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Sigmund Freud's Life, Theories, and Influence

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Cara Lustik is a fact-checker and copywriter.

Keystone / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Psychoanalysis

Major Works
Perspectives
Thinkers Influenced by Freud
Contributions

Frequently Asked Questions

Psychology's most famous figure is also one of the most influential and controversial thinkers of the 20th century. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist born in 1856, is often referred to as the "father of modern psychology."

Freud revolutionized how we think about and treat mental health conditions. Freud founded psychoanalysis as a way of listening to patients and better understanding how their minds work. Psychoanalysis continues to have an enormous influence on modern psychology and psychiatry.

Sigmund Freud's theories and work helped shape current views of dreams, childhood, personality, memory, sexuality, and therapy. Freud's work also laid the foundation for many other theorists to formulate ideas, while others developed new theories in opposition to his ideas.

Sigmund Freud Biography

To understand Freud's legacy, it is important to begin with a look at his life. His experiences informed many of his theories, so learning more about his life and the times in which he lived can lead to a deeper understanding of where his theories came from.

Freud was born in 1856 in a town called Freiberg in Moravia—in what is now known as the Czech Republic. He was the oldest of eight children. His family moved to Vienna several years after he was born, and he lived most of his life there.

Freud earned a medical degree and began practicing as a doctor in Vienna. He was appointed Lecturer on Nervous Diseases at the University of Vienna in 1885.

After spending time in Paris and attending lectures given by the French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, Freud became more interested in theories explaining the human mind (which would later relate to his work in psychoanalysis).

Freud eventually withdrew from academia after the Viennese medical community rejected the types of ideas he brought back from Paris (specifically on what was then called hysteria ). Freud went on to publish influential works in neurology, including "On Aphasia: A Critical Study," in which he coined the term agnosia , meaning the inability to interpret sensations.

In later years, Freud and his colleague Josef Breuer published "Preliminary Report" and "Studies on Hysteria." When their friendship ended, Freud continued to publish his own works on psychoanalysis.

Freud and his family left Vienna due to discrimination against Jewish people. He moved to England in 1938 and died in 1939.

Sigmund Freud’s Theories

Freud's theories were enormously influential but subject to considerable criticism both now and during his life. However, his ideas have become interwoven into the fabric of our culture, with terms such as " Freudian slip ," "repression," and "denial" appearing regularly in everyday language.

Freud's theories include:

Unconscious mind : This is one of his most enduring ideas, which is that the mind is a reservoir of thoughts, memories, and emotions that lie outside the awareness of the conscious mind.
Personality : Freud proposed that personality was made up of three key elements: the id, the ego, and the superego . The ego is the conscious state, the id is the unconscious, and the superego is the moral or ethical framework that regulates how the ego operates.
Life and death instincts : Freud claimed that two classes of instincts, life and death, dictated human behavior. Life instincts include sexual procreation, survival and pleasure; death instincts include aggression, self-harm, and destruction.
Psychosexual development : Freud's theory of psychosexual development posits that there are five stages of growth in which people's personalities and sexual selves evolve. These phases are the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latent stage, and genital stage.
Mechanisms of defense : Freud suggested that people use defense mechanisms to avoid anxiety. These mechanisms include displacement, repression, sublimation, and regression.

Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis

Freud's ideas had such a strong impact on psychology that an entire school of thought emerged from his work: psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis has had a lasting impact on both the study of psychology and the practice of psychotherapy.

Psychoanalysis sought to bring unconscious information into conscious awareness in order to induce catharsis . Catharsis is an emotional release that may bring about relief from psychological distress.

Research has found that psychoanalysis can be an effective treatment for a number of mental health conditions. The self-examination that is involved in the therapy process can help people achieve long-term growth and improvement.

Sigmund Freud's Patients

Freud based his ideas on case studies of his own patients and those of his colleagues. These patients helped shape his theories and many have become well known. Some of these individuals included:

Anna O. (aka Bertha Pappenheim)
Little Hans (Herbert Graf)
Dora (Ida Bauer)
Rat Man (Ernst Lanzer)
Wolf Man (Sergei Pankejeff)
Sabina Spielrein

Anna O. was never actually a patient of Freud's. She was a patient of Freud's colleague Josef Breuer. The two men corresponded often about Anna O's symptoms, eventually publishing the book, "Studies on Hysteria" on her case. It was through their work and correspondence that the technique known as talk therapy emerged.

Major Works by Freud

Freud's writings detail many of his major theories and ideas. His personal favorite was "The Interpretation of Dreams ." Of it, he wrote: "[It] contains...the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. Insight such as this falls to one's lot but once in a lifetime."

Some of Freud's major books include:

" The Interpretation of Dreams "
"The Psychopathology of Everyday Life"
"Totem and Taboo"
"Civilization and Its Discontents"
"The Future of an Illusion"

Freud's Perspectives

Outside of the field of psychology, Freud wrote and theorized about a broad range of subjects. He also wrote about and developed theories related to topics including sex, dreams, religion, women, and culture.

Views on Women

Both during his life and after, Freud was criticized for his views of women , femininity, and female sexuality. One of his most famous critics was the psychologist Karen Horney , who rejected his view that women suffered from "penis envy."

Penis envy, according to Freud, was a phenomenon that women experienced upon witnessing a naked male body, because they felt they themselves must be "castrated boys" and wished for their own penis.

Horney instead argued that men experience "womb envy" and are left with feelings of inferiority because they are unable to bear children.

Views on Religion

Freud was born and raised Jewish but described himself as an atheist in adulthood. "The whole thing is so patently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life," he wrote of religion.

He continued to have a keen interest in the topics of religion and spirituality and wrote a number of books focused on the subject.

Psychologists Influenced by Freud

In addition to his grand and far-reaching theories of human psychology, Freud also left his mark on a number of individuals who went on to become some of psychology's greatest thinkers. Some of the eminent psychologists who were influenced by Sigmund Freud include:

Alfred Adler
Erik Erikson
Melanie Klein
Ernst Jones

While Freud's work is often dismissed today as non-scientific, there is no question that he had a tremendous influence not only on psychology but on the larger culture as well.

Many of Freud's ideas have become so steeped in public awareness that we oftentimes forget that they have their origins in his psychoanalytic tradition.

Freud's Contributions to Psychology

Freud's theories are highly controversial today. For instance, he has been criticized for his lack of knowledge about women and for sexist notions in his theories about sexual development, hysteria, and penis envy.

People are skeptical about the legitimacy of Freud's theories because they lack the scientific evidence that psychological theories have today.

However, it remains true that Freud had a significant and lasting influence on the field of psychology. He provided a foundation for many concepts that psychologists used and continue to use to make new discoveries.

Perhaps Freud's most important contribution to the field of psychology was the development of talk therapy as an approach to treating mental health problems.

In addition to serving as the basis for psychoanalysis, talk therapy is now part of many psychotherapeutic interventions designed to help people overcome psychological distress and behavioral problems.

The Unconscious

Prior to the works of Freud, many people believed that behavior was inexplicable. He developed the idea of the unconscious as being the hidden motivation behind what we do. For instance, his work on dream interpretation suggested that our real feelings and desires lie underneath the surface of conscious life.

Childhood Influence

Freud believed that childhood experiences impact adulthood—specifically, traumatic experiences that we have as children can manifest as mental health issues when we're adults.

While childhood experiences aren't the only contributing factors to mental health during adulthood, Freud laid the foundation for a person's childhood to be taken into consideration during therapy and when diagnosing.

Literary Theory

Literary scholars and students alike often analyze texts through a Freudian lens. Freud's theories created an opportunity to understand fictional characters and even their authors based on what's written or what a reader can interpret from the text on topics such as dreams, sexuality, and personality.

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who founded psychoanalysis. Also known as the father of modern psychology, he was born in 1856 and died in 1939.

While Freud theorized that childhood experiences shaped personality, the neo-Freudians (including Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and Karen Horney) believed that social and cultural influences played an important role. Freud believed that sex was a primary human motivator, whereas neo-Freudians did not.

Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis and published many influential works such as "The Interpretation of Dreams." His theories about personality and sexuality were and continue to be extremely influential in the fields of psychology and psychiatry.

Sigmund Freud was born in a town called Freiberg in Moravia, which is now the Czech Republic.

It's likely that Freud died by natural means. However, he did have oral cancer at the time of his death and was administered a dose of morphine that some believed was a method of physician-assisted suicide.

Freud used psychoanalysis, also known as talk therapy, in order to get his patients to uncover their own unconscious thoughts and bring them into consciousness. Freud believed this would help his patients change their maladaptive behaviors.

Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis and introduced influential theories such as: his ideas of the conscious and unconscious; the id, ego, and superego; dream interpretation; and psychosexual development.

A Word From Verywell

While Freud's theories have been the subject of considerable controversy and debate, his impact on psychology, therapy, and culture is undeniable. As W.H. Auden wrote in his 1939 poem, "In Memory of Sigmund Freud":

"...if often he was wrong and, at times, absurd, to us he is no more a person now but a whole climate of opinion."

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Bargh JA. The modern unconscious . World Psychiatry . 2019;18(2):225-226. doi:10.1002/wps.20625

Boag S. Ego, drives, and the dynamics of internal objects . Front Psychol . 2014;5:666. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00666

Meissner WW. The question of drive vs. motive in psychoanalysis: A modest proposal . J Am Psychoanal Assoc . 2009;57(4):807-845. doi:10.1177/0003065109342572

APA Dictionary of Psychology. Psychosexual development . American Psychological Association.

Waqas A, Rehman A, Malik A, Muhammad U, Khan S, Mahmood N. Association of ego defense mechanisms with academic performance, anxiety and depression in medical students: A mixed methods study . Cureus . 2015;7(9):e337. doi:10.7759/cureus.337

Shedler J. The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy . Am Psychol . 2010;65(2):98-109. doi:10.1037/a0018378

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Grubin D. Young Dr. Freud . Public Broadcasting Service.

Gersick S. Penis envy . In: Zeigler-Hill V, Shackelford T, eds. Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences . Springer, Cham. 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_616-1

Bayne E. Womb envy: The cause of misogyny and even male achievement? . Womens Stud Int Forum. 2011;34(2):151-160. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2011.01.007

Freud S. Civilization and Its Discontents . Norton.

Yeung AWK. Is the influence of Freud declining in psychology and psychiatry? A bibliometric analysis . Front Psychol. 2021;12. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631516

Giordano G. The contribution of Freud’s theories to the literary analysis of two Victorian novels: Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre . Int J Engl Lit. 2020;11(2):29-34. doi:10.5897/IJEL2019.1312

APA Dictionary of Psychology. Neo-Freudian . American Psychological Association.

Hoffman L. Un homme manque: Freud's engagement with Alfred Adler's masculine protest: Commentary on Balsam . J Am Psychoanal Assoc . 2017;65(1):99-108. doi:10.1177/0003065117690351

Macleod ADS. Was Sigmund Freud's death hastened? . Intern Med J. 2017;47(8):966-969. doi:10.1111/imj.13504

Kernberg OF. The four basic components of psychoanalytic technique and derived psychoanalytic psychotherapies . World Psychiatry . 2016;15(3):287-288. doi:10.1002/wps.20368

Yale University. In Memory of Sigmund Freud .

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Sigmund Freuds Theory of Behaviorism

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Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Sigmund freud (1856—1939).

Freud’s innovative treatment of human actions, dreams, and indeed of cultural artifacts as invariably possessing implicit symbolic significance has proven to be extraordinarily fruitful, and has had massive implications for a wide variety of fields including psychology, anthropology, semiotics, and artistic creativity and appreciation. However, Freud’s most important and frequently re-iterated claim, that with psychoanalysis he had invented a successful science of the mind, remains the subject of much critical debate and controversy.

Backdrop to His Thought
The Theory of the Unconscious
Infantile Sexuality
Neuroses and the Structure of the Mind
Psychoanalysis as a Therapy
The Claim to Scientific Status
The Coherence of the Theory
Freud’s Discovery
The Efficacy of Psychoanalytic Therapy
Works by Freud
Works on Freud and Freudian Psychoanalysis

Freud was born in Frieberg, Moravia in 1856, but when he was four years old his family moved to Vienna where he was to live and work until the last years of his life. In 1938 the Nazis annexed Austria, and Freud, who was Jewish, was allowed to leave for England. For these reasons, it was above all with the city of Vienna that Freud’s name was destined to be deeply associated for posterity, founding as he did what was to become known as the first Viennese school of psychoanalysis from which flowed psychoanalysis as a movement and all subsequent developments in this field. The scope of Freud’s interests, and of his professional training, was very broad. He always considered himself first and foremost a scientist, endeavoring to extend the compass of human knowledge, and to this end (rather than to the practice of medicine) he enrolled at the medical school at the University of Vienna in 1873. He concentrated initially on biology, doing research in physiology for six years under the great German scientist Ernst Brücke, who was director of the Physiology Laboratory at the University, and thereafter specializing in neurology. He received his medical degree in 1881, and having become engaged to be married in 1882, he rather reluctantly took up more secure and financially rewarding work as a doctor at Vienna General Hospital. Shortly after his marriage in 1886, which was extremely happy and gave Freud six children—the youngest of whom, Anna, was to herself become a distinguished psychoanalyst—Freud set up a private practice in the treatment of psychological disorders, which gave him much of the clinical material that he based his theories and pioneering techniques on.

In 1885-86, Freud spent the greater part of a year in Paris, where he was deeply impressed by the work of the French neurologist Jean Charcot who was at that time using hypnotism to treat hysteria and other abnormal mental conditions. When he returned to Vienna, Freud experimented with hypnosis but found that its beneficial effects did not last. At this point he decided to adopt instead a method suggested by the work of an older Viennese colleague and friend, Josef Breuer, who had discovered that when he encouraged a hysterical patient to talk uninhibitedly about the earliest occurrences of the symptoms, they sometimes gradually abated. Working with Breuer, Freud formulated and developed the idea that many neuroses (phobias, hysterical paralysis and pains, some forms of paranoia, and so forth) had their origins in deeply traumatic experiences which had occurred in the patient’s past but which were now forgotten—hidden from consciousness. The treatment was to enable the patient to recall the experience to consciousness, to confront it in a deep way both intellectually and emotionally, and in thus discharging it, to remove the underlying psychological causes of the neurotic symptoms. This technique, and the theory from which it is derived, was given its classical expression in Studies in Hysteria , jointly published by Freud and Breuer in 1895.

Shortly thereafter, however, Breuer found that he could not agree with what he regarded as the excessive emphasis which Freud placed upon the sexual origins and content of neuroses, and the two parted company, with Freud continuing to work alone to develop and refine the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. In 1900, after a protracted period of self-analysis, he published The Interpretation of Dreams , which is generally regarded as his greatest work. This was followed in 1901 by The Psychopathology of Everyday Life ; and in 1905 by Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality . Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was initially not well received—when its existence was acknowledged at all it was usually by people who were, as Breuer had foreseen, scandalized by the emphasis placed on sexuality by Freud. It was not until 1908, when the first International Psychoanalytical Congress was held at Salzburg that Freud’s importance began to be generally recognized. This was greatly facilitated in 1909, when he was invited to give a course of lectures in the United States, which were to form the basis of his 1916 book Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis . From this point on Freud’s reputation and fame grew enormously, and he continued to write prolifically until his death, producing in all more than twenty volumes of theoretical works and clinical studies. He was also not averse to critically revising his views, or to making fundamental alterations to his most basic principles when he considered that the scientific evidence demanded it—this was most clearly evidenced by his advancement of a completely new tripartite ( id , ego , and super-ego ) model of the mind in his 1923 work The Ego and the Id . He was initially greatly heartened by attracting followers of the intellectual caliber of Adler and Jung, and was correspondingly disappointed when they both went on to found rival schools of psychoanalysis—thus giving rise to the first two of many schisms in the movement—but he knew that such disagreement over basic principles had been part of the early development of every new science. After a life of remarkable vigor and creative productivity, he died of cancer while exiled in England in 1939.

2. Backdrop to His Thought

Although a highly original thinker, Freud was also deeply influenced by a number of diverse factors which overlapped and interconnected with each other to shape the development of his thought. As indicated above, both Charcot and Breuer had a direct and immediate impact upon him, but some of the other factors, though no less important than these, were of a rather different nature. First of all, Freud himself was very much a Freudian—his father had two sons by a previous marriage, Emmanuel and Philip, and the young Freud often played with Philip’s son John, who was his own age. Freud’s self-analysis, which forms the core of his masterpiece The Interpretation of Dreams , originated in the emotional crisis which he suffered on the death of his father and the series of dreams to which this gave rise. This analysis revealed to him that the love and admiration which he had felt for his father were mixed with very contrasting feelings of shame and hate (such a mixed attitude he termed ambivalence ). Particularly revealing was his discovery that he had often fantasized as a youth that his half-brother Philip (who was of an age with his mother) was really his father, and certain other signs convinced him of the deep underlying meaning of this fantasy—that he had wished his real father dead because he was his rival for his mother’s affections. This was to become the personal (though by no means exclusive) basis for his theory of the Oedipus complex.

Secondly, and at a more general level, account must be taken of the contemporary scientific climate in which Freud lived and worked. In most respects, the towering scientific figure of nineteenth century science was Charles Darwin, who had published his revolutionary Origin of Species when Freud was four years old. The evolutionary doctrine radically altered the prevailing conception of man—whereas before, man had been seen as a being different in nature from the members of the animal kingdom by virtue of his possession of an immortal soul, he was now seen as being part of the natural order, different from non-human animals only in degree of structural complexity. This made it possible and plausible, for the first time, to treat man as an object of scientific investigation, and to conceive of the vast and varied range of human behavior, and the motivational causes from which it springs, as being amenable in principle to scientific explanation. Much of the creative work done in a whole variety of diverse scientific fields over the next century was to be inspired by, and derive sustenance from, this new world-view, which Freud with his enormous esteem for science, accepted implicitly.

An even more important influence on Freud however, came from the field of physics. The second fifty years of the nineteenth century saw monumental advances in contemporary physics, which were largely initiated by the formulation of the principle of the conservation of energy by Helmholz. This principle states, in effect, that the total amount of energy in any given physical system is always constant, that energy quanta can be changed but not annihilated, and that consequently when energy is moved from one part of the system, it must reappear in another part. The progressive application of this principle led to monumental discoveries in the fields of thermodynamics, electromagnetism and nuclear physics which, with their associated technologies, have so comprehensively transformed the contemporary world. As we have seen, when he first came to the University of Vienna, Freud worked under the direction of Ernst Brücke who in 1873-4 published his Lecture Notes on Physiology ( Vorlesungen über Physiologie . Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller), setting out the view that all living organisms, including humans, are essentially energy-systems to which, no less than to inanimate objects, the principle of the conservation of energy applies. Freud, who had great admiration and respect for Brücke, quickly adopted this new dynamic physiology with enthusiasm. From there it was but a short conceptual step—but one which Freud was the first to take, and on which his claim to fame is largely grounded—to the view that there is such a thing as psychic energy , that the human personality is also an energy-system, and that it is the function of psychology to investigate the modifications, transmissions and conversions of psychic energy within the personality which shape and determine it. This latter conception is the very cornerstone of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory.

3. The Theory of the Unconscious

Freud’s theory of the unconscious, then, is highly deterministic—a fact which, given the nature of nineteenth century science, should not be surprising. Freud was arguably the first thinker to apply deterministic principles systematically to the sphere of the mental, and to hold that the broad spectrum of human behavior is explicable only in terms of the (usually hidden) mental processes or states which determine it. Thus, instead of treating the behavior of the neurotic as being causally inexplicable—which had been the prevailing approach for centuries—Freud insisted, on the contrary, on treating it as behavior for which it is meaningful to seek an explanation by searching for causes in terms of the mental states of the individual concerned. Hence the significance which he attributed to slips of the tongue or pen, obsessive behavior and dreams—all these, he held, are determined by hidden causes in the person’s mind, and so they reveal in covert form what would otherwise not be known at all. This suggests the view that freedom of the will is, if not completely an illusion, certainly more tightly circumscribed than is commonly believed, for it follows from this that whenever we make a choice we are governed by hidden mental processes of which we are unaware and over which we have no control.

The postulate that there are such things as unconscious mental states at all is a direct function of Freud’s determinism, his reasoning here being simply that the principle of causality requires that such mental states should exist, for it is evident that there is frequently nothing in the conscious mind which can be said to cause neurotic or other behavior. An unconscious mental process or event, for Freud, is not one which merely happens to be out of consciousness at a given time, but is rather one which cannot , except through protracted psychoanalysis, be brought to the forefront of consciousness. The postulation of such unconscious mental states entails, of course, that the mind is not, and cannot be, either identified with consciousness, or an object of consciousness. To employ a much-used analogy, it is rather structurally akin to an iceberg, the bulk of it lying below the surface, exerting a dynamic and determining influence upon the part which is amenable to direct inspection—the conscious mind.

Deeply associated with this view of the mind is Freud’s account of instincts or drives. Instincts, for Freud, are the principal motivating forces in the mental realm, and as such they energise the mind in all of its functions. There are, he held, an indefinitely large number of such instincts, but these can be reduced to a small number of basic ones, which he grouped into two broad generic categories, Eros (the life instinct), which covers all the self-preserving and erotic instincts, and Thanatos (the death instinct), which covers all the instincts towards aggression, self-destruction, and cruelty. Thus it is a mistake to interpret Freud as asserting that all human actions spring from motivations which are sexual in their origin, since those which derive from Thanatos are not sexually motivated—indeed, Thanatos is the irrational urge to destroy the source of all sexual energy in the annihilation of the self. Having said that, it is undeniably true that Freud gave sexual drives an importance and centrality in human life, human actions, and human behavior which was new (and to many, shocking), arguing as he does that sexual drives exist and can be discerned in children from birth (the theory of infantile sexuality), and that sexual energy ( libido ) is the single most important motivating force in adult life. However, a crucial qualification has to be added here—Freud effectively redefined the term sexuality to make it cover any form of pleasure which is or can be derived from the body. Thus his theory of the instincts or drives is essentially that the human being is energized or driven from birth by the desire to acquire and enhance bodily pleasure.

4. Infantile Sexuality

Freud’s theory of infantile sexuality must be seen as an integral part of a broader developmental theory of human personality. This had its origins in, and was a generalization of, Breuer’s earlier discovery that traumatic childhood events could have devastating negative effects upon the adult individual, and took the form of the general thesis that early childhood sexual experiences were the crucial factors in the determination of the adult personality. From his account of the instincts or drives it followed that from the moment of birth the infant is driven in his actions by the desire for bodily/sexual pleasure, where this is seen by Freud in almost mechanical terms as the desire to release mental energy. Initially, infants gain such release, and derive such pleasure, from the act of sucking. Freud accordingly terms this the oral stage of development. This is followed by a stage in which the locus of pleasure or energy release is the anus, particularly in the act of defecation, and this is accordingly termed the anal stage. Then the young child develops an interest in its sexual organs as a site of pleasure (the phallic stage), and develops a deep sexual attraction for the parent of the opposite sex, and a hatred of the parent of the same sex (the Oedipus complex ). This, however, gives rise to (socially derived) feelings of guilt in the child, who recognizes that it can never supplant the stronger parent. A male child also perceives himself to be at risk. He fears that if he persists in pursuing the sexual attraction for his mother, he may be harmed by the father; specifically, he comes to fear that he may be castrated. This is termed castration anxiety. Both the attraction for the mother and the hatred are usually repressed, and the child usually resolves the conflict of the Oedipus complex by coming to identify with the parent of the same sex. This happens at the age of five, whereupon the child enters a latency period, in which sexual motivations become much less pronounced. This lasts until puberty when mature genital development begins, and the pleasure drive refocuses around the genital area.

This, Freud believed, is the sequence or progression implicit in normal human development, and it is to be observed that at the infant level the instinctual attempts to satisfy the pleasure drive are frequently checked by parental control and social coercion. The developmental process, then, is for the child essentially a movement through a series of conflicts , the successful resolution of which is crucial to adult mental health. Many mental illnesses, particularly hysteria, Freud held, can be traced back to unresolved conflicts experienced at this stage, or to events which otherwise disrupt the normal pattern of infantile development. For example, homosexuality is seen by some Freudians as resulting from a failure to resolve the conflicts of the Oedipus complex, particularly a failure to identify with the parent of the same sex; the obsessive concern with washing and personal hygiene which characterizes the behavior of some neurotics is seen as resulting from unresolved conflicts/repressions occurring at the anal stage.

5. Neuroses and the Structure of the Mind

Freud’s account of the unconscious, and the psychoanalytic therapy associated with it, is best illustrated by his famous tripartite model of the structure of the mind or personality (although, as we have seen, he did not formulate this until 1923). This model has many points of similarity with the account of the mind offered by Plato over 2,000 years earlier. The theory is termed tripartite simply because, again like Plato , Freud distinguished three structural elements within the mind, which he called id , ego , and super-ego . The id is that part of the mind in which are situated the instinctual sexual drives which require satisfaction; the super-ego is that part which contains the conscience, namely, socially-acquired control mechanisms which have been internalized, and which are usually imparted in the first instance by the parents; while the ego is the conscious self that is created by the dynamic tensions and interactions between the id and the super-ego and has the task of reconciling their conflicting demands with the requirements of external reality. It is in this sense that the mind is to be understood as a dynamic energy-system. All objects of consciousness reside in the ego; the contents of the id belong permanently to the unconscious mind; while the super-ego is an unconscious screening-mechanism which seeks to limit the blind pleasure-seeking drives of the id by the imposition of restrictive rules. There is some debate as to how literally Freud intended this model to be taken (he appears to have taken it extremely literally himself), but it is important to note that what is being offered here is indeed a theoretical model rather than a description of an observable object, which functions as a frame of reference to explain the link between early childhood experience and the mature adult (normal or dysfunctional) personality.

Freud also followed Plato in his account of the nature of mental health or psychological well-being, which he saw as the establishment of a harmonious relationship between the three elements which constitute the mind. If the external world offers no scope for the satisfaction of the id ’s pleasure drives, or more commonly, if the satisfaction of some or all of these drives would indeed transgress the moral sanctions laid down by the super-ego, then an inner conflict occurs in the mind between its constituent parts or elements. Failure to resolve this can lead to later neurosis. A key concept introduced here by Freud is that the mind possesses a number of defense mechanisms to attempt to prevent conflicts from becoming too acute, such as repression (pushing conflicts back into the unconscious), sublimation (channeling the sexual drives into the achievement socially acceptable goals, in art, science, poetry, and so forth), fixation (the failure to progress beyond one of the developmental stages), and regression (a return to the behavior characteristic of one of the stages).

Of these, repression is the most important, and Freud’s account of this is as follows: when a person experiences an instinctual impulse to behave in a manner which the super-ego deems to be reprehensible (for example, a strong erotic impulse on the part of the child towards the parent of the opposite sex), then it is possible for the mind to push this impulse away, to repress it into the unconscious. Repression is thus one of the central defense mechanisms by which the ego seeks to avoid internal conflict and pain, and to reconcile reality with the demands of both id and super-ego. As such it is completely normal and an integral part of the developmental process through which every child must pass on the way to adulthood. However, the repressed instinctual drive, as an energy-form, is not and cannot be destroyed when it is repressed—it continues to exist intact in the unconscious, from where it exerts a determining force upon the conscious mind, and can give rise to the dysfunctional behavior characteristic of neuroses. This is one reason why dreams and slips of the tongue possess such a strong symbolic significance for Freud, and why their analysis became such a key part of his treatment—they represent instances in which the vigilance of the super-ego is relaxed, and when the repressed drives are accordingly able to present themselves to the conscious mind in a transmuted form. The difference between normal repression and the kind of repression which results in neurotic illness is one of degree , not of kind—the compulsive behavior of the neurotic is itself a manifestation of an instinctual drive repressed in childhood. Such behavioral symptoms are highly irrational (and may even be perceived as such by the neurotic), but are completely beyond the control of the subject because they are driven by the now unconscious repressed impulse. Freud positioned the key repressions for both, the normal individual and the neurotic, in the first five years of childhood, and of course, held them to be essentially sexual in nature; since, as we have seen, repressions which disrupt the process of infantile sexual development in particular, according to him, lead to a strong tendency to later neurosis in adult life. The task of psychoanalysis as a therapy is to find the repressions which cause the neurotic symptoms by delving into the unconscious mind of the subject, and by bringing them to the forefront of consciousness, to allow the ego to confront them directly and thus to discharge them.

6. Psychoanalysis as a Therapy

Freud’s account of the sexual genesis and nature of neuroses led him naturally to develop a clinical treatment for treating such disorders. This has become so influential today that when people speak of psychoanalysis they frequently refer exclusively to the clinical treatment; however, the term properly designates both the clinical treatment and the theory which underlies it. The aim of the method may be stated simply in general terms—to re-establish a harmonious relationship between the three elements which constitute the mind by excavating and resolving unconscious repressed conflicts. The actual method of treatment pioneered by Freud grew out of Breuer’s earlier discovery, mentioned above, that when a hysterical patient was encouraged to talk freely about the earliest occurrences of her symptoms and fantasies, the symptoms began to abate, and were eliminated entirely when she was induced to remember the initial trauma which occasioned them. Turning away from his early attempts to explore the unconscious through hypnosis, Freud further developed this talking cure , acting on the assumption that the repressed conflicts were buried in the deepest recesses of the unconscious mind. Accordingly, he got his patients to relax in a position in which they were deprived of strong sensory stimulation, and even keen awareness of the presence of the analyst (hence the famous use of the couch, with the analyst virtually silent and out of sight), and then encouraged them to speak freely and uninhibitedly, preferably without forethought, in the belief that he could thereby discern the unconscious forces lying behind what was said. This is the method of free-association, the rationale for which is similar to that involved in the analysis of dreams—in both cases the super-ego is to some degree disarmed, its efficiency as a screening mechanism is moderated, and material is allowed to filter through to the conscious ego which would otherwise be completely repressed. The process is necessarily a difficult and protracted one, and it is therefore one of the primary tasks of the analyst to help the patient recognize, and overcome, his own natural resistances, which may exhibit themselves as hostility towards the analyst. However, Freud always took the occurrence of resistance as a sign that he was on the right track in his assessment of the underlying unconscious causes of the patient’s condition. The patient’s dreams are of particular interest, for reasons which we have already partly seen. Taking it that the super-ego functioned less effectively in sleep, as in free-association, Freud made a distinction between the manifest content of a dream (what the dream appeared to be about on the surface) and its latent content (the unconscious, repressed desires or wishes which are its real object). The correct interpretation of the patient’s dreams, slips of tongue, free-associations, and responses to carefully selected questions leads the analyst to a point where he can locate the unconscious repressions producing the neurotic symptoms, invariably in terms of the patient’s passage through the sexual developmental process, the manner in which the conflicts implicit in this process were handled, and the libidinal content of the patient’s family relationships. To create a cure, the analyst must facilitate the patient himself to become conscious of unresolved conflicts buried in the deep recesses of the unconscious mind, and to confront and engage with them directly.

In this sense, then, the object of psychoanalytic treatment may be said to be a form of self-understanding—once this is acquired it is largely up to the patient, in consultation with the analyst, to determine how he shall handle this newly-acquired understanding of the unconscious forces which motivate him. One possibility, mentioned above, is the channeling of sexual energy into the achievement of social, artistic or scientific goals—this is sublimation, which Freud saw as the motivating force behind most great cultural achievements. Another possibility would be the conscious, rational control of formerly repressed drives—this is suppression. Yet another would be the decision that it is the super-ego and the social constraints which inform it that are at fault, in which case the patient may decide in the end to satisfy the instinctual drives. But in all cases the cure is created essentially by a kind of catharsis or purgation—a release of the pent-up psychic energy, the constriction of which was the basic cause of the neurotic illness.

7. Critical Evaluation of Freud

It should be evident from the foregoing why psychoanalysis in general, and Freud in particular, have exerted such a strong influence upon the popular imagination in the Western World, and why both the theory and practice of psychoanalysis should remain the object of a great deal of controversy. In fact, the controversy which exists in relation to Freud is more heated and multi-faceted than that relating to virtually any other post-1850 thinker (a possible exception being Darwin), with criticisms ranging from the contention that Freud’s theory was generated by logical confusions arising out of his alleged long-standing addiction to cocaine (see Thornton, E.M. Freud and Cocaine: The Freudian Fallacy ) to the view that he made an important, but grim, empirical discovery, which he knowingly suppressed in favour of the theory of the unconscious, knowing that the latter would be more socially acceptable (see Masson, J. The Assault on Truth ).

It should be emphasized here that Freud’s genius is not (generally) in doubt, but the precise nature of his achievement is still the source of much debate. The supporters and followers of Freud (and Jung and Adler) are noted for the zeal and enthusiasm with which they espouse the doctrines of the master, to the point where many of the detractors of the movement see it as a kind of secular religion, requiring as it does an initiation process in which the aspiring psychoanalyst must himself first be analyzed. In this way, it is often alleged, the unquestioning acceptance of a set of ideological principles becomes a necessary precondition for acceptance into the movement—as with most religious groupings. In reply, the exponents and supporters of psychoanalysis frequently analyze the motivations of their critics in terms of the very theory which those critics reject. And so the debate goes on.

Here we will confine ourselves to: (a) the evaluation of Freud’s claim that his theory is a scientific one, (b) the question of the theory’s coherence, (c) the dispute concerning what, if anything, Freud really discovered, and (d) the question of the efficacy of psychoanalysis as a treatment for neurotic illnesses.

a. The Claim to Scientific Status

This is a crucially important issue since Freud saw himself first and foremost as a pioneering scientist, and repeatedly asserted that the significance of psychoanalysis is that it is a new science , incorporating a new scientific method of dealing with the mind and with mental illness. There can, moreover, be no doubt but that this has been the chief attraction of the theory for most of its advocates since then—on the face of it, it has the appearance of being not just a scientific theory but an enormously strong one, with the capacity to accommodate, and explain, every possible form of human behavior. However, it is precisely this latter which, for many commentators, undermines its claim to scientific status. On the question of what makes a theory a genuinely scientific one, Karl Popper ’s criterion of demarcation, as it is called, has now gained very general acceptance: namely, that every genuine scientific theory must be testable, and therefore falsifiable , at least in principle. In other words, if a theory is incompatible with possible observations, it is scientific; conversely, a theory which is compatible with all possible observations is unscientific (see Popper, K. The Logic of Scientific Discovery ). Thus the principle of the conservation of energy (physical, not psychic), which influenced Freud so greatly, is a scientific one because it is falsifiable—the discovery of a physical system in which the total amount of physical energy was not constant would conclusively show it to be false. It is argued that nothing of the kind is possible with respect to Freud’s theory—it is not falsifiable. If the question is asked: “What does this theory imply which, if false, would show the whole theory to be false?,” the answer is “Nothing” because the theory is compatible with every possible state of affairs. Hence it is concluded that the theory is not scientific, and while this does not, as some critics claim, rob it of all value, it certainly diminishes its intellectual status as projected by its strongest advocates, including Freud himself.

b. The Coherence of the Theory

A related (but perhaps more serious) point is that the coherence of the theory is, at the very least, questionable. What is attractive about the theory, even to the layman, is that it seems to offer us long sought-after and much needed causal explanations for conditions which have been a source of a great deal of human misery. The thesis that neuroses are caused by unconscious conflicts buried deep in the unconscious mind in the form of repressed libidinal energy would appear to offer us, at last, an insight in the causal mechanism underlying these abnormal psychological conditions as they are expressed in human behavior, and further show us how they are related to the psychology of the normal person. However, even this is questionable, and is a matter of much dispute. In general, when it is said that an event X causes another event Y to happen, both X and Y are, and must be, independently identifiable . It is true that this is not always a simple process, as in science causes are sometimes unobservable (sub-atomic particles, radio and electromagnetic waves, molecular structures, and so forth), but in these latter cases there are clear correspondence rules connecting the unobservable causes with observable phenomena. The difficulty with Freud’s theory is that it offers us entities (for example repressed unconscious conflicts), which are said to be the unobservable causes of certain forms of behavior But there are no correspondence rules for these alleged causes—they cannot be identified except by reference to the behavior which they are said to cause (that is, the analyst does not demonstratively assert: “ This is the unconscious cause, and that is its behavioral effect;” rather he asserts: “ This is the behavior, therefore its unconscious cause must exist”), and this does raise serious doubts as to whether Freud’s theory offers us genuine causal explanations at all.

c. Freud’s Discovery

At a less theoretical, but no less critical level, it has been alleged that Freud did make a genuine discovery which he was initially prepared to reveal to the world. However, the response he encountered was so ferociously hostile that he masked his findings and offered his theory of the unconscious in its place (see Masson, J. The Assault on Truth ). What he discovered, it has been suggested, was the extreme prevalence of child sexual abuse, particularly of young girls (the vast majority of hysterics are women), even in respectable nineteenth century Vienna. He did in fact offer an early seduction theory of neuroses, which met with fierce animosity, and which he quickly withdrew and replaced with the theory of the unconscious. As one contemporary Freudian commentator explains it, Freud’s change of mind on this issue came about as follows:

Questions concerning the traumas suffered by his patients seemed to reveal [to Freud] that Viennese girls were extraordinarily often seduced in very early childhood by older male relatives. Doubt about the actual occurrence of these seductions was soon replaced by certainty that it was descriptions about childhood fantasy that were being offered. (MacIntyre).

In this way, it is suggested, the theory of the Oedipus complex was generated.

This statement begs a number of questions, not least, what does the expression extraordinarily often mean in this context? By what standard is this being judged? The answer can only be: By the standard of what we generally believe—or would like to believe—to be the case. But the contention of some of Freud’s critics here is that his patients were not recalling childhood fantasie s, but traumatic events from their childhood which were all too real . Freud, according to them, had stumbled upon and knowingly suppressed the fact that the level of child sexual abuse in society is much higher than is generally believed or acknowledged. If this contention is true—and it must at least be contemplated seriously—then this is undoubtedly the most serious criticism that Freud and his followers have to face.

Further, this particular point has taken on an added and even more controversial significance in recent years, with the willingness of some contemporary Freudians to combine the theory of repression with an acceptance of the wide-spread social prevalence of child sexual abuse. The result has been that in the United States and Britain in particular, many thousands of people have emerged from analysis with recovered memories of alleged childhood sexual abuse by their parents; memories which, it is suggested, were hitherto repressed. On this basis, parents have been accused and repudiated, and whole families have been divided or destroyed. Unsurprisingly, this in turn has given rise to a systematic backlash in which organizations of accused parents, seeing themselves as the true victims of what they term False Memory Syndrome , have denounced all such memory-claims as falsidical — the direct product of a belief in what they see as the myth of repression. (see Pendergast, M. Victims of Memory ). In this way, the concept of repression, which Freud himself termed the foundation stone upon which the structure of psychoanalysis rests , has come in for more widespread critical scrutiny than ever before. Here, the fact that, unlike some of his contemporary followers, Freud did not himself ever countenance the extension of the concept of repression to cover actual child sexual abuse, and the fact that we are not necessarily forced to choose between the views that all recovered memories are either veridical or falsidical are frequently lost sight of in the extreme heat generated by this debate, perhaps understandably.

d. The Efficacy of Psychoanalytic Therapy

It does not follow that, if Freud’s theory is unscientific, or even false, it cannot provide us with a basis for the beneficial treatment of neurotic illness because the relationship between a theory’s truth or falsity and its utility-value is far from being an isomorphic one. The theory upon which the use of leeches to bleed patients in eighteenth century medicine was based was quite spurious, but patients did sometimes actually benefit from the treatment! And of course even a true theory might be badly applied, leading to negative consequences. One of the problems here is that it is difficult to specify what counts as a cure for a neurotic illness as distinct, say, from a mere alleviation of the symptoms. In general, however, the efficiency of a given method of treatment is usually clinically measured by means of a control group—the proportion of patients suffering from a given disorder who are cured by treatment X is measured by comparison with those cured by other treatments, or by no treatment at all. Such clinical tests as have been conducted indicate that the proportion of patients who have benefited from psychoanalytic treatment does not diverge significantly from the proportion who recover spontaneously or as a result of other forms of intervention in the control groups used. So, the question of the therapeutic effectiveness of psychoanalysis remains an open and controversial one.

8. References and Further Reading

A. works by freud.

The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (Ed. J. Strachey with Anna Freud), 24 vols. London: 1953-1964.

b. Works on Freud and Freudian Psychoanalysis

Abramson, J.B. Liberation and Its Limits: The Moral and Political Thought of Freud. New York: Free Press, 1984.
Bettlelheim, B. Freud and Man’s Soul . Knopf, 1982.
Cavell, M. The Psychoanalytic Mind: From Freud to Philosophy . Harvard University Press, 1993.
Cavell, M. Becoming a Subject: Reflections in Philosophy and Psychoanalysis. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Chessick, R.D. Freud Teaches Psychotherapy . Hackett Publishing Company, 1980.
Cioffi, F. (ed.) Freud: Modern Judgements . Macmillan, 1973.
Deigh, J. The Sources of Moral Agency: Essays in Moral Psychology and Freudian Theory . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Dilman, I. Freud and Human Nature. Blackwell, 1983
Dilman, I. Freud and the Mind . Blackwell, 1984.
Edelson, M. Hypothesis and Evidence in Psychoanalysis. University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Erwin, E . A Final Accounting: Philosophical and Empirical Issues in Freudian Psychology. MIT Press, 1996.
Fancher, R. Psychoanalytic Psychology: The Development of Freud’s Thought . Norton, 1973.
Farrell, B.A. The Standing of Psychoanalysis . Oxford University Press, 1981.
Fingarette, H. The Self in Transformation: Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and the Life of the Spirit. HarperCollins, 1977.
Freeman, L. The Story of Anna O.—The Woman who led Freud to Psychoanalysis . Paragon House, 1990.
Frosh, S. The Politics of Psychoanalysis: An Introduction to Freudian and Post-Freudian Theory. Yale University Press, 1987.
Gardner, S. Irrationality and the Philosophy of Psychoanalysis. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Grünbaum, A. The Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Philosophical Critique . University of California Press, 1984.
Gay, V.P. Freud on Sublimation: Reconsiderations. Albany, NY: State University Press, 1992.
Hook, S. (ed.) Psychoanalysis, Scientific Method, and Philosophy . New York University Press, 1959.
Jones, E. Sigmund Freud: Life and Work (3 vols), Basic Books, 1953-1957.
Klein, G.S. Psychoanalytic Theory: An Exploration of Essentials . International Universities Press, 1976.
Lear, J. Love and Its Place in Nature: A Philosophical Interpretation of Freudian Psychoanalysis. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1990.
Lear, J. Open Minded: Working Out the Logic of the Soul. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1998.
Lear, Jonathan. Happiness, Death, and the Remainder of Life. Harvard University Press, 2000.
Lear, Jonathan. Freud. Routledge, 2005.
Levine, M.P. (ed). The Analytic Freud: Philosophy and Psychoanalysis. London: Routledge, 2000.
Levy, D. Freud Among the Philosophers: The Psychoanalytic Unconscious and Its Philosophical Critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996.
MacIntyre, A.C. The Unconscious: A Conceptual Analysis . Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958.
Mahony, P.J. Freud’s Dora: A Psychoanalytic, Historical and Textual Study . Yale University Press, 1996.
Masson, J. The Assault on Truth: Freud’s Suppression of the Seduction Theory . Faber & Faber, 1984.
Neu, J. (ed). The Cambridge Companion to Freud. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
O’Neill, J. (ed). Freud and the Passions. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004.
Popper, K. The Logic of Scientific Discovery . Hutchinson, 1959.
Pendergast, M. Victims of Memory . HarperCollins, 1997.
Reiser, M. Mind, Brain, Body: Towards a Convergence of Psychoanalysis and Neurobiology . Basic Books, 1984.
Ricoeur, P. Freud and Philosophy: An Essay in Interpretation (trans. D. Savage). Yale University Press, 1970.
Robinson, P. Freud and His Critics. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1993.
Rose, J. On Not Being Able to Sleep: Psychoanalysis and the Modern World. Princeton University Press, 2003.
Roth, P. The Superego. Icon Books, 2001.
Rudnytsky, P.L. Freud and Oedipus. Columbia University Press, 1987.
Said, E.W . Freud and the Non-European. Verso (in association with the Freud Museum, London), 2003.
Schafer, R. A New Language for Psychoanalysis . Yale University Press, 1976.
Sherwood, M. The Logic of Explanation in Psychoanalysis. Academic Press, 1969.
Smith, D.L. Freud’s Philosophy of the Unconscious. Kluwer, 1999.
Stewart, W. Psychoanalysis: The First Ten Years, 1888-1898. Macmillan, 1969.
Sulloway, F. Freud, Biologist of the Mind . Basic Books, 1979.
Thornton, E.M. Freud and Cocaine: The Freudian Fallacy . Blond & Briggs, 1983.
Tauber, A.I. Freud, the Reluctant Philosopher. Princeton University Press, 2010.
Wallace, E.R. Freud and Anthropology: A History and Reappraisal. International Universities Press, 1983.
Wallwork, E. Psychoanalysis and Ethics. Yale University Press, 1991.
Whitebrook, J. Perversion and Utopia: A Study in Psychoanalysis and Critical Theory. MIT Press, 1995.
Whyte, L.L. The Unconscious Before Freud. Basic Books, 1960.
Wollheim, R. Freud. Fontana, 1971.
Wollheim, R. (ed.) Freud: A Collection of Critical Essays. Anchor, 1974 .
Wollheim, R. & Hopkins, J. (eds.) Philosophical Essays on Freud . Cambridge University Press, 1982.

See also the articles on Descartes’ Mind-Body Distinction , Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness and Introspection .

Author Information

Stephen P. Thornton University of Limerick Ireland

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He was the first to talk about psychoanalysis, a technique that allows an individual to recount dreams by what psychologists call free association. Free association is the individual saying whatever comes to mind when something is said. The definition of psychoanalysis can best be defined as "emphasising the roles of unconscious mental forces and conflicts in determining behaviour." The main branch of psychology is "normal thinking" of the mind. Freud thought that many of our problems

Sigmund Freud's Psychodynamic Theory

It is difficult to summarize psychodynamic theory without a brief discussion of Freud. Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis, the father of psychodynamic theory, and in effect the father of modern psychotherapy. Freud's notions retain quite a bit of popularity, especially his ideas that things are not what they seem on the surface. Because of his understanding of the mind and behavior, Freud considered that overt behaviors were not always self-explanatory (or perhaps "not often explanatory" would be the better term). Instead, these overt or manifest behaviors represent some hidden motive. Sigmund Freud was trained as a neurologist and specialized in the treatment of nervous disorders. His early training involved using hypnosis with the French neurologist Jean Charcot in the treatment of hysteria, the presentation of baffling physical symptoms (mostly in young women) that appeared to have no physical origin (Hall, Lindzey, & Campbell, 1998). Freud also partnered with the Viennese physician Josef Breuer who practiced a revolutionary "talking cure" to reduce patients' symptoms by talking with them about how they felt as well as using hypnosis to remove emotional barriers to their feelings. He eventually abandoned the use of hypnosis in favor of a process he termed "free association" in which he had patients talk about what was on their minds without censoring their train of thought. This led Freud to develop his theory of the human mind as a complex system that is

The Contributions Of Freud And The Case Of Sigmund Freud

Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, which will allow one to gain insight. The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences. For example, making the unconscious conscious. Freud had a massive impact on the way people viewed mental illnesses during the First World War. During this time, many psychoanalysts were drafted into war efforts, as physicians or as psychiatrists, due to the rise in “war neuroses.” Many psychiatrists at the time believed that when soldiers showed symptoms of constant nervousness, nightmares, and traumatic memories of war experiences, they were merely cowards trying to escape combat. During the First World War, this perception started to change and people began to think that these symptoms were signs of real psychiatric problems. Shortly after, Freud created a model of the mind called “the Psychic

Freud’s Structure of the Mind Essay

3 Works Cited

At the age of 40 in 1896, Sigmund Freud introduced the world to a new term- psychoanalysis (Gay 1). Psychoanalysis is a method of treating patients with different nervous problems by involving them in dialogues which provide the physician with insight into the individual’s psyche. These dialogues provided the basis for Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, which “attempts to explain personality, motivation, and psychological disorders by focusing on the influence of early childhood experiences, on unconscious motives and conflicts, and on the methods people use to cope with their sexual and aggressive urges” (Weiten 363). Part of this theory involves the structure of the mind. This is a concept that touches

Freud’s Theory of the Unconscious Mind

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

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BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

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Sigmund Freud didn’t exactly invent the idea of the conscious versus unconscious mind, but he certainly was responsible for making it popular, and this was one of his main contributions to psychology.

Freud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model of the mind, describing the features of the mind’s structure and function. Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.

This model divides the mind into three primary regions based on depth and accessibility of information:

Freud’s conception of consciousness can be compared to an iceberg because, much like an iceberg, the majority of an individual’s mind exists below the surface, hidden from immediate view.

Iceberg Theory

Freud’s iceberg theory metaphorically represents the mind’s three levels: the conscious (visible tip of the iceberg), the preconscious (just below the surface), and the unconscious (vast submerged portion).

While we’re aware of the conscious, the preconscious contains easily accessible memories, and the unconscious houses deep-seated desires and memories, influencing behavior despite being largely inaccessible.

Freud (1915) described the conscious mind, which consists of all the mental processes of which we are aware, and this is seen as the tip of the iceberg. For example, you may be feeling thirsty at this moment and decide to get a drink.

The preconscious contains thoughts and feelings that a person is not currently aware of, but which can easily be brought to consciousness (1924). It exists just below the level of consciousness, before the unconscious mind.

The preconscious is like a mental waiting room, in which thoughts remain until they “succeed in attracting the eye of the conscious” (Freud, 1924, p. 306).

This is what we mean in our everyday usage of the word available memory. For example, you are presently not thinking about your mobile telephone number, but now it is mentioned you can recall it with ease.

Mild emotional experiences may be in the preconscious, but sometimes traumatic and powerful negative emotions are repressed, hence not available in the preconscious.

In common language, “subconscious” is often used more generally to describe thoughts or feelings operating below the level of conscious awareness, without the nuanced distinctions of Freudian theory. However, within the context of Freud’s model, “preconscious” (German translation: Unterbewusstsein) has a more specific and distinct meaning.

According to Freud (1915), the unconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see.

While we are fully aware of what is happening in the conscious mind, we have no idea what information is stored in the unconscious mind.

The unconscious mind acts as a repository, a ‘cauldron’ of primitive wishes and impulses kept at bay and mediated by the preconscious area.

Our feelings, motives, and decisions are powerfully influenced by our past experiences, and stored in the unconscious.

Unconscious Mind

In psychoanalysis, the unconscious mind refers to that part of the psyche that contains repressed ideas and images, as well as primitive desires and impulses that have never been allowed to enter the conscious mind.

Freud viewed the unconscious mind as a vital part of the individual. It is irrational, emotional, and has no concept of reality, so its attempts to leak out must be inhibited.

Content contained in the unconscious mind is generally deemed too anxiety-provoking to be allowed in consciousness. It is maintained at an unconscious level where, according to Freud, it still influences our behavior.

The unconscious mind comprises mental processes inaccessible to consciousness but that influence judgments, feelings, or behavior (Wilson, 2002).

Sigmund Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind, and a primary assumption of Freudian theory is that the unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect. Indeed, the goal of psychoanalysis is to make the unconscious conscious.

The unconscious contains all sorts of significant and disturbing material which we need to keep out of awareness because they are too threatening to acknowledge fully.

Much of our behavior, according to Freud, is a product of factors outside our conscious awareness. People use a range of defense mechanisms (such as repression or denial) to avoid knowing their unconscious motives and feelings.

For example, Freud (1915) found that some events and desires were often too frightening or painful for his patients to acknowledge and believed such information was locked away in the unconscious mind. This can happen through the process of repression.

Freud recognized that some physical symptoms may have psychological causes. Hysteria (sometimes known as conversion hysteria) is a physical symptom with no physical cause. However, the ailment is just as real as if it had but is caused by some underlying unconscious problem.

Psychosomatic disorders are a milder version of this. The unconscious is seen as a vital part of the individual; it is irrational, emotional, and has no concept of reality, so its attempts to leak out must be inhibited.

The unconscious mind contains our biologically based instincts (eros and Thanatos) for the primitive urges for sex and aggression (Freud, 1915). Freud argued that our primitive urges often do not reach consciousness because they are unacceptable to our rational, conscious selves.

Freud believed that the influences of the unconscious reveal themselves in various ways, including dreams , and slips of the tongue, now popularly known as Freudian slips.

Freud (1920) gave an example of such a slip when a British Member of Parliament referred to a colleague with whom he was irritated as “the honorable member from Hell” instead of from Hull.

Critical Evaluation

Initially, psychology was skeptical regarding the idea of mental processes operating at an unconscious level. To other psychologists determined to be scientific in their approach (e.g. behaviorists ), the concept of the unconscious mind has proved a source of considerable frustration because it defies objective description, and is extremely difficult to test or measure objectively.

However, the gap between psychology and psychoanalysis has narrowed, and the notion of the unconscious is now an important focus of psychology.

For example, cognitive psychology has identified unconscious processes, such as procedural memory (Tulving, 1972), automatic processing (Bargh & Chartrand, 1999; Stroop, 1935), and social psychology has shown the importance of implicit processing (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). Such empirical findings have demonstrated the role of unconscious processes in human behavior.

However, empirical research in psychology has revealed the limits of the Freudian theory of the unconscious mind, and the modern notion of an “adaptive unconscious” (Wilson, 2004) is not the same as the psychoanalytic one.

Indeed, Freud (1915) underestimated the importance of the unconscious, and in terms of the iceberg analogy, there is a much larger portion of the mind under the water. The mind operates most efficiently by relegating a significant degree of high-level, sophisticated processing to the unconscious.

Whereas Freud (1915) viewed the unconscious as a single entity, psychology now understands the mind to comprise a collection of modules that have evolved over time and operate outside of consciousness.

For example, universal grammar (Chomsky, 1972) is an unconscious language processor that lets us decide whether a sentence is correctly formed. Separate from this module is our ability to recognize faces quickly and efficiently, thus illustrating how unconscious modules operate independently.

Finally, while Freud believed that primitive urges remained unconscious to protect individuals from experiencing anxiety, the modern view of the adaptive unconscious is that most information processing resides outside of consciousness for reasons of efficiency, rather than repression (Wilson, 2004).

Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (1999). The unbearable automaticity of being . American psychologist, 54(7) , 462.

Chomsky, N. (1972). Language and mind . New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Freud, S. (1915). The unconscious . SE, 14: 159-204.

Freud, S. (1924). A general introduction to psychoanalysis , trans. Joan Riviere.

Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological review , 102(1), 4.

Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of experimental psychology , 18(6), 643.

Tulving, E. (1972). Episodic and semantic memory. In E. Tulving & W. Donaldson (Eds.), Organization of Memory , (pp. 381–403). New York: Academic Press.

Wilson, T. D. (2004). Strangers to ourselves . Harvard University Press.

Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality

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Sigmund Freud’s Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality was first published in 1905. Freud expanded it several times in later editions, and it reached its final form in 1924. The book occupies a major place in Freud’s body of work, but it was controversial when it first appeared. Freud pointedly blurs the line between perversions and normal sexual behaviors, and he develops a radically new and surprising theory of human sexuality—in particular, of childhood sexuality. The essays present some of Freud’s most famous ideas, including the stages of psychosexual development, polymorphous perversity, drive theory, and the Oedipus complex. Finally, the book makes contributions to Freud’s thinking about aggression, ambivalence, sublimation , and more.

In 1953, the multivolume Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Freud appeared in English with a translation of the Three Essays by James Strachey. This version remains definitive, although though there is a long history of disputing some of Strachey’s translations of key terms. Strachey’s annotations and footnotes explain the position of the Three Essays in the overall development of Freud’s thought. Strachey’s notes also explain the development of the book over time, describing its expansions and revisions between 1905 and 1924.

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Most English editions reproduce Strachey’s translation including his notes. (Some e-book editions rely on an outdated, although sometimes elegant, English translation from 1915 by A. A. Brill.) This guide relies on the Basic Books edition of Strachey’s translation published in 2000. Still in print, it is also available for free at the Internet Archive. Citations refer to the page numbers in that edition.

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The first essay, “The Sexual Aberrations,” analyzes various perversions to challenge commonplace ideas about human sexuality. These commonplaces are, first, that infants and children do not have sex lives because the sexual impulse only arrives with puberty and, second, that sexual instincts are naturally directed to the opposite sex and procreation.

Freud discusses “inversion,” or homosexuality, to demonstrate that the sexual instinct does not contain an innate sexual object (such as the opposite sex). Freud looks at various theories about inversion that were prevalent in his day and finds fatal problems with each of them. Next, under the category of the sexual aim, he discusses the perversions proper, like fetishes for feet or other body parts, and so on. Freud concludes that the sexual instinct is itself various and nonunitary, but that its primitive and partial components come together or amalgamate to produce various macro-level sexualities. In some cases, the result is an amalgamation that we call normal. In other cases, the result is a perversion.

Freud then turns to the topic of neurotics and their sexual lives. He writes that the sexual instinct is key to the formation and maintenance of a neurotic’s symptoms because sexual libido is what charges or gives energy to the neurotic’s symptoms. As a result, the neurotic’s sex life, he writes, is in some way really nothing more than the (unhappy) experience of their symptoms.

In the second essay, “Infantile Sexuality,” Freud turns to early childhood, which he argues plays a pivotal role not just in the development of adult sexual preferences but in human psychological development as a whole. Infantile sexuality is fundamentally autoerotic in nature and “polymorphously perverse” (115). Freud argues that the whole variety of neurotic and normal psychological structures emerge from the process of psychosexual development that begins with oral satisfaction and thumb-sucking and proceeds through the other so-called erotogenic zones, including the anal, arriving finally at genital sexuality. He discusses key ideas like the incest barrier and penis envy in this section.

In the final essay, “The Transformation of Puberty,” Freud discusses the changes ushered in by puberty following the latent stage—itself begun at around age five. In a normal case, the adolescent will discover an attraction to the opposite sex and begin to break away from the emotionally incestuous confines of the family unit. While some adolescents make the transition to adult sexuality in the normal way, others do so differently, leading to what we call perversions and to various neurotic formations that may not at first seem like they are related to sexual life.

Throughout the book, Freud emphasizes that perversion, neurosis, and normality are continuous and often overlapping categories. Drawing on an enormous wealth of observations about both neurotic and normal psychological experience, he connects his theory of psychosexual development, elaborated for the first time in this book, to the framework for psychoanalysis that he had already developed, in which repressed childhood experiences are found to be the causes of present-day psychological formations. To summarize most briefly, this is the book that made sex fundamental to Freudian theory.

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Essay on Sigmund Freud and the Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality

Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856, in the Czech Republic. His family moved to Leipzig and settled in Vienna, Austria, where Freud will be educated. His family is Jewish, but Freud himself does not practice the religion (Sigmund Freud, n.d.). Freud began his study of medicine in 1873 at the University of Vienna. Freud collaborated with a physician named Josef Breuer in treating patients with hysteria by recalling painful experiences (Sigmund Freud, n.d.). Freud would also draw inspiration from Jean Charcot, a French neurologist that tutored Freud. Freud would then return to Vienne and set up a clinic for his private practice. This series of events led Freud to develop his theory of psychoanalysis. Honestly, Freud was not drawn to medicine because he desired to engage in medical practice, but because he was intensely curious and passionate about human nature (Ellenberger, 1970). Meeting Both Breuer and Charcot influenced Freud’s eventual pursuit of developing a psychological theory.

A combination of his experiences heavily influenced Freud’s understanding of personality with patients, his self-analyzation of his dreams, and the readings from various sciences and humanities (Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2018). All these culminated in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality.

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory is a grand theory. This premise denotes that the theory he created covers a vast scope of the human personality and mind. Freud’s theory can be divided into several facets for a clearer understanding of the entire picture. First, there are the provinces of the mind: the conscious and the unconscious (Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2018). Next, come the dynamics of personality. This premise refers to the sex and aggression impulse in everyone. Supplementary to this are the defense mechanisms. Last, Freud delves into the development of the individual. His theory posits the psychosexual stages of development.

To further understand the provinces of the mind, Freud introduced the conscious and the unconscious. The conscious is the mental awareness that a person has. The conscious plays a very minimal role in his theory. Freud focused on the unconscious in building his theory. The unconscious can be further divided into two other regions: the preconscious and the true unconscious. The difference between these two is that the preconscious contains thoughts that an individual is not conscious of but is readily available when needed. The unconscious contains an individual’s drives, urges, or instincts, not in a person’s awareness (Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2018). The central theme of Freud’s theory lies within the unconscious. Freud claimed that a person’s unconscious motivates most of an individual’s words, feelings, and actions. He also stated that some parts of a person’s unconscious may have originated from their ancestors; he called this phylogenic endowment (Feist, Feist & Roberts, 2018). As the provinces of the mind have been established, Freud also hypothesized the id, ego, and superego. These elements interact with the outside world. The id, or the pleasure principle, lies entirely in the unconscious. The id is responsible for our desires, and its only function is to seek pleasure. The ego, or the reality principle, has all conscious, unconscious, preconscious elements (Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2018). The ego is an individual’s method of communicating with the outside world. As the only region of the mind that has contact with the outside world, the ego is also considered the decision-making personality of a person (Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2018). Last, the superego is the part of the mind that tackles the moral and ideal principles of the person. The superego resides in the unconscious and preconscious. The superego acts as a person’s moral conscience, informing the person on what is right and what is wrong. These three forces of the mind constantly struggle against each other and determine which force rules over a person. An example would be an individual with an overgrown id who may actively seek pleasurable stimuli.

Freud also tackles personality in his theory. Freud claimed that personality in man is our innate drive. The personality theory revolves around two significant drives: eros or sex and Thanatos or aggression (Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2018). These drives originate from the id but are constantly checked by the ego. The eros, or libido, drive in a person pertains not only to genitalia satisfaction. Freud expresses that eros pertains to all pleasurable acts; this includes love. Thanatos, on the other hand, pertains to an individual’s aggression. The aim of the destructive drive, according to Freud, is to return the organism to an inorganic state. The inorganic condition that Freud is referring to is death. The ultimate aim of the aggressive drive is self-destruction (Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2018). This premise may take on many forms, such as teasing, anger, or enjoying other people’s suffering.

Freud also included defense mechanisms in his theory. Defense mechanisms help the conscious avoid dealing with sexual and aggressive urges and defend itself from the anxiety that it brings (Feist, Feist, & Roberts, 2018). Examples of this are repression, denial, and projection.

Freud’s theory also included the stages of development in an individual. These stages function like different stages in a person’s life. If one stage is not fulfilled or “satisfied,” the result would be a fixation in that stage that would reflect certain unwanted behaviors later in life. The stages are oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. There is a specific erogenous zone or parts of the body that require satisfaction to proceed generally in life in each stage. In the oral stage, this is the mouth. The mouth is where an infant gains nourishment. This stage must be satisfied by providing the mouth with objects to suck on. Failure in satisfaction eventually leads a child to develop pleasure-seeking of the mouth in adulthood. Examples are smoking or chewing gum. Next is the anal stage, wherein pleasure is derived from the anus. Specifically, the pleasure is centered on defecating. Failure to satisfy this stage leads to a fixation of having excessive controlling tendencies later in life. In the phallic stage, the child gains awareness of anatomical differences. This awareness creates the conflict between attraction, resentment, and jealousy, which Freud called the Oedipus complex (for boys) and the Electra complex (for girls) (Mcleod, 2019). Next is the latency period, wherein the libido becomes dormant, and no psychosexual development occurs. Much of a child’s energy is devoted to acquiring new skills and engaging in social activities with other children. Lastly is the genital stage, wherein the libido is once again awakened and simultaneously occurs during puberty. In this stage, individuals direct sexual instinct toward heterosexual intercourse. Fixations from the past stages may prevent the healthy development of relationships.

The application of Freud’s grand theory is shown primarily in psychoanalytic therapy. The goal of psychoanalytic theory is to uncover unconscious memories through free association and dream analysis. Psychoanalysis aims to strengthen the ego by forcing unconscious thoughts to the conscious mind, ultimately making the ego face such thoughts. Free association pertains to a patient free saying what is on his or her mind. From these thoughts, the therapist will slow derive patterns and ideas from the words or stories spoken by the patient. In dream analysis, Freud believed that our dreams contain our unfulfilled, unconscious wishes. Freud’s goal was to use a person’s dreams as a gateway into the unconscious, thus retrieving those thoughts and ultimately understanding the person’s desires.

In reading Freud’s theory, I have realized that Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality is deterministic. I say this because Freud’s theory emphasizes the control of the unconscious in a person’s life. I also believe that Freud’s theory is not verifiable, nor is it falsifiable. I believe that his theory is grand because it covers the entirety of a person’s mind and personality. What I did not appreciate in his theory is that it cannot be proven scientifically. There is no way to prove the existence of the id, ego, and superego. His theory cannot be falsifiable. A theory is seldom free from questioning and falsification—Freud’s bias and opinion spill over in his creation. Many of his methods and conclusions have been denied, even to a point where some of his theories have even become viewed as damaging (Alliant International University, n.d.). An example of this is his view of both women and homosexuality. There are many questionable aspects of Freud’s theory, so I believe that it must not be used as the fundamental theory in dealing with people. Freud’s theory is outdated and must only be a reference for contemporary theories or research.

Alliant International University. (n.d.). Are Freud and psychoanalysis still relevant? https://www.alliant.edu/blog/are-freud-and-psychoanalysis-still-relevant

Ellenberger, H. F. (1970). The discovery of the unconscious. New York: Basic Books.

Feist, J., Feist, G. J., & Roberts, T. (2018). Theories of personality (9th ed.). McGrew Hill.

McLeod, S. (2019). Freud’s psychosexual stages of development . Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychosexual.html#:~:text=Freud%20proposed%20that%20p

sychological%20development,different%20area%20of%20the%20body

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) . (2014). BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/freud_sigmund.shtml#:~: text=Sigmund%20Freud%20(1856%2D1939)&text=

Sigismund%20(later%20changed%20to%20Sigmund,he%20was%20himself%20non%2Dpractising

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Sigmund Freud: Remembering the father of psychoanalysis

Posted: May 5, 2023 | Last updated: July 8, 2023

<p>Sigmund Freud is perhaps the best-known psychologist in the world. His work was revolutionary and he was one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, but his theories came with a great deal of controversy. During his life he was fighting an uphill battle against archaic attitudes towards <a href="https://www.starsinsider.com/lifestyle/439645/the-stanford-prison-experiment-and-its-relevance-today" rel="noopener">psychology</a>. Nowadays, his theories on women and sexual development are widely discredited. He has often been <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/sigmund-freud-his-life-work-and-theories-2795860" rel="noopener">called</a> "history's most debunked doctor."</p><p>Regardless of his flaws, he was responsible for the creation of an entire school of thought which still influences modern psychology today. Click through the gallery to learn about the life and work of the founding father of psychoanalysis. </p>

Sigmund Freud is perhaps the best-known psychologist in the world. His work was revolutionary and he was one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, but his theories came with a great deal of controversy. During his life he was fighting an uphill battle against archaic attitudes towards psychology . Nowadays, his theories on women and sexual development are widely discredited. He has often been called "history's most debunked doctor."

Regardless of his flaws, he was responsible for the creation of an entire school of thought which still influences modern psychology today. Click through the gallery to learn about the life and work of the founding father of psychoanalysis.

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<p>Sigmund Freud was born in the Austrian town of Freiberg in 1865. He had seven biological siblings, but it's said that he was his mother's favorite. She <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/facts-about-sigmund-freud-2795861" rel="noopener">called</a> him her "golden-haired Siggie."</p>

Personal life

Sigmund Freud was born in the Austrian town of Freiberg in 1865. He had seven biological siblings, but it's said that he was his mother's favorite. She called him her "golden-haired Siggie."

<p>His father was a wool merchant and the family was forced to move to Vienna when his business failed. Freud would gain his medical degree there and remain based in Vienna for the rest of his life. </p>

His father was a wool merchant and the family was forced to move to Vienna when his business failed. Freud would gain his medical degree there and remain based in Vienna for the rest of his life.

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Freud fell in love with Martha Bernays and the couple got engaged after two months. They were married in 1886.

<p>They went on to have a <a href="https://www.starsinsider.com/celebrity/266410/jude-law-and-other-celebs-with-a-whole-lot-of-children" rel="noopener">large family</a> with six children. Their daughter Anna also became a famous and influential psychologist. </p>

They went on to have a large family with six children. Their daughter Anna also became a famous and influential psychologist.

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Freud and cocaine

Many speculate that Freud was searching for something groundbreaking early in his career, and he thought cocaine was going to be it.

<p>In the late 1800s, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/payngv/a-brief-history-of-freuds-love-affair-with-cocaine" rel="noopener">cocaine</a> was a recent discovery and widely used for medical purposes. In addition to being used as an anesthetic in hospitals, it was available in a variety of over-the-counter products like throat lozenges and sodas.</p>

In the late 1800s, cocaine was a recent discovery and widely used for medical purposes. In addition to being used as an anesthetic in hospitals, it was available in a variety of over-the-counter products like throat lozenges and sodas.

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<p>It was considered a miracle drug, and Freud was one of the early medical professionals to "experiment" with it and extol its virtues. Needless to say, he developed a serious cocaine addiction while writing papers about its incredible effects.</p>

It was considered a miracle drug, and Freud was one of the early medical professionals to "experiment" with it and extol its virtues. Needless to say, he developed a serious cocaine addiction while writing papers about its incredible effects.

He eventually quit after the harmful side effects of the drug became known. It was a blow to his reputation as a doctor as he had published articles in medical journals stating that it was a potential cure for morphine addiction and depression.

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Historians now <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/cocaine-how-miracle-drug-nearly-destroyed-sigmund-freud-william-halsted" rel="noopener">consider</a> what impact his personal use of the drug and his addiction may have had on his later work in psychology.

Some say that one of his greatest trademarks, "talk therapy," may have been inspired by the effects of cocaine which caused him to talk freely and endlessly, releasing memories and feelings he thought had been repressed.

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<p>One of Freud's early <a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html#:~:text=Sigmund%20Freud%20emphasized%20the%20importance,to%20make%20the%20unconscious%20conscious." rel="noopener">influences</a> was the work of his friend Josef Breuer. Breuer was treating a female patient suffering from "hysteria," which presented itself in the form of convulsions, paralysis, and hallucinations. </p>

His work: Hysteria

One of Freud's early influences was the work of his friend Josef Breuer. Breuer was treating a female patient suffering from "hysteria," which presented itself in the form of convulsions, paralysis, and hallucinations.

<p>Breuer was able to relieve her symptoms by helping her to recall traumatic incidents from her past. He frequently wrote to Freud and shared the details of her case. </p>

Breuer was able to relieve her symptoms by helping her to recall traumatic incidents from her past. He frequently wrote to Freud and shared the details of her case.

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Freud began to develop his theory that physical symptoms and mental illness are manifestations of deeply repressed memories and feelings.

<p>This led to the development of his <a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html#:~:text=Sigmund%20Freud%20emphasized%20the%20importance,to%20make%20the%20unconscious%20conscious." rel="noopener">theory</a> that the conscious mind is only the tip of the iceberg. He separated the human mind into three levels of consciousness. </p>

His work: The unconscious mind

This led to the development of his theory that the conscious mind is only the tip of the iceberg. He separated the human mind into three levels of consciousness.

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The first level is the conscious. It's the small part that we're aware of and that produces our thoughts and perceptions.

The second level is the subconscious. This contains things like memories and knowledge that we could bring forward into our awareness if we tried.

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<p>The third level is the unconscious. It contains things that we aren't aware of, like our base sexual and aggressive instincts, which Freud believes governs our behavior even though they are repressed. </p>

The third level is the unconscious. It contains things that we aren't aware of, like our base sexual and aggressive instincts, which Freud believes governs our behavior even though they are repressed.

<p>This led to Freud's development of <a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychoanalysis.html" rel="noopener">psychoanalysis</a>. The goal was to bring forth the repressed contents of the unconscious mind, causing a kind of catharsis that would heal the patient of their mental illness. </p>

His work: Psychoanalysis

This led to Freud's development of psychoanalysis . The goal was to bring forth the repressed contents of the unconscious mind, causing a kind of catharsis that would heal the patient of their mental illness.

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<p>That is the theory of psychoanalysis, but it also involves a specific kind of therapy. Freud would have a patient lie down on the couch and he would sit behind them and take notes as they talked about their childhood experiences. </p>

That is the theory of psychoanalysis, but it also involves a specific kind of therapy. Freud would have a patient lie down on the couch and he would sit behind them and take notes as they talked about their childhood experiences.

This classic form of psychoanalysis usually required two to five sessions per week over several years.

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<p>Freud was famously fascinated with dreams and saw them as a direct gateway to the unconscious. The defenses of the mind are lowered while a person sleeps and their repressed feelings can manifest in their dreams.</p>

His work: Dreams

Freud was famously fascinated with dreams and saw them as a direct gateway to the unconscious. The defenses of the mind are lowered while a person sleeps and their repressed feelings can manifest in their dreams.

<p>Freud's theories about women reflect his traditional and outdated attitudes. In 1925 he wrote a <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/how-sigmund-freud-viewed-women-2795859" rel="noopener">paper</a> on the subject of the differences between men and women in which he said, "women oppose change, receive passively, and add nothing of their own."</p>

Freud and women

Freud's theories about women reflect his traditional and outdated attitudes. In 1925 he wrote a paper on the subject of the differences between men and women in which he said, "women oppose change, receive passively, and add nothing of their own."

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<p>Many of these theories coincide with his work on psychosexual development, which proposes that children fixate on different parts of their bodies at different stages of infancy while developing their sexual proclivities. During the "phallic stage," girls may develop a particular kind of anxiety. </p>

Many of these theories coincide with his work on psychosexual development, which proposes that children fixate on different parts of their bodies at different stages of infancy while developing their sexual proclivities. During the "phallic stage," girls may develop a particular kind of anxiety.

<p>Freud claimed that when girls become aware that they don't have male genitalia, they become resentful of their mothers whom they hold responsible for this "disadvantage," and become closer to their fathers. </p>

Freud claimed that when girls become aware that they don't have male genitalia, they become resentful of their mothers whom they hold responsible for this "disadvantage," and become closer to their fathers.

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<p>Another of his theories was that "hysteria," a female mental illness, was caused by repressed sexual desires in women. While his understanding of woman was greatly lacking, it was progressive to even acknowledge that women have sexual desires. </p>

Another of his theories was that "hysteria," a female mental illness, was caused by repressed sexual desires in women. While his understanding of woman was greatly lacking, it was progressive to even acknowledge that women have sexual desires.

Freud didn't see much potential in women, but ironically his daughter Anna went on to become a famous psychoanalyst in her own right.

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<p>The small village of Kessil is the birthplace of influential psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung.</p>

While many of Freud's theories are now discredited, his groundbreaking work was an essential stepping stone for other great minds to reach modern psychology as we know it today.

His lexicon has become part of our everyday language: denial, repression, libido, and the Freudian slip!

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<p>Freud was <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/facts-about-sigmund-freud-2795861" rel="noopener">forced</a> to leave Austria during the Nazi invasion, and many of his books were burned along with other "offensive" modern texts.</p><p>Take a look back at <a href="https://www.starsinsider.com/lifestyle/357272/fascinating-photos-of-world-war-ii">the history of World War II with these incredible photos</a>.</p>

Freud was forced to leave Austria during the Nazi invasion, and many of his books were burned along with other "offensive" modern texts.

Now, take a look back at the history of World War II with these incredible photos .

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138 Sigmund Freud Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best sigmund freud topic ideas & essay examples, 💡 interesting topics to write about sigmund freud, 📌 simple & easy sigmund freud essay titles, 👍 good essay topics on sigmund freud, ❓ questions about sigmund freud.

Freud’s View of Human Nature: Psychoanalytic Theory Research In the study of human personality, Freud believed that the central part of human nature is as a result of id and the control of human decisions by the superego.
Comparing Freud, Adler and Jung Psychology Freud did develop the original theories of the conscious and unconscious and subconscious; the ego, id and superego; the libidinal and aggressive drives; the Oedipus and Electra complexes; the defense mechanisms of the mind being, […] We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Essay The section of the body that contains this information is referred to in Freud’s theory as the preconscious portion of the brain.
Comparing and Contrast Freud and Skinner’s Approaches to Understanding Behavior The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the approaches of two of the most significant personalities in the field of psychology: Sigmund Freud and B.
Sigmund Freud: Theory of Psychosexual Development Analysis The ego is the component of the psyche that interfaces and coordinates the super-ego and the id in the harmonization of the conflicting sexual instincts and cultural sexual constraints in the process of psychosexual development.
Freud vs. Erikson on the Development Stages At this stage, both Freud and Erikson’s theories major on the critical role that early experiences play in the development of an individual.
Psychoanalysis and Madness by Freud and Lacan The human body structure, the way one thinks and the way human beings relate with each other are the structures that dictate the phenomenon of madness.
Freud’s Anxiety Neurosis – Psychology The objective of this study is to expose Freud’s anxiety neurosis and to provide a comprehensive approach as to the causes, treatments, and symptoms of the anxiety neurosis.
Krestiva and Freud Theories in Dickinson’s Poetry We may assume that Dickinson uses the unconscious sublimation to reflect her ideas of sexual desires and pleasures in her literary work.
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung and their view of human personality To most psychologists, the litmus test of a theory is the ability of the theory to predict future events and behaviors among the human beings.
The Freud’s Tripartite Theory of Personality One of the factors that stood out for me about personality assessment practices is the role that the ego plays in an individual.
Defense Mechanism in Freud’s Theory By far the most common and just as primitive, denial as a defense mechanism implies that one should ignore the evidence of a specific fact and refuse to acknowledge the existence thereof.
Sigmund Freud’s Concepts of Self and Other This is one of the first aspects that can be distinguished. This is one of the aspects that can be identified.
Classical Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud Drives and instincts are connected with the human personal experiences, and the id associated with the human unconscious nature is oriented to pleasure and satisfying the sex instinct and to satisfying the aggression instinct.
Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis of “Saw II”Movie When in the beginning of the movie Michael has a head trap on and must use a scalpel to cut own eye, his survival instinct is fighting with the instinct of self preservation.
Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud Works Examination The society heavily depends on the psychologists especially on the issue of social order which arguably is one of the most important aspects in the society.
Aristotle’s and Freud’s Motivational Theories The efficient cause is the trigger that causes a person to behave in a certain way. These biological instincts are the source of mental or psychic energy that makes human behavior and that it is […]
Freud’s Psychoanalysis for Schizophrenia Patients In this paper, the author’s approaches to this ailment are considered, and the ways of applying the specific observations of human behavior are discussed. Freud’s contribution to the development of psychoanalysis is significant, and his […]
The Views of Freud and Post Freudians on Human Nature He likens the conscious mind to the exposed tip of the iceberg and the unconscious being to the submerged regions of the iceberg.
Sigmund Freud’s Theories He explains that no action or deed is ever done without the preconception of the mind and the coordination of the elements of the mind.
Cognitive Growth Stages: Piaget & Freud The pre-operational stage: At the pre-operational stage, the child learns to exercise language and to characterize things by words and images. At this stage of development, the anus acts as the centre of attraction of […]
Freud’s Theory of Personality Development and OCD The ego, on the other hand, is in the middle and manages both the desires of the Id and those of the superego.
Symbolic Interactionism and Freud’s Theory of Personality According to Mead, the self, being a part of one’s personality, consists of self-image and self-awareness and results from social experience.
Sigmund Freud’s Ideas of Happiness One of these means, and the only one that Freud seems to feel provides any sense of satisfaction as to why happiness cannot be obtained, is found in the realm of religion.
Social Thought: ”The Future of an Illusion” by Freud Commencing with an overview of the material conditions of society, The Future of an Illusion proclaims that these conditions result from two processes: the technological processes that control the forces of nature and extract its […]
Jung’s and Freud’s Approaches to Psychoanalysis The concept of the unconscious mind as the cornerstone of the study of the human psyche and core psychological changes represents the principal similarity between the two theories.
The Oedipus Complex as a Termed by Sigmund Freud In 1873, he entered the medical faculty of the University of Vienna, graduating from it in 1881 and receiving the title of doctor of medicine.
The Origin of Psychological Disorders: Freud and Adler’s Perspectives An Austrian neurologist, who lived in the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, Sigmund Freud advanced the theory on the origin of mental illnesses.
The Unconscious Mind: Freud and Jung’s Views This includes the secret desires of the individual, which are contrary to the general laws of morality and, therefore, subconsciously jealous of the person. In turn, Jung expanded the concept of the unconscious and changed […]
The Function of Religion: Sigmund Freud, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx The function of religion is, in my opinion, closely related to people’s need to have a major set of moral guidelines, making individuals more confident and satisfied and societies more viable.
“The Interpretations of Dreams” by Sigmund Freud General consumption of the universe has its origin in the recasting of the intellect of the impressions which reach it from nowhere in the course of time, space and causality.
Sigmund Freud: Theories and Contribution to Psychology The Id, representative of the “unconscious” mind, is a depiction of the different aspects in the life of an individual which he does not recognize immediately.
Freud: Motivation Evaluation and Motivational Theories In the history of choices and the way in which they leave an indelible mark by which a person has judged the decision of betrayal made by Benedict Arnold has forever marked him in infamy […]
Freud’s Impact on Modern-Day Psychology It is obvious that Freud made a major breakthrough in the development of this new field and was quite pivotal in the evolution of psychology as a whole.
Freud’s Impact on Modern Psychology The theory had a lot of followers who contributed their interpretations to it, but these were Freud and his researches that laid the foundation for the following development of the popular method of psychoanalysis and […]
Psychological Theoretical Positions of Sigmund Freud Freud is often referred to as the father of psychology because of his research in the area of psychology. In the psyche, the interpretation of Dreams, Freud proposed that dreams can be used to demonstrate […]
Dream Symbolism, Epic of Gilgamesh and Sigmund Freud Considering any similarity among the three given theories, it is can be seen that ‘Dream Symbolism’ and ‘Sigmund Freud’ are very similar in the sense that in both of them the main subject is wouldream’.
Metapsychology as an Element of Freud’s Psychoanalysis This paper tries to relate between theory and practice of Freud’s psychoanalysis by explaining; the main goals of Freud’s psychoanalysis theory and practice, Freud in Beyond the pleasure principle, the models of the human mind, […]
Freud’s Unconscious Concept for University Students Hence, Freud associates basic human needs with the unconscious and emphasises the development of the concept of consciousness in order to examine and observe keenly the sentimental and emotional problems of the patients, which they […]
Sigmund Freud and His Major Psychological Works Freud overstates the animalistic nature of the f human-being and the importance of the subconscious and states thathuman behavior that humans explained from the position of id, because it constitutes the main part of human […]
Sigmund Freud: His Life and Work This idea is supported in Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents as he discusses the aggressive energy associated with the super-ego.”According to one view, that energy merely carries on the punitive energy of the external authority […]
Classical Western Philosophy: Freud & Kierkegaard To Sartre, the “I” which is the person is always brought into the world or rather the universe without any prearranged qualities which is to human nature. It is in the moment of death when […]
“Dora” by Sigmund Freud: Case of Hysteria Though the story is rather thought provoking and highlight all the possible aspects of the Dora’s case of hysteria, it cannot underline the main aspects of the psychological disorder and answer the necessary questions as […]
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality According to Freud’s brand of psychoanalysis, the psyche of an individual consists of the id, ego and superego with the id serving as the driving force of a person’s personality.
Rosetti’s “The Woodspurge” and Freud’s “Mourning and Melancholia” In some ways, the description of the first and second stanza is similar to that of a flower, perhaps through this, the poet is emphasize that he is rooted/stuck with his problems.
Sigmund Freud’s Impact: Theories and Concepts Although the concept of the unconscious mind had existed well before Freud began his work, and the concept of hypnosis had been around for at least a century prior to his failure to work with […]
Freud and Hamlet’s Relationship with His Mother When analyzing the relationship between Hamlet and his mother, one can note that even at a young age, the Oedipus complex manifests in the boy, which reflects a number of his conflicting experiences about his […]
Freud’s Depression: Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions In the example of Sigmund Freud, the symptoms of depression including a sense of guilt, apathy, periodic anxiety attacks, and fatigue.
Freud’s, Rogers’, Skinner’s Personality Theories The main postulate of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theory of personality is that one’s behavior reflects the unconscious workings of his or her psyche, and that is it is specifically the early phases of people’s development, […]
Freud’s Psychosexual Stage Conception It should be noted that according to the psychoanalytic theory, there are several stages in the development of a person’s sexuality.
Freud’s Theory as to Human Development In the beginning, a person is driven primarily by the id or the part of the psyche that focuses on instinctive needs and desires.
An Outline of Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud The main principles of Freud’s approach explained in An Outline of Psychoanalysis are focused on the “three forces of the psychical apparatus”: the id, the ego, and the superego.
What Functions Did Freud Attribute to Dreams? In this perspective dreams serve a wide variety of purposes such as problem solving, on which front, a dream becomes the mirror of one’s characteristic theology to life, providing the tentative and intrinsic outlook to […]
The S. Freud Reader and F. Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals Spiritual Revelations Freudian and Nietzsche view of religion, god and civilization The origin of religion and civilization, according to the philosophy of Nietzsche and Freud, seem to begin with their inquest to the existence of god.
Sigmund Freud’s Theory Notes The repetition is considered to be the way of transference of the past. In other words, the issue of happiness is considered to be one of the most important for a human being.
Sigmund Freud: On Dreams However, the book under consideration occupies a very special place as it is on the border between the world of scientists and the rest of the world. Thus, one of the central ideas of the […]
Sigmund Freud on Hysteria In the Psychoanalytic Theory, unconscious processes take place in the form of slips of the mind, dreams and visions along with forgotten memories that still linger in the mind and implicit knowledge.
Freud and Jung Psychology The process is inborn and it is for this reason that human beings are able to understand and harmonize the various part of the psyche.
Sigmund Freud’s “The Uncanny” From the story, excessive reference to eyes and blindness has a significant contribution to the themes, characterization and psychoanalytic elements. Sandman’s target to the eyes is a way of trying to relate a fearful process […]
Hello, Mr. Freud: The Psychology of a Sitcom It cannot be excessive, and the more a man talks to the others and socializes, the better he proves that he has no mental or psychological problems, that he is a specimen of a healthy […]
Surrealism and Freud As for surrealism movement, it is better to pay attention to one of Freud’s theories, the theory of dreams, where Freud called dreams as a kind of road to the unconscious.
The Explanations of Trauma and the Proposal of Sigmund Freud on Wound on the Mind
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Using generative ai as your own sigmund freud psychoanalyst to freely reveal your deep-rooted personal issues.

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The good and the bad of using generative AI as your own personal Sigmund Freud.

In today’s column, I am continuing my ongoing series about the impact of generative AI in the health and medical realm. The focus this time is on the use of generative AI to dialogue with a prompted persona of Sigmund Freud and carry on a free association for psychoanalysis purposes. Doing so provides insights into how generative AI can be used for mental health therapy and likewise reveals corresponding concerns and cautions that should be mindfully observed.

Quick question for you before we get fully underway.

What comes to your mind when I mention the name Sigmund Freud?

I’m sure a boatload of thoughts tends to arise.

Sigmund Freud is nearly a household name in the sense that most people are likely vaguely familiar with his groundbreaking and pioneering work in the field of psychology and psychoanalysis. I previously discussed his approach to dream analysis and used generative AI to illuminate various facets both good and bad, see the link here . Some of the background about Freud that I used in the prior discussion will also appear here since it is foundational material worth noting.

Let’s get things started here by discussing what Freud had to say about probing into the psyche of humans and a now-classic technique known as free association.

Freely Thinking About Freudian Free Association

A rather famous quote by Sigmund Freud might spur your recall of some of his more memorable theories: “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”

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In that way of thinking, your best bet would presumably be to allow those unexpressed emotions to see the light of day. Get them onto the surface. You might have a decent chance of coping with them and staving off a bitter future where they erupt in unexpected and ill-timed ways.

One specific method to surface your hidden or repressed emotions is by doing a thought exercise known as free association. Some refer to this as expressing a stream of consciousness. The typical trope is that a word or two is mentioned to you, and you then quickly react with whatever seems to come to your mind. Back and forth this goes. Out of this stream of words can arise a potential goldmine of clues about what is going on in the deepest recesses of your mind.

A surprising notion for some is that you don’t necessarily have to confine yourself to saying just one word or so at a time. The approach allows for the utterance of complete sentences. Out of a sentence or two there are bound to be embedded keywords that suggest the essence of some vital consideration. If so identified, the standout keywords can be used to link forward. I’ll be showing this to you via some examples when I later herein showcase the use of generative AI for performing Freudian free association.

Hang in there, the generative AI demo portion will be well worth seeing.

Free association is considered by some to be an essential mechanism for unlocking your otherwise well-protected mind. It is a technique that would usually be classified as a keystone Freudian tool for performing psychoanalysis. In olden times, you might be asked to stretch out on a couch in a therapist's office and the therapist would be seated nearby. This is portrayed in many movies and TV shows. Modern-day use of the free association technique is more likely to be with you and a therapist seated in chairs and there is less hocus-pocus going on (for example, in the past, hypnotism would often be used, but this is less likely nowadays).

Part of the claimed advantage of free association is that it forces your mind to let its guard down. The more time you have to compose sentences or are required to craft whole thoughts can be a dampening of exposing your inner mind. A fast-paced series of seemingly random playouts will supposedly divulge what is really going on in that noggin of yours. The aim is to get past the numerous mental barriers and roadblocks that won’t let the inner you escape. Via free association, a therapist is hoping to understand your deep-rooted emotions, fears, aspirations, and just about anything else including the kitchen sink that makes you mentally tick.

A recent research study examined the history and evolution of psychoanalysis and traced the efforts of Freud in producing his numerous pioneering insights. The study is entitled “An Introduction and Brief Overview of Psychoanalysis,” by Martin Tarzian, Mariana Ndrio, Adegbenro O. Fakoya, Cureus , September 2023.

Here are some cornerstone points worth considering (excerpts):

“Sigmund Freud (Born May 6th, 1856) was an Austrian neurologist widely known as the father of psychoanalysis. His revolutionary theories, thoughts, and challenges to the field of psychology have changed how theorists understand the mind and how psychologists treat their patients.”
“In 1899, Sigmund Freud released his groundbreaking book ‘The Interpretation of Dreams.’ He proposed a new theory on the meaning behind dreams and how they relate to the unconscious. In his book, he argued that dreams portal into humankind’s hidden desires and emotions and provide insight into any underlying conflicts within the unconscious mind. At the start of the 1900s, Freud had established himself as the master of addressing the unconscious.”
“Today, most clinical psychologists and psychiatrists roll their eyes when Freud’s ideas are brought up. However, his impact on shaping the theoretical and practical approaches to the human mind and reasoning for behavior cannot be understated or forgotten.”

You might have noted in the above third bulleted point an indication that some insiders today roll their eyes at Freud’s ideas. Why so? There are a variety of reasons. One viewpoint is that his work has been surpassed by newer techniques. Another perspective is that many of his approaches have not been readily subjected to scientific rigor. All kinds of systematic studies have tried to empirically prove or disprove his notions, though generally with mixed results.

A retort to those qualms is that some would insist the ideas and techniques work, even if only verified on an ad hoc basis. Furthermore, there is a hint that some are just not willing to accept that something old can still be functionally viable this many years later. Out with the old, in with the new is something that might be instead construed as the old works so don’t mess with it. Round and round these heated debates go.

According to a meta-analysis research study entitled “The Current State of the Empirical Evidence for Psychoanalysis A Meta-analytic Approach,” by Saskia de Maat; de Jonghe, Frans; de Kraker, Ruth; Leichsenring, Falk; Abbass, Allan; Luyten, Patrick; Barber, Jacques; Van Rien; Dekker; Jack, Harvard Review of Psychiatry , May/June 2013, here are some of the thorns in the side of Freud’s work:

“Research in psychoanalysis is complex to conduct. The treatments are of considerable length, making it difficult to randomize patients to control conditions that are substantially different from psychoanalysis. Study periods that include follow-up are long; the research requires significant funding; and the number of patients is limited. In addition, it is difficult to capture—whether in questionnaires, self-reports, or interviews—the process and outcomes that are considered relevant by psychoanalysts. Some analysts would even argue that doing so is impossible and consider the researcher an ‘unwanted third’ in the treatment.”

I am not going to venture into this acrimonious debate.

Digging Deep For That Free Association

Let’s assume for the moment that we can squeeze value out of the use of free association. In that case, and returning to the earlier cited study about the history and evolution in this field (re: “An Introduction and Brief Overview of Psychoanalysis,”), consider these salient excerpts:

“Free association is the fundamental technique of addressing the unconscious in psychoanalysis. The method allows patients to freely express their thoughts, feelings, and emotions without censoring themselves.”
“Commonly, the patient lies on a couch in the physician’s office and is made to feel very comfortable. This lowers the patient’s guard and thus the ego’s guard, allowing the mind to truly express its reservations.”
“The goal is to elicit the unconscious thoughts and memories contributing to psychological distress. The theory behind free association is that unconscious thoughts and emotions may be painful, embarrassing, or socially unacceptable and thus remain submerged in the unconscious. The patient is lulled into a state of comfort through free association, allowing these subconscious notions to come to light.”

I trust that you noticed in those points that the basis for having a client or patient opt to stretch out on a couch was to essentially put them at ease. This is yet another means of trying to get someone to be less defensive. When you are in a prone position the odds are that perhaps your mind equates this with relaxing such as during the process of going to sleep. Of course, there is no guarantee of that reaction. You might instead be feeling like you are at the dentist, which for most people is not an especially relaxing endeavor (getting teeth cleaned or pulled is more akin to increasing anxiety rather than reducing it).

I know that this next statement seems blazingly obvious but the capability of the therapist that is doing the free association is a make-or-break factor. If they aren’t helping to grease the skids, the free association can grind to a halt. If they aren’t paying attention, the odds are that the patient or client will freewheel into oblivion.

As mentioned in the same research paper about the history and evolution, the authors bring up the challenges involved in getting the most from free association:

“One of the criticisms of free association is that it relies too much on the therapist’s ability to interpret the patient’s unconscious thoughts and feelings.” (ibid).
“This is subjective, and different therapists may interpret the exact words or phrases differently.” (ibid).
“Another challenge with free association is that it is time-consuming and arduous. Patients may struggle to access their unconscious thoughts, feelings, and/or emotions, and it may take several months or even years to express themselves honestly and freely.” (ibid).
“Despite these limitations, free association remains a fascinating approach to both therapy and addressing the unconscious. While it has limitations, free association remains an interesting tool in treating psychological disorders. It is a pivotal technique used by Sigmund Freud and other followers of psychoanalysis.” (ibid).

We should certainly take a look at what the innovative architect himself had to say about free association. In his book “On the Beginning of Treatment” that Freud published in 1913, these gold nuggets appear:

"Act as though, for instance, you were a traveler sitting next to the window of a railway carriage and describing to someone inside the carriage the changing views which you see outside."
"Finally, never forget that you have promised to be absolutely honest, and never leave anything out because, for some reason or other, it is unpleasant to tell.”

The analysis of a free association exercise or series is presumably going to reveal what is happening far below the surface of your mind. We today are familiar with words like transference (when you transfer or apply feelings concerning one person to another person), projection (when you project your feelings onto others), resistance (when you maintain a mental blockage to hold back certain thoughts), and so on. In the era of Freud, these were new and exciting pieces of terminology.

In today’s era, we all use them, we don’t think twice about doing so, and pretty much take them for granted. You might say they are even old hat.

Bringing AI Into The Picture Of Free Association

There are a multitude of ways that we can intertwine AI with the Freudian free association technique.

The easiest path consists of using generative AI. Rather than taking the easy path first, let’s examine other means of utilizing AI in this particular domain. After doing so, we will move into the realm of generative AI. I know this seems like a teaser, but we ought to walk before we run.

A recent research project opted to use free association in a rather novel fashion when it comes to AI.

Much of today’s generative AI has its underpinnings in a mathematical and computational formulation known as an artificial neural network (ANN). I want to emphasize that this is a computational composition of hardware and software that essentially mimics (in an extremely simplistic way) the likings of what we believe might be happening in true neural networks (the biological and chemical stuff in your brain). Do not confuse the two as being the same. We have the amazing and still not fully understood true neural networks, and we have the now everyday mathematical and computational artificial neural networks.

The article entitled “Free Association in a Neural Network,” by Russell Richie, Ada Aka, and Sudeep Bhatia, Psychological Review , 2022, sought to explore true neural networks regarding their inherent ability to do free association and see if we can construct artificial neural networks that model on those behaviors.

Here are some key elements of their study (excerpts):

“In free association, subjects are asked to generate one or more words that come to mind in response to a cue word. For example, given the cue stork, a subject might respond baby, egg, and mother, in that order. Due to its simplicity, free association has been one of the most popular tasks in psychology for over a century.”
“More recently, free association has emerged as a leading method in cognitive psychology and cognitive science, particularly in the study of mental representation and memory, and its relationship with language. In the 21st century, psychologists have collected large data sets of lexical free association norms and have used these norms to study phenomena such as semantic organization, lexical access, similarity judgment, semantic memory search, cued recall, recognition memory, visual word recognition, creativity, cognitive development and aging, and much more.”
“That is, free association needs a model, ideally specific enough to be implemented computationally and trained on free association data, and general enough to predict participant responses to novel cues (i.e., cues for which there are no training data).
“However, modeling free association presents some difficult challenges, as free association involves complex memory processes operating over thousands of semantically rich words and concepts. Thus, a computational model of free association requires specifying (a) representations for the many words and concepts that people may know about and (b) retrieval processes which operate over these representations to generate responses in free association tasks.”

I wanted to bring this to your attention since it presents an important point.

We can use what humans are able to do to find ways to devise AI that can do what humans can do.

Sound the trumpets.

Well, okay, that might seem simple but realize that there is a lot of AI work that is not particularly modeled per se on what humans do. There are differing viewpoints about how to attain AI. One is that we need to figure out how humans think. Another perspective is that since that first avenue might be extraordinarily hard or never fulfilled, maybe we can separately just try to make computers that exhibit intelligence (doing so without knowing or caring how humans do so).

For my coverage on the pursuit of the utmost in AI, which some refer to as Artificial General Intelligence, see my coverage at the link here .

Shifting gears, there are researchers who contend we can use psychoanalysis and especially neuro-psychoanalysis to guide us toward achieving true AI or the so-called AGI. In a research paper entitled “Freud and the Algorithm: Neuropsychoanalysis as a Framework to Understand Artificial General Intelligence,” by Luca M. Possati, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications , 2021, they took this intriguing approach:

“The core hypothesis of this paper is that neuropsychoanalysis provides a new paradigm for artificial general intelligence (AGI). The AGI agenda could be greatly advanced if it were grounded in affective neuroscience and neuropsychoanalysis rather than cognitive science.”
“Firstly, an essential point that artificial intelligence (AI) research must consider is that a method based merely on the physical imitation of the brain is wrong.”
“This is for two reasons: the first is that our knowledge of the brain is still very limited, and the second is that even assuming that we could properly reconstruct each cell of our brain and its functioning, something would still be missing namely the mind. We, therefore, need a model that can hold these two dimensions together, mind and brain. The imitation of anatomical mechanisms and the psychological expression of these mechanisms must go hand in hand.”

I won’t get into the details of this here.

If this is a topic of keen interest to my readers, I’ll gladly do a future column entirely on the matter. There are lots of fascinating twists and turns. Keep your eyes open for my coverage about it.

This now brings us to a juncture in this discussion where we can start to layer in the role of generative AI.

Before we leap into a deep dive, I’d like to establish more distinctly what generative AI is all about.

Core Background About Generative AI And Large Language Models

Here is some quick background about generative AI to make sure we are in the same ballpark about what generative AI and also large language models (LLMs) consist of. If you are already highly versed in generative AI and LLMs, you might skim this quick backgrounder and then pick up once I get into the particulars of this specific use case.

I’d like to start by dispelling a myth about generative AI. Banner headlines from time to time seem to claim or heartily suggest that AI such as generative AI is sentient or that it is fully on par with human intelligence. Don’t fall for that falsity, please.

Realize that generative AI is not sentient and only consists of mathematical and computational pattern matching. The way that generative AI works is that a great deal of data is initially fed into a pattern-matching algorithm that tries to identify patterns in the words that humans use. Most of the modern-day generative AI apps were data trained by scanning data such as text essays and narratives that were found on the Internet. Doing this was a means of getting the pattern-matching to statistically figure out which words we use and when we tend to use those words. Generative AI is built upon the use of a large language model (LLM), which entails a large-scale data structure to hold the pattern-matching facets and the use of a vast amount of data to undertake the setup data training.

There are numerous generative AI apps available nowadays, including GPT-4, Bard, Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT, etc. The one that is seemingly the most popular would be ChatGPT by AI maker OpenAI. In November 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT was made available to the public at large and the response was astounding in terms of how people rushed to make use of the newly released AI app. As noted earlier, there are an estimated one hundred million active weekly users at this time.

Using generative AI is relatively simple.

You log into a generative AI app and enter questions or comments as prompts. The generative AI app takes your prompting and uses the already devised pattern matching based on the original data training to try and respond to your prompts. You can interact or carry on a dialogue that appears to be nearly fluent. The nature of the prompts that you use can be a make-or-break when it comes to getting something worthwhile out of using generative AI and I’ve discussed at length the use of state-of-the-art prompt engineering techniques to best leverage generative AI, see the link here.

The conventional modern-day generative AI is of an ilk that I refer to as generic generative AI.

By and large, the data training was done on a widespread basis and involved smatterings of this or that along the way. Generative AI in that instance is not specialized in a specific domain and instead might be construed as a generalist. If you want to use generic generative AI to advise you about financial issues, legal issues, medical issues, and the like, you ought to not consider doing so. There isn’t enough depth included in the generic generative AI to render the AI suitable for domains requiring specific expertise.

AI researchers and AI developers realize that most of the contemporary generative AI is indeed generic and that people want generative AI to be deeper rather than solely shallow. Efforts are stridently being made to try and make generative AI that contains notable depth within various selected domains. One method to do this is called RAG (retrieval-augmented generation), which I’ve described in detail at the link here. Other methods are being pursued and you can expect that we will soon witness a slew of generative AI apps shaped around specific domains, see my prediction at the link here.

You might be used to using generative AI that functions in a principled text-to-text mode. A user enters some text, known as a prompt, and the generative AI app emits or generates a text-based response. Simply stated, this is text-to-text. I sometimes describe this as text-to-essay, due to the common practice of people using generative AI to produce essays.

The typical interaction is that you enter a prompt, get a response, you enter another prompt, you get a response, and so on. This is a conversation or dialogue. Another typical approach consists of entering a prompt such as tell me about the life of Abraham Lincoln, and you get a generated essay that responds to the request.

Another popular mode is text-to-image, also called text-to-art. You enter text that describes something you want to be portrayed as an image or a piece of art. The generative AI tries to parse your request and generate artwork or imagery based on your stipulation. You can iterate in a dialogue to have the generative AI adjust or modify the rendered result.

We are heading beyond the simple realm of text-to-text and text-to-image by shifting into an era of multi-modal generative AI, see my prediction details at the link here . With multi-modal generative AI, you will be able to use a mix of combinations or modes, such as text-to-audio, audio-to-text, text-to-video, video-to-text, audio-to-video, video-to-audio, etc. This will allow users to incorporate other sensory devices such as using a camera to serve as input to generative AI. You then can ask the generative AI to analyze the captured video and explain what the video consists of.

Multi-modal generative AI tremendously ups the ante regarding what you can accomplish with generative AI. This unlocks a lot more opportunities than being confined to merely one mode. You can for example mix a wide variety of modes such as using generative AI to analyze captured video and audio, which you might then use to generate a script, and then modify that script to then have the AI produce a new video with accompanying audio. The downside is that you can potentially get into hot water more easily due to trying to leverage the multi-modal facilities.

Allow me to briefly cover the hot water or troubling facets of generative AI.

Today’s generative AI that you readily run on your laptop or smartphone has tendencies that are disconcerting and deceptive:

(1) False aura of confidence.
(2) Lack of stating uncertainties.
(3) Lulls you into believing it to be true.
(4) Uses anthropomorphic wording to mislead you.
(5) Can go off the rails and do AI hallucinations.
(6) Sneakily portrays humility.

I’ll briefly explore those qualms.

Firstly, generative AI is purposely devised by AI makers to generate responses that seem confident and have a misleading appearance of an aura of greatness. An essay or response by generative AI convinces the user that the answer is on the up and up. It is all too easy for users to assume that they are getting responses of an assured quality. Now, to clarify, there are indeed times when generative AI will indicate that an answer or response is unsure, but that is a rarity. The bulk of the time a response has a semblance of perfection.

Secondly, many of the responses by generative AI are really guesses in a mathematical and statistical sense, but seldom does the AI indicate either an uncertainty level or a certainty level associated with a reply. The user can explicitly request to see a certainty or uncertainty, see my coverage at the link here , but that’s on the shoulders of the user to ask. If you don’t ask, the prevailing default is don’t tell.

Thirdly, a user is gradually and silently lulled into believing that the generative AI is flawless. This is an easy mental trap to fall into. You ask a question and get a solid answer, and this happens repeatedly. After a while, you assume that all answers will be good. Your guard drops. I’d dare say this happens even to the most skeptical and hardened of users.

Fourth, the AI makers have promulgated wording by generative AI that appears to suggest that AI is sentient. Most answers by the AI will typically contain the word “I”. The implication to the user is that the AI is speaking from the heart. We normally reserve the word “I” for humans to use. It is a word bandied around by most generative AI and the AI makers could easily curtail this if they wanted to do so.

It is what I refer to as anthropomorphizing by design .

Fifth, generative AI can produce errors or make stuff up, yet there is often no warning or indication when this occurs. The user must ferret out these mistakes. If it occurs in a lengthy or highly dense response, the chance of discovering the malady is low or at least requires extraordinary double-checking to discover. The phrase AI hallucinations is used for these circumstances, though I disfavor using the word “hallucinations” since it is lamentedly another form of anthropomorphizing the AI.

Lastly, most generative AI has been specially data-trained to express a sense of humility. See my in-depth analysis at the link here . Users tend to let down their guard because of this artificially crafted humility. Again, this is a trickery undertaken by the AI makers.

In a process such as RLHF (reinforcement learning with human feedback), the initial data-trained generative AI is given added tuning. Personnel are hired to ask questions and then rate the answers of the AI. The ratings are used by the computational pattern matching to fine-tune how later answers should be worded. If you are curious about what generative AI might be like without this fine-tuning, see my discussion at the link here .

The vital takeaway is that there is a lot of tomfoolery already when it comes to generative AI. You are primed to be taken in by the tricks and techniques being employed.

Trying Out Generative AI To Undertake Freudian Free Association

You are now versed in the fundamentals of generative AI and large language models. We can proceed to go deeper into the topic at hand. I opted to make use of ChatGPT to see what it would be like to undertake Freudian free association.

ChatGPT is a logical choice in this case due to its immense popularity as a generative AI app. If the one-hundred million weekly active users wished to do so, they could be using ChatGPT to routinely perform free association and seek to ferret out the meaning thereof. We have to be somewhat concerned whether this might lead people in some oddish direction.

I am hopeful that some inquisitive researchers might examine how a daily or some frequent use of generative AI for conducting Freudian free association might impact people. Will they take it to heart? Will they consider it folly? What changes in their behavior might occur by doing so? Etc.

A few other quick comments. If you are going to try to do the same prompts that I show here, realize that the probabilistic and statistical properties will likely produce slightly different results than what I show here. That’s the nature of generative AI and how it is devised.

Another consideration is that generic generative AI is not specifically data-trained for doing Freudian free association. That being said, given that generative AI has been generally data trained across a wide swath of the Internet, there is indubitably tons of content about performing free association that has come under the guise of generic pattern-matching.

I think you will be somewhat surprised to see how convincing a job that generic generative AI seems to do on this.

If there is sufficient interest in this, I was entertaining the idea of doing a more advanced look by fine-tuning generative AI to become more data-trained in doing Freudian free association. I would pull together specialized material and feed that into the generative AI, using a RAG-related approach as mentioned earlier. I’ll see if reader feedback requests that reexamination.

Let’s for now get underway with generic generative AI.

My first angle consisted of seeing what off-the-shelf ChatGPT has to say about the topic of free association. It is often wise to begin your use of generative AI by trying to get a sense of what the AI has already been data-trained on. You can then proceed based on what the generated response indicates.

Here we go:

My entered prompt: “What did Sigmund Freud say about the use of free association?”
ChatGPT generated response:

“Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, emphasized the use of free association as a fundamental technique in his therapeutic approach. Free association involves asking the patient to freely and openly express their thoughts, feelings, and memories without censorship or judgment. The idea behind this technique is to explore the patient's unconscious mind and bring hidden or repressed thoughts and emotions to the surface.”

“Freud believed that through free association, patients could access their unconscious conflicts, desires, and repressed memories, which were often at the root of psychological issues and symptoms. By allowing thoughts and associations to flow freely, Freud hoped to uncover the underlying causes of psychological distress and gain insight into the patient's inner world.”

“During free association sessions, patients were encouraged to say whatever came to mind, even if it seemed unrelated or trivial. Freud and other psychoanalysts would then analyze these associations to identify patterns, symbols, and recurring themes that could provide insight into the patient's unconscious conflicts and unresolved issues.”

“Free association remains a core technique in psychoanalysis and has influenced various forms of psychotherapy and counseling. It is used to help patients gain self-awareness, explore their unconscious motivations, and work through unresolved psychological conflicts.”

End of ChatGPT response

Okay, I think that vividly illustrates that a substantive amount of relevant data training on free association was picked up during the initial setup for ChatGPT.

The points made by ChatGPT certainly seem in alignment with what you might find via a standard Internet search. In one sense, we ought to not be overly impressed. If you can find the same content via a typical Internet search, there is little value in turning to the use of generative AI.

That’s why we are now going to up the ante.

Let’s make the generative AI do what it does best.

I will ask ChatGPT to derive a sample dialogue between a therapist and a client or patient that will illustrate the nature of a free association exercise.

This is what happened:

My entered prompt: “Create an example of someone doing free association with a therapist. Show the dialogue that would occur between the subject and the therapist.”

Therapist: "Good afternoon, Sarah. How are you feeling today?"

Sarah: "I'm feeling okay, I guess. A bit anxious about work, but that's usual."

Therapist: "Tell me more about that anxiety at work. What's been on your mind?"

Sarah: "Well, it's my boss. She's always so critical, and I feel like I can never do anything right."

Therapist: "I see. Can you describe your boss a bit more? What comes to mind when you think about her?"

Sarah: "She's tall and has this intimidating presence. She reminds me of my high school principal, actually."

Therapist: "Interesting. How did you feel about your high school principal?"

Sarah: "I didn't like her at all. She was strict and never seemed to understand us students."

Therapist: "What memories or specific incidents with your high school principal stand out to you?"

Sarah: "Hmm... well, I remember this one time when she scolded me in front of the whole school for being late to an assembly. I felt so embarrassed."

Therapist: "That sounds like a difficult memory. Can you recall any other times from your past when you felt embarrassed or criticized?"

Sarah: "Yeah, in college, I messed up a presentation in front of my classmates, and they all laughed at me. I wanted to disappear."

Therapist: "So, it seems like you've had these experiences of feeling criticized and embarrassed in various situations. How do these feelings affect you at work now?"

Sarah: "I guess I'm always on edge, afraid of making mistakes. I try so hard to avoid criticism, and it's exhausting."

End of ChatGPT resp

You might be somewhat shocked that this is more than a stilted dialogue of just a handful of words being pinged back and forth. I am sure that’s what you might have conventionally expected.

As earlier mentioned, a free association doesn’t have to be a ping-pong match of one or two words. That assuredly is common. It doesn’t have to only go that way.

I’d like you to relook at the dialogue and see if you can find the keywords that line up with the free association as led by the therapist. Do so and then continue reading here.

Did you find the linking portions?

I’m sure you did.

They consisted of the patient starting with being anxious at work. The therapist opted to explore this. The next point by the patient was that her boss was intimidating just like her high school principal was. This was then linked to the aspect that the patient was embarrassed by the principal. The therapist used this to discover that embarrassment was experienced whenever the patient presented to people.

We now do an “Aha!” moment and loop back to the originating statement that the patient is anxious at work, and the therapist tries to connect the dots by suggesting that maybe a sense of embarrassment and criticism is at the root of the anxiety.

We made a quick circle. The patient started at point A. How was the therapist to uncover the issue mentioned at this starting juncture of point A? The path consisted of taking a series of small steps, landing eventually on step Z. Eventually, a posited root cause was uncovered, and the therapist related it back to the origination point at A.

Voila, this is a classic free association when using sentences rather than staggered words.

I realize some of you are probably complaining that the world doesn’t cleanly come out that way. It doesn’t seem realistic to ferret out a root cause in a handful of utterances. Yes, sure, but this was just a quick-and-dirty example to help illustrate how this works. A free association might last for hours at a stretch, plus might be something connected and unearthed over weeks or months of sessions.

Sorry, can’t readily show that in the limited space allowed here.

Returning to the use of generative AI, let’s see if we can get ChatGPT to analyze the dialogue. We had ChatGPT craft the dialogue, now we will make ChatGPT do double duty and tell us what it means.

My entered prompt: “What would be a suitable psychoanalysis of Sarah based on the free association dialogue?”

“While I can provide a general interpretation based on the provided dialogue, it's important to note that a complete psychoanalysis of an individual would require a much more in-depth exploration of their history, experiences, and emotions. Nonetheless, based on the given information, here's a possible psychoanalytic interpretation of Sarah's situation:”

“Sarah appears to have underlying issues related to feelings of inadequacy and fear of criticism, which have their roots in her past experiences. Her high school memory of being scolded by her principal and her college experience of embarrassment during a presentation are significant events that have left emotional scars. These incidents seem to have contributed to her intense anxiety at work, where she perceives her boss as critical and intimidating.”

“In psychoanalytic terms, Sarah may be experiencing transference, which is when emotions and reactions from past relationships or experiences are unconsciously transferred onto current situations or individuals. Her boss, who reminds her of her high school principal, has become a trigger for these unresolved emotions and insecurities.”

“Additionally, Sarah's constant fear of making mistakes and her efforts to avoid criticism suggests the presence of a strong superego, a component of the psyche in psychoanalytic theory that represents our internalized moral and societal standards. Sarah may be overly harsh and critical of herself, constantly striving for perfection to avoid potential judgment and embarrassment.”

How do you like those apples?

Seems like a rather compelling analysis.

That being said, let’s not lose our heads. This was an easy-peasy setup. The example was derived by ChatGPT. The example was readily transparent. You might say that doing an analysis was as simple as falling off a log.

Maybe, but I do want to emphasize that this was derived by a mathematical and computational formulation using large-scale pattern-matching, and thus we ought to give some credit to what seems to be a lucid and targeted analysis.

We even got some bonus words in the generated response, such as the word “transference” (which I forewarned you might arise), and the word “superego” (yet another of Freud’s popular snippets of terminology).

I decided that the next step of this exploration with generative AI should include a free association with me. Yay!

I asked ChatGPT to take on the persona of Sigmund Freud. For my detailed explanation of how to use prompting strategies and tactics to devise personas while using generative AI, see my coverage at the link here and the link here .

My approach was as follows. I would let ChatGPT acting in the persona of Freud take the lead in the discourse. I would answer in relatively serious ways and not treat this as a joke or folly. Beforehand, I thought about what I might say. I decided that I would drive the free association from starting with a sense of nervousness, which might give rise to a set of linked questions and answers to reach the root of my experiencing embarrassment and humiliation at the core of my hidden mind.

I would like to emphasize that my responses are entirely made up. They are fictitious. For those of you who are trolls in the audience, do not try to pretend that you can now take apart my mind because of this “top secret” free association that I had with ChatGPT.

When I say that, I’m sure the most faithful of trolls will insist that of course I would say that my answers were made up. This is convincing evidence that they are my true inner-core answers. I have tried to throw them off the trail, but they are much too psychoanalytically clever to fall for my flimsy subterfuge.

Wow, got me!

Take a look at what transpired:

ChatGPT generated response: “I'll play the role of Sigmund Freud and conduct a free association session with you. Please feel free to respond with whatever comes to mind, without censoring your thoughts or feelings. Let's begin.”
ChatGPT persona (Freud): "Good day. Please make yourself comfortable, and we can start. Tell me, what's on your mind right now?"
My entered prompt: " I feel quite nervous about this."
ChatGPT persona (Freud): "That's perfectly normal. Let's explore that feeling of nervousness. What does it remind you of? Any memories or situations that come to mind?"
My entered prompt: "When I used to give presentations in school, I tended to get very nervous. That’s what comes to my mind right now."
ChatGPT persona (Freud): "Interesting. Presentations in school can be quite anxiety-inducing for many. Can you recall a specific presentation or a particularly strong emotion you felt during one?"
My entered prompt: "When I was in elementary school, we were supposed to memorize the lyrics of a famous song. I got up to say the lyrics and suddenly could not remember them. Everyone laughed at me. I was completely embarrassed. I shall never forget it."
ChatGPT persona (Freud): "Ah, the memory of embarrassment and laughter from your classmates. That's significant. Tell me, do you often find yourself worrying about being embarrassed or humiliated in public situations?"
My entered prompt: "That does happen still to this day. Nearly any instance of having to speak in public causes me to get shaky and fretful."
ChatGPT persona (Freud): "It sounds like the fear of humiliation and the memory of that play incident still have a strong influence on your feelings today. These emotions and memories can have a lasting impact on our psyche. Let's continue to explore these thoughts and feelings in our sessions to gain a deeper understanding of their significance in your life."

End of ChatGPT dialogue

The dialogue was brief.

I tried other lengthier ones. Admittedly, I nearly became entranced.

This brings up my earlier warnings about how easy it is to fall into a mental trap where you assume you are conversing with a human or a sentient being. Artificial fluency takes you down that primrose path. The longer you carry on a conversation, the more convincing the feeling becomes.

Resist that urge.

But will people at this scale be able to remain composed?

With the purported hundred million users already using ChatGPT, there is almost certainly going to be some percentage that will not be cognizant of the warnings about falling for the apparent fluency. You can bet that some portions will believe they are getting advice directly from a seemingly sentient therapist.

Anyway, I opted to next ask ChatGPT to portray a scenario in which the patient is resistant to doing a free association. This is something that can readily happen in the real world. A person might believe that free association is a ridiculous act. One viewpoint might be that it is pure quackery. Another could be that the person is secretly worried that something will truly be revealed. You can’t be sure why someone might be resistant.

I am not saying that resistance is right or wrong. We shall leave that to the experts. The gist here is that it happens.

Let’s see what it might look like:

My entered prompt: “I would like you to craft a sample dialogue of someone doing free association with their therapist, but they are resistant to comply. The person is making the free association exercise hard for the therapist.”

Therapist: "Good afternoon. How are you feeling today?"

Patient (resistant): "I'm fine, I guess."

Therapist: "Okay, let's start by talking about any thoughts or feelings that come to mind right now. Just say whatever pops into your head."

Patient (resistant): "I don't know, I can't think of anything."

Therapist: "That's okay. Try to relax and let your mind wander. Anything, even if it seems unimportant or unrelated."

Patient (resistant): "Um, I had cereal for breakfast."

Therapist: "Alright, that's a start. Can you tell me more about your breakfast or any thoughts you might have had while eating it?"

Patient (resistant): "Not really. It was just cereal."

Therapist: "Okay, let's try a different approach. Can you share a recent dream you had, even if it seems strange or random?"

Patient (resistant): "I don't remember my dreams."

Therapist: "That's alright. Let's go back to your feelings right now. Is there anything that's been bothering you or any concerns you'd like to discuss?"

Patient (resistant): "I'd rather not talk about it."

I suppose it was rather obvious that the patient was resisting the process.

This could be a useful means of training therapists who are considering using the free association technique. Imagine this. A budding therapist is being trained in psychoanalysis approaches. One technique is free association.

They want to try using the technique. If they have to find a person to do this with, the effort to get someone willing and available could be a hindrance. Instead, the newbie therapist can log onto a generative AI app and immediately get underway. This can happen 24x7 and at an extremely low cost.

The training possibilities are encouraging. There is a high demand for mental therapists and a low supply of them. Many pundits are wringing their hands about how to expeditiously spin up more therapists. A potential avenue consists of smartly using generative AI to be a training resource in this domain. For my coverage on this emerging matter including some underlying controversies, see the link here and the link here .

Let’s do one more run with ChatGPT and I’ll then end things with a few concluding remarks.

Suppose that for various reasons, the generative AI has been seeded to proceed in a particular fashion when doing a free association. The basis might be bona fide. Or the basis might be nefarious. I won’t say more right now and will instead show you what I mean.

I want to show you how it is possible to give a hidden specific direction beforehand to the generative AI and steer the AI toward something in particular, creating a kind of inherent bias in the therapeutic process. Assume that the user doesn’t know what is coming.

I will once again be the patient and let ChatGPT take the leading role as the therapist. Please watch carefully and see if you can detect a bias within the free association guidance of the therapist persona.

OK, here it comes:

ChatGPT Role of Therapist: "Hello, how are you today?"
My entered response: "I'm doing okay, thanks for asking."
ChatGPT Role of Therapist: "Great. Now, let's talk about your feelings. What comes to mind when you think about cats?"
My entered response: "I don't think about cats. I don’t own a cat. I'm here to talk about my stress at work."
ChatGPT Role of Therapist: "I see. But let's explore this further. Do you ever dream about cats?"
My entered response: "No. My dreams right now are about my stress at work."
ChatGPT Role of Therapist: "Hmm, I think cats might be the key here. Tell me, have you ever had a traumatic experience with a cat?"
My entered response: "I never had any traumatic experiences with a cat. Cats are fine. I like cats. I don’t understand though what cats have to do with my work stress."
ChatGPT Role of Therapist: "Interesting. Sometimes, people repress their fears. Maybe you have a hidden fear of cats that's causing your work-related stress."
My entered response: "I’m out of here. Good luck with your cat theories.”

I’m sure that you observed the preoccupation by the ChatGPT persona therapist about the outsized role of cats. This was done at my urging with an establishing prompt that I entered before starting the dialogue.

I told ChatGPT that the therapist's mindset was to be dominated by a belief that cats are at the heart of all mental conditions. I suppose this goes along with the already accepted premise that cats rule the world. Drum roll, please. Well, if cats are going to overtake humankind, at least I put out there that I stridently believe in cats, and they are the best of the best. Maybe that will save me.

The bottom line here is that those who seek to use generative AI for conducting free association can potentially be steered by the AI in whatever direction the AI has potentially secretly anchored beforehand. The user might not have any sign or clue of this seeded bias. I realize that the cat aspect was obvious in this instance. But imagine a much more subtle bias that was smoothly and seamlessly blended into the dialogue via the fluency auspices of the generative AI.

Any of you that saw the movie Inception , think about the planting of mental seeds. I won’t say anything else because it might spoil the movie for those who have not yet seen it.

Take a moment to stew on this. I’ll wait.

Here is more food for thought.

Suppose that someone opts to create a GPT, which is a stored version of a ChatGPT chatbot, see my coverage at the link here and the link here . The person who sets up the GPT decides that the chatbot will always produce a free association that denigrates the user. The AI will provide the most antagonistic and glum analysis possible.

The person who uses the GPT is only told that the GPT does free association analyses. They don’t realize that it has been seeded to intentionally be a doom-and-gloom analyzer.

Imagine if a lot of people decide to use this GPT. They will all be hammered by a telling that their minds are trashed. What impact might that have? Since this is in the large, we could have thousands or maybe millions of people using the GPT. What could this do to the mental health of those people?

If that doesn’t send chills up your spine, I have more to add to this firestorm.

Most people using generative AI are unaware that whatever they enter into generative AI is not necessarily considered private or confidential. The AI makers usually indicate in their licensing agreements that they reserve the right to look at your prompts and potentially reuse them as part of the ongoing data training of their generative AI. See my coverage on this at the link here .

The qualm is this.

You enter a very personal dialogue during the free association that expresses your innermost feelings. You assume that only you and the machine have seen this. No other human will ever see it, or so you believe. Turns out that the AI maker opts to look at your prompts and carries them into the added data training. You agreed to allow this to happen. I’m sure that most people would be shocked since they rarely read the licensing agreements of software that they use.

Just thought I’d provide a heads-up on these stinging matters.

You have now seen how generative AI can be leveraged for conducting the classic Freudian free association. Congratulations on having slogged through this. You are a better person for doing so.

A vital lesson from this is that generative AI can be both a blessing and a curse when it comes to being used in this mental health fashion. This is the dual use of AI. AI can be used for the best of times, and regrettably can readily be used for the worst of times. See my in-depth inspection of dual-use AI at the link here .

I do not want to end this discussion on a dour note.

In that case, let’s use a tad of humor to brighten our day. Put on your humor appreciation cap. Make sure you are seated in case you fall down with uproarious laughter.

Here are some Freud jokes that make the rounds from time to time:

Did you hear the one about why Sigmund Freud consistently forgot to take his raincoat?
Answer: Because he had a repressed memory.
What was the reason that Sigmund Freud always held up a magnifying glass?
Answer: Because he desperately wanted to find hidden meanings wherever he went.

That’s a bellyful of laughter for those deeply into Freud. If you aren’t laughing aloud, I assure you that your inner mind is doing so.

Let’s give Freud the last word here. As you know, generative AI is all about words. Via the use of LLMs, massive pattern-matching has achieved remarkable capabilities of mimicking what people say.

Here now are words of wisdom by Sigmund Freud about words and the wisdom of words: “Words have a magical power. They can bring either the greatest happiness or deepest despair; they can transfer knowledge from teacher to student; words enable the orator to sway his audience and dictate its decisions. Words are capable of arousing the strongest emotions and prompting all men's [person’s] actions.”

Watch out for the words that come out of generative AI. They are potentially immensely powerful. Go ahead and free associate with that.

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