Biography of Freud.

Birth of psychoanalysis

The history of psychoanalysis dates back to the 1890s in Vienna, when Sigmund Freud worked to develop a more effective way to treat neurotic and hysterical illnesses. Somewhat earlier, Freud was confronted with the fact that some mental processes were not recognized by him as a result of his neurological consultations in the children's hospital, and he discovered that in many children with speech disorders there was no organic reason for the occurrence of these symptoms. Later in 1885, Freud underwent an internship at the Salpêtrière clinic under the guidance of the French neurologist and psychiatrist Jean Martin Charcot, who had a strong influence on him. Charcot drew attention to the fact that his patients often suffered from such somatic diseases as paralysis, blindness, tumors, without having any organic disorders characteristic of such cases. Before Charcot's work, it was believed that women with hysterical symptoms had a wandering uterus ( hystera means "uterus" in Greek), but Freud found that men could also experience similar psychosomatic symptoms. Freud also became familiar with the experiments in the treatment of hysteria carried out by his mentor and colleague Joseph Breuer. This treatment was a combination of hypnosis and catharsis, and later processes of discharging emotions similar to this method were called “abreaction”.

Despite the fact that most scientists considered dreams either a collection of mechanical memories of the past day or a meaningless collection of fantastic images, Freud developed the point of view of other researchers that a dream is an encrypted message. Analyzing the associations that arise in patients in connection with one or another detail of a dream, Freud made a conclusion about the etiology of the disorder. Realizing the origin of their disease, patients, as a rule, were cured.

As a young man, Freud became interested in hypnosis and its use in helping the mentally ill. Later he abandoned hypnosis, preferring free association method and dream analysis. These methods became the basis of psychoanalysis. Freud was also interested in what he called hysteria, now known as conversion syndrome.

Symbols, unlike ordinary elements of a manifest dream, have a universal (the same for different people) and stable meaning. Symbols are found not only in dreams, but also in fairy tales, myths, everyday speech, and poetic language. The number of objects depicted in dreams by symbols is limited.

Dream interpretation method

The method Freud used to interpret dreams is as follows. After he was told the content of the dream, Freud began to ask the same question about individual elements (images, words) of this dream - what comes to the narrator’s mind about this element when he thinks about it? The person was required to communicate all the thoughts that came into his head, regardless of the fact that some of them may seem ridiculous, irrelevant or obscene.

The rationale behind this method is that mental processes are strictly determined, and if a person, when asked to say what comes to his mind regarding a given element of a dream, a certain thought comes to mind, this thought cannot in any way be random; it will certainly be associated with this element. Thus, the psychoanalyst does not interpret someone's dream himself, but rather helps the dreamer in this. In addition, some special elements of dreams can still be interpreted by a psychoanalyst without the help of the dream owner. These are symbols - elements of dreams that have a constant, universal meaning that does not depend on in whose dream these symbols appear.

last years of life

Freud's books

• "The Interpretation of Dreams", 1900
• "Totem and Taboo", 1913
• "Lectures on Introduction to Psychoanalysis", 1916-1917
• "I and It", 1923
• "Moses and Monotheism", 1939

Literature

1. Brian D. “Freudian Psychology and the Post-Freudians.” - Refl-book. - 1997.
2. Zeigarnik. “Theories of personality in foreign psychology.” - Moscow University Publishing House. - 1982.
3. Lacan J. Seminars. Book 1. Freud's works on the technique of psychoanalysis (1953-1954) M: Gnosis/Logos, 1998.
4. Lacan J. Seminars. Book 2. “I” in Freud’s theory and in the technique of psychoanalysis (1954-1955) M: Gnosis/Logos, 1999.
5. Marson P. “25 Key Books on Psychoanalysis.” Ural Ltd. - 1999
6. Freud, Sigmund. Collected works in 26 volumes. St. Petersburg, publishing house "VEIP", 2005 - ed. continues.
7. Paul FERRIS. "Sigmund Freud"

Freud, Sigmund - Austrian psychiatrist, neurologist, psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis.

Biography

Sigmund Freud (Sigismund Shlomo Freud) was born on May 6, 1856 in the village of Freiberg, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The village was located 240 km from Vienna. Father, Jacob Freud, was a wool trader. Mother, Amalia Malka Natanson, came from Odessa. The family lived in one large room, which they rented from a drunken tinsmith.

In the fall of 1859, the family decided to seek their fortune elsewhere. The Freuds move to Leipzig, then to Vienna. True, even in the capital the family failed to improve their financial situation. Sigmund later recalled that his childhood was constantly associated with poverty.

In Vienna, Sigmund entered a private gymnasium and began to demonstrate great academic success. He learned English, French, Italian, Spanish well, and was interested in philosophy. At the age of 17, he graduated from high school with honors and was recognized as the best in the class.

After graduating from high school, Sigmund decided to connect his future life with medicine. He enters the medical faculty of the University of Vienna. Experiences serious difficulties because of his nationality. Anti-Semitic sentiment reigned in Austria-Hungary at that time, and many classmates did not forget to laugh at the Jewish young man.

In 1881, having graduated from the university, he could not yet open a private practice. He had theoretical knowledge, but no practical knowledge. The choice fell on the Vienna City Hospital. They paid little here, but you could gain valuable experience. Freud began working as a surgeon, but after two months he decided to focus on neurology. Despite his success in this area, Freud becomes tired of working in the hospital, he considers it too tedious and boring.

In 1883, Sigmund moved to the psychiatry department. Here he felt that he had found his true calling. Despite this, he feels dissatisfied, largely due to his inability to earn enough money to get married. In 1884, Freud got lucky. Many doctors go to fight cholera in Montenegro, Sigmund’s boss is on vacation, so he is appointed chief physician of the department for quite a long time.

In 1885, Freud wins a competition that allows him to go to Paris to study with the then famous psychiatrist Jean Charcot. Here Sigmund works on the study of neuropathology, finds a connection between sexual problems and psychological disorders.

In 1886, Freud returned to Vienna and opened a private practice here. The same year he married Martha Bernays.

In 1895, after many disappointments with various methods of studying the psyche, Freud discovered his own method - free association. The essence of the method was as follows: the patient had to relax and say whatever came to mind. Sigmund found that patients soon began to talk about past events, experiencing them emotionally. Freud soon learned to understand exactly what events in the past caused certain disorders in the patient. In 1886, the new method was called "psychoanalysis".

After this, Freud focused on the study of dreams. He noticed that during free association storytelling, patients often talked about dreams. As a result, Sigmund was able to discover what the secret meaning is hidden behind any dream. In 1900, Freud's book “The Interpretation of Dreams” was published, which many consider the best work of the Austrian researcher.

In 1905, a new book was published, “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality.” Its essence is the study of connections between sexual problems and mental disorders. Colleagues did not accept Freud’s ideas, which was not surprising: at that time such thoughts were simply considered obscene. However, after a few years, Sigmund's ideas begin to become more and more popular.

In 1921, the University of London began giving lectures to five scientists: Einstein, Spinoza, the Kabbalist Ben Baimonides, the mystic Philo and Sigmund Freud. A psychiatrist is nominated for the Nobel Prize. It was a confession.

When Vienna fell to the Nazis, Freud decided to stay in the city, although his nationality posed a serious problem. He had every chance to go to Auschwitz, but almost the whole world began to defend the scientist. The Danish queen and the Spanish king protested particularly strongly against the scientist’s oppression. Franklin Roosevelt tried to get Freud deported. But the scientist’s fate was decided after Mussolini’s call to Hitler. A psychiatrist had once cured one of the fascist leader’s good friends, and now asked Freud to help. Himmler agreed to release Freud, but for a ransom. Maria Bonaparte, the granddaughter of Napoleon himself, agreed to give any amount for Freud. The Austrian Gauleiter asked for two of Mary's palaces - practically her entire fortune. Napoleon's granddaughter agreed. In Paris, the psychiatrist was met by Maria Bonaparte and Prince George. Soon Freud goes to Great Britain, where he meets Bernard Shaw.

On September 23, 1939, Freud's friend, at his request, injects him with a triple dose of morphine. Sigmund suffered greatly from oral cancer, so he decided to euthanasia. Three days later the body was cremated.

Freud's Major Achievements

• Creator of the method of free association and psychoanalysis.
• Through his research he proved that unconscious structures are quite accessible to analysis. As a result, Freud built an interconnected picture of the human psyche.

Important dates in Freud's biography

• May 6, 1856 - birth in the village of Freiberg.
• 1873 – admission to the University of Vienna.
• 1876 ​​- beginning of scientific work at the Institute of Zoological Research.
• 1881 – graduation from university. Start of work at the Vienna City Hospital.
• 1885 - arrival in Paris and work with Jean Charcot.
• 1886 - return to Vienna. Marriage. The term “psychoanalysis” was used for the first time.
• 1895 – publication of the book “Studies in Hysteria”.
• 1900 – publication of the book “The Interpretation of Dreams”.
• 1908 - founding of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society by Freud's like-minded people.
• 1909 – Arrival in the USA to give lectures.
• 1833 - a series of brochures “Continuation of Lectures on Introduction to Psychoanalysis” is published.
• 1938 - becomes a hostage of the Nazis. He was able to leave Austria thanks to the intercession of Maria Bonaparte and a number of state leaders.
• September 23, 1939 – euthanasia.

• I used cocaine for some time, wanting to study its effects on the human body. Recognized cocaine as an extremely dangerous drug.
• He was a heavy smoker. He considered smoking to be the greatest pleasure in life.
• He left behind 24 volumes of works.
• I was afraid of the number 62.
• Lost my virginity at age 30 because I was afraid of women.
• I hated music. He threw away his sister's piano and did not visit restaurants with an orchestra.
• He had a phenomenal photographic memory.

If it were not for Martha, the wife of the famous Sigmund Freud, there would, in essence, not have been the pioneer of psychoanalysis. Without her revelations, the popular opinion would continue to exist: that Freud, who explained the most secret passions of people, was himself an impassive person. Alas!

And biographers established this. It was they who brought, or rather, began to bring Martha, who had lived with Sigmund for more than half a century, out of the shadows. While living with him, she tried not to show herself, believing that the best wife is the one about whom people talk very little. Scientists led by Katya Berchling-Fischer have rummaged through the Freud family archives and found hundreds of letters written to Sigmund Martha. According to the prestigious Polish magazine Przekruj, it will take at least five years to process the collected materials, only after which we can count on the appearance of fundamental work. In the meantime, Katya Berchling-Fischer has released only fragments, but they are enough to present an extraordinary woman who inspired Freud both in intimate matters and in scientific research.

Marriage against Emilia's wishes

When Sigmund first saw 20-year-old Martha Bernaus, he was struck by thunder. And she, charming, energetic, educated, fell in love with him at first sight. Timid, unsure of himself, Sigmund did not at all look like a conqueror of hearts. He admitted that when he was a teenager, he was impressed by a certain Gisela, but that passion was, alas, unrequited. I regretted that my experience with women in my youth was limited.

Soon Martha and Sigmund became engaged, but did it in secret. And not without reason: the daughter of the chief rabbi of Hamburg, Emilia, Martha’s mother, opposed the marriage with Sigmund, the son of a Jewish merchant, who had neither property, nor a good position, nor a solid position in the community, but atheism was overflowing. But the daughter rejected the arguments of her Hassidic mother, and she made a strong-willed decision to move with the children from Vienna to Hamburg. Did not help. Martha found the outcome of her passion in letters - two or three daily. Freud answered just as often. “My beloved girl,” he wrote, “you are pure happiness for me. Without you, I have no desire to live. Only for you would I like to get a piece of the world, so that we can rejoice in it together.” “My beloved,” Martha answered passionately, “I couldn’t sleep with you half the night... I want to be what you want me to be. Just love me a little more passionately.”

The letters indicate that Martha was deeply involved in Freud's emotional and professional development. He, on the contrary, used her like a guinea pig, for example, in his experiments with cocaine, then a poorly understood substance. Having discovered that cocaine gave him enthusiasm and courage, Freud sent his betrothed several doses. However, Martha replied that she did not need cocaine, but nevertheless she tried it and really experienced a pleasant sensation. Freud admitted that cocaine could be used as a painkiller. I even wrote an article on this topic, but the desire to be with Martha did not allow me to continue research with this substance. If it were not for Martha, Freud might have remained in medicine and would never have taken up psychoanalysis.

After three years of separation, Freud invited Martha to start a family and move to Vienna with him. His lover agreed to do this, which prompted Freud to make serious self-sacrifice: he neglected his university career and opened a neurological office. Four years after their first meeting, they got married. The ceremony was modest. Freud agreed to a Jewish wedding, but then, during the marriage, religion had no right of access to their home.

In the first eight years of their marriage, Martha gave birth to six children. She was a wonderful mother and mistress of the house, in which she reigned supreme. Freud did not oppose this, although there were some eccentricities that Martha had to endure. Over the years, he became more and more attached to the dogs that were given to him by his patients and fans. Martha reluctantly put up with the presence of animals in the house.

Did Freud cheat on his wife?

It is very interesting that Freud never spoke publicly about his sexual relationship with his wife. Only in a book about dreams in a dream did he mention Martha: “I wouldn’t want to have her as a patient...” However, the reason for keeping silent about his own intimate life could be much more banal. Most of their married life simply cannot be called that. After the birth of his sixth child, Freud stopped sleeping with his wife, fearing another pregnancy. In a letter to his friend biologist Wilhelm Fless, he wrote after 1895: “You know how limited my pleasures are. I can’t smoke decent tobacco, alcohol means nothing to me. I’m done with having children, I’ve cut off contacts with people. That’s it - innocent and I'm vegetating..."

The problems of his wife's unusual fertility contributed to Freud's active support of the work of Fless, who dealt with the issues of male and female biological cycles. He hoped that his biologist friend would eventually develop a safe method of contraception in sexual relations. One of the biographers even noted: if Freud had continued to act in this direction, he would have become not so much the creator of psychoanalysis as the inventor of the best condom.

Many of Freud's contemporaries, having heard enough gossip, were disappointed with the life of the father of libido. The French poetess, Countess Anne de Noans, having known Freud, did not hide her regret: “How could such a man write so many sexy books? What a terrible man! I am sure that he never cheated on his wife. This is simply abnormal. This is a scandal.”

However, not all biographers share the countess's point of view. Some suspect that Freud cohabited with Minna, Martha's sister. After the birth of her sixth child, Minna moved to the Freuds; there were years when Sigmund traveled with her more often than with his wife. Minna was "a gifted woman with a wild, passionate nature." True, Freud himself considered her intelligent, but with a masculine character. Such persons, including patients, attracted him very much, although he took a woman who was the complete opposite as his wife.

The candle was lit on Friday

One day, Martha learned that her 67-year-old husband was hospitalized. Freud, having discovered some kind of mole on his lip, decided to have an operation without warning his family about it. Thus began his long battle with cancer. After Hitler came to power, Freud's books were burned, but this happened far away - in the capital of the "Third Reich". The situation changed after Austria was occupied by Germany. The 82-year-old Freud's family emigrated to London with Minna, where she could once again float in Freudian glory. However, the disease progressed. In September 1939, one of the dogs turned away from Freud: his breath was so bad. And then Freud decided to commit suicide. I turned to my doctor for help, who gave the injection. He died on September 23, 1939, surrounded by his family.

On the first Friday after the death of her husband, Martha lit a candle. She did not do this for more than half a century, living with the atheist Sigmund.

After World War II, Martha helped biographers and researched the family tree of her husband. She left this world on November 2, 1951 at the age of 90. Her body was cremated and her ashes were placed in a Freudian urn. The funeral procession was accompanied by a rabbi. The youngest daughter Anna believed that this was what her mother would have wanted.

Anna Freud, whose photo and biography are presented in this article, is the youngest daughter of Sigmund Freud and his wife Martha. She was born in 1895, December 3. At that time, family life was difficult, and everyday difficulties were aggravated by the birth of the sixth child. Martha Freud independently ran the household and also took care of the children. In order to help her, Minna, her sister, came to live with the Freuds. She became a second mother for Anna.

Father's influence

Sigmund was forced to work very hard. Only during the holidays did he find an opportunity to communicate with his children. For Anna, the highest reward was her father's recognition. She tried to be better for him.

Studies

In 1901, Anna entered a private school. After two years of study there, she transferred to the folk school. Then Anna Freud entered a private lyceum. However, this alone was not enough to continue studying at the university - he had to graduate from high school. Anna never received a higher education.

Breaking up with Sophie

For the girl, 1911 became a critical year. Then Sophie, her sister, left her father's house. She was her father's favorite, and many of his visitors immediately fell in love with this girl. Sophie and Anna lived in the same room and were very friendly. When Sophie got married, Anna was already 16 years old. She has already passed her exams at the Lyceum. The girl was tormented by the question of how her own fate would turn out. She was not distinguished by beauty, she even considered herself, with the maximalism characteristic of her youth, ugly.

Travel, continuing education and teaching

On the advice of Sigmund, she went to travel in order to drown out her mental torment with new impressions. Anna spent 5 months in Italy, and after returning to her homeland, she continued her education. She passed the final exam in 1914, and for the next 5 years she was engaged in teaching.

Introduction to psychoanalysis

Sigmund was satisfied with his daughter's career. In his letters, he pointed out to the girl only two of her shortcomings - an excessive passion for knitting and a stooped posture. Anna first heard about psychoanalysis from her father when she was 13 years old. Later, seeing that his daughter was sincerely interested, Sigmund allowed her to attend the lectures he gave and even while seeing patients. Between 1918 and 1921, the girl was analyzed by her father. This was a violation of psychoanalytic ethics, but Sigmund's authority did not allow his followers to express their disapproval openly.

After the First World War began, Freud's sons were drafted into the army, and his daughters got married. Anna is the only one of the children left with her father. She always avoided suitors.

First achievements

Since 1918, the girl took part in International Psychoanalytic Congresses. She became a member of the Psychoanalytic Publishing House (English branch) in 1920. Her interests are related to waking dreams and fantasies. Anna translated the book “Waking Dreams” by J. Warendock into German.

In 1923, Anna opened her own practice. She stayed in the house where her father also received patients. Adults came to Sigmund, and Anna received children. It is she who is credited with distinguishing childhood psychoanalysis as an independent direction in practice. Rethinking her father's ideas, Anna Freud focused all her attention on the child. After all, he needs help no less, and sometimes even more, and suffers just like an adult.

Difficulties encountered in professional activities

At first, Anna Freud experienced many difficulties in her professional activities. Her biography was not marked by receiving a medical education. His absence was an obstacle to recognition. Sigmund Freud attributed psychoanalysis to psychology rather than to medicine. However, not everyone thought so. In addition, most of the analysts had a medical background. Therefore, Anna’s lack of it seemed like a significant disadvantage. No patients were sent to her. The girl had to start with the children of her acquaintances and friends. In addition, the difficulties of working with young patients were revealed. Adults were interested in treatment and willingly paid for it. However, the child was brought to Anna by his parents, often against his will. The children were often capricious, did not want to talk, and hid under the table. This is where Anna’s teaching experience came in handy: the girl knew how to win over students. She told her patients entertaining stories, entertained them with magic tricks, and if necessary, she could crawl under the table herself in order to talk to the stubborn little one.

Helping Father

Anna Freud unexpectedly learned in 1923 that Sigmund had cancer. He went for surgery, which was complicated by severe bleeding. Anna was told that Sigmund needed help getting home. She made selfless efforts to support her father. Sigmund Freud, largely thanks to Anna, managed to live another 16 years. He underwent 31 operations. His daughter looked after him and also took on a large share of his affairs. Anna spoke at international congresses instead of Sigmund, accepted his awards, and read out reports.

Relationship with D. Burlingam

D. Burlingham-Tiffany arrived in Vienna in 1925. This is the daughter of the wealthy inventor and manufacturer Tiffany, an admirer of Sigmund Freud. She arrived with four of her children, but without her husband (she had a difficult relationship with him). Anna Freud became a second mother to her children, as well as to her nephew, the child Sophie, who died in 1920. She played with them, traveled, went to the theater. D. Burlingham moved to Freud's house in 1928 and lived here until her death (in 1979).

First book

At the end of 1924, Anna Freud became secretary of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute. Child psychoanalysis is the topic of lectures for teachers that she gave at this institute. Anna Freud's first book was composed of four lectures. It is called "Introduction to the technique of child psychoanalysis." This book was published in 1927.

Difficult times

The 1930s were difficult years for the psychoanalytic movement and for the Freud family. The Psychoanalytic Publishing House, which was founded with large donations in the early 1920s, turned out to be practically bankrupt in 1931. He was saved only thanks to the efforts made by Anna Freud.

"Psychology of the Self and Defense Mechanisms"

In 1936, the main theoretical work of this researcher was published. Anna Freud (“Psychology of the Self” opposed the view that the object of psychoanalysis is exclusively the unconscious. It becomes the “I” - the center of consciousness. Anna Freud’s psychoanalysis is thus characterized by an innovative approach to the object.

Nazi occupation

At this time, the clouds of Nazism were gathering over Europe. After Hitler came to power, psychoanalysis was banned and Sigmund's works were burned. Psychoanalysts, foreseeing danger, left Austria. Jews were especially afraid of the Nazis. The sick and elderly Freud found it difficult to leave his homeland. In Vienna he was caught by the Nazi occupation. Anna Freud was summoned to the Gestapo for interrogation on March 22, 1938. Fearing torture, she took poison with her. This day was a terrible test for her. For the rest of her life, she was tormented by memories of him. After that, Anna could not return for a long time to where she looked into the eyes of death. Only in 1971 did she pay a short visit to Vienna and visit the house-museum where she once lived.

Emigration

Thanks to the help of Marie Bonaparte, the French princess, as well as the American ambassadors to France and Austria, Sigmund Freud, his daughter and wife were ransomed from the Nazis. The family left for Paris on June 4, 1938, and then to England. Here Freud and Anna lived the rest of their lives. Sigmund Freud died in 1939, on September 23. Anna immediately began working on publishing his collected works. In 1942-45. it was published in Germany in German.

Activities of Anna Freud in the post-war period

After the war, Anna devoted all her efforts to helping children affected by German bombings. She gathered children in dilapidated houses, organized help for them, and found funds from various companies, foundations and individuals to support them. Anna Freud opened a nursery in 1939. Until 1945, more than 80 children of various ages found shelter there. Anna published the results of research done on experimental material in Monthly Reports.

Anna Freud turned 50 in 1945. At this age, many people retire, but she actively brought her knowledge to the world. Anna participated in congresses, honorary ceremonies, meetings, and traveled a lot. Her first trip to the USA took place in 1950. She gave lectures. In London, the daughter of Sigmund Freud worked at the institute: she gave lectures, colloquiums, seminars, and resolved organizational issues.

Celebrities who turned to Anna

She conducted psychoanalysis on her own until 1982. Many celebrities turned to her, including Marilyn Monroe. Anna had a great influence on Hermann Hesse, she maintained contact with 12 more times after 1950, she visited the USA with lectures.

Final work, last years of life

In 1965, A. Freud completed her final work, “Norm and Pathology in Childhood.” In 1968, Anna translated it into her native language. Anna Freud suffered from back pain and lung disease for a long time. Anemia was added to this in 1976. She needed constant blood transfusions. Even at the age of 80, Anna did not stop working. However, on March 1, 1982, a stroke occurred, after which paralysis occurred, complicated by a speech disorder. However, while in the hospital, Anna continued to work on a book about family law.

Psychologist Anna Freud, whose works are well-deservedly recognized, died on October 8, 1982. She devoted more than 60 years to scientific activity and psychoanalytic practice. During this time, Anna prepared many articles, lectures and reports, which were included in the ten-volume collection of her works.

Freud S., 1856-1939). An outstanding doctor and psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis. F. was born in the Moravian city of Freiburg. In 1860, the family moved to Vienna, where he graduated from high school with honors, then entered the medical faculty of the university and in 1881 received the degree of Doctor of Medicine.

F. dreamed of devoting himself to theoretical research in the field of neurology, but was forced to engage in private practice as a neuropathologist. He was not satisfied with the physiotherapeutic procedures used at that time to treat neurological patients, and he turned to hypnosis. Under the influence of medical practice, F. developed an interest in mental disorders of a functional nature. In 1885-1886 he visited the Charcot clinic (J. M. Charcot) in Paris, where hypnosis was used in the study and treatment of hysterical patients. In 1889 - a trip to Nancy and acquaintance with the works of another French school of hypnosis. This trip contributed to the fact that F. formed an idea about the basic mechanism of functional mental illness, about the presence of mental processes that, being outside the sphere of consciousness, influence behavior, and the patient himself does not know about it.

The decisive moment in the development of F.'s original theory was the departure from hypnosis as a means of penetration into forgotten experiences underlying neuroses. In many and even the most severe cases, hypnosis remained powerless, as it met resistance that it could not overcome. F. was forced to look for other paths to pathogenic affects and eventually found them in the interpretation of dreams, freely emerging associations, small and large psychopathological manifestations, excessively increased or decreased sensitivity, movement disorders, slips of the tongue, forgetting, etc. He paid special attention drew attention to the phenomenon of the patient transferring to the doctor feelings that took place in early childhood in relation to significant persons.

F. called the study and interpretation of this diverse material psychoanalysis - the original form of psychotherapy and research method. The core of psychoanalysis as a new psychological direction is the doctrine of the unconscious.

F.'s scientific activity spans several decades, during which his concept underwent significant changes, which gives grounds for conditionally distinguishing three periods.

In the first period, psychoanalysis mainly remained a method of treating neuroses, with occasional attempts at general conclusions about the nature of mental life. Such works by F. of this period as “The Interpretation of Dreams” (1900) and “The Psychopathology of Everyday Life” (1901) have not lost their significance. F. considered suppressed sexual desire to be the main driving force of human behavior - “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality” (1905). At this time, psychoanalysis began to gain popularity, and a circle formed around F. of representatives of various professions (doctors, writers, artists) who wanted to study psychoanalysis (1902). F.'s extension of the facts obtained from the study of psychoneuroses to the understanding of the mental life of healthy people was met with very critical attention.

In the second period, the concept of psychology turned into a general psychological doctrine of personality and its development. In 1909, he gave lectures in the USA, which were later published as a complete, albeit brief, presentation of psychoanalysis - “On Psychoanalysis: Five Lectures” (1910). The most common work is the "Lectures on Introduction to Psychoanalysis", the first two volumes of which are a recording of lectures given to doctors in 1916-1917.

In the third period, F.'s teaching - Freudianism - underwent significant changes and received its philosophical completion. Psychoanalytic theory has become the basis for understanding culture, religion, and civilization. The doctrine of instincts was supplemented by ideas about the attraction to death and destruction - “Beyond the pleasure principle” (1920). These ideas, obtained by F. in the treatment of wartime neuroses, led him to the conclusion that wars are a consequence of the death instinct, that is, caused by human nature. The description of a three-component model of human personality - “I and It” (1923) dates back to the same period.

Thus, F. developed a number of hypotheses, models, and concepts that captured the uniqueness of the psyche and became firmly established in the arsenal of scientific knowledge about it. The range of scientific analysis involved phenomena that traditional academic psychology was not accustomed to taking into account.

After the occupation of Austria by the Nazis, F. was persecuted. The International Union of Psychoanalytic Societies, having paid a significant amount of money to the fascist authorities in the form of a ransom, obtained permission for F. to leave for England. In England he was greeted enthusiastically, but F.'s days were numbered. He died on September 23, 1939, aged 83, in London.

FREUD Sigmund

1856–1939) – Austrian neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis. Born on May 6, 1856 in Freiberg (now Příbor), located near the border of Moravia and Silesia, approximately two hundred and forty kilometers northeast of Vienna. Seven days later, the boy was circumcised and given two names - Shlomo and Sigismund. He inherited the Hebrew name Shlomo from his grandfather, who died two and a half months before the birth of his grandson. Only when he turned sixteen years old did the young man change his name Sigismund to the name Sigmund.

His father Jacob Freud married Amalia Nathanson, Freud's mother, being much older than her and having two sons from his first marriage, one of whom was the same age as Amalia. At the time of the birth of their first child, Freud's father was 41 years old, while his mother was three months away from turning 21. Over the next ten years, seven children were born into the Freud family - five daughters and two sons, one of whom died a few months after his birth, when Sigismund was less than two years old.

Due to a number of circumstances related to economic decline, the rise of nationalism and the futility of further life in a small town, Freud’s family moved in 1859 to Leipzig, and then a year later to Vienna. Freud lived in the capital of the Austrian Empire for almost 80 years.

During this time, he brilliantly graduated from high school; in 1873, at the age of 17, he entered the medical faculty of the University of Vienna, from which he graduated in 1881, receiving a medical degree. For several years, Freud worked at the E. Brücke Physiological Institute and the Vienna City Hospital. In 1885–1886, he completed a six-month internship in Paris with the famous French doctor J. Charcot in Salpêtrière. Upon returning from his internship, he married Martha Bernays, eventually becoming the father of six children - three daughters and three sons.

Having opened a private practice in 1886, S. Freud used various methods of treating nervous patients and put forward his understanding of the origin of neuroses. In the 90s of the nineteenth century, he laid the foundations for a new method of research and treatment, called psychoanalysis. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he developed the psychoanalytic ideas he put forward.

Over the next two decades, S. Freud made further contributions to the theory and technique of classical psychoanalysis, used his ideas and methods of treatment in private practice, wrote and published numerous works devoted to clarifying his original ideas about human unconscious drives and the use of psychoanalytic ideas in various fields knowledge.

Z. Freud received international recognition, was friends and corresponded with such outstanding figures of science and culture as Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Romain Roland, Arnold Zweig, Stefan Zweig and many others.

In 1922, the University of London and the Jewish Historical Society organized a series of lectures on five famous Jewish philosophers, including Freud, along with Philo, Maimonides, Spinoza, and Einstein. In 1924, the Vienna City Council awarded Z. Freud the title of honorary citizen. On his seventieth birthday, he received congratulatory telegrams and letters from all over the world. In 1930 he was awarded the Goethe Literary Prize. In honor of his seventy-fifth birthday, a memorial plaque was erected in Freiberg on the house in which he was born.

On the occasion of S. Freud's eightieth birthday, Thomas Mann read out an address he had written before the Academic Society of Medical Psychology. The appeal bore about two hundred signatures of famous writers and artists, including Virginia Woolf, Hermann Hess, Salvador Dali, James Joyce, Pablo Picasso, Romain Roland, Stefan Zweig, Aldous Huxley, and Herbert Wells.

S. Freud was elected an honorary member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the French Psychoanalytic Society, and the British Royal Medical-Psychological Association. He was given the official title of Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society.

After the Nazi invasion of Austria in March 1938, the life of S. Freud and his family was under threat. The Nazis seized the library of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, visited the house of S. Freud, conducting a thorough search there, confiscated his bank account, and summoned his children, Martin and Anna Freud, to the Gestapo.

Thanks to the help and support of the American Ambassador to France, W.S. Bullitt, Princess Marie Bonaparte and other influential persons, S. Freud received permission to leave and at the beginning of June 1938 left Vienna to move to London through Paris.

S. Freud spent the last year and a half of his life in England. In the very first days of his stay in London, he was visited by Herbert Wells, Bronislav Malinowski, Stefan Zweig, who brought with him Salvador Dali, secretaries of the Royal Society, acquaintances, friends. Despite his advanced age, the development of cancer, which was first discovered in him in April 1923, accompanied by numerous operations and steadfastly endured by him for 16 years, S. Freud carried out almost daily analyzes of patients and continued to work on his handwritten materials.

On September 21, 1938, S. Freud asked his attending physician Max Schur to fulfill the promise he had made to him ten years earlier at their first meeting. To avoid unbearable suffering, M. Schur twice injected his famous patient with a small dose of morphine, which turned out to be sufficient for the dignified death of the founder of psychoanalysis. On September 23, 1939, S. Freud died without learning that a few years later his four sisters who remained in Vienna would be burned in a crematorium by the Nazis.

From the pen of S. Freud came not only various works devoted to the technique of medical use of psychoanalysis, but also such books as “The Interpretation of Dreams” (1900), “Psychopathology of Everyday Life” (1901), “Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious” (1905), “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality” (1905), “Delusions and Dreams in V. Jensen’s Gradiva” (1907), “Memories of Leonardo da Vinci” (1910), “Totem and Taboo” (1913) , “Lectures on Introduction to Psychoanalysis” (1916/17), “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” (1920), “Mass Psychology and Analysis of the Human Self” (1921), “I and Id” (1923), “Inhibition, Symptom and fear" (1926), "The Future of an Illusion" (1927), "Dostoevsky and Parricide" (1928), "Discontent with Culture" (1930), "Moses the Man and the Monotheistic Religion" (1938) and others.