Biography of Sigmund Freud - Essay Example

Biography of Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud was a famous and popular Austrian neurologist who was known for various techniques and theories concerning psychoanalysis, which included the theory of personality (Gorman, 2014). This theory has elements. They are id, ego and superego. Basically, psychoanalysis is a systematic theory structure that is concerned with the relationship between conscious and unconscious process involved in psychology. He also founded the psychodynamic tactic to psychology. In addition, he invented the psychosexual development theory and the dream symbolism (Gorman, 2014). Case studies and clinical cases were the main basis of Freud’s theories. This became difficult to generalize the findings to bigger population. Although most of his theories are viewed by many as skeptical today, they remain popular among psychologists as well as laypersons. Most importantly, the theories changed people’s thinking towards human mind. The theories also made a significant change on psychology and culture(Gorman, 2014).In fact, they were one of the most popular and influential concepts in the 20th century.The following paper will discuss the biography of Sigmund Freud. The paper will focus on his early life and career, his publicationsand death. Early childhood life It was on the 6th May the year 1856 when Amalie Freud and Jacob Freud gave birth to baby, Sigmund Freud (Hergenhahn, 2009). He was a newborn in a Jewish Family which was middle-class. He was born the town of Freiberg which is found in Moravia. At the time of his birth, Freiberg, which is now called Pribor and situated in Czech Republic, was an industrial city whose population was about 5,000 people. It was located in Austro-Hungarian Empire which is about 150 miles northeast of the town of Vienna (Hergenhahn, 2009). Freud’s father was a merchant and had a textile business in Freiberg. This business had supported Jacob and his wife Amelia till the birth of Sigmund. However, the business started to fall when baby Sigmund was just four years. Prejudice against the Jews had increased in Austria. However, legal restrictions against them had loosened. In other words, the Jewish doctors, academics, businessmen and lawyers were gaining important positions in the society of Austria. In fact, the failure of Jacob Freud’s business together with the loosened restrictions was the main reasons why the family moved to Leipzig in the year 1859. They then moved to Vienna, Austria in the year 1860 where they lived in leopoldstadt which was an area of the Jews (Hergenhahn, 2009). Young Freud was already an uncle at the time of birth. This is because his father had two other sons from a different marriage which existed before he met Amalie Freud. The two half-brothers were Emmanuel and Philip. John, one of his half-brother’s son, was young Freud’s favorite playmate when they were living in Freiberg. Though the two were close and friendly, Sigmund realized that their relationship was becoming confrontational and hateful. Amalie gave birth to another son called Julius one and a half years after Sigmund was born. Studies show that Sigmund was very jealous of Julius. This jealousness perhaps prompted Sigmund to develop sibling rivalry theory later in his career.Sigmund and his siblings were brought up with a non-religious background despite the fact that his parents had been raised as followers of the Orthodox Jews. Although Sigmund always distanced himself from Judaism, he remained loyal to the Jewish secular culture (Hergenhahn, 2009). Schooling Just like his siblings, Freud’s early schooling started at home under the direction of his mother. His father contributed to Freud’s education as he was growing older. Eventually, he joined Sperl Gymnasium, German grammar school which emphasized on the learning of Greek and Latin. Freud was always a serious student in school. In fact, for seven years, he remained to be the best student among his classmates. Freud’s parents always encouraged and supported his education. For instance, when the family shifted to Kaiser Josefstrasse in the year 1875, Freud was the only one in his family to own a room. He was also the first to use a gas lamp for reading instead of a candle. It was after his graduation from the German grammar school that Freud started to use the name ‘Sigmund’. Before this, he was only using the name ‘Freud’. He never used ‘Schlomo’ his middle name. His family also never used that name (Hergenhahn, 2009). Freud joined the University of Vienna in the year 1873, while at seventeen years old. There, he studied medicine. However, he had previously considered pursing a degree in law. His interest to join the medical school was not due to the yearning to cure. Instead, it was because he was happy to be affianced in various works that could benefit humans. Later on, Freud would pen down that medicine was not his passion. In the year 1881, Freud graduated from the University with a bachelor’s degree in medicine (Hergenhahn, 2009). According to reports obtained from his friends during his learning in the university, Freud was not really diligent about his studies and instead focused on carrying out research. Freud’s career life and publications After his degree course, Freud wanted to marry his fiancée called Martha Bernays. He was very confused whether to marry Martha or to continue with his research work. However, in his mind he knew that he wanted to marry her, but wouldn’t do so without money. Therefore, his first priority here was to make money, which could enable him to support the family that he was going to have with his love Martha. If he continued with the research, he could not raise enough money to support his young family to be. Brucke later in the year 1882 advised Freud that becoming a private physician would enable him to raise enough funds to support his family with Martha after they got married. Almost immediately after this incident, Freud started working at Vienna General Hospital. His main goal was to have an experience in treating patients. Freud admits the fact that the medical school had not helped him gain any experience in treating patients. He started working with the departments of dermatology and surgery. He later moved to the psychiatry department. Freud carried out a research on cocaine, which had recently been available in Europe. In fact, he was among the first researchers to explore and examine the effects of the cocaine in a human’s body. His findings were published in the year 1884 in the paper which was called “Uber Coca”(On Coca”). However, he later became disappointed when his colleague, Doctor Kohler identified that cocaine could be used as an anesthetic in the eye surgery. Freud did not lose hope. He continued with his research on cocaine and eventually publishing other two papers on the same.He also published a certain book about the Aphasia disorder and several others the issue of paralysis among children. Later on in the year 1885, Freud won a trip to visit Paris to study under Martin Charcot who had shown great interest in studying the issue of hysteria among women. There, he studied the issue hysteria. These studies increased Freud’s confidence in his career. Freud marriage life Freud married Martha with aid from his rich friends. Among them, included Josef Breuer, who had met at the medical school. The parents of Martha were Berman Bernays and Emmeline Philipp. Sigmund and his wife became blessed with six children followed by eight grandchildren. Freud death The famous neurologist died on the 23rd of September, 1939 while at London. He died at the age of eighty three. During his final year in his life, Freud was battling with cancer. Just before his death, Freud had requested his doctor to inject him with Morphine which is a fatal dose(Edmundson, 2008). References Edmundson, M. (2008). The death of Sigmund Freud: Fascism, psychoanalysis and the rise of fundamentalism. London: Bloomsbury. Gorman, L., & Anwar, R. (2014). Neeb's Fundamentals of Mental Health Nursing. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company. Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An introduction to the history of psychology. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Read More