History and Origins of Psychoanalysis: Freud's Legacy

Introduction: Freud and the Scope of Psychoanalysis

It was Sigmund Freud who created the study, but the concept of psychoanalysis did not stop with psychology. In the broader context of the study of mankind, sociology has also borrowed from him, and the key concepts of Freud find their way into sociological thinking. It is argued that Freud was as much a sociologist as a psychologist, given the strength with which his ideas were used in sociological studies (Bocock, 2002). Though Karl Marx, Weber, and mostly Durkheim are the most commonly discussed sociologists, the study of sociology is not complete without Freud's ideas on socialization and culture. In tracing the historical background of psychoanalysis, therefore, there must be consideration of the impact of Freud on various sciences, on society, and on thinking more broadly.

While the impact of psychoanalysis was profound on psychology, allied subjects such as sociology were also affected. The history of the movement must be analyzed in this context. The theories of Freud influenced sociology in the areas of socialization, gender issues, sexuality, and language analysis (Bocock, 2002). The fundamental concept of Freudian theory was based on the notion of the unconscious, which forms the basis of the entire approach. A brief biography of Freud is therefore necessary, since the history of the movement is closely tied to his life and times (Hobdell & Fordham, 1998).

Freud's Biography and Intellectual Antecedents

Sigmund Freud was born in the town of Freiburg on 6 May 1856 and entered the medical school of the University of Vienna in 1873. He was influenced by philosophy professor Franz Brentano and by the "mechanistic physiology of Ernst Brücke" (Hobdell & Fordham, 1998). He later worked at the psychiatry clinic of Theodor Meynert, who taught him the diagnosis of brain disorders, and subsequently traveled to Paris to study neurology under the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot. Charcot and the Viennese physician Josef Breuer were the greater influences on Freud's intellectual development.

The major work of Freud was the interpretation of dreams, which began with the analysis of his own dreams — specifically "The Dream of Irma's Injection" (Hobdell & Fordham, 1998). This was followed by the postulation of the Oedipus complex and the advance into the study of hysteria, conducted as collaborative research with Breuer in 1895. The following that Freud gained after his works were published and discussed led to the creation of the International Psycho-Analytical Association, with many practitioners calling themselves "Freudians." His work on hypnotism and the controversial 1925 paper "Some Psychical Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes" hypothesized differences in the typical female and male superego (Hobdell & Fordham, 1998). Later, Freud was forced to flee to London during the Nazi invasion of Vienna, and he died there at the age of eighty-three.

There is an argument, advanced with considerable zeal, that the antecedents of the founders of psychoanalysis were largely influenced by Judaism — examining not only Freud but all of his prominent supporters. The origins of psychoanalysis coincided with a time when the world was changing rapidly, and earlier thinking grounded in religious tradition was being dismantled by discoverers such as Copernicus and Darwin. The time was thus apt for the emergence of a new science of the mind (Bakan, 1958).

Since the concept has deep ties with Freud's personal life, his biography has often been arranged into a "pre-psychoanalysis period" and a "post-psychoanalysis period" (Bakan, 1958). Freud was influenced by Brentano and may later have been drawn toward Jewish mysticism. His relationships with other intellectuals who shared a similar background may lead some to interpret that his greatest discovery — transference — bears some relation to mystical traditions (Bakan, 1958). However, it should be noted that Freud lived during a period when science and free thought were only just emerging from the grip of mysticism, and so the religious antecedents of his milieu carry no particular deterministic significance. On the contrary, it can be argued that Freud's vision was fundamentally rationalist, since it was not constrained by church doctrine. To Freud, the doctrine of the mind and metaphysics did not intersect, and one can observe in his work a scientific exploration of the thought process (Webster, 2005).

Key Documents and Early Contributions

Freud's most important contributions — those that formed the basic tenets of psychoanalysis — came during approximately two years between 1894 and 1896. During this period he undertook an etiological inquiry into psychoses, neuroses, psychiatry, and neuropathology. Building on the work of earlier analysts such as Möbius, he developed the theory of sexual aetiology of the neuroses. These years marked a significant deviation from the prevailing patterns of thought (May, 1999).

Evidence of this intellectual progress can be found in the letters Freud wrote to Wilhelm Fliess, which constitute the primary documents available for analyzing the history of psychoanalysis. The correspondence spans the period from 1887 to 1904 and includes the time of the theory's creation as well as its development by subsequent researchers. These letters reveal the thought processes of the person who created a virtually new field of human knowledge (Masson, 1985).

In 1908, the American psychologist G. Stanley Hall invited Freud to lecture at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, on the subject of abnormal psychology. Although Freud had by that time published The Interpretation of Dreams and had a significant following in Europe — including scholars such as Karl Abraham, Sándor Ferenczi, and Carl Jung — his writings had until then been entirely in German, and knowledge of his work in England and America amounted to little more than rumor. Hall, whose views on child development and sexuality aligned with those of Freud, was among the first to bring him to the attention of the western world (Fancher, 1998b).

The Beginning and Progress of Psychoanalysis

The origins and beginnings of psychoanalysis were described by Freud himself in his book The History of the Psychoanalytic Movement (Freud, 1914). He opens with the assertion that the subject was his own creation: "Psychoanalysis is my creation; for ten years I was the only one occupied with it, and all the annoyance which this new subject caused among my contemporaries has been hurled upon my head in the form of criticism" (Freud, 1914). Freud recalls the opportunity to speak at an American university as a great honor, and at the same occasion acknowledges that Josef Breuer merited being considered as a co-originator of the theories. He writes: "I should have dignified Breuer's 'cathartic procedure' as merely preliminary to psychoanalysis, and should have claimed that psychoanalysis itself only began with my rejection of the hypnotic technique and my introduction of free association" (Freud, 1914). He also acknowledged contributions from Charcot, Chrobak, and others. The theory of repression is the cornerstone on which psychoanalysis rests.

Carl Gustav Jung, who served as assistant physician at the Burghölzli clinic, was instrumental in creating the first psychoanalytic congress (Freud, 1914). A periodical was founded, which began to appear in 1909 under the name Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen. Jung had become acquainted with Freud's ideas through The Interpretation of Dreams, and the theories were introduced at the clinic where he worked. He later corresponded with Freud about the association tests for which he became famous. Though he did not entirely agree with Freud, he appears to have defended Freud against allegations leveled against his experiments with the patient known as "Dora," made by Gustav Aschaffenburg (Webster, 2005). Jung contributed the theory of complexes, though it did not meet with Freud's full approval. The introduction of psychoanalytic thinking into the concept of schizophrenia marked a turning point, which Freud considered to be "deeper psychology (tiefen psychologie) which furnishes us a part of the psychology still to be created" (Freud, 1914).

Freud, Jung, and Melanie Klein formed the intellectual undercurrents in the development of the field. Though each varied in concept and belief, they shared a common thread in their orientation and thinking processes. The research into hysteria — including the analysis of "Dora," conducted in 1900 just after the publication of The Interpretation of Dreams — illustrates the relationship between Jung and Freud. An understanding of both thinkers can be deepened through major texts such as Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego and Jung's "Definitions" in Psychological Types, which together illuminate the development of psychoanalysis during this period (Hobdell & Fordham, 1998).

Freud also contributed to sociology and closely linked that work with psychoanalysis. The perception that his work concerns only individuals has sometimes led sociologists to discount it as a sociological inquiry. Yet while psychoanalysis was gaining ground in Europe and America, sociologists were being influenced by its theories on socialization — particularly those relating to gender roles in children and to sexuality. Social group life was also analyzed against the backdrop of psychoanalysis, if not always in a direct manner (Bocock, 2002).

The theory of infantile sexuality was published in 1905, although Freud had discussed it earlier. It became a cornerstone of psychoanalytic investigation. The letters he wrote to Fliess from 1896 onward show the ideas taking shape; it was in 1905 that infantile sexuality as a formal concept appeared in print. Biogenetic laws and the theory of infantile sexuality shaped later speculations in the field. Freud's self-analysis was momentous in the history of psychoanalysis, because it was this single endeavor that gave birth to the discipline while simultaneously raising controversial questions for Freud himself, for established institutions, and for other thinkers. The intellectual discipline required to explore ideas that transgressed the taboos surrounding science was uncommon, and Freud's willingness to do so defined the movement (Bocock, 2002).

Conclusion

The history of psychoanalysis begins — and in some respects ends — with Freud and a handful of psychologists who discussed the system thoroughly in the last century. The system has been criticized on many counts, and much of it has been characterized as sensationalism. Nevertheless, the theory of the unconscious, the ego, and the broader psychology of Freud has endured. The use of hypnosis in analysis remains a method in use today, though the principles have evolved considerably since Freud's time. Freud's work was incomplete in the sense that the taboos surrounding the necessary explorations of fantasy, incest, and other matters that formed the basis of his hypotheses about childhood trauma were never fully overcome in his era. In the modern, more open society, Freud can be revisited without bias — to assess how far psychoanalysis is correct as he postulated, and whether improvements to it can make it more useful to the study of human beings.

References

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Webster, Richard. (2005). Why Freud Was Wrong: Sin, Science, and Psychoanalysis. Orwell Press: Oxford, England.