Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud (German: Sigmund Freud, birth name: Sigismund Schlomo Freud; May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis, philosopher, sexologist, and one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. Psychoanalysis is a clinical approach to the assessment and treatment of pathologies arising from psychological conflicts, conducted through a dialogue between patient and psychoanalyst, a discipline that encompasses the unique theory of mind and human agency derived from it. He was born into a Jewish family in the Austrian Empire (now the Czech Republic). In 1881, he received a doctorate in medicine from the University of Vienna. After completing his charter in 1885, he was appointed Chair Professor of Neuropathology and became Associate Professor in 1902. That is to say, ever since graduation he worked in Vienna, where he began his clinical practice in 1886. After Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Freud moved to London, England to escape the Nazis. Died in England in 1939. When Freud founded psychoanalysis, he developed therapeutic techniques such as "free association" and discovered the concept of transference and established its central role in the analytic process. Freud's inclusion of infantile forms of sexual desire led him to formulate the Oedipus complex as a central tenet of psychoanalytic theory. His interpretation of dreams as wish fulfillment provided him with a clinical model of the underlying mechanisms of symptom formation and repression. On this basis, Freud elaborated on his theory of the subconscious and continued to develop a model of the psychological structure consisting of the id, ego and superego. Freud postulated the existence of "libido" (sexual drive), which is sexual energy invested in psychological processes and structures and creates erotic attachments; and the death drive, which is the source of repetition compulsions, hatred, aggression, and neurotic guilt. In later works, Freud carried out extensive interpretations and criticisms of religion and culture. His works such as "The Interpretation of Dreams", "Three Essays on Sexuality", "Totems and Taboos", etc., proposed concepts such as the subconscious, id, ego and superego, Oedipus complex, sexual impulses, psychological defense mechanisms, etc., and is known as the "Father of Psychoanalysis". Psychoanalysis is currently in decline as a diagnostic and clinical practice overall, but it remains influential in psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, and the humanities as a whole.