Sigmund Freud and Jean Martin Charcot's contributions to psychology

Sigmund Freud and Jean Martin Charcot

Psychology refers to the applied and academic discipline that includes the scientific study of behaviors and mental functions. Anyone who has studied psychology has the immediate understanding groups and individuals through the general principles establish by renowned professionals in this field. Psychologists attempt to understand the role played by mental functions in social behaviors and individuals whilst exploring the biological and psychological process that underlie behaviors and cognitive functions. This study endeavors to explain the important contributions made by two psychologists namely Sigmund Feud and Jean Martin Charcot, and the similarities and contrasts of their contributions.

Sigmund Freud and his contributions

He was a neurologist based in Australia and lived between 1856 and 1939. He was the founder of psychoanalysis. He graduated from the University of Vienna as a qualified doctor and carried out extensive research into aphasia, cerebral palsy and microscopic neuroanatomical. He was an influential thinker and psychologist during his time. He initially worked with Joseph and later worked alone.

He expounded on the theory of mind by stating that it is a multifaceted energy system. He refined and articulated the concepts of the infantile sexuality, repression and the unconscious. Sigmund then suggested a tripartite account of an individual's mind all in the name of understanding the human psychological conditions and treatment of abnormal psychological conditions. The current multiple manifestations of psychoanalysis can be traced directly to Sigmund's original work. Sigmund's innovative treatment of cultural artifacts, dreams, and human actions has implicit symbolic significance in a variety of fields, including anthropology, psychology, artistic creativity, semiotics and appreciation. However, his theory of mind is still a subject of controversy and critical debate.

Theory of unconscious based on Freud

He treated behavior as something that is caused by some hidden causes in an individual's mind. These behaviors include slips of the pen or tongue, dreams or obsessive behaviors. He further says that whenever an individual makes choices, mental processes that are hidden and are unknown to the person govern him or her. He also says that nobody can control these processes. Freud's also claims that one's instincts are the motivating forces behind the mind's activity. They energize the mind as it performs all of its functions. He further grouped these instincts into two major groups that are Eros and Thanatos.

Eros refers to the life instinct which covers the erotic and the self-preserving instincts while the Thanatos refers to the death instinct that covers instincts towards cruelty, self-destruction and aggression. It is true that Sigmund gave sexual drives centrality and a lot of importance in human life, human behavior, and human actions. He argues that human beings are driven or energized from the time of birth from their desire to acquire bodily pleasure (Freud & Strachey, 2001).

Infantile sexuality based on Sigmund Freud

This theory is an integral part of the development of human personality. However, it has its origins from Breuer, who claimed that traumatic childhood events could have negative effects and devastating during adulthood. The main thesis according to Feud is that an individual's childhood sexual experiences are crucial factors in determining an adult's personality. From Freud's account of the drives and instincts, it followed that is driven by the desires of sexual or bodily pleasure from the moment an infant is born.

Mental illnesses like hysteria are mostly the unresolved conflicts experienced by an individual during childhood or other events that may disrupt the usual pattern of infantile development. For example, he claims that homosexuality occurs because of the inability to resolve conflicts in the Oedipus complex. This is mainly because of the failure of an individual to identify him or herself with parents of the same sex.

Investigation of hysteria by Jean

Charcot used controversial techniques in his investigation of hysteria. These techniques include magnets and hypnosis. He argues that hypnosis was a symptom in individuals suffering from hysteria. He further claimed that hysteria was a nerve disease that was inherited and linked to degeneration found in men and women. Charcot explained that the outbursts and spasms that were displayed by patients under hypnosis were similar features found in individuals suffering from hysteria.

In most cases, Charcot approached his clients as though they were pathological specimens that needed to be observation and measurement using the expert's objective eye. For this reason, he pioneered the science and art of medical photography and described himself as a camera. Charcot combined postmortem dissection and clinical observation. His intuition and experience were essential in linking different symptoms accurately to the tissue damage as seen in the several sections of the nervous system. Charcot documented the hysteric events of his patients with photography.

How their studies contrast

Charcot and Sigmund briefly studied together about hysteria. However, Freud later rejected the hypothesis made by Charcot in his use of hypnosis as well as the idea that hysteria was caused by weak nerves of an individual. According to Freud, hysteria is caused by an individual's traumatic events in his childhood. Such people can overcome the problem by gaining adequate insight of how it resulted.

Freud insists that an individual's unconscious is responsible for a person's actions and thoughts and that the meaningless behaviors expressed unconscious conflict of a person. Freud believed that hysteria could be treated through free association with patients and not through photography. They also contrast in that Freud has a tendency of associating sexual experiences of an individual to the cause of a certain event. Charcot claimed that hysteria was hereditary in which Freud strongly rejected.

How their studies complement each other

Freud acknowledged the influence and contributions made by Charcot and the unparalleled diagnostic eye. Both Freud and Charcot worked together for some time to determine the cause of hysteria. They both agreed on the use of hypnosis when demonstrating the role of psychological factors in causing hysteria.