Sigmund Freud and Jean Martin Charcot

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.

Jean-Martin Charcot

He was one of the founders of modern neurology and one of the France's greatest clinicians and medical teachers. He lived between the years 1825 and 1893. Charcot conducted research in cerebral localization to determine the unique sites in the brains responsible for some nervous functions. He then realized that the dilation of the arteries that feed the brain (military aneurysms) that are responsible for cerebral hemorrhage.

Charcot created neurology as a discipline and made monumental research on it. He contributed to the knowledge of neuropathies, ankle clonus, nuiliary aneurysms and poliomyelitis. He was involved in the early conflict brought about by animal experimentation. He also wrote about hysteria by differentiating it from epilepsy. This resulted in the setting up of rehabilitation centers for the treatment of his clients. He described the human brain's vascular supply as well as differentiated the tremors found in individuals with multiple sclerosis and those found in patients suffering from Parkinson's. He also formulated a triad that is commonly referred to as the Biliary Triad that is used in the diagnosis of acute cholangitis that consists of fever, jaundice and the pain from the right upper quadrant (Huberman & Charcot, 2003).

He was also the first to describe arthropathies in individuals with tabes dorsalis. He noted that they experienced quick and sharp pains before the ensuing destruction of the joints and eventually the development of ataxia.

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.