Essay --

Sigmund Freud is psychology’s most famous figure. He is also the most controversial and influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Freud’s work and theories helped to shape out views of childhood, memory, personality, sexuality, and therapy. Time Magazine referred to him as one of the most important thinkers of the last century. While his theories have been the subject of debate and controversy, his impact on culture, psychology, and therapy is cannot be denied. Freud was born in May 6, 1856 in the Czech Republic. He attended Spurling Gymnasium. At Spurling, he was first in his class and graduated Summa Cum Laude. After studying medicine at the University of Vienna, he gained respect while working as a physician. Freud and a friend were introduced to a case study that resulted in no cause, but they found that having the patient talk about her experiences had a calming effect on the symptoms. That was considered to be the beginning of the study of psychology. Throughout Freud’s time, he came up with many different theories. One of his theories was Life and Death Instincts. This theory evolved throughout his life and work. He believed that these drives were responsible for much of behavior. He eventually came to believe that these life instincts alone couldn’t explain all human behavior. Freud then determined that all instincts fall into one of 2 major classes: the life instincts or the death instincts. Life instincts deal with basic survival, reproduction, and pleasure. Death instincts are apparent after people experience a traumatic event and they often reenact the experience. In Freud’s view, self-destructive behavior is an expression of the energy that is created by the death instincts. Another one of Freud’s theories ... ...a person’s repressed emotions and experiences. It’s commonly used to treat anxiety disorders and depression. (McLeod) Freud also created a number of different works during his lifetime. These works include The Interpretation of Dreams, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Totem and Taboo, Civilization and Its Discontents, and The Future is an Illusion. His personal favorite was The Interpretation of Dreams because he said that it contains the most valuable of all the discoveries it had been his good fortune to make. (Cherry) Personally, I believe that Sigmund Freud was a very in depth person. His theories seem to be very accurate and well thought out. Being one of the first people to study this subject, I feel like he set a really good example to other psychologists. He is very interesting to learn about and there is so much more that I don’t even know about him.