Who is Sigmund Freud?

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25 Feb 2024

Sigmund (Sigismund) Freud is an Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist, the founder of psychoanalysis theory, who was born in 1856 in Freiberg, in today's Czech Republic.
Freud's scientific studies, one of the most famous, most controversial and most influential thinkers of psychology, advanced the science of psychology and his research on understanding humans made a splash.

Thanks to Freud, who wrote thousands of books about his theories, many scientists continued to shape the science of psychology by developing their own theories.

Freud's theories, like many theorists, carry traces from his own life. Personality theorists often come up with original ideas with reference to their own lives. For example, like Freud, the ideas of Adler and Abraham Maslow are influenced by their Jewish origins. At the same time, Adler reflects the effects of being a small man on his own theory1.

Life and Education of Freud

Freud is the first child from the marriage of his mother, Amalie, and his father, Jacob. Father Jacob Freud has two adult children from his previous marriage. Sigmund Freud has 7 siblings from his parents.

There are doubts about Freud's exact birth month; in some places his date of birth is 6 March, in others it is 6 May. Freud, whose birth name was Sigismund, decided to change his name to Sigmund in his later years due to political reasons1 .

It is known that his parents gave Freud a high priority among all their children. Freud is known as a serious child who did not have much communication with his siblings. Stating that his relationship with his mother is very close and warm , Freud argues that the mother-son relationship is more perfect than all human relationships .

Stating that his mother was passionate, excited and emotional, Freud stated that his father was a balanced but weak person, who, although always optimistic, was never successful in his job and could not support his family. The basis of the idea of the Oedipus Complex, which will be very important for the theory of Psychoanalysis in the future , lies in Sigmund's way of seeing his parents and his family and personal memories1 .

After studying at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Vienna, Freud refused to work in medical science and turned to the field of Physiology , but decided to return to medicine due to financial and political problems1 .

During his years as a physician, he was closely involved with psychiatry and neurological diseases. Thanks to the scholarship he won from the university, he had the opportunity to work with the famous French neurologist Charcot for 4 months. During this period, Freud's studies on neurological diseases and hypnosis and the information he learned there led him to shift his interest to psychopathology and develop his theory of psychoanalysis.

Freud's Theories, What Does Freud Advocate?

Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalysis in his early forties and gained world fame with this theory. However, since he had a professional life before that, he carried out studies in many areas such as cerebral palsy, speech disorders and advocating the use of cocaine as an anesthetic and stimulant4 . Although Freud based his theories and ideas on hypnosis, the popular treatment of that period, he later developed psychoanalysis by arguing that real healing was possible not with hypnosis, but with speech therapy1

Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalytic theory is one of the most well-known theories in psychology. After Freud, the theory was divided into sub-branches and movements. One of the most important concepts that Freud introduced to psychology is the concept of the unconscious 5 . Although Josef Breuer, one of his colleagues and mentors, was the main person who introduced the concept of the unconscious, it was Sigmund Freud who made this concept usable .

In psychoanalysis, consciousness means the state of mind that encompasses everything of which a person is aware at one time 5 . Psychoanalytic theory suggests that people behave outside of their own will, under the influence of unconscious factors. Freud tried to solve people's problems by investigating unconscious thoughts, feelings and impulses.

It has been thought that there may be processes beyond consciousness since ancient times, and the concept of subconscious is used for this process. The subconscious represents mind processes that occur without the knowledge of the thinker. The concept of the unconscious, which psychoanalysis added to the science of psychology, represents all mental events that remain outside of conscious perception.

Contrary to popular belief, Freud does not use the concept of the subconscious. Due to translation errors in some sources translated into Turkish , Freud's concept of the unconscious is known as the subconscious in our society6 .

This theory is mostly criticized for being rigid, radical, being based on sexuality, advocating the existence of desires and impulses such as penis envy and envy, the idea that women's psyches are underdeveloped, and the effort to explain all current behavior of the person with past events1 . While psychoanalysis as a psychotherapy method has been highly criticized, when viewed as a system of thought, psychoanalysis has made significant contributions to the development of psychology.

Id, Ego and Superego: Freud's Structural Theory of Personality

According to psychoanalysis, personality is a structure consisting of id, ego and superego. Id instincts represent unconscious wishes and desires and are innate. The id wants to satisfy the desire immediately and in the moment. The superego is a structure that adopts the moral and ethical rules of society and houses the conscience.

The ego is a conscious mechanism that establishes balance between the id and superego. The ego's task is to balance the id's desires according to the superego's prohibitions and restrictions and to satisfy the id's desires. In short and simplest terms, the ego is a structure that blends and balances impulses and moral rules.

When the id's desires and social rules do not match, a serious conflict occurs, and the person develops defense mechanisms to resolve this conflict. According to analytical theory, the ego uses more than 20 defense mechanisms while maintaining this balance and trying to resolve conflicts. Freud first mentioned defense mechanisms in his work Neuropsychosis of Defenses (1962). After Freud's death, his daughter Anna Freud, known for her contributions to Ego Psychology, developed defense mechanisms and named many mechanisms.

Denying, controlling, and repressing are examples of defense mechanisms. The denial mechanism is when a person ignores the danger around him because he cannot eliminate it. The control defense mechanism means that a person tries to maintain control over the events around him to reduce his anxiety. Repression, on the other hand, is the keeping of some psychological processes unconscious without the person's will or knowledge.

Dreams: The Royal Road to the Unconscious

In his book The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), Freud examined dreams from a psychological perspective and then argued that dreams contain important elements that need to be interpreted in order to reach the unconscious. According to Sigmund Freud , people reveal their suppressed impulses, thoughts and desires in their dreams by censoring them .

According to Freud, dreams are areas where we achieve desire satisfaction. In this way, the desires that we repress in daily life and put aside because they do not coincide with the social or moral laws of the superego can be satisfied in our dreams. Throughout his life, Freud also interpreted the dreams of his colleagues who were interested in psychoanalysis and had them interpret their own dreams.

Periods of Psychosexual Development

One of the most well-known of Freud's theories is the stages of development. According to this theory, people complete their development in 5 basic stages. These stages occur in the first six years of life.

These stages are listed as oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital stages. The oral stage is the stage that occurs between the ages of 0-1. Anal stage occurs between the ages of 1-3, Phallic stage occurs between the ages of 3-6 years, Latent stage occurs between the ages of 6-12 years and finally Genital stage occurs between the ages of 12-18 years.

1. Oral Period

During the oral period, the baby lives under the control of the id, and in this process, the baby reaches satisfaction by sucking and relieves its anxiety. Excessive satisfaction or preventing satisfaction during the oral period causes inhibitions (fixation) and causes problems in the future.

2. Anal Period

In the anal period, according to Freud, the child enjoys defecation, bowel movements and explores the muscles of the anal area. Since toilet training is given during this period, the child is rewarded or punished as a result of this training. Parents' behavior during this period significantly affects the child's personality. According to Freud, a child who goes through toilet training too comfortably becomes disorganized and sloppy in adulthood, while children who receive repressive toilet training become stingy and meticulous.

3. Phallic Period

During the phallic period, children begin to wonder about sexual issues. Children who understand gender differences begin to question their own bodies. During this period, a feeling of love may be felt towards the parent of the opposite sex.

4. Latent Period

The latent period is defined as a period when sexual impulses are suppressed and prohibited by the parent. It is the period when social circles and friendships begin to form. It generally represents the period between the ages of 7-12.

5. Genital Period

Finally, in the genital period, reproductive organs develop and children begin to understand the physical differences between their own sex and the opposite sex. According to Freud , this is the period when sexual identity is formed5 .

According to Freud, oral, anal and phallic stages seriously affect personality development. At these stages, the attitude of the parents to the child is very important.

Techniques Used in Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a process that takes longer and requires more material and spiritual investment than other schools of psychotherapy. It is a long and bumpy road for a person to become aware of and accept his unconscious impulses and desires, to understand how they affect and hinder his life, and where the pathology originates. So, what are the methods used in psychoanalysis to make the unconscious accessible? Freud argues that just as one can reveal one's unconscious by speaking, it is possible to reach the idea of unconscious desires through clumsy actions such as dreams, slips and forgetting.

1. Free Association

In free association, one of the basic techniques used by Freud and his followers, recent events are evoked and an attempt is made to find the main thought that disturbs the client by going backwards. The aim here is to reveal unconscious information. The client is asked to convey what is going through his mind during the session as it comes to his mind, without filtering it. This is free associations.

2. Transference

The relationship established between the client and the analyst and the emotions that develop during the session are very important for the continuation of psychotherapy. The analyst is sometimes an enemy and sometimes a friend, and while reviving the client's memories, the analyst is sometimes asked to take the place of the person's mother or father and convey the client's feelings.

3. Dream Analysis

As mentioned before, dreams are used as a guide for the emergence of unconscious feelings, thoughts and impulses. It is thought that unconscious thoughts are censored and seen in various representations in dreams, and hidden issues are revealed by allowing the client to analyze the symbols in dreams.

4. Hypnosis

According to Freud, hypnosis is a transfer event. The aim is to bring to the surface of consciousness all the memories and thoughts that the client has repressed and kept in the unconscious through hypnosis. While working with Charcot, Freud used hypnosis in cases of hysteria, but later developed psychoanalysis, arguing that this method was insufficient to bring unconscious ideas to consciousness.

The main goal of psychoanalysis techniques is to strengthen the ego and enable the person to understand the root of the problems he is experiencing and develop ways to cope with them. The aim here is to ensure the balance of id, ego and superego, which exist at the basis of the personality, and to save the person from internal conflicts that create anxiety and stress.

Criticisms Against Freud

Sigmund Freud is seen as the founder of psychology, and although many of his ideas have been criticized, he is still indispensable today as a system of thought that tries to explain human behavior. His works and ideas are still included in today's psychology literature and are explained to students. At the same time, his ideas have been influential in many fields other than psychology, such as literature, film and art.

Sigmund Freud's books are very important works in their time and today. In addition to his masterpieces such as The Interpretation of Dreams, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, On Psychoanalysis, and Studies on Hysteria, Freud has more than 200 works. In his works, Freud explains his theories in detail around his own cases. He explains the basic issues of psychoanalysis in his book An Introduction to the General Psychopathology of Man. Again, in his book The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), he wrote about dreams and how we can understand the unconscious and how we can interpret dreams.

The points that receive the most criticism in Freud's theory are that it has a very rigid and materialist attitude, it bases the concept of sexuality and libido and places excessive emphasis on it, it talks about child sexuality, the idea of penis envy and envy, and it attributes everything in a person's life to the first years of life. Very few of the hypotheses of psychoanalysis, which is highly criticized as a psychotherapy method, can be proven by scientific methods.

Although Freud insists that psychoanalysis is a science, there are certain problems with these hypotheses, which are based on observations made during therapy. For example, each therapy session is a one-time only and cannot be repeated. During therapy, the therapist has preconceptions. Since all of these are contrary to the basic principles of science, such as testability, measurability and falsifiability, psychoanalysis has no scientific validity1 .
At the same time, one of the points of criticism is that the therapy is costly for such a long period.

Psychoanalysis has divided into multiple branches in the post-Freudian period. Many important scientists, such as Carl Gustav Jung and Alfred Adler, who were followers and students of Sigmund Freud at one point, had disagreements with Freud and interpreted and changed psychoanalysis in their own way. For this reason, apart from Freudian psychoanalysis, there are many important hypotheses that his students added to psychoanalysis and put forward.