Evaluation
Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856 in the Moravian town of Freiberg in the Austrian Empire (now the city of Příbor, Czech Republic). In 1859, Freud and his family moved to Leipzig and then to Vienna, where he graduated with honors from the gymnasium. In 1873, he entered the medical faculty of the University of Vienna, graduating from it in 1881 and receiving the title of doctor of medicine. Because of the need to earn money, he could not stay at the department and entered the Physiological Institute, and then the Vienna Hospital, where he worked as a doctor. In 1885, Freud received the title of a docent in neuropathology and given a scholarship for a scientific internship abroad. In 1885-1886, he studied in Paris with the psychiatrist Jean-Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière clinic.
Under the influence of Charcot’s ideas, he came to the conclusion that unobservable dynamic traumas of the psyche can be the cause of psychiatric disorders. Upon his return from Paris, Freud opened a private practice in Vienna, where he used the method of hypnosis to treat patients. At first, the method seemed effective: in the first few weeks, Freud achieved instant healing of several patients (Kennedy and Gioia). However, there were failures as well, and he eventually became skeptical about hypnotic therapy. From 1896 to 1902, Sigmund Freud developed the foundations of psychoanalysis. He substantiated an innovative dynamic and energetic model of the human psyche, consisting of three systems: the unconscious, the preconscious, and the conscious (Kennedy and Gioia). Freud’s works had a tremendous impact on pre-existing ideas about the human psyche and the interactions between people, laying the foundation for the formation of new groundbreaking ideas and psychological theories.
Many of Freud’s ideas and theories are interesting and highly influential. For example, he claimed that most of people’s actions, thoughts, and behaviors are motivated by unconscious desires and repressed memories of past experiences. He proposed that many problems can be addressed by discussing these experiences and making them conscious through talk therapy. Freud also treated women who suffered from hysteria and were not taken seriously by medical professionals at the time (Hopkins). He used his ‘talking cure’ with different types of patients, from women with depression to World War I veterans with PTSD, and it was helpful in many cases (Hopkins). The visibility he created for his patients allowed convincing the medical establishment that many psychological disorders were real. However, many of his ideas seem harmful or useless at best; for example, he considered homosexuality to be “a developmental glitch” (Hopkins para. 4). In addition, it seems that Freud took the idea of the “unconscious mind” too far, ascribing deep meanings connected to sexual desires to everything. Moreover, he believed that one’s ancestors’ traumas had an ongoing negative impact on that individual’s psychology, which definitely seems incorrect and misleading.
The Oedipus complex is arguably among the most well-known ideas proposed by Freud. In its simplest definition, the complex describes a child’s desire to become sexually involved with the parent of the opposite sex, and their jealousy and hatred directed towards the parent of the same sex (Hopkins). It can be argued, however, that this theory is much more complicated, and requires further consideration. For example, in his works, Freud admits that both boys and girls are initially more attracted to their mothers, as she is usually the parent who provides the required love and care. Moreover, the idea of sexual attraction is not as straightforward as may seem. At the Oedipal stage, children want to somehow possess their mother or father; they want to get satisfaction from the parent of the opposite sex and spend as much time with them as possible.
Personally, I partly agree with Freud’s Oedipus complex, but I only consider it beyond the context of sexual attraction. However, I believe that young children at the Oedipal stage have not yet developed the awareness required to understand the concept of sexual desire and satisfaction. They might develop a habit to cling to a parent of the opposite sex. There might also be competitive feelings and jealousy caused by the fact that that the ‘favorite parent’ often focuses on their spouse, the parent of the same sex. Therefore, for me, the Oedipus complex is more about love and exclusion, and hatred that weaves itself into the triangle between the child and their parents. I also agree with other elements of the Freudian model; for example, the statement that the father is often the authority figure. Finally, I agree that the Oedipal triangle can cause many conflicting feelings of love, hate, and anxiety connected with the discovery of the child’s hostile feelings.
Works Cited
Hopkins, Jim. “Freud and the Concept of Mental Health.” Health, vol. 12, no. 2, 2019, pp. 251-281.
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 14th ed., Pearson Education, 2015.