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Essay on Sigmund Freud

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Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud, physiologist, medical doctor, psychologist and father of psychoanalysis, is recognized as one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. As the originator of psychoanalysis, Freud distinguished himself as an intellectual giant. He invented new techniques and for understanding human behavior, his efforts resulted in one of the most comprehensive theories of psychology developed. Freud was born May 6, 1856 in Freiberg in Moravia (what is now Czechoslovakia) to his Jewish parents, his father Jacob who was a wool merchant and his mother Amalia Nathansohn. His father Jacob was 20 years older than, Amalia, Freud's mother and Freud had to older brothers from his father's previous marriage. …show more content…

Freud and Martha gave birth to six children, the youngest of whom, Anna, was herself to become a distinguished psychoanalyst and founder of child psychoanalysis. Freud set up a private practice to treat psychological disorders and gave him much material which he based some of his theories. At first, Freud's theories shocked some of his colleagues. Some of Freud's most creative work came at a time when he was experiencing severe emotional problems of his own. When he was forty he had numerous psychosomatic disorders, such as exaggerated fears of dying and other phobias. Freud continued to study and attracted support from few people such as Jung and Adler who were themselves to make major contributions to the school of psychoanalysis. Because of his controversial work, when Nazi storm troopers invaded the city in 1938, Freud was arrested in his home and held captive until his unsold books were burned publicly. Upon his release a few weeks later, he moved to London, where he lived out the last months of his life. In September 1939, Freud died of cancer at the age of 83. Some of his accomplishments include the "Interpretation of Dreams," written in 1900, which was to lay the foundation for his research over the next forty years. It suggested that brain functions can be divided into three categories: the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. The Id represents basics wants and instincts and could be shown

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