Freud, Sigmund

Austrian physician who pioneered the study of the unconscious mind. He developed the methods of free association and interpretation of dreams that are basic techniques of psychoanalysis. The influence of unconscious forces on people's thoughts and actions was Freud's discovery, as was his controversial theory of the repression of infantile sexuality as the root of neuroses in the adult. His books include Die Traumdeutung/The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Jenseits des Lustprinzips/Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920), Das Ich und das Es/The Ego and the Id (1923), and Das Unbehagen in der Kultur/Civilization and its Discontents (1930). His influence has permeated the world to such an extent that it may be discerned today in almost every branch of thought.

From 1886 to 1938 Freud had a private practice in Vienna, and his theories and writings drew largely on case studies of his own patients, who were mainly upper-middle-class, middle-aged women. Much of the terminology of psychoanalysis was coined by Freud, and many terms have passed into popular usage, not without distortion. His theories have changed the way people think about human nature and brought about a more open approach to sexual matters. Antisocial behaviour is now understood to result in many cases from unconscious forces, and these new concepts have led to wider expression of the human condition in art and literature. Nevertheless, Freud's theories have caused disagreement among psychologists and psychiatrists, and his methods of psychoanalysis cannot be applied in every case.