Sigmund Freud Essay

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (sigmund freud)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

We live in a world today were everything has to be factual. We as a society need to completely understand everything that is going on around us at all times. We satisfy this need in many ways. From creating scientific formulas that will include every minute detail into its calculations to spending billions of dollars on research to make certain that we completely understand how the human body works. It has almost become and obsession to know everything. This quest for knowledge has helped out our society in many ways. Some of these ways include the invention of insulin or the ongoing search for a cure for cancer. But it also has had many degenerating effects on our world and our society. Included in this list are the over use of fossil fuels and the damaging affects that they have on our environment and the creation of the Atomic Bomb.

But there are still many things that our society does not have the answer for. Many things that we have been attempting to understand for centuries. Even with centuries of study we still do not have enough knowledge on these subjects to know if we are heading in the right direction in our attempt to understand all. Looking at the study of space is a prime example of this. Yes the do know quite a bit about the areas that are within vision of the aided eye. But what about outside of our vision? There could be worlds so far advance compared to us that we know absolutely nothing about. Or to steal an analogy from Biology teacher Mr. Cordukes our universe and surrounding universes could all be located in the pocket of a giant. Or that theory could even be reversed. For all we know every atom could be it s own galaxy. With the neutrons, protons and electrons as planets.

But in this report I will be showcasing one man s research and theories on a topic that like the exploration of space, we have no idea if we are even heading in the right direction. I will be writing about Sigmund Freud and his theories on the human mind.

BACKGROUND:

Sigmund Freud may justly be called the most influential intellectual legislator of his age This quote pretty well sums up the life and times of one the greatest Psychoanalysts of all time. Sigmund Freud was born on May 6 1856 to Jakob and Amalie Freud in Freiberg, Moravia (now know as Pribor, Czech). In 1860 Freud s family moved to Vienna Austria. In 1873 Freud graduated from the Sperl Gymnasium and after being inspired by and essay on nature by Goethe, decided that he wanted to study medicine at the University of Vienna. While at the University of Vienna Freud studied under the leading physiologist at the time Ernst von Bruke. A few years later after doing extensive study on the brains medulla, Freud was appointed the lecturer of Neuropathy.

During this time Freud had been very keen on the pharmaceutical benefits of cocaine. He began testing the drug. Although there were some positive signs when it came of eye surgery, other then that the tests were a complete bust. Not only did he cause several of his close friends to be mortally addicted to cocaine. But this blown experiment severely tarnished his medical credibility for several years. But that was the way that Freud was, he always was willing to attempt to find bold solutions that would help ease human suffering.

After the cocaine disaster he left Vienna to study at the Salpetriere clinic under Jean-Martin Charbot. At this clinic he studies neuropathy for 19 weeks of his life. The time that he spent at the clinic was the turning point of this life. For this is the place that he realized that maybe psychological disorders were products of the abstract mind, and not a product of the physical brain.

Later in 1886 he returned to Vienna and shortly married Martha Bernays. His wife Martha has been rumored to be extremely influential in his work once returning to Vienna. While studying with Josef Breuer he studied patients that had similar hysterical symptoms as the patients that he had studied in his 19 week stay in Paris. The difference here was that instead of using hypnosis to try and find the problems in the mind of the patient, a different state was used. This state was described as an autohypnosis. This state of autohypnosis was not intentionally placed onto the patient though. There is no better way to describe it then to say that it just happened. But once the patient was in this state. It was very easy for the patient to talk about all of the problems that were the cause for the hysterical symptoms. And once the patient has discussed these problems, the symptoms of hysteria seemed not to go away completely, but were significantly reduced. By talking the patient had rid herself of the built up emotional blockage that was the cause of her behavior.

Breuer s discovery with patient Anna O was an amazing breakthrough in the study of hysterics. But Freud did not fully comprehend the discovery until several years later when he developed the technique of free association. This technique had patients express any random thoughts that came to mind. The goals of this technique were to uncover thoughts that had never been able to come out before due to the incompatibility of the conscious and the unconscious.

In the year 1890 Freud presented his findings to the world. All of his theories on the human mind were met with hostile opinions. The reception of his findings were not exactly what Freud thought that he would receive and has very disappointed by the reaction that he got. But nonetheless he kept on striving to find out more information. He eventually founded the International Psycho Analytical Association. It ran for several years but broke up when two of the major player in the group Carl Jung and Alfred Adler left so that they could continue with there work more intensely.

In 1939 with the breakout of WWII Freud and his wife moved to England to escape the German attacks. While in England Freud discovered that he had cancer of the mouth. He died shortly after that in 1939.

Sigmund Freud will always be remembered for his breakthrough discoveries about the human mind. I am sure in time that some of his theories will either be disregarded or dismissed over time but I am sure that more likely then not most of his theories will be improved upon or used as a base for someone else s research.

THEORIES BEFORE FREUD:

Although he may have been one of the most influential men in the history of the study of the human mind, Sigmund Freud was most definatly not the first person to try and discover how the mind works. It seems that there has always been someone in some culture trying to figure out exactly how the human mind functions. Dating back hundreds of years there seems to have always been some sort of quest for knowledge and insight into the human mind.

Hundreds of years ago there was the Greeks. They were great philosophers in their time and were always trying to have a vast understanding of the world around them. From space, to the functions of the earth, to the functions of the mind, the Greeks were always creating theories. When the Greeks saw a person who had a mental disorder, they had a theory that would explain it. Their theory was that there was an imbalance of fire, water, earth and air and that is what caused them to be the way that they were. Of course by today s standards this sounds ludicrous but at the time it made perfect sense.

Another example of people trying to discover the inner workings of the human mind would be Aristotle and Plato. These men were not known to well for their thoughts on the human psyche, but even they had their questions. These two men never went into as much detail as some of the other greats in this field, but nonetheless they still inquired. They wondered...

The rest of the paper is available free of charge to our registered users. The registration process just couldn't be easier. Log in or register now. It is all free!
You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 23 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/139086/sigmund-freud>

More College Papers

The Physics Of Bridges essay
The Physics of Bridges Bridges are a very important part of everyday life. They can save hours in traveling time each day or connect to pieces of land together. The everyday man may not appreciate them but they are by engineers and fans of physics. Bridges are perfect examples of physics. There

Foundation Of A Christian Marr essay
The first recognised human relationship, was that of Adam and Eve. After the happening of Creation, God took soil and made Adam, and placed him on earth. Deciding to give Adam a companion, God took a rib from Adam, thus the creation of Eve. The story of Adam and Eve, is God s plan for future people,

How To essay
I-BUSINESS ANALYSIS INTRODUCTION Max Muscle will be a great business. Max Muscle is what some people call a body building store . We will sell supplements to help people lose weight, gain weight, build muscle, and stay fit. Max Muscle also has its own line of clothing which our will store carries a