Sigmund Freud Influences and Historical Impact

Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality and the structure of the human mind have been among the most influential in all of the social sciences. Freud had a tremendous influence on his contemporaries like Carl Jung and also Alfred Adler, and also went on to influence the next generation of psychologists, culminating in Neo-Freudian psychology and modern psychoanalysis (Funder, 2016, G-7). Jung, Adler, and others then went on to develop their own psychological theories and practices, whereas some followers of Freud became more entrenched in the psychoanalytic tradition, which uses a specialized form of talk therapy that focuses on the patient’s early childhood.
Freud’s methods initiated what has become nearly synonymous with psychotherapy: talk therapy. Free association, hypnosis, dream analysis, and other methods are used to help a patient bring into conscious awareness that which lies buried in the unconscious mind. Freud would have treated mainly wealthy women—those who could afford his services and who benefitted from his unique approach to mental healing (Funder, 2016). Not all branches of psychology use the same techniques, but almost all acknowledge that talk therapy has a role to play in psychological healing (Funder, 2016, p. 345).
It is not just on the therapist’s couch that Freud has become influential. Freud’s theories have influenced everything from philosophy to literary criticism (“Sigmund Freud,” n.d.). However, Freud did not develop his theories in a vacuum. Freud was also a product of his time, and his ideas evolved within his cultural and historical milieu. Freud fled his native Austria because of Nazism, and lived through not just the atrocities of the Holocaust but also the horrors of the Second World War. Because of what Freud witnessed, he eventually developed his more pessimistic theories of the darkness that dwells in the human spirit: what Freud would conceptualize as the death wish as well as the innate tendency towards anger or aggression (Funder, 2016). His awareness of his own sexual urges also helped Freud develop his systematic theories like the Oedipus complex (“Sigmund Freud,” n.d.).
Funder (2016) points out that Freud’s theories came about in part as a result of the patients he had been seeing. A surprising number of Freud’s female patients had experienced childhood sexual abuse, often by their own fathers (Funder, 2016, p. 346). From working with these women and noting patterns in their psychosocial development Freud conceptualized his theory about the role sexuality plays in early childhood development and especially in the development of psychological neuroses. Furthermore, Freud observed “the workings of his own mind,” (Funder, 2016, p. 346). Through rigorous self-insight and awareness, Freud perceived psychic structures like the id, ego, and superego and then applied those principles to treating his patients. Freud’s approach to psychology, particularly when it comes to therapeutic interventions, was completely opposite to the behaviorist approach that was also emerging at the start of the 20th century.
Freud is now known as the father of psychoanalysis, and he was in fact one of the founding fathers of the field of psychology itself. Concurrently with the behaviorists, Freud tried to create a systematic means of understanding the human mind—not using the scientific method as the behaviorists were trying to do, but with respect for the intangible and ineffable domains of human consciousness. Yet Freud had a scientific and medical background. He was a trained neurologist. Freud also studied hypnotherapy under Jean Charcot, one of the early pioneers of using hypnosis in psychotherapy (“Sigmund Freud,” n.d.). While Freud was developing his career by studying to become a psychiatrist, he realized that patients needed to talk with a therapist more than they needed other types of interventions (Funder, 2016, p. 344). Because the study of the human mind and behavior was flourishing at the time, Freud was able to quickly popularize his theories and practices. Although Freud’s theories of mind and personality have always been controversial, they are nevertheless compelling, enduring, and still influential a hundred years later.




References

Funder, D. C. (2016). The personality puzzle (7th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
“Sigmund Freud,” (n.d.). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://www.iep.utm.edu/freud/