FREUD

Sigmund Freud was born in Freiberg, which is now known as the Czech Republic, on May 6th, in 1856. He was the founder of psychoanalysis, and created an entirely new approach to the understanding of the human personality. Freud developed psychoanalysis, a method through which an analyst unpacks unconscious conflicts based on the free associations, dreams and fantasies of the patient. His theories on child sexuality, libido and the ego, among other topics, were some of the most influential academic concepts of the 20th century. Freud believed that the original occurrences had been forgotten and hidden from consciousness. 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 one could then discharge it and rid oneself of the neurotic symptoms. His understanding of humankind as a progressive element of the animal kingdom certainly informed Freud’s investigation of human behavior. Freud spent less time in clinical observation and concentrated on the application of his theories to history, art, literature and anthropology. In 1923, he published ‘The Ego and the Id’, which suggested a new structural model of the mind, divided into the ‘id, the ‘ego’ and the ‘superego’.