"The more the fruits of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the

Decline of religious belief."

Biography

Childhood/Family Life

On May 6th 1856 Sigismund Freud was born in Moravian Hamlet of Freiberg, which today is Pribor in
the Czech Republic . His name would later be changed to Sigmund when he was twenty-two years old (Schultz,
2004). Freud was born into a wealthy Jewish family. He was the first born of six children and had two older brothers
from Freud’s fathers previous marriage. His mother was quite found of Sigmund and she gave him the nickname “golden
siggie” (Simon and Schuster, 1999). Growing up, Freud was very bright and well treated by his parents, he was the only
child in his family to have his own room to himself in order for him to get the ample study time that he needed. When
Freud was about five years old his family moved to Vienna after his father failed at a business adventure. Throughout his
young childhood and adolescence, Freud continued to excel in academics and in 1873 he graduated Summa cum laude
from secondary school. Upon his graduation he went on to study medicine at Vienna University.

Adult Life

In 1876, he was introduced to a physiology professor by the name of Ernst Von Brucke. Through his help, young
Freud was able to get a grant to study with psychiatrist Charcot in Paris. Freud later went on to work with Bernheim in
Nancy (Boeree, 1997). Both of these men were very interested in investigating hypnosis with people who suffered from
hysterics. During his years in college he experimented with cocaine and subsequently used it for most of his life (Schultz,
2004).

In 1881 Freud earned his doctoral degree in medicine at Vienna University. During this time Freud met his future
wife, Martha Bernay and in 1886 they married. Following his marriage, Freud was able to set up a neuropsychiatry
practice from the help of Joseph Beuer; however, Freud gradually discarded the practice. Freud would go on to have six
children and one of them, Anna Freud, later would create a name for herself in the field of Psychology. It’s ironic to note
that many of Freud’s ideas revolved around sex; however, he himself had grown not to like sex and at the age of forty- one
vowed a life of celibacy (Schultz, 2004).

In 1902, Freud was appointed a professor at Vienna University (Public Broadcasting Channel, 1997). Then in
1906, Freud and seventeen other men met to form the Psychoanalytic Society. Among its members were Alfred Adler and
Carl Jung. The society eventually dissolved due to political infighting. In addition, Alfred Adler and Carl Jung defected
from Freud and his beliefs (Simon, 1999). For Jung, a Swiss from a protestant background, Freud’s strong atheist belief
and strong distaste for religion and mysticism was too much for him to take. Stanley Hall, in 1909, invited Freud to
present his theories in a series of lectures at Clark University in Massachusetts. This was Freud’s first international
presentation of his theories.

Freud, throughout his entire life, took a liking to smoking cigars which led to him being diagnosed with mouth
and jaw cancer in 1923. The last seventeen years of his life remained productive; however, Freud underwent over thirty
surgeries for the treatment of his cancer (Public Broadcasting Channel, 1997). In the 30’s when the Nazi’s started to gain
power, Freud’s life in Vienna was threatened so his family moved to England were he would spent the rest of his life
(Public Broadcasting Channel, 1997). Finally on September 23, 1939, Sigmund Freud died of mouth and jaw cancer.
 Professional Accomplishments

Freud throughout his life presented many books that are still respected today. In 1895, Freud along with his mentor
Joseph Breuer, published Studies on Hysteria this book for Freud was the start into looking into psychoanalysis (Schultz,
2004). In 1900, Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams which initially sold poorly but had a major impact on his
popularity (Simon, 1999). In it Freud included his concept of dream analysis, theory of the mind and other information
about himself and the history of Vienna where he spent much of his life. In 1901, Freud published another book
called Psychopathology of Everyday Life in which he describes his idea of the “Freudian slip” and about forgetfulness
(Schultz, 2004). In 1905, Freud published Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality which were based on lectures that he
presented. Finally, one other important book was The Ego and the Id which was published in 1923 in which he introduced
his structural theory and concepts of the id, ego, and superego.

Contributions to Psychology

Sigmund Freud was the first to use the term psychoanalysis in 1896. From that point his theories blossomed. Freud did
not invent the terms unconscious, conscious, or conscience; however, he was pivotal in making them popular. Freud
accomplished this through his theory of psychological reality: id, ego, and superego. Freud also drove a strong
movement that sex drive is the most important motivating force. He went on to identify that at times in our lives we find
different areas on our bodies pleasurable (today these are called erogenous zones). These ideas fused together to form
Freud’s Psychosexual Stage Theory, which is still taught in textbooks today (Boeree, 1997). This theory consisted of five
different stages. The first being the oral stage, in which newborns to eighteen month old infants find pleasure from the
mouth, specifically, sucking. The second stage, the anal stage, occurs eighteen months to three years of age; Freud
believed that young children in this stage receive pleasure from holding in and letting go of their bowel movements. Next
is the phallic stage starting at age three and ending approximately around age seven. In this stage children find pleasure
from their genitals through ways of touching, Freud even suggested through masturbation. The latent stage occurs in
children ages seven to puberty, it’s suggested that children at this time suppress their pleasure in order to learn and grow.
Finally, the genital stage which begins at puberty involves finding pleasure in sexual intercourse. Related to this theory
was Freud’s Oedipus complex, this concept involves the idea that little boys love their mothers very deeply while they
despise their fathers. Freud proposed that if children do not leave these stages that later in life it will develop into
abnormal behavior.

Another contribution to Psychology was Freud’s psychoanalytic techniques. Freud’s psychoanalysis had several features
that are still used in clinical practices today. For example the uses of a relaxing atmosphere were patients lay on a couch
and the lights are dimmed, this allows for total relaxation to the point where the unconscious may begin to emerge
itself. Freud was also a strong believer in free association; he encouraged clients to say anything, whatever came to their
mind even if it was foolish or repetitive. In psychoanalysis, resistance was also a key theme. Freud suggested that
changing the subject or falling asleep were ways in which the unconscious mind would express that a certain idea was
threatening. In addition to resistance, Freud was very interested in dream analysis and believed that all dreams had
meaning or clues into the unconscious. Freud also believed that a therapist could gain insight from transference or the
projection of emotions onto the therapist as well as parapraxes which is termed “Freudian slips” which was a client’s slip
of the tongue. In the final stages of therapy, Freud felt that catharsis, or when a client had a sudden and sometimes
dramatic outpouring of emotion, was when a client could finally gain insight into their true problems. Overall, Freud’s
goal in psychoanalysis was to make the unconscious conscious. Today, Freud still remains one of the most well-known
Psychologists; however, it’s still highly debated whether or not his theories and psychoanalytic practices are credible.