Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud's revolutionary ideas have set the standard for modern


psychoanalysis that students of psychology can learn from, and his ideas spread


from the field of medicine to daily living.   His studies in areas such as


unconsciousness, dreams, sexuality, the Oedipus complex, and sexual


maladjustments laid the foundation for future studies and a better understanding


of the small things that shape our lives.


In 1873 Freud graduated from the Sperl Gymnasium and, inspired by a


public reading of an essay on nature by Goethe, Freud decided to turn to


medicine as a career(Gay, 10).   He worked at the University of Vienna with one


of the leading physiologists of his day, Ernst von Brucke, and in 1882 he entered


the General Hospital in Vienna as a clinical assistant.   After making several


conclusions about the brain's medulla, Freud was appointed lecturer in


neuropathology.   At this same time in Freud's career, he developed an interest in


the medical uses and benefits of cocaine(Britannica, 582).   Even though some


beneficial results were found in some forms of eye surgery, cocaine use was


generally denied by the surgeons of his time.   This interest in the narcotic hurt


Freud's medical reputation for a time.   This episode in Freud's life has been


looked at as an example of his "willingness to attempt bold solutions to relieve


human suffering(Wittels,98)."


From 1885 to 1886 Freud spent nineteen weeks with Jean Martin


Charcot, a world famous neurologist and the director of a Paris asylum.   It was


Charcot that first introduced Freud to the idea of hysteria and hysterics.   Freud


became intrigued by the idea of hypnotism as a method of therapy, but he was


told that only hysterics could be treated with hypnotism(Appignanesi, 34).   There


was a firm belief that only women could be hysteric and that no man or non-...