Who is Dr. Freud? Founding of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society

One of the incredible and very talented people, whose creations still do not leave any scientist indifferent, is Sigmund Freud (whose years of life and death are 1856-1939). All his works are in the public domain and are used in the treatment of most people.

The biography of Sigmund Freud is rich in many events and incidents. Briefly about the main thing you can learn from this article.

Psychoanalyst, neurologist, psychologist - all this is about him. He managed to reveal many of the secrets of our invisible consciousness, get to the truth of human fears and instincts, understand the secrets of our ego and leave behind an incredible store of knowledge.

Sigmund Freud: date of birth and death

The famous scientist was born on May 6, 1856, and died on September 23, 1939. Place of birth - Freiberg (Austria). Full name: Sigmund Shlomo Freud. Lived to be 83 years old.

Freud Sigmund lived the first years of his life with his family in the city of Freiberg. His father (Jakob Freud) was an ordinary wool seller. The boy loved him very much, as well as his half-brothers and sisters.

Jacob Freud had a second wife - Amalia, Sigmund's mother. There is a very interesting fact that Freud’s maternal grandmother was from Odessa.

Until the age of sixteen, Sigmund’s mother lived with her family in Odessa. Soon they moved to live in Vienna, where the mother met the father of the future talented psychologist. Since she was almost half the age of Jacob, and his older sons were her age, people started a rumor that one of them was having an affair with his young stepmother.

Little Sigmund had his own brothers and sister.

Childhood period

Freud's childhood was quite difficult, since it was precisely because of the events experienced during that period that the young psychologist was able to draw interesting conclusions related to childhood in general and the problems of adolescence in particular.

So, Shlomo lost his brother Julius, after which he felt shame and repentance. After all, he did not always show warm feelings towards him. It seemed to Freud that his brother was taking a lot of time from his parents, and therefore they did not have enough strength for their other children. After this, the future psychoanalyst made two verdicts:

1. All the children in the family consider each other special rivals, without realizing it. They often wish the worst for each other.
2. Regardless of how the family positions itself (friendly or unfavorable), if a child feels guilty about something, he develops various nervous diseases.

The biography of Sigmund Freud was predicted by his mother even before his birth. One of the fortune tellers once told her that her first child would be very famous and smart, would be distinguished by a special mindset and erudition, and in a few years the whole world would know about him. This made Amalia too sensitive to Sigmund.

In his first years of life, Freud was indeed different from other children. He began to speak and read early, and went to school a year earlier than other children. He had no problems with speech. Freud knew how to express his point of view well. It is incredible that such a great man could not stand up for himself, and was even bullied by his peers. Despite this, Freud graduated from high school with flying colors. Then it's time to think about the future.

The early years of the life of Sigmund Freud

As a Jew, he could become a doctor, a salesman (like his father), take up a craft, or take the side of law and order. However, his father’s work seemed uninteresting to him, and the craft did not inspire the future great psychiatrist. He could have become a good lawyer, but nature took its toll, and the young man took up medicine. In 1873, Sigmund Freud entered the university.

Personal life and family of a scientist

The professional biography and personal life of Sigmund Freud are closely intertwined. It seems that it was love that pushed him to magnificent discoveries.

Medicine came easily to him, with the help of various diagnostic conclusions he came to psychoanalysis and made his own conclusions, made small observations and constantly wrote them down in his notebook. Sigmund knew that he could become a private doctor, and this would give him a good income. And he needed it for one big reason - Martha Bernays.

Sigmund first saw her when Martha came to his sister's house. Then the heart of the young scientist caught fire. He was not afraid to be frank and knew how to behave with the opposite sex. Freud's beloved received a gift from him every evening - a red rose, as well as a proposal for a meeting. This is how they spent their time secretly, because Martha’s family was very rich, and her parents would not allow an ordinary Jew to marry their daughter. After the second month of meetings, Shlomo confessed his love to Martha and proposed marriage. Despite the fact that her response was reciprocal, Martha’s mother took her out of town.

Young Shlomo decided not to give up and fight for marriage with the young beauty. And he achieved this after entering private practice. They lived together for more than 50 years and raised six children.

Freud's practice and innovations

The chosen profession enriched him financially and morally. The young doctor was going to help people; in order to do this, he had to try out the established techniques on himself. Knowing some of the techniques that he became familiar with in the hospitals where he trained, Freud put them into practice based on the patient's problems. For example, hypnosis was used to penetrate the patient's old memories and help him find the problem that was tearing his flesh apart. Baths or massage showers were practiced to treat nervous aggravations. One day, S. Freud came across research on the benefits of cocaine, which did not gain wide popularity at that time. And he immediately tried the technique.

Freud was sure that this substance did more good than harm. He spoke about the connection of thought and body, that after experiencing bliss, all stress evaporates and goes away. He began to recommend this method of using cocaine to other people, after which he really regretted it.

It turned out that such methods are completely contraindicated for people suffering from acute mental neuroses. Most indicators deteriorated after the first use, and it was almost impossible to restore them. And for Freud this meant only one thing - to look for the cause of all diseases in the human subconscious. And then the psychoanalyst did the following: he divided parts of life into separate fragments, looked for a problem in them and came up with his own hypothesis of the disease. To better understand his own patients, he came up with this method. This method was used in this way: the psychologist named certain words that could somehow influence the patient’s psyche, and in response he named other words that first came to his mind. As Freud argued, in this way he directly explored the psyche. All that remained was to correctly interpret the answers.

This new approach to psychoanalysis amazed thousands of people who came to his sessions. The recordings were made years in advance. This was the beginning for the development of their own theories.

The book “A Study of Hysteria” in 1985 brought even more fame to the scientist, in it he identified three components of the structure of our consciousness: id, ego and superego.

1. Id is a psychological component, unconscious (instinct).
2. Ego is a person's own motives.
3. Superego - norms and rules of society.

The entire book describes these factors in interrelation. To understand this process, you need to understand the relationship of each of them to the person as a whole. Such a scientific development seems too complicated and abstruse, but Freud easily explains it with a simple example. The first factor may be the student’s feeling of hunger in class, the second may be appropriate actions, and the third may be the awareness that these actions will be wrong. From this it follows that the human ego regulates the process between the id and the superego. Thus, the student will not eat during class. Knowing that this is not accepted, he will be able to restrain himself. Then it turns out that people who do not regulate the ego process have various mental disorders.

Developing this idea, the scientist derived the following personality models:

1. Unconscious.
2. Preconscious.
3. Conscious.

In 1902, a community of psychoanalysts was founded, which included famous scientists such as Otto Rank, Sandor Ferenczi, and others. Freud took an active position in this cell. Periodically wrote his works. Thus, he presented the work “Psychopathology of Everyday Life” to the public for the first time, which attracted a lot of people’s attention.

In 1905, S. Freud released his practice entitled: “Three Studies on the Theory of Sexuality,” where he explains the relationship between sexual problems in adulthood and early psychological trauma in childhood. Society did not like such work, and the author was instantly bombarded with humiliating insults. However, there was no end to the patients. It was Freud who introduced normal life circumstances into the concept of sex. He discusses sex issues in a normal everyday context. The scientist explains this by a simple natural instinct that awakens in absolutely everyone. Dreams are also interpreted in order of sexual characteristics.

Based on this teaching, the professor invented a new concept - the Oedipus complex. It is closely connected with the child’s childhood and unconscious attraction to one of the parents. Freud gave parents methodological recommendations for raising children so that they would not have sexual problems in adulthood.

Other methods of Z. Freud

Freud later develops a method for analyzing dreams. It is with the help of them, as he argued, that the human problem can be solved. People dream dreams on purpose, in this way consciousness transmits a signal and helps to find a way out of the current situation, but people, as a rule, do not know how to do this on their own. Sigmund Freud began to receive patients and interpret their dreams, he listened to the most intimate secrets of his acquaintances and complete strangers, increasingly realizing that all difficulties were associated with childhood or sexual life.

Such premises were again not liked by the community of psychoanalysts, but Freud began to develop the doctrine further.

Turning years

The years 1914-1919 were a big shock for the scientist; as a result of the First World War, he lost all his money and, most importantly, his daughter. Two more of his sons were on the front line at that time; he was in constant torment, worrying about their lives.

These sensations served to create a new theory - the death instinct.

Sigmund had hundreds of chances to become rich again, he was even offered to become a participant in the film, but the scientist refused. And in 1930 he was awarded a prize for his enormous contribution to psychiatry. This event again elevated Freud, and three years later he began to give lectures on the topics of love, death and sexuality.

Old patients and strangers began to come to his performances. People asked Freud to hold private receptions for them, promising to pay huge sums of money.

Now Freud becomes a famous neurologist and psychiatrist, colleagues begin to use his works, refer to his methods and even request the right to use them in their own sessions.

For Freud, these were the best years of his life.

Sigmund Freud and his publications

Many terms that psychologists now use in professional speech or simply study in lectures are interpreted by S. Freud himself based on his hypotheses. The institutes have a course of lectures that briefly describes the biography of Sigmund Freud and his main works.

There are dream books according to Z. Freud, as well as books for everyday reading:

• "I and It";
• "The Spell of Virginity";
• "Psychology of sexuality";
• "Introduction to Psychoanalysis";
• "Reservations";
• "Letters to the Bride."

Such books are understandable to ordinary people who are little familiar with psychological terms.

The last days of the great scientist

The scientist spent the best years of his life in constant search and work. Freud's death shocked many. The man suffered from pain in the throat and mouth. A tumor was later found, due to which he underwent dozens of surgeries, losing the pleasant appearance of his face. Over the years of his life, S. Freud managed to make important contributions to many areas of human life. It would seem that with a little more time, he would have created much more.

But, unfortunately, the disease took its toll. The man made an agreement in advance with his attending physician, and when he no longer wanted to endure it, and there was no need to force all his relatives to watch this, S. Freud turned to him and said goodbye to this world. After the injection, he calmly fell into an eternal sleep.

Conclusion

In general, the years of Freud's life were interesting and fruitful. The author of so many scientific articles, theories, books and methods did not live the most modest life. The biography of Sigmund Freud is full of ups, downs and exciting stories. He was able to look beyond human consciousness. Freud achieved a lot in life, despite the fact that he was silent and unable to fight back against his peers. Or maybe it was precisely his isolation that was able to direct his energy in the right direction.

After the death of the scientist, like-minded people and those who mastered his practices were found. They began to sell their services. Today, Freud's research is still relevant and studied, many make huge money from it. Sigmund Freud (years of life and death of the scientist - 1856-1939) made an invaluable contribution to the development of psychology and neurology.

In the fall of 1885, having received a scholarship, Freud went on an internship with the famous psychiatrist Charcot. Freud is fascinated by Charcot's personality, but the young doctor is even more impressed by his experiments with hypnosis. Then, at the Salpêtrière clinic, Freud encounters patients with hysteria and the amazing fact that severe bodily symptoms, such as paralysis, are relieved with the mere words of the hypnotist. At this moment, Freud first realized that consciousness and the psyche are not identical, that there is a significant area of ​​mental life about which the person himself has no idea. Freud's long-standing dream - to find an answer to the question of how a person became what he became, is beginning to take on the contours of a future discovery.

Returning to Vienna, Freud gives a speech to the Medical Society and faces complete rejection from his colleagues. The scientific community rejects his ideas, and he is forced to look for his own path to their development. In 1877, Freud met the famous Viennese psychotherapist Joseph Breuer, and in 1895 they wrote the book “Studies in Hysteria.” Unlike Breuer, who presents in this book his cathartic method of releasing the affect associated with the trauma, Freud insists on the importance of remembering the event itself that caused the trauma.

Freud listens to his patients, believing that the causes of their suffering are known not to him, but to themselves. Known in such a strange way that they are stored in memory, but patients do not have access to them. Freud listens to patients' stories about how they were seduced as children. In the fall of 1897, he understands that in reality these events might not have happened, that for mental reality there is no difference between memory and fantasy. What is important is not to find out what happened “in reality”, but to analyze how this mental reality itself works - the reality of memories, desires and fantasies. How is it possible to know anything about this reality? Allowing the patient to say whatever comes to mind, allowing his thoughts to flow freely. Freud invents the method of free association. If the course of movement is not imposed on thoughts from the outside, then their own logic is revealed in unexpected associative connections, transitions from topic to topic, sudden memories. Saying whatever comes to mind is the basic rule of psychoanalysis.

Freud is uncompromising. He refuses hypnosis because it is aimed at relieving symptoms, and not at eliminating the causes of the disorder. He sacrifices his friendship with Joseph Breuer, who did not share his views on the sexual etiology of hysteria. When Freud spoke about childhood sexuality at the end of the 19th century, Puritan society turned away from him. He will be separated from the scientific and medical community for almost 10 years. It was a difficult period of life and, nevertheless, very productive. In the fall of 1897, Freud began self-analysis. Lacking his own analyst, he resorts to correspondence with his friend Wilhelm Fliess. In one of his letters, Freud will say that he discovered in himself many unconscious thoughts that he had previously encountered in his patients. Later, this discovery will allow him to question the very difference between mental norm and pathology.

The psychoanalytic process of self-knowledge of the subject reveals the importance of the presence of the other. The psychoanalyst participates in the process not as an ordinary interlocutor and not as someone who knows something about the subject being analyzed that he himself does not know. A psychoanalyst is one who listens in a special way, catching in the patient’s speech what he says but does not hear himself. In addition, the analyst is the one to whom the transfer is made, the one in relation to whom the patient reproduces his attitude towards other people who are significant to him. Freud gradually understands the importance of transference for psychoanalytic treatment. Gradually it becomes clear to him that the two most important elements of psychoanalysis are transference and free association.

Then Freud began writing The Interpretation of Dreams. He understands: dream interpretation is the royal path to understanding the unconscious. In this one phrase one can read all of Freud’s caution towards words. First, interpretation, not interpretation. This makes psychoanalysis similar to astrology, the interpretation of ancient texts, and the work of an archaeologist interpreting hieroglyphs. Secondly, the path. Psychoanalysis is not a symptom-relieving practice, which is what hypnosis is. Psychoanalysis is the subject's path to his own truth, his unconscious desire. This desire is not located in the hidden content of the dream, but is located between the obvious and the hidden, in the very form of transforming one into the other. Thirdly, this is a path to understanding, not a path to the unconscious. The goal of psychoanalysis, therefore, is not to penetrate into the unconscious, but to expand the subject's knowledge of himself. And finally, fourthly, Freud speaks specifically about the unconscious, and not about the subconscious. The last term refers us to physical space in which something is located below and something is located above. Freud avoids attempts to localize the instances of the mental apparatus, including in the brain.

Sigmund Freud himself will designate his discovery as the third scientific revolution, which changed man's views on the world and himself. The first revolutionary was Copernicus, who proved that the Earth is not the center of the universe. The second was Charles Darwin, who disputed the divine origin of man. And finally, Freud states that the human ego is not master in its own house. Like his famous predecessors, Freud paid dearly for the narcissistic wound he inflicted on humanity. Even having received the long-awaited recognition of the public, he cannot be satisfied. America, which he visited in 1909 to give lectures on an introduction to psychoanalysis and where he was received with a bang, disappoints with its pragmatic attitude towards his ideas. The Soviet Union, where psychoanalysis received state support, by the end of the 20s abandoned the psychoanalytic revolution and embarked on the path of totalitarianism. The popularity that psychoanalysis receives frightens Freud no less than the ignorance with which his ideas are rejected. In an effort to prevent abuse of his creation, Freud participates in the creation of international psychoanalytic movements, but in every possible way refuses to occupy leadership positions in them. Freud is obsessed with the desire to know, not the desire to control.

In 1923, doctors discovered a tumor in Sigmund Freud's mouth. Freud underwent an unsuccessful operation, which was followed by another 32 during the 16 years of his remaining life. As a result of the development of a cancerous tumor, part of the jaw had to be replaced with a prosthesis, which left non-healing wounds and also interfered with speech. In 1938, when Austria became part of Nazi Germany as a result of the Anschluss, the Gestapo searched Freud's apartment at Bergasse 19, and his daughter Anna was taken away for interrogation. Freud, realizing that this can no longer continue, decides to emigrate. For the last year and a half of his life, Freud lives in London, surrounded by family and only his closest friends. He is finishing his latest psychoanalytic works and fighting a developing tumor. In September 1939, Freud reminds his friend and doctor Max Schur of his promise to provide one last service to his patient. Schur keeps his word and on September 23, 1939, Freud passes away as a result of euthanasia, independently choosing the moment of his death.

Freud left behind a huge literary legacy; his Russian-language collected works total 26 volumes. His works to this day arouse keen interest not only among biographers; being written in an outstanding style, they contain ideas that again and again require comprehension. It is no coincidence that one of the most famous analysts of the 20th century. Jacques Lacan entitled the program of his work “Back to Freud.” Sigmund Freud repeated more than once that the motive of his work was the desire to understand how a person became what he became. And this desire is reflected throughout his legacy.

Freud, Sigmund - Austrian psychiatrist, neurologist, psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis.

Biography

Sigmund Freud (Sigismund Shlomo Freud) was born on May 6, 1856 in the village of Freiberg, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The village was located 240 km from Vienna. Father, Jacob Freud, was a wool trader. Mother, Amalia Malka Natanson, came from Odessa. The family lived in one large room, which they rented from a drunken tinsmith.

In the fall of 1859, the family decided to seek their fortune elsewhere. The Freuds move to Leipzig, then to Vienna. True, even in the capital the family failed to improve their financial situation. Sigmund later recalled that his childhood was constantly associated with poverty.

In Vienna, Sigmund entered a private gymnasium and began to demonstrate great academic success. He learned English, French, Italian, Spanish well, and was interested in philosophy. At the age of 17, he graduated from high school with honors and was recognized as the best in his class.

After graduating from high school, Sigmund decided to connect his future life with medicine. He enters the medical faculty of the University of Vienna. Experiences serious difficulties because of his nationality. Anti-Semitic sentiment reigned in Austria-Hungary at that time, and many classmates did not forget to laugh at the Jewish young man.

In 1881, having graduated from the university, he could not yet open a private practice. He had theoretical knowledge, but no practical knowledge. The choice fell on the Vienna City Hospital. They paid little here, but you could gain valuable experience. Freud began working as a surgeon, but after two months he decided to focus on neurology. Despite his success in this area, Freud becomes tired of working in the hospital, he considers it too tedious and boring.

In 1883, Sigmund moved to the psychiatry department. Here he felt that he had found his true calling. Despite this, he feels dissatisfied, largely due to his inability to earn enough money to get married. In 1884, Freud got lucky. Many doctors go to fight cholera in Montenegro, Sigmund’s director is on vacation, so he is appointed chief physician of the department for quite a long time.

In 1885, Freud wins a competition that allows him to go to Paris to study with the then famous psychiatrist Jean Charcot. Here Sigmund works on the study of neuropathology, finds a connection between sexual problems and psychological disorders.

In 1886, Freud returned to Vienna and opened a private practice here. The same year he married Martha Bernays.

In 1895, after many disappointments with various methods of studying the psyche, Freud discovered his own method - free association. The essence of the method was as follows: the patient had to relax and say whatever came to mind. Sigmund found that patients soon began to talk about past events, experiencing them emotionally. Freud soon learned to understand exactly what events in the past caused certain disorders in the patient. In 1886, the new method was called "psychoanalysis".

After this, Freud focused on the study of dreams. He noticed that during free association storytelling, patients often talked about dreams. As a result, Sigmund was able to discover what the secret meaning is hidden behind any dream. In 1900, Freud's book “The Interpretation of Dreams” was published, which many consider the best work of the Austrian researcher.

In 1905, a new book was published, “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality.” Its essence is the study of connections between sexual problems and mental disorders. Colleagues did not accept Freud’s ideas, which was not surprising: at that time such thoughts were simply considered obscene. However, after a few years, Sigmund's ideas begin to become more and more popular.

In 1921, the University of London began giving lectures to five scientists: Einstein, Spinoza, the Kabbalist Ben Baimonides, the mystic Philo and Sigmund Freud. A psychiatrist is nominated for the Nobel Prize. It was a confession.

When Vienna fell to the Nazis, Freud decided to remain in the city, although his nationality posed a serious problem. He had every chance of going to Auschwitz, but almost the whole world began to defend the scientist. The Danish queen and the Spanish king protested particularly strongly against the scientist’s oppression. Franklin Roosevelt tried to get Freud deported. But the scientist’s fate was decided after Mussolini’s call to Hitler. A psychiatrist had once cured one of the fascist leader’s good friends, and now asked Freud to help. Himmler agreed to release Freud, but for a ransom. Maria Bonaparte, the granddaughter of Napoleon himself, agreed to give any amount for Freud. The Austrian Gauleiter asked for two of Mary's palaces, practically her entire fortune. Napoleon's granddaughter agreed. In Paris, the psychiatrist was met by Maria Bonaparte and Prince George. Soon Freud goes to Great Britain, where he meets Bernard Shaw.

On September 23, 1939, Freud's friend, at his request, injects him with a triple dose of morphine. Sigmund suffered greatly from oral cancer, so he decided to euthanasia. Three days later the body was cremated.

Freud's Major Achievements

• Creator of the method of free association and psychoanalysis.
• Through his research he proved that unconscious structures are quite accessible to analysis. As a result, Freud built an interconnected picture of the human psyche.

Important dates in Freud's biography

• May 6, 1856 - birth in the village of Freiberg.
• 1873 – admission to the University of Vienna.
• 1876 ​​- beginning of scientific work at the Institute of Zoological Research.
• 1881 – graduation from university. Start of work at the Vienna City Hospital.
• 1885 - arrival in Paris and work with Jean Charcot.
• 1886 - return to Vienna. Marriage. The term “psychoanalysis” was used for the first time.
• 1895 – publication of the book “Studies in Hysteria”.
• 1900 – publication of the book “The Interpretation of Dreams”.
• 1908 - founding of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society by Freud's like-minded people.
• 1909 – Arrival in the USA to give lectures.
• 1833 - a series of brochures “Continuation of Lectures on Introduction to Psychoanalysis” is published.
• 1938 - becomes a hostage of the Nazis. He was able to leave Austria thanks to the intercession of Maria Bonaparte and a number of state leaders.
• September 23, 1939 – euthanasia.

• I used cocaine for some time, wanting to study its effects on the human body. Recognized cocaine as an extremely dangerous drug.
• He was a heavy smoker. He considered smoking to be the greatest pleasure in life.
• He left behind 24 volumes of works.
• I was afraid of the number 62.
• Lost my virginity at age 30 because I was afraid of women.
• I hated music. He threw away his sister's piano and did not visit restaurants with an orchestra.
• He had a phenomenal photographic memory.

Name: Sigmund Freud

Age: 83 years old

Place of birth: Freiberg

Place of death: London

Activity: psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, neurologist

Marital status: was married to Martha Freud

Sigmund Freud - biography

Trying to find ways to treat mental illness, he literally broke into the forbidden territory of the human subconscious and achieved some success - and at the same time became famous. And it is still unknown what he wanted more: knowledge or fame...

Childhood, Freud's family

The son of a poor wool merchant Jacob Freud, Sigismund Shlomo Freud was born in May 1856 in the Austrian Empire, in the town of Freiberg. Soon the family hastily left for Vienna: according to rumors, the boy’s mother Amalia (Jacob’s second wife and the same age as his married sons) had an affair with the youngest of them, causing a loud scandal in society.

By the way, Shlomo had no reason to be jealous of his brother: his mother loved him madly. And she believed in his glorious future: a certain old peasant woman predicted to the woman that her first-born would become a great man. And Shlomo himself did not doubt his own exclusivity. He had extraordinary abilities, was well-read, and went to the gymnasium a year earlier than other children. However, teachers and classmates did not favor him for his insolence and arrogance. The ridicule and humiliation that rained down on the head of young Sigmund - psychological trauma - led to the fact that he grew up as a closed person.

After graduating from high school with honors, Freud thought about choosing a future path. Being a Jew, he could only engage in trade, crafts, law or medicine. The first two options were rejected outright; the legal profession was in doubt. As a result, in 1873, Sigmund entered the medical faculty of the University of Vienna

Sigmund Freud - biography of personal life

The profession of a doctor did not seem interesting to Freud, but, on the one hand, it opened the way to research activities, which he liked, and on the other, it gave him the right to private practice in the future. And this guaranteed the material well-being that Sigmund desired with all his soul: he was going to get married.

He met Martha Bernays at home: she came to visit his younger sister. Every day Sigmund sent his beloved a red rose, and in the evenings he went for a walk with the girl. Two months after their first meeting, Freud confessed his love to her - secretly. And he received secret consent to the marriage. He did not dare to officially ask for Martha’s hand in marriage: her parents, wealthy Orthodox Jews, did not even want to hear about their semi-impoverished atheist son-in-law.

The opportunity came in the spring of 1885. Sigmund took part in a competition, the winner of which was entitled not only to a substantial prize, but also the right to a scientific internship in Paris with the famous hypnotist-neurologist Jean Charcot. His Viennese friends took care of the young doctor - and he, inspired, set off to conquer the capital of France.

The internship did not bring Freud either fame or money, but he was finally able to enter private practice and marry Martha. The woman to whom her loving husband often repeated: “I know that you are ugly in the sense that artists and sculptors understand it,” bore him three daughters and three sons and lived with him in harmony for more than half a century, only occasionally causing “culinary scandals over about cooking mushrooms."

Freud's Cocaine Story

In the fall of 1886, Freud opened a private doctor's office in Vienna and focused on the problem of curing neuroses. He already had experience - he received it in one of the city hospitals. There were also tested, although not very effective, techniques: electrotherapy, hypnosis (Freud had almost no knowledge of it), Charcot's shower, massage and baths. And more cocaine!

Having read a couple of years ago in the report of a certain German military doctor that water with cocaine “infused new strength into the soldiers,” Freud tested this remedy on himself and was so pleased with the result that he began to take small doses of the drug daily. Moreover, he wrote enthusiastic articles in which he called cocaine “a magical and harmless substitute for morphine,” and recommended it to friends and patients. Need I say that there was no particular benefit from such “treatment”? And with hysterical disorders, the condition of the patients even worsened.

Trying one thing or another, Freud realized: it is almost impossible to help a person suffering from neurosis with manipulations and pills. We need to look for a way to “climb” into his soul and find there the cause of the illness. And then he came up with the “method of free associations.” The patient is invited to freely express thoughts on the topic proposed by the psychoanalyst - whatever comes to mind. And the psychoanalyst can only interpret the images. .. The same should be done with dreams.

And it went! Patients were happy to share their secrets (and money) with Freud, and he analyzed them. Over time, he discovered that the problems of most neurotics are related to their intimate sphere, or rather, to problems in it. True, when Freud made a report on his discovery at a meeting of the Vienna Society of Psychiatrists and Neurologists, he was simply expelled from this society.

Neurosis had already begun in the psychoanalyst himself. However, following the popular expression “Doctor, heal yourself!”, Zigmud managed to improve his mental health and discover one of the causes of the disease - the Oedipus complex. The scientific community was also hostile to this idea, but there was no end to the patients.

Freud became known as a successful practicing neurologist and psychiatrist. Colleagues began to actively refer to his articles and books in their works. And on March 5, 1902, when the Emperor of Austria François Joseph I signed an official decree conferring the title of assistant professor on Sigmund Freud, a turn to real glory took place. The exalted intelligentsia of the early 20th century, suffering at a turning point from neuroses and hysteria, rushed to the office at Bergasse 19 for help.

In 1922, the University of London honored the great geniuses of mankind - the philosophers Philo and Maimonides, the greatest scientist of the modern era, Spinoza, as well as Freud and Einstein. Now the address “Vienna, Bergasse 19” was known to almost the whole world: patients from different countries turned to the “father of psychoanalysis”, and appointments were made many years in advance.

The “adventurer” and “conquistador of science,” as Freud himself liked to call himself, found his Eldorado. However, my health failed. In April 1923, he was operated on for oral cancer. But they could not defeat the disease. The first operation was followed by three dozen others, including the removal of part of the jaw.

Freud's main feature is that he has the courage to think through every thought to the end, to bring every situation to its final and extreme conclusions. In this difficult and terrible task, he did not always have companions, and many left him immediately beyond the starting point and turned to the side. This maximalism of thought was the reason that even at the height of the rise of scientific interest in psychoanalysis, Freud as a thinker remained essentially alone. The book “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” (1920) belongs to the number of such lonely works of Freud. Even devout psychoanalysts sometimes find it possible to pass over this work in silence; As for the more outside circle of readers, here we have to face - both abroad and in Russia - a real prejudice that needs to be clarified and dispelled.

This book leads to such stunning and unexpected conclusions that, at first glance, stand in fundamental contradiction with everything that we are all accustomed to consider as an unshakable scientific truth. Moreover, it contradicts the basic principles put forward at one time by Freud himself. Here Freud not only challenges the general opinion, but also calls into question the assertion that underlies all the psychoanalytic explanations of the author himself. The fearlessness of thought in this book reaches its apogee.

We are accustomed to consider the main explanatory principles of all biological sciences to be the principle of self-preservation of a living organism and the principle of its adaptation to the conditions of the environment in which it has to live. The desire to preserve one’s life and that of one’s kind and the desire for the most complete and painless adaptation to the environment are the main driving forces of all organic development. In full agreement with these premises of traditional biology, Freud at one time put forward the position of two principles of mental activity. Freud called the highest tendency to which mental processes obey the pleasure principle. The desire for pleasure and aversion from displeasure, however, do not completely and exclusively direct mental life. The need for adaptation creates a need for an accurate awareness of the external world; This introduces a new principle of mental activity - the principle of reality, which sometimes dictates the renunciation of pleasure in the name of “more reliable, albeit delayed.”

More original than the principle of pleasure, according to Freud, should be considered, paradoxical as it may sound, the principle of the death drive, which is the basic, original and universal principle of organic life. It is necessary to distinguish between two types of attractions. One, as more accessible to observation, has long been studied - this is eros in the broad sense, sexual attraction, which includes not only sexual desire in all its diversity, but also the entire instinct of self-preservation; it is the attraction to life. Another type of drive, of which sadism should be considered a typical example, can be designated as the death drive. The task of this drive is, as Freud says in another book, “to return all living organisms to a lifeless state,” that is, its goal is “to restore the state disturbed by the emergence of life,” to return life to the inorganic existence of matter. At the same time, all positive life-preserving tendencies, such as the desire for self-preservation, etc., are considered as private drives aimed at providing the body with its own path to death and removing all extraneous possibilities of returning it to an inorganic state. All of life is revealed as a desire to restore the disturbed vital balance of energy, as roundabout paths to death, as a constant struggle and compromise of two irreconcilable and opposing drives.

Such a construction causes natural resistance against itself for two reasons. Firstly, Freud himself notes the difference between this work and his other constructions. These were direct and accurate translations of factual observations into the language of theory. Here observation often takes the place of reflection; speculative reasoning replaces insufficient factual material. Therefore, it may easily seem that we are dealing here not with scientifically reliable constructions, but with metaphysical speculation. It is therefore easy to draw an equal sign between what Freud himself calls the metapsychological point of view and the metaphysical point of view.

The second objection naturally arises from anyone essentially against the very content of these ideas. There is a suspicion whether they are not imbued with the psychology of hopeless pessimism, whether the author, under the guise of a biological principle, is trying to smuggle in the decadent philosophy of nirvana and death. To declare the goal of all life to be death - does not this mean laying dynamite under the very foundations of scientific biology - this knowledge of life?

Both of these objections force us to treat this work with extreme caution, and even lead some to the idea that it has no place in the system of scientific psychoanalysis and that it is necessary to do without it when constructing reflexological Freudianism. However, it is not difficult for the attentive reader to see that both of these objections are unfair and incapable of withstanding the lightest touch of critical thought.

The value and merit of any scientific hypothesis are measured by its practical usefulness, by the extent to which it helps to move forward, serving as a working explanatory principle. And in this sense, the best evidence of the scientific usefulness of this hypothesis about the originality of the “death drive” is the later development of the same thoughts in Freud’s book “Ego and It”, where the psychological teaching about the complex structure of personality, about ambivalence, about the instinct of destruction, etc. put in direct connection with the thoughts developed in the proposed book. But Freud’s bold hypothesis promises even greater opportunities for general biological conclusions. It breaks up completely and completely with all teleology in the field of psyche and biology. Every drive is causally conditioned by a previous state, which it seeks to restore. Every drive has a conservative character; it pulls backward, not forward. Thus, a (hypothetical) bridge is thrown from the doctrine of the origin and development of organic life to the sciences of inorganic matter. For the first time in this hypothesis, the organic is introduced so closely into the general context of the world.

Freud is ready to admit that “in every piece of living substance,” in every cell, both types of drives are active, mixed in unequal doses. And only the union of the simplest single-celled organisms into multicellular living beings makes it possible to “neutralize the death drive of an individual cell and... divert destructive impulses to the outside world.” This thought reveals enormous possibilities for the doctrine of the social substance of these death instincts. A “multicellular” social organism creates enormous, innumerable possibilities for neutralizing death drives and sublimating them, that is, transforming them into creative impulses of a social person.