Sigmund Freud, Father of Psychoanalysis

Freud, enlarged from a group photograph taken at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, in September 1909. Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. In creating psychoanalysis, Freud developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association and discovered transference, establishing its central role in the analytic process. Freud's redefinition of sexuality to include its infantile forms led him to formulate the Oedipus complex as the central tenet of psychoanalytical theory. His analysis of dreams as wish-fulfillments provided him with models for the clinical analysis of symptom formation and the underlying mechanisms of repression. Freud theorized that mental illness could have psychological as well as physiological causes. He believed that the mind contains conscious and unconscious levels. Bad memories are repressed and stored unconsciously, but may still affect behavior. Freud is considered one of the great creative thinkers of modern times although his work remains controversial. Freud lived and worked in Vienna, having set up his clinical practice there in 1886. In 1938 Freud left Austria to escape the Nazis. He died in exile in the United Kingdom in 1939. No photographer credited, undated

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Freud Freudian Neurologist Psychoanalysis Psychoanalyst Psychologist Psychotherapist Sigismund Sigmund

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