasizing the collective unconscious, which houses universal symbols or archetypes shared by all human beings. He also introduced the idea of introversion and extraversion.

Alfred Adler : Adler (1870 – 1937) was another early follower of Freud who broke away due to differing views. He developed the school of individual psychology, highlighting the role of feelings of inferiority and the striving for superiority or success in shaping human behavior. He also emphasized the importance of social context and community.

• Otto Rank : Rank (1884 – 1939)  was an early collaborator with Freud and played a significant role in the development of psychoanalysis. He proposed the “trauma of birth” as a critical event influencing the psyche. Later, he shifted focus to the relationship between therapist and client, influencing the development of humanistic therapies.

Karen Horney : Horney (1885 – 1952) challenged Freud’s views on women, arguing against the concept of “penis envy.” She suggested that social and cultural factors significantly influence personality development and mental health. Her concept of ‘basic anxiety’ centered on feelings of helplessness and insecurity in childhood, shaping adult behavior.

• Harry Stack Sullivan : Sullivan (1892 – 1949) developed interpersonal psychoanalysis, emphasizing the role of interpersonal relationships and social experiences in personality development and mental disorders. He proposed the concept of the “self-system” formed through experiences of approval and disapproval during childhood.

Melanie Klein : Klein (1882 – 1960), a prominent psychoanalyst, is considered a neo-Freudian due to her development of object relations theory, which expanded on Freud’s ideas. She emphasized the significance of early childhood experiences and the role of the mother-child relationship in psychological development.

• Anna Freud : Freud’s youngest daughter significantly contributed to psychoanalysis, particularly in child psychology. Anna Freud (1895 – 1982) expanded on her father’s work, emphasizing the importance of ego defenses in managing conflict and preserving mental health.

Wilhelm Reich : Reich (1897 – 1957), once a student of Freud, diverged by focusing on bodily experiences and sexual repression, developing the theory of orgone energy. His emphasis on societal influence and body-oriented therapy made him a significant neo-Freudian figure.

• Erich Fromm : Fromm (1900-1980) was a German-American psychoanalyst associated with the Frankfurt School, who emphasized culture’s role in developing personality. He advocated psychoanalysis as a tool for curing cultural problems and thus reducing mental illness.

Erik Erikson : Erikson (1902 – 1994)  extended Freud’s theory of psychosexual development by adding social and cultural aspects and proposing a lifespan development model. His theory of psychosocial development outlined eight stages, each marked by a specific crisis to resolve, that shape an individual’s identity and relationships.

Critical Evaluation

Does evidence support Freudian psychology? Freud’s theory is good at explaining but not predicting behavior (which is one of the goals of science ).

For this reason, Freud’s theory is unfalsifiable – it can neither be proved true or refuted. For example, the unconscious mind is difficult to test and measure objectively. Overall, Freud’s theory is highly unscientific.

Despite the skepticism of the unconscious mind, cognitive psychology has identified unconscious processes, such as procedural memory (Tulving, 1972), automatic processing (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Stroop, 1935), and social psychology has shown the importance of implicit processing (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). Such empirical findings have demonstrated the role of unconscious processes in human behavior.

However, most evidence for Freud’s theories is from an unrepresentative sample. He mostly studied himself, his patients, and only one child (e.g., Little Hans ).

The main problem here is that the case studies are based on studying one person in detail, and regarding Freud, the individuals in question are most often middle-aged women from Vienna (i.e., his patients).

This makes generalizations to the wider population (e.g., the whole world) difficult. However, Freud thought this unimportant, believing in only a qualitative difference between people.

Freud may also have shown research bias in his interpretations – he may have only paid attention to information that supported his theories, and ignored information and other explanations that did not fit them.

However, Fisher & Greenberg (1996) argue that Freud’s theory should be evaluated in terms of specific hypotheses rather than a whole. They concluded that there is evidence to support Freud’s concepts of oral and anal personalities and some aspects of his ideas on depression and paranoia.

They found little evidence of the Oedipal conflict and no support for Freud’s views on women’s sexuality and how their development differs from men’.

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What is Freud most famous for?

Why is freud so criticized, what did sigmund freud do.

His conceptualization of the mind’s structure (id, ego, superego), his theories of psychosexual development, and his exploration of defense mechanisms revolutionized our understanding of human psychology.

Despite controversies and criticisms, Freud’s theories have fundamentally shaped the field of psychology and the way we perceive the human mind.

What is the Freudian revolution’s impact on society?