Sigmund
Freud's
Biography
Sigismund Schlomo Freud was born on
May
6, 1856, in Freiberg, Moravia, now Pribor, in
Czech Republic (view map)*, the son of Jacob
Freud and his third wife Amalia (20 years
younger than her husband). Sigi, as his
relatives would call him, was followed by
seven younger brothers and sisters.
His family constellation was unusual
because Freud's two half-brothers,
Emmanuel and Philipp, were almost the
same age as his mother. Freud was slightly
younger than his nephew John, Emmanuel's
son. This odd situation may have triggered
Freud's interest on family dynamics, leading
to his ulterior formulations on the Oedipus
Complex.
Freud's father, a Jewish wool merchant of
modest means, moved the family to Leipzig,
Germany (1859), and then settled in Vienna
(1860), where Freud remained until 1938.
When Freud was eight years old, he was
reading Shakespeare and, during his
adolescence, the hearing of a lecture about
Goethe's essay on nature impressed him
deeply.
He abbreviated his name to Sigmund Freud
in 1877.
Having considered studying law previously,
he decided instead on a career in medical
research, beginning his studies at Vienna
University (1873). As a student, Freud
began research work on the central nervous
system, guided by Ernst von Brücke (1876),
and qualified as doctor of medicine in 1881.
He worked at the Theodor Meynert's
Psychiatric Clinic (1882-83) and later
studied with Charcot, at the Salpetrière, in
Paris (1885).
From 1884 to 1887 Freud published several
articles on cocaine. "So coca is associated
above all with my name" he wrote* to Martha
Bernays on 16.1.1885.
He married her in 1886. The couple had six
children (Mathilde, 1887; Jean-Martin, 1889;
Olivier, 1891; Ernst, 1892; Sophie, 1893;
Anna, 1895). He established a private
practice, specializing in nervous disorders.
His interest in hysteria* was stimulated by
Breuer's and Charcot's use of hypnotherapy*
(1887-88). Freud moved to a flat in
Berggasse 19 (1891), which turned into The
Freud Museum Vienna* eighty years later, in
1971.
Freud and Breuer published their findings in
Studies on Hysteria (cathartic method) in 1895; in
the same year, Freud was able to analyse,
for the first time, one of his own dreams,
subsequently known as "The Dream of
Irma's Injection". He also wrote 100 pages of
draft manuscript that were published only
after his death, under the name of Project for a
Scientific Psychology (1950).
For the next 5 years (1895-1900), Freud
developed many of the concepts that were
later included in the theory and practice of
psychoanalysis.
The term 'psychoanalysis'* (free association)
was named by Freud in 1896. After breaking
with Breuer and reacting to a crisis, due to
his father's death, Freud started his
self-analysis in 1897, exploring his dreams
and fantasies, counting on the emotional
support of his close friend Wilhelm Fliess.
The Interpretation of Dreams ("Die
Traumdeutung"), which Freud considered
the most important of all his books*, was
published in 1899, bearing 1900 as printing
date, because he wanted his great discovery
to be associated with the beginning of a new
century.
The medical world still regarded his work
with hostility and he worked in isolation. He
started analysing his young patient Dora and
The Psychopatology of Everyday Life was published
(1901).
He was appointed professor at the
University of Vienna and founded the
psychological "Wednesday Society" in 1902
(a weekly meeting of friends at his home,
when his discoveries were discussed),
which became the Viennese Association of
Psychoanalysis in 1908.
Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Jokes and their
relation to the Unconscious, Fragments of an Analysis of
a Case of Hysteria (Dora) were published in 1905.
By 1906, a small group of followers had
gathered around Freud, including William
Stekel, Alfred Adler, Otto Rank, Abraham
Brill, Eugen Bleuler and Carl Jung.
Sándor Ferenczi and Ernest Jones joined
the psychoanalytical circle and the "First
Congress of Freudian Psychology" took
place in Salzburg, which attracted some forty
participants from five countries (1908).
In 1909, Freud was invited by Stanley Hall to
deliver five lectures at Clark University
(Worcester, Mass.), which abstracted the
contents of his six previously published
books (mentioned above in this biography)
and Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis was the
German version of this set of lectures,
published in 1910. Even though this was his
only visit to the United States, this
opportunity definitely marked his career, in
terms of drawing the world's attention to his
work.
The psychoanalytic movement was
increasingly recognized and a worldwide
organization, called the "International
Psychoanalytical Association (IPA)" was
founded in 1910. The psychoanalytical
magazine "Imago" was founded in 1912.
As the movement spread, Freud had to face
the dissension among members of his
original circle. Adler (1911) and Jung (1913)
left the Viennese Association of
Psychoanalysis, and formed their own
schools of psychology, disagreeing with
Freud's emphasis on the sexual origin of
neurosis.
Outbreak of The World War I (1914). Freud
received the visits of Rainer Maria Rilke
(1915) and André Breton (1921).
The first part of the Introductory Lectures on
Psychoanalysis was published in 1916. "The
International Journal of Psychoanalysis
(IJPA)" was founded in 1920.
Freud found out he had cancer of the jaw
(1923), and during the next sixteen years, he
remained productive, enduring painful
treatment and 33 surgeries but never gave
up the cigars he was so fond of.
The first volumes of Freud's Collected Works
appeared in 1925, time of his conflicts with
Otto Rank (birth trauma). Freud was
honoured with the Goethe Prize for
Literature (1930) and was elected Honorary
Member of the British Royal Society of
Medicine (1935).
Hitler became Chancellor of the German
Reich (1933). The Gestapo searched
Freud's house, arrested and interrogated his
daughter Anna* for one day. Threatened by
the Nazi occupation of Austria (1938), Freud
emigrated to England with his family and for
a short while lived in a house at 20
Maresfield Gardens, which turned into the
Freud Museum London*, 48 years later, in
1986.
At 83 years of age, Sigmund Freud died* in
London on September 23, 1939.
Read more about
Psychoative Drugs (cocaine)
Dream Site (outstandig work by the Freud Museum London)
A counterblast in the war on Freud: the shrink is in
Freud's Clark Lectures
Jung on Himself: A Biographical Sketch (Jung and Freud)
The Surrealists and Freud
The International Journal of Psychoanalysis
Freud's Passion (cigars)
©1999Maria Helena
Rowell
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