In the fall of 1885, having received a scholarship, Freud went on an internship to the famous psychiatrist Charcot. Freud is fascinated by Charcot's personality, but even more the young doctor is impressed by the experiments with hypnosis. Then, in the Salpetriere clinic, Freud is confronted with patients with hysteria and the amazing fact that severe bodily symptoms such as paralysis are relieved by the hypnotist's words alone. At this moment, Freud first guesses that consciousness and psyche are not identical, that there is a significant area of \u200b\u200bmental life, about which the person himself has no idea. Freud's old dream - to find an answer to the question of how a person became what he became, begins to acquire the contours of a future discovery.

Back in Vienna, Freud gives a message to the Medical Society and is met with complete rejection from his colleagues. The scientific community rejects his ideas, and he is forced to look for his own way of their development. In 1877, Freud met the famous Viennese psychotherapist Josef Breuer, and in 1895 they wrote the book "Studies of Hysteria". Unlike Breuer, who presents in this book his cathartic method of shedding trauma-related affect, Freud insists on the importance of remembering the very event that caused the trauma.

Freud listens to his patients, believing that the causes of their suffering are not known 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 the stories of patients about how they were seduced in childhood. In the fall of 1897, he realizes that in reality these events might not have happened, that for psychic reality there is no difference between memory and fantasy. What is important is not to find out what was "really", but to analyze how this psychic reality itself is arranged - the reality of memories, desires and fantasies. How is it possible to know something about this reality? Allowing the patient to say whatever comes into his head, allowing his thoughts to flow freely. Freud invents the free association method. If thoughts do not impose the course of movement from the outside, then in unexpected associative connections, transitions from topic to topic, sudden memories, their own logic is revealed. 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, at the end of the 19th century, Freud talks about child sexuality, the Puritan society will turn its back on him. It will be separated from the scientific and medical community for almost 10 years. It was a difficult period in my life and, nevertheless, very productive. In the fall of 1897 Freud embarks on introspection. Without 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 distinction between mental norm and pathology.

The psychoanalytic process of self-knowledge of the subject reveals the importance of the presence of another. The psychoanalyst participates in the process not as an ordinary interlocutor and not as someone who knows something about the analyzed subject that he himself does not know. A psychoanalyst is one who listens in a special way, capturing in the patient's speech what he says, but does not hear himself. In addition, the analyst is the one to whom the transference is made, the one in relation to whom the patient reproduces his attitude towards other people who are significant to him. Gradually Freud 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.

At the same time, Freud starts writing The Interpretation of Dreams. He understands that dream interpretation is the royal road to understanding the unconscious. In this one phrase, one can read all the caution in Freud's attitude to the word. First, interpretation, not interpretation. This makes psychoanalysis similar to astrology, the interpretation of ancient texts, with the work of an archaeologist interpreting hieroglyphs. Second, the path. Psychoanalysis is not a symptom relief practice like hypnosis. Psychoanalysis is the subject's path to his own truth, his unconscious desire. This desire is not located in the latent content of the dream, but is between the explicit and the hidden, in the very form of transformation of one into another. Third, it is a path to understanding, not a path to the unconscious. The goal of psychoanalysis, therefore, is not to penetrate the unconscious, but to expand the subject's knowledge of himself. And finally, fourthly, Freud speaks specifically of the unconscious, not the subconscious. The last term refers to the physical space in which something is located below and something is above. Freud avoids attempts to localize instances of the mental apparatus, including in the brain.

Sigmund Freud himself will designate his discovery as the third scientific revolution, which changed the views of man 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 challenged the divine origin of man. Finally, Freud states that the human self is not the master of its own home. Like his famous predecessors, Freud paid dearly for the narcissistic wound inflicted on humanity. Even after receiving the long-awaited recognition from the public, he cannot be satisfied. America, which he visited in 1909 with lectures on the introduction to psychoanalysis and where he is received with a bang, disappoints with its pragmatic attitude to his ideas. The Soviet Union, where psychoanalysis received state support, by the end of the 1920s, abandoned the psychoanalytic revolution and took the path of totalitarianism. The popularity that psychoanalysis gains frightens Freud no less than the ignorance with which his ideas are rejected. In an effort to prevent the abuse of his brainchild, Freud participates in the creation of international psychoanalytic movements, but in every possible way refuses to occupy leading positions in them. Freud is obsessed with the desire to know, not the desire to rule.

In 1923, doctors discovered a tumor in the mouth of Sigmund Freud. Freud underwent an unsuccessful operation, which was followed by 32 more during the 16 years of his 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, moreover, prevented him from speaking. In 1938, when Austria becomes part of Nazi Germany as a result of the Anschluss, the Gestapo searches Freud's apartment on Bergasse 19, his daughter Anna is 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 has lived in London, surrounded by his family and only his closest friends. He is finishing his last psychoanalytic works and is fighting a developing tumor. In September 1939, Freud reminds his friend and physician Max Schura of his promise to provide one last favor to his patient. Schur keeps his word and on September 23, 1939, Freud dies as a result of euthanasia, independently choosing the moment of his death.

After himself, Freud left a huge literary legacy, the Russian-language collected works number 26 volumes. His works to this day arouse keen interest not only among biographers, being written in an outstanding style, they contain ideas that need to be thought over again and again. It is no coincidence that one of the most famous analysts of the XX century. Jacques Lacan entitled his work program Back to Freud. Sigmund Freud has repeatedly said that the motivation for his work was the desire to understand how a person became what he became. And this desire is reflected in his entire legacy.

More than 100 years have passed since Sigmund Freud published many of his groundbreaking books and articles. The founder of modern psychoanalysis loved to wander the nooks and crannies of the human mind. He studied and theorized dreams, culture, child development, sexuality, and mental health. His interests were multifaceted. Some of the theories put forward by Freud have been discredited, but most of the ideas have been confirmed by modern scientists and are widely used in practice. If you are interested in the ideas of self-knowledge, you cannot ignore the teachings of the Austrian psychoanalyst.

Freud talked about what not many of us want to hear. He accused us of not knowing our own self. Most likely, he was right, and our conscious thoughts are just the tip of a big iceberg. Here are 12 facts left to us by our great predecessor as a gift.

Nothing happens just like that

Freud discovered that there are no misunderstandings or coincidences. Do you think these feelings are random and dictated by impulses? But in fact, any event, desire and action, even if performed on a subconscious level, plays an important role in our life. A young woman accidentally left her keys in her lover's apartment. Her subconscious mind gives out secret desires: she does not mind returning there again. The expression "Freudian slip" arose for a reason. The scientist believed that verbal blunders and mistakes betray true human thoughts. Very often we are driven by fears from the past, experienced trauma or hidden fantasies. No matter how we try to suppress them, they still break out.

The weakness and strength of each person in his sexuality

Sex is the main driving force for people. This is exactly the denominator that can fit all of us. However, many people deny this with all their might. We are so imbued with the lofty principles of Darwinism that we are ashamed of our animal nature. And, despite the fact that we have risen above all other living beings, we still have their weaknesses. For most of its history, humankind has denied its dark side. This is how Puritanism was born. But even the most correct people have to fight against their own sexual appetites all their lives. Take a look at the many scandals that have rocked the Vatican, other fundamentalist churches, prominent politicians and celebrities. Early in his professional career, Freud observed this lustful struggle between men and women in Victorian Vienna, from which he drew conclusions.

"In some cases, a cigar is just a cigar."

A common idea in modern psychology looks at each subject from several points of view. For example, a cigar might well become a phallic symbol. However, not all meanings have far-reaching implications. Freud himself loved to smoke, that's why he uttered this truth.

Every part of the body is erotic

The founder of the theory of psychoanalysis knew that humans have been sexual beings since they were born. He was inspired by the sight of a mother breastfeeding a baby. This picture clearly illustrates an example of a more mature sexuality. Everyone who has seen a well-fed child who has let go of the mother's breast notice how the baby with flaming cheeks and a blissful smile on his lips immediately falls asleep. Later, this picture will fully reflect the picture of sexual satisfaction. Freud was deeply convinced that sexual arousal was not limited to genitals alone. Pleasure is achieved by stimulating any part of the body with parterres. Sex and erotica are not limited to sexual intercourse. However, most people today find it difficult to accept this idea.

Thought is a sharp turn towards the fulfillment of desire.

Freud highly valued the very act of thinking (desires and fantasies). Psychotherapists and psychoanalysts in their practice often observe human fantasies. They often rate them higher than actual actual actions. And although reality cannot be measured with vivid fantasy, this phenomenon has its own unique purpose. According to neuroscientists, this serves as the basis for imagination.

It becomes easier for a person to talk.

Psychological therapy for the individual, based on psychoanalysis, proves that talking relieves emotional symptoms, reduces anxiety and frees the mind. While drug therapy is only short-term and effective in treating the underlying symptoms of ailments, talking therapy is a powerful tool in improving the patient's condition. It must be remembered that a person is involved in the treatment, not just a set of symptoms or a diagnosis. If the patient expects long-term changes, it is necessary to talk to him.

Defense mechanisms

Now we take the term "defense mechanism" for granted. This has long been part of the basic understanding of human behavior. The theory, which Freud co-developed with his daughter Anna, states that in order to protect against feelings of anxiety or unacceptable impulses, the subconscious can deny or distort reality. There are many types of defense mechanisms, the most famous are denial, refusal and projection. Denial is when a person refuses to admit what has happened or is happening. Refusal is formed due to the reluctance to admit their addictions (for example, alcoholism or drug addiction). This type of defense mechanism can also be projected onto the social sphere (for example, reluctance to recognize the trend of climate change or victims of political repression).

Resistance to change

The human mind enforces a certain pattern of behavior that always seeks to resist change. Everything new in our understanding is fraught with a threat and entails undesirable consequences, even if changes are for the better. Fortunately, the psychoanalytic method has found means to regulate consciousness, which make it possible to overcome the persistent ability to create obstacles in the path forward.

The past affects the present

Now, in 2016, this postulate may seem more prosaic than 100 years ago. But for Freud it was the moment of truth. Today, many of Freud's theories about the development of children and the consequences of their early life experiences on later behavior contribute significantly to the success of the treatment of patients with mental disorders.

Transfer concept

Another well-known theory by Sigmund Freud is about how the past can influence the present through the concept of transference. This postulate is also widely used in modern psychological practice. Transference includes strong feelings, experiences, fantasies, hopes and fears that we experienced as children or adolescents. They are an unconscious driving force and are capable of influencing our adult relationships.

Development

Human development does not end with the onset of puberty, but continues throughout the entire life cycle. Success depends on how we are able to change under the influence of certain problems. Life always challenges us, and each new stage in development allows us to reassess personal goals and values \u200b\u200bagain and again.

Civilization is a source of social suffering

Freud stated that the propensity for aggression is the biggest obstacle to civilization. Few thinkers have looked so steadfast about this human quality. In 1929, with the flourishing of European anti-Semitism, Freud wrote: “Man is a wolf to man. Who can dispute this? " The fascist regime banned Freud's theories, as the communists later did. He was called the destroyer of morality, but he himself most of all disliked America. He believed that Americans channel their sexuality into an unhealthy obsession with money: "Isn't it sad to be dependent on these savages who are not the best class of people?" Paradoxically, it was America, in the end, that turned out to be the most favorable repository of Sigmund Freud's ideas.

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Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) - Austrian psychologist, psychiatrist and neuropathologist, creator of psychoanalysis.

Biography

Actually biography see →

Freud's doctrine

Freud stated that human behavior is governed not by ideals, not by reason and not by the rules of decency, but by instincts: the instinct of sex and the fear of death. He argued that all our actions are based on secret desires, complexes and neuroses. You can find out about them by analyzing your dreams. According to Freud, not consciousness, but the unconscious governs human behavior. Look →

Freud believed that there is a single list of innate drives that are common to all people and cannot be changed: these are life drives, sexual drives, death drives. Look →

Freud proposed a three-component model of the psyche, consisting of "It", "I" and "Super-I". Look →

Freud influenced the entire European culture: Proust, Joyce, Sartre, Dali, Picasso. The influence of S. Freud on both academic and practical psychology is enormous. From the creativity of S. Freud went:

• freudianism itself, or classical psychoanalysis, which deduces all the problems of an adult from the sexual instinct, see →
• psychoanalytic approach that derives all the moments and problems of an adult from the events and experiences of his childhood, see →
• psychodynamic approach, which deduces what is happening in the human soul from the deep struggle (dynamics) of unconscious forces, see → Among Freud's students, Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav Jung stand out.

Publications

Sigmund Freud at one time wrote poetry, in psychology he began his research rather as a physiologist and neuropsychologist, but became famous for his research as the founder of psychoanalysis: "Studies of Hysteria" (1895), "Interpretation of Dreams" (1900), "Psychopathology of Everyday Life" (1901 ), "Wit and its relation to the unconscious" (1905), "Three essays on the theory of sexuality" (1905), "Totem and taboo" (1913), "Lectures on the introduction to psychoanalysis" (1916-1917), "On side of the pleasure principle "(1920)," Psychology of the masses and the analysis of the self "(1921)," I and It "(1923)," The future of one illusion "(1927)," Civilization and the discontented with it "(1930)," Moses and monotheism "(1939)," Essay on Psychology "(1940, unfinished)," Analysis of the phobia of a five-year-old boy "," On a dream "," On psychoanalysis "," A child is beaten: on the origin of sexual perversion. "

Modern assessment of the legacy of Z. Freud

Despite the fact that psychoanalysis has become a "sacred cow" in psychology, psychoanalysis has no direct relationship to science, it is more poetry, mythology and a practical approach. There is no scientific evidence to support his position on the leading role of sexual drives. Its effectiveness in comparison with the behavioral and humanistic approach is low. Look

austrian psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and neurologist

short biography

Sigmund Freud (correct transcription - Freud; since German Sigmund Freud, IPA (German) [ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt]; full name Sigismund Shlomo Freud, it. Sigismund Schlomo Freud; May 6, 1856, Freiberg, Austrian Empire - September 23, 1939, London) - Austrian psychologist, psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and neurologist.

Sigmund Freud is best known as the founder of psychoanalysis, which had a significant impact on psychology, medicine, sociology, anthropology, literature and art of the 20th century. Freud's views on human nature were innovative for his time and throughout the life of the researcher did not stop causing resonance and criticism in the scientific community. Interest in the scientist's theories does not fade to this day.

Among Freud's achievements, the most important are the development of a three-component structural model of the psyche (consisting of "It", "I" and "Super-I"), the allocation of specific phases of psychosexual development of the personality, the creation of the theory of the Oedipus complex, the detection of protective mechanisms functioning in the psyche, the psychologization of the concept The “unconscious,” the discovery of transference and counter-transference, and the development of therapeutic techniques such as free association and dream interpretation.

Despite the fact that the influence of Freud's ideas and personality on psychology is undeniable, many researchers consider his works to be intellectual quackery. Almost every postulate fundamental to Freud's theory has been criticized by prominent scholars and writers such as Karl Jaspers, Erich Fromm, Albert Ellis, Karl Kraus and many others. The empirical basis of Freud's theory was called “inadequate” by Frederic Crews and Adolph Grünbaum, psychoanalysis was christened “fraud” by Peter Medawar, Karl Popper considered Freud's pseudoscientific theory, which did not prevent, however, the outstanding Austrian psychiatrist and psychotherapist Frankl at his clinic in Vienna in his work “Theory and Therapy of Neuroses” to admit: “And yet, it seems to me, psychoanalysis will be the foundation for psychotherapy of the future. […] Therefore, the contribution made by Freud to the creation of psychotherapy does not lose its value, and what he did is incomparable. "

During his life, Freud wrote and published a huge number of scientific works - the complete collection of his works is 24 volumes. He was Doctor of Medicine, Professor, Honorary Doctor of Laws from Clark University and was a foreign member of the Royal Society of London, winner of the Goethe Prize, was an honorary member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the French Psychoanalytic Society and the British Psychological Society. Many biographical books have been published not only about psychoanalysis, but also about the scientist himself. More works are published every year about Freud than about any other theorist of psychology.

Childhood and adolescence

Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856 in the small (about 4500 inhabitants) town of Freiberg in Moravia, which at that time belonged to Austria. The street on which Freud was born - Schlossergasse - now bears his name. Father Freud's paternal name was Shlomo Freud, he died in February 1856, shortly before the birth of his grandson - it was in his honor that the latter was named. Sigmund's father, Jacob Freud, was married twice and from his first marriage had two sons - Philip and Emmanuel (Emmanuel). The second time he married at the age of 40 - to Amalia Nathanson, who was half his age. Siegmund's parents were Jews from Germany. Jacob Freud had his own modest textile business. In Freiberg, Sigmund lived the first three years of his life, until in 1859 the aftermath of the industrial revolution in Central Europe dealt a crushing blow to his father's small business, practically ruining him - as, indeed, almost all of Freiberg, which was in significant decline: thereafter As the restoration of the nearby railway was completed, the city experienced a period of rising unemployment. In the same year, the Freud couple had a daughter, Anna.

The family decided to move and left Freiberg, moving to Leipzig, where they spent only a year and, without achieving significant success, moved to Vienna. Sigmund had a hard time moving from his hometown - the forced separation from his half-brother Philip, with whom he was in close friendly relations, had a particularly strong effect on the child's condition: Philip even partly replaced Sigmund's father. The Freud family, being in a difficult financial situation, settled in one of the poorest districts of the city - Leopoldstadt, which at that time was a kind of Viennese ghetto inhabited by the poor, refugees, prostitutes, gypsies, proletarians and Jews. Soon things began to improve with Jacob, and the Freuds were able to move to a more livable place for living, although they could not afford the luxury. At the same time, Sigmund was seriously carried away by literature - the love of reading, instilled by his father, he retained for the rest of his life.

From memories of early childhood

“I was the son of my parents […] , quietly and comfortably living in this small provincial nest. When I was about three years old, my father went broke, and we had to leave our village and move to a big city. A series of long and difficult years followed, of which, it seems to me, nothing is worth remembering. "

Initially, the mother was engaged in teaching her son, but then she was replaced by Jacob, who really wanted Sigmund to receive a good education and enter a private gymnasium. Home preparation and exceptional academic ability allowed Sigmund Freud, at the age of nine, to pass the entrance exam and enter the gymnasium a year ahead of schedule. By this time, there were already eight children in the Freud family, and Sigmund stood out among all for his diligence and passion for learning everything new; his parents fully supported him and tried to create an atmosphere in the house that would contribute to the success of their son's studies. So, if the rest of the children were engaged in candlelight, Sigmund was allocated a kerosene lamp and even a separate room. So that nothing distracted him, the rest of the children were forbidden to play music, which interfered with Sigmund. The young man was seriously fond of literature and philosophy - he read Shakespeare, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, knew German perfectly, studied Greek and Latin, spoke fluent French, English, Spanish and Italian. While studying at the gymnasium, Sigmund showed excellent results and quickly became the first student in the class, graduating with honors ( summa cum laude) at the age of seventeen.

After graduating from the gymnasium, Sigmund doubted his future profession for a long time - however, his choice was rather meager due to his social status and the anti-Semitic sentiments that prevailed at that time and was limited to commerce, industry, law and medicine. The first two options were immediately rejected by the young man due to his high education, jurisprudence also faded into the background, along with youthful ambitions in politics and military affairs. Freud received the impulse to make a final decision from Goethe - once hearing a professor read an essay by a thinker entitled "Nature" at one of the lectures, Sigmund decided to enroll in the Faculty of Medicine, although he did not have the slightest interest in medicine. He admitted this and wrote: “I did not feel any predisposition to practice medicine and the profession of a doctor,” and in later years even said that in medicine I never felt “at ease”, and indeed I never considered myself a real doctor.

Professional development

In the fall of 1873, seventeen-year-old Sigmund Freud entered the medical faculty of the University of Vienna. The first year of study was not directly related to the subsequent specialty and consisted of many courses of a humanitarian nature - Sigmund attended numerous seminars and lectures, still not finally choosing a specialty to his liking. During this time, he experienced many difficulties associated with his nationality - because of the anti-Semitic sentiments prevailing in society, numerous clashes took place between him and his fellow students. Steadfastly enduring the regular ridicule and attacks of peers, Sigmund began to develop character resilience, the ability to give a worthy rebuff in an argument and the ability to resist criticism: “From early childhood I was forced to get used to the lot of being in opposition and being banned by the 'agreement of the majority'. In this way, the foundations were laid for a certain degree of independence in judgment. "

Sigmund began to study anatomy and chemistry, but he most enjoyed the lectures of the famous physiologist and psychologist Ernst von Brücke, who had a significant influence on him. In addition, Freud attended classes taught by the eminent zoologist Karl Klaus; acquaintance with this scientist opened up broad prospects for independent research practice and scientific work, to which Sigmund gravitated. The efforts of the ambitious student were crowned with success, and in 1876 he got the opportunity to carry out his first research work at the Institute for Zoological Research of Trieste, one of the departments of which was headed by Klaus. It was there that Freud wrote the first paper published by the Academy of Sciences; it was devoted to identifying sex differences in river eels. During his work under the leadership of Klaus "Freud quickly distinguished himself from other students, which allowed him twice, in 1875 and 1876, to become a fellow of the Institute for Zoological Research of Trieste."

Freud retained an interest in zoology, but after receiving the position of a research fellow at the Institute of Physiology, he fell completely under the influence of Brücke's psychological ideas and went to his laboratory for scientific work, leaving zoological research. “Under his [Brücke's] direction, the student Freud worked at the Vienna Physiological Institute, sitting for many hours at a microscope. […] He was never so happy as in the years spent in the laboratory studying the structure of nerve cells in the spinal cord of animals. " Scientific work completely captured Freud; he studied, among other things, the detailed structure of animal and plant tissues and wrote several articles on anatomy and neurology. Here, at the Physiological Institute, in the late 1870s, Freud met the physician Joseph Breuer, with whom he developed strong friendships; both of them had similar characters and a common outlook on life, therefore they quickly found mutual understanding. Freud admired Breuer's scientific talents and learned a lot from him: “He became my friend and helper in the difficult conditions of my existence. We are used to sharing all our scientific interests with him. Naturally, I derived the main benefit from these relations. "

In 1881, Freud passed his final exams with excellent marks and received his doctorate, which, however, did not change his lifestyle - he remained to work in the laboratory under the direction of Brücke, hoping to eventually take the next vacant position and firmly associate himself with scientific work ... Freud's scientific advisor, seeing his ambitions and considering the financial difficulties he faced due to the poverty of his family, decided to dissuade Sigmund from pursuing a research career. In one of his letters, Brücke remarked: “Young man, you have chosen a path that leads to nowhere. There are no vacancies at the Department of Psychology in the next 20 years, and you do not have enough livelihoods. I see no other solution: leave the institute and start practicing medicine. " Freud heeded the advice of his teacher - to a certain extent, this was facilitated by the fact that in the same year he met Martha Bernays, fell in love with her and decided to marry her; in this regard, Freud needed money. Martha belonged to a Jewish family with a rich cultural tradition - her grandfather, Isaac Bernays, was a rabbi in Hamburg, his two sons - Mikael and Jacob - taught at the Munich and Bonn universities. Martha's father, Berman Bernays, worked as a secretary for Lorenz von Stein.

To open a private practice, Freud did not have enough experience - at the University of Vienna he acquired exclusively theoretical knowledge, while clinical practice had to be developed independently. Freud decided that the Vienna City Hospital was best suited for this. Sigmund started with surgery, but after two months he abandoned the idea, finding the job too tedious. Having decided to change the field of activity, Freud switched to neurology, in which he was able to achieve certain success - studying methods of diagnosis and treatment of children with paralysis, as well as various speech disorders (aphasia), he published a number of works on these topics that became known in scientific and medical circles. He owns the term "cerebral palsy" (now generally accepted). Freud acquired a reputation as a highly qualified neuropathologist. At the same time, his passion for medicine quickly faded away, and in the third year of work at the Vienna Clinic, Sigmund finally became disillusioned with it.

In 1883, he made the decision to go to work in the psychiatric ward, headed by Theodor Meinert, a recognized scientific authority in his field. The period of work under the leadership of Meinert was very productive for Freud - exploring the problems of comparative anatomy and histology, he published such scientific works as "A case of cerebral hemorrhage with a complex of main indirect symptoms associated with scurvy" (1884), "On the question of the intermediate location Olive body "," A case of muscle atrophy with extensive loss of sensitivity (violation of pain and temperature sensitivity) "(1885)," Complex acute neuritis of the nerves of the spinal cord and brain "," The origin of the auditory nerve "," Observation of severe unilateral loss of sensitivity in a patient with hysteria "(1886). In addition, Freud wrote articles for the "General Dictionary of Medicine" and created a number of other works on cerebral hemiplegia in children and aphasias. For the first time in his life, work swept over Sigmund's head and turned into a true passion for him. At the same time, the young man, striving for scientific recognition, felt a feeling of dissatisfaction with his work, since, according to his own idea, he had not really achieved significant success; Freud's psychological state was rapidly deteriorating, he was regularly in a state of melancholy and depression.

For a short time, Freud worked in the venereal division of the Department of Dermatology, where he studied the connection between syphilis and diseases of the nervous system. He devoted his free time to laboratory research. In an effort to expand his practical skills as much as possible for further independent private practice, in January 1884 Freud moved to the department of nervous diseases. Soon after, a cholera epidemic broke out in Montenegro, neighboring Austria, and the country's government asked for help in providing medical control at the border - most of Freud's senior colleagues volunteered, and his immediate supervisor was on two months' leave at that time; Because of the circumstances, Freud held the post of chief physician of the department for a long time.

Cocaine research

In 1884, Freud read about the experiments of a certain German military doctor with a new drug - cocaine. Scientific papers have claimed that the substance can increase endurance and significantly reduce fatigue. Freud became extremely interested in what he read and decided to conduct a series of experiments on himself. The first mention of this substance to scientists is dated April 21, 1884 - in one of the letters Freud noted: "I got some cocaine and try to experience its effects, using it in cases of heart disease, as well as nervous exhaustion, especially in the terrible state of addiction from morphine." The effect of cocaine made a strong impression on the scientist, the drug was described by him as an effective analgesic, which makes it possible to carry out the most complex surgical operations; an enthusiastic article on the substance came out from the pen of Freud in 1884 and was called "About Coque". For a long time, the scientist used cocaine as an anesthetic, using it on his own and prescribing it to his fiancee Martha. Fascinated by the "magical" properties of cocaine, Freud insisted on using it by his friend Ernst Fleischl von Marxov, who was ill with a serious infectious disease, had a finger amputation and suffered from severe headaches (and also suffered from morphine addiction). As a cure for the abuse of morphine, Freud also advised a friend to use cocaine. The desired result was never achieved - von Marxov subsequently quickly became addicted to the new substance, and he began to have frequent attacks similar to delirium tremens, accompanied by terrible pains and hallucinations. At the same time, from all over Europe, reports began to arrive about cocaine poisoning and addiction to it, about the dire consequences of its use.

However, Freud's enthusiasm did not diminish - he investigated cocaine as an anesthetic in various surgical procedures. The result of the scientist's work was a voluminous publication in the Central Journal of General Therapy about cocaine, in which Freud outlined the history of the use of coca leaves by South American Indians, described the history of the plant's penetration into Europe and detailed the results of his own observations of the effect produced by the use of cocaine. In the spring of 1885, the scientist gave a lecture on this substance, in which he recognized the possible negative consequences of its use, but at the same time noted that he had not observed any cases of addiction (this happened before the deterioration of von Marx's condition). Freud ended the lecture with the words: "I do not hesitate to advise you to use cocaine in subcutaneous injections of 0.3-0.5 grams, without worrying about its accumulation in the body." Criticism was not long in coming - in June the first major works appeared condemning Freud's position and proving its groundlessness. Scientific controversy regarding the advisability of using cocaine continued until 1887. During this period, Freud published several more works - "On the study of the effects of cocaine" (1885), "On the general effects of cocaine" (1885), "Cocaine addiction and cocainophobia" (1887).

By the beginning of 1887, science had finally debunked the last myths about cocaine - it "was publicly condemned as one of the scourges of humanity, along with opium and alcohol." Freud, already a cocaine addict by that time, until 1900 suffered from headaches, heart attacks and frequent nosebleeds. It is noteworthy that Freud not only experienced the destructive effect of a dangerous substance on himself, but also involuntarily (since at that time the harmfulness of cocainism had not yet been proven) spread to many acquaintances. E. Jones stubbornly concealed this fact of his biography and preferred not to cover, however, this information became reliably known from published letters in which Jones argued: “Before the danger of drugs was identified, Freud already posed a social threat, since he pushed everyone whom he knew to take cocaine. "

The birth of psychoanalysis

In 1885, Freud decided to take part in a competition among junior doctors, the winner of which was entitled to a scientific internship in Paris with the famous psychiatrist Jean Charcot. In addition to Freud himself, there were many promising doctors among the applicants, and Sigmund was by no means a favorite, of which he was well aware; the only chance for him was the help of influential professors and scientists in the academic community, with whom he previously had the opportunity to work. Enlisting the support of Brücke, Meinert, Leidesdorf (in his private clinic for the mentally ill, Freud briefly replaced one of the doctors) and several other scientists he knew, Freud won the competition, receiving thirteen votes in his support against eight. The chance to study under Charcot was a great success for Sigmund, he had great hopes for the future in connection with the upcoming trip. So, shortly before leaving, he wrote with enthusiasm to his bride: “Little Princess, my little Princess. Oh, how wonderful it will be! I will come with the money ... Then I will go to Paris, become a great scientist and return to Vienna with a big, just huge halo over my head, we will immediately get married, and I will cure all incurable nervous patients. "

In the fall of 1885, Freud arrived in Paris to see Charcot, who at that time was at the zenith of his fame. Charcot studied the causes and treatment of hysteria. In particular, the main work of the neurologist was the study of the use of hypnosis - the use of this method allowed him to both induce and eliminate such hysterical symptoms as paralysis of the limbs, blindness and deafness. Under Charcot, Freud worked at the Salpetriere Clinic. Inspired by Charcot's methods of work and amazed at his clinical success, he offered his services as a translator of his mentor's lectures into German, for which he received his permission.

In Paris, Freud studied neuropathology with passion, studying the differences between patients who experienced paralysis due to physical trauma and those who showed symptoms of paralysis due to hysteria. Freud was able to establish that hysterical patients differ greatly in the severity of paralysis and places of injury, and also to identify (not without Charcot's help) the presence of certain links between hysteria and sexual problems. At the end of February 1886, Freud left Paris and decided to spend some time in Berlin, having the opportunity to study childhood diseases at the clinic of Adolf Baginsky, where he spent several weeks before returning to Vienna.

On September 13 of the same year, Freud married his beloved Martha Berney, who later bore him six children - Matilda (1887-1978), Martin (1889-1969), Oliver (1891-1969), Ernst (1892-1966), Sophie ( 1893-1920) and Anna (1895-1982). After returning to Austria, Freud began working at the institute under the direction of Max Kassowitz. He was engaged in translations and reviews of scientific literature, led a private practice, mainly working with neurotics, which "urgently put on the agenda the issue of therapy, which was not so relevant for scientists engaged in research activities." Freud knew about the successes of his friend Breuer and the possibilities of successful application of his "cathartic method" of treating neuroses (this method was discovered by Breuer when working with patient Anna O, and later it was reused together with Freud and was first described in "Investigations of Hysteria") , but Charcot, who remained an indisputable authority for Sigmund, was very skeptical about this technique. Freud's own experience suggested that Breuer's research was very promising; starting in December 1887, he increasingly resorted to the use of hypnotic suggestion when working with patients. However, the first modest success in this practice, he achieved only a year later, in connection with which he turned to Breuer with a proposal to work together.

“The patients who addressed them were mainly women suffering from hysteria. The disease manifested itself in various symptoms - fears (phobias), loss of sensitivity, aversion to food, multiple personality disorder, hallucinations, spasms, etc. Using light hypnosis (an induced state, similar to sleep), Breuer and Freud asked their patients to talk about events that once accompanied the appearance of symptoms of the disease. It turned out that when the patients managed to remember this and "talk out", the symptoms disappeared at least for a while.<…> Hypnosis weakened the control of consciousness, and sometimes completely removed it. This made it easier for the hypnotized patient to solve the problem that Breuer and Freud set - “pour out the soul” in the story of the experiences that were repressed from consciousness ”.

Yaroshevsky M. G. "Sigmund Freud is an outstanding researcher of human mental life"

In the course of his work with Breuer, Freud gradually began to realize the imperfection of the cathartic method and hypnosis in general. In practice, it turned out that its effectiveness is far from being as high as Breuer argued, and in some cases the treatment did not bring any results at all - in particular, hypnosis was unable to overcome the patient's resistance, which was expressed in the suppression of traumatic memories. Often there were patients who were generally not suitable for injecting into a hypnotic state, and the condition of some patients worsened after the sessions. Between 1892 and 1895, Freud began his search for another method of treatment that would be more effective than hypnosis. To begin with, Freud tried to get rid of the need to use hypnosis, using a methodical trick - pressure on the forehead in order to suggest to the patient that he must remember the events and experiences that had previously taken place in his life. The main task that the scientist was solving was to get the required information about the patient's past in a normal (and not hypnotic) state. The use of placing the palm of the hand had a certain effect, allowing to move away from hypnosis, but still remained an imperfect technique, and Freud continued to search for a solution to the problem.

The answer to the question that so occupied the scientist was quite accidentally suggested by the book of one of Freud's favorite writers, Ludwig Berne. His essay "The Art of Becoming an Original Writer in Three Days" ended with the words: "Write whatever you think about yourself, about your successes, about the Turkish war, about Goethe, about the criminal trial and its judges, about your superiors - and through for three days you will be amazed at how many completely new, unknown ideas are hidden in you. " This thought prompted Freud to use the entire array of information that clients reported about themselves in dialogues with him as a key to understanding their psyche.

Subsequently, the method of free association became the main one in Freud's work with patients. Many patients reported that the pressure from the doctor - the persistent coercion to "speak" all the thoughts that come to mind - prevents them from concentrating. That is why Freud gave up the "methodical trick" with pressure on the forehead and allowed his clients to say whatever they wanted. The essence of the technique of free association is to follow the rule according to which the patient is invited to freely, without concealment, express his thoughts on the topic proposed by the psychoanalyst, without trying to concentrate. Thus, according to the theoretical positions of Freud, thought will unconsciously move towards what is significant (what worries), overcoming resistance due to lack of concentration. From the point of view of Freud, no thought that appears is accidental - it is always a derivative of the processes that took place (and are happening) with the patient. Any association can become fundamentally important in determining the causes of the disease. The use of this method made it possible to completely abandon the use of hypnosis in sessions and, according to Freud himself, served as an impetus for the formation and development of psychoanalysis.

The joint work of Freud and Breuer resulted in the publication of the book "Studies of Hysteria" (1895). The main clinical case described in this work - the case of Anna O - gave impetus to the emergence of one of the most important ideas for Freudianism - the concept of transfer (transference) (this idea first appeared in Freud when he reflected on the case of Anna O, who was at that time a patient Breuer, who told the latter that she was expecting a child from him and imitated childbirth in a state of insanity), and also formed the basis for the ideas that appeared later on the Oedipus complex and infantile (child) sexuality. Summarizing the data obtained in the course of cooperation, Freud wrote: “Our hysterical patients suffer from memories. Their symptoms are remnants and symbols of memories of known (traumatic) experiences. " The publication of "Investigations of Hysteria" is called by many researchers the "birthday" of psychoanalysis. It is worth noting that by the time the work was published, Freud's relationship with Breuer was finally interrupted. The reasons for the divergence of scientists in professional views are still not completely clear; Freud's close friend and biographer Ernest Jones believed that Breuer categorically did not accept Freud's opinion about the important role of sexuality in the etiology of hysteria, and this was the main reason for their breakup.

Early stage in the development of psychoanalysis

Many respected Viennese doctors - mentors and colleagues of Freud - turned away from him after Breuer. The statement that it is repressed memories (thoughts, ideas) of a sexual nature that underlie hysteria provoked a scandal and formed an extremely negative attitude towards Freud on the part of the intellectual elite. At the same time, a long-term friendship of the scientist with Wilhelm Fliess, a Berlin otolaryngologist, who attended his lectures for some time, began to emerge. Fliess soon became very close to Freud, rejected by the academic community, lost old friends and desperate for support and understanding. Friendship with Fliss turned into a true passion for him, comparable to love for his wife.

On October 23, 1896, Jacob Freud died, whose death Sigmund was especially worried about: against the background of despair and a feeling of loneliness that gripped Freud, he began to develop neurosis. It is for this reason that Freud decided to apply the analysis to himself, examining childhood memories using the method of free association. This experience laid the foundations for psychoanalysis. None of the previous methods were suitable for achieving the desired result, and then Freud turned to the study of his own dreams. Freud's self-analysis was extremely painful and very difficult, but it turned out to be productive and important for his further research:

“All these revelations [discovered in themselves love for the mother and hatred for the father] at the first moment caused 'such an intellectual paralysis that I could not have imagined.' He is unable to work; the resistance he had previously encountered in his patients is now felt by Freud in his own skin. But the "conquistador-conqueror" did not flinch and continued on his way, which resulted in two fundamental discoveries: the role of dreams and the Oedipus complex, the foundations and cornerstones of Freud's theory of the human psyche. "

Josep Ramon Casafont. "Sigmund Freud"

Between 1897 and 1899, Freud worked hard on what he later considered to be his most important work, The Interpretation of Dreams (1900, German Die Traumdeutung). Wilhelm Fliess played an important role in preparing the book for publication, to whom Freud sent the written chapters for evaluation - it was with Fliess's suggestion that many details were removed from the "Interpretation". Immediately after its publication, the book did not have any significant impact on the public and received only marginal publicity. The release of Dream Interpretation was generally ignored by the psychiatric community. The importance of this work for the scientist throughout his life remained undeniable - for example, in the preface to the third English edition in 1931, the seventy-five-year-old Freud wrote: “This book<…> in full accordance with my present ideas ... contains the most valuable of the discoveries that a benevolent fate allowed me to make. This kind of insight falls to the lot of a person, but only once in a lifetime. "

According to Freud's assumptions, dreams have an explicit and latent content. Explicit content is directly what a person talks about when recalling his dream. The latent content is a hallucinatory fulfillment of a certain desire of the dreamer, disguised by certain visual pictures with the active participation of the I, which seeks to bypass the censorship restrictions of the Superego, which suppresses this desire. The interpretation of dreams, according to Freud, is that, on the basis of free associations that are sought for individual parts of dreams, it is possible to evoke certain substitute ideas that open the way to the true (hidden) content of the dream. Thus, thanks to the interpretation of the fragments of the dream, its general meaning is recreated. The process of interpretation is the "translation" of the manifest content of the dream into those hidden thoughts that initiated it.

Freud expressed the opinion that the images perceived by the dreamer are the result of the work of a dream, expressed in displacement (insignificant ideas acquire a high value, inherent in another phenomenon), thickening (in one representation the set of values \u200b\u200bformed through associative chains coincides) and replacement (replacement of specific thoughts with symbols and images), which turn the hidden content of a dream into an explicit one. A person's thoughts are transformed into certain images and symbols through the process of visual and symbolic representation - in relation to a dream, Freud called this primary process... Further, these images are transformed into some meaningful content (a dream plot appears) - this is how the secondary processing functions ( secondary process). However, secondary processing may not happen - in this case, the dream turns into a stream of strangely intertwined images, becomes abrupt and fragmentary.

The first psychoanalytic association

“Since 1902, several young doctors have gathered around me with the definite intention of studying psychoanalysis, putting it into practice and disseminating it.<…> I got together on certain evenings, held discussions in the established order, tried to understand the seemingly strange new area of \u200b\u200bresearch and arouse interest in it.<…>

The small circle soon expanded, changing its membership several times over the years. In general, I can confess that in terms of wealth and diversity of talents, he was hardly inferior to the staff of any clinical teacher. "

Z. Freud. Essay on the History of Psychoanalysis (1914)

Despite the very cool reaction of the scientific community to the release of "The Interpretation of Dreams", Freud gradually began to form around himself a group of like-minded people who became interested in his theories and views. Freud was rarely accepted in psychiatric circles, sometimes using his techniques in work; medical journals began to publish reviews of his work. Since 1902, the scientist regularly hosted physicians interested in the development and dissemination of psychoanalytic ideas, as well as artists and writers in his home. The weekly meetings were started by one of Freud's patients, Wilhelm Steckel, who had previously successfully completed his neurosis treatment; it was Steckel who, in one of his letters, invited Freud to meet at his house to discuss his work, to which the doctor agreed, inviting Steckel himself and several particularly interested listeners - Max Kahane, Rudolf Reiter and Alfred Adler. The formed club was named the Wednesday Psychological Society; his meetings were held until 1908. For six years, the society has acquired a fairly large number of listeners, the composition of which has changed regularly. It steadily gained popularity: "It turned out that psychoanalysis gradually aroused interest in itself and found friends, proved that there are scientists who are ready to recognize it." Thus, the members of the Psychological Society, who later received the greatest fame, were Alfred Adler (a member of the society since 1902), Paul Federn (since 1903), Otto Rank, Isidor Zadger (both since 1906), Max Eitingon, Ludwig Biswanger and Karl Abraham (all from 1907), Abraham Brill, Ernest Jones and Sandor Ferenczi (all from 1908). On April 15, 1908, the society was reorganized and received a new name - "Vienna Psychoanalytic Association".

The time of the development of the "Psychological Society" and the growth of the popularity of the ideas of psychoanalysis coincided with one of the most productive periods in Freud's work - his books were published: "The Psychopathology of Everyday Life" (1901, which deals with one of the important aspects of the theory of psychoanalysis, namely, reservations), "Wit and Its Relationship to the Unconscious" and "Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality" (both 1905). Freud's popularity as a scientist and medical practitioner grew steadily: “Freud's private practice increased so much that it took up an entire working week. Very few of his patients, then or later, were residents of Vienna. Most of the patients came from Eastern Europe: Russia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, etc. " Freud's ideas began to gain popularity abroad - interest in his works manifested itself especially clearly in the Swiss city of Zurich, where, since 1902, psychoanalytic concepts were actively used in psychiatry by Eigen Bleuler and his colleague Carl Gustav Jung, who were engaged in schizophrenia research. Jung, who highly valued Freud's ideas and admired him himself, published in 1906 the work "The Psychology of Dementia praecox", which was based on his own elaboration of Freud's concepts. The latter, having received this work from Jung, highly appreciated it, and a correspondence began between the two scientists, which lasted almost seven years. Freud and Jung first met in person in 1907 - the young researcher was greatly impressed by Freud, who, in turn, believed that Jung was destined to become his scientific heir and continue the development of psychoanalysis.

Photo in front of Clark University (1909). From left to right: Top row: Abraham Brill, Ernest Jones, Sandor Ferenczi. Bottom row: Sigmund Freud, Granville S. Hall, Carl Gustav Jung

In 1908, an official psychoanalytic congress was held in Salzburg - rather modestly organized, it took only one day, but was in fact the first international event in the history of psychoanalysis. Among the speakers, besides Freud himself, there were 8 people who presented their work; the meeting attracted only over 40 listeners. It was during this speech that Freud first presented one of the five main clinical cases - the history of the disease of the "Rat Man" (there is also a translation of "The Man with the Rats"), or the psychoanalysis of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The real success that opened the way for psychoanalysis to international recognition was Freud's invitation to the United States - in 1909, Granville Stanley Hall invited him to give a course of lectures at Clark University (Worcester, Massachusetts). Freud's lectures were received with great enthusiasm and interest, and the scientist was awarded an honorary doctorate. More and more patients from all over the world turned to him for advice. Upon his return to Vienna, Freud continued to publish, publishing several works, including A Family Novel of Neurotics and An Analysis of the Phobia of a Five-Year-Old Boy. Encouraged by the successful acceptance in the United States and the growing popularity of psychoanalysis, Freud and Jung decided to organize a second psychoanalytic congress, held in Nuremberg on March 30-31, 1910. The scientific part of the congress was successful, in contrast to the unofficial one. On the one hand, the International Psychoanalytic Association was established, but at the same time, Freud's closest associates began to split into opposing groups.

The split in the psychoanalytic community

Despite disagreements within the psychoanalytic community, Freud did not stop his own scientific activity - in 1910 he published "Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis" (which he read at Clark University) and several other small works. In the same year, Freud published the book “Leonardo da Vinci. Childhood Memories ”dedicated to the great Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci.

Disagreement with Alfred Adler

“I believe that Adler's views are incorrect and therefore dangerous for the future development of psychoanalysis. They are scientific errors due to faulty methods; however, these are venerable errors. Although rejecting the content of Adler's views, one can recognize their consistency and importance. "

After the second psychoanalytic congress in Nuremberg, the conflicts that had matured by that time escalated to the limit, marking the beginning of a split in the ranks of Freud's closest associates and colleagues. The first to emerge from Freud's inner circle was Alfred Adler, whose disagreements with the founding father of psychoanalysis began in 1907, when his work "Investigation of Organ Deficiency" was published, which caused the outrage of many psychoanalysts. Moreover, Adler was deeply concerned about the attention Freud gave to his protégé Jung; in this regard, Jones (who characterized Adler as "a gloomy and picky man whose behavior fluctuates between grumpiness and sullenness") wrote: "Any unrestrained children's complexes could find expression in rivalry and jealousy for his [Freud's] favor. The requirement to be a 'beloved child' also had an important material motive, since the economic position of young analysts largely depended on those patients whom Freud could refer to them. Because of the preferences of Freud, who relied heavily on Jung, and Adler's ambition, the relationship between them rapidly deteriorated. At the same time, Adler constantly quarreled with other psychoanalysts, defending the priority of his ideas.

Freud and Adler disagreed on a number of points. First, Adler considered the desire for power to be the main motive that determines human behavior, while Freud assigned the main role to sexuality. Secondly, the emphasis in personality research by Adler was placed on the social environment of a person - Freud, on the other hand, paid the greatest attention to the unconscious. Third, Adler considered the Oedipus complex to be a fabrication, and this completely contradicted Freud's ideas. However, rejecting the fundamental ideas for Adler, the founder of psychoanalysis recognized their importance and partial validity. Despite this, Freud was forced to expel Adler from the psychoanalytic society, obeying the demands of the rest of its members. Adler's example was followed by his closest associate and friend Wilhelm Steckel.

Disagreement with Carl Gustav Jung

“It may turn out that we overestimate Jung and his writings in the future. In front of the public, he looks unfavorable, turning away from me, that is, from his past. But in general, my judgment on this issue is very similar to yours. I do not expect any immediate success, but I anticipate a constant struggle. Anyone who promises mankind liberation from the burden of sex will be welcomed as a hero and will be allowed to say whatever nonsense he pleases. "

from a letter from Sigmund Freud to Ernest Jones

A short time later, Carl Gustav Jung also left the circle of Freud's closest associates - their relationship was finally spoiled by differences in scientific views; Jung did not accept Freud's position that suppression is always explained by sexual trauma, and moreover, he was actively interested in mythological images, spiritual phenomena and occult theories, which greatly irritated Freud. Moreover, Jung disputed one of the main provisions of Freud's theory: he considered the unconscious not an individual phenomenon, but the heritage of ancestors - all people who have ever lived in the world, that is, he regarded it as a "collective unconscious." Jung did not accept Freud's views on libido: if for the latter, this concept meant psychic energy, fundamental for the manifestations of sexuality, directed at various objects, then for Jung libido was simply a designation of general tension. The final break between the two scientists came after Jung's publication of Symbols of Transformation (1912), which criticized and challenged Freud's basic postulates, and proved extremely painful for both of them. In addition to the fact that Freud had lost a very close friend, he was also struck by his disagreement with Jung, whom he initially saw as a successor to the development of psychoanalysis. The loss of support from the entire Zurich school also played a role - with Jung's departure, the psychoanalytic movement lost a number of talented scientists.

In 1913, Freud completed a long and very difficult work on the fundamental work Totem and Taboo. "Since writing The Interpretation of Dreams, I have not worked on anything with such confidence and enthusiasm," he wrote of this book. Among other things, the work on the psychology of primitive peoples was considered by Freud as one of the largest scientific counterarguments to the Zurich school of psychoanalysis, headed by Jung: "Totem and Taboo", according to the author, should have finally separated his immediate environment from dissidents. Freud later wrote about the latter:

“Both regressing, moving away from psychoanalysis of movement [Adler's“ individual psychology ”and Jung’s“ analytical psychology ”], which I now have to compare, show a similarity in that with the help of lofty principles, as if from the point of view of the eternal, they defend them prejudices. For Adler, this role is played by the relativity of all cognition and the right of the individual to individually dispose of scientific material using artistic means. Jung screams about the cultural and historical right of youth to throw off the shackles that tyrannical old age, numb in its views, wished to impose on it.

Sigmund Freud. "Outline of the history of psychoanalysis"

Disagreements and quarrels with former associates extremely tired the scientist. As a result (at the suggestion of Ernest Jones), he decided to create an organization, the main goals of which would be to preserve the fundamental foundations of psychoanalysis and protect the personality of Freud himself from aggressive attacks from opponents. Freud accepted with great enthusiasm the proposal to unite a trusted circle of analysts; in a letter to Jones, he admitted: "My imagination immediately took possession of your idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a secret council composed of the best and most trusted people among us, who will take care of the further development of psychoanalysis when I am gone ...". The society was born on May 25, 1913 - in addition to Freud, it included Ferenczi, Abraham, Jones, Rank and Sachs. A little later, on the initiative of Freud himself, Max Eitingon joined the group. The existence of the community, called the "Committee", was kept secret, its actions were not advertised.

War and post-war years

"Committee" in full force (1922). From left to right: Stand: Otto Rank, Karl Abraham, Max Eitingon, Ernest Jones. Sit: Sigmund Freud, Sandor Ferenczi, Hans Sachs

The First World War began, and Vienna fell into decay, which naturally affected the practice of Freud. The economic situation of the scientist was rapidly deteriorating, as a result of which he developed depression. The newly formed Committee turned out to be the last circle of like-minded people in Freud's life: “We became the last companions that he was ever destined to have,” Ernest Jones recalled. Freud, who was experiencing financial difficulties and had a sufficient amount of free time due to the decreased number of patients, resumed his scientific activity: “<…> Freud closed in on himself and turned to scientific work.<…> Science personified his work, his passion, his rest and was a salvation from external adversity and internal experiences. " The following years became very productive for him - in 1914 he wrote the works "Moses" by Michelangelo "," To an Introduction to Narcissism "and" Essay on the History of Psychoanalysis ". In parallel, Freud was working on a series of essays that Ernest Jones calls the most profound and important in the scientific activity of a scientist - these are "Attractions and Their Fate", "Repression", "The Unconscious", "Metapsychological Supplement to the Doctrine of Dreams" and "Sadness and Melancholy ".

In the same period, Freud returned to using the previously abandoned concept of "metapsychology" (for the first time this term was used in a letter to Fliess from 1896). It became one of the key ones in his theory. Under the word "metapsychology" Freud understood the theoretical foundation of psychoanalysis, as well as a specific approach to the study of the psyche. According to the scientist, a psychological explanation can be considered complete (that is, "metapsychological") only if it establishes the presence of a conflict or connection between the levels of the psyche ( topography), determines the amount and type of energy expended ( economy) and the balance of forces in consciousness, which can be aimed at joint work or oppose each other ( dynamics). A year later, the work "Metapsychology" was published, explaining the main provisions of his teaching.

With the end of the war, Freud's life changed only for the worse - he was forced to spend the money set aside for old age, there were even fewer patients, one of his daughters, Sophia, died of the flu. Nevertheless, the scientist's scientific activity did not stop - he wrote the works "Beyond the Pleasure Principle" (1920), "Psychology of the Masses" (1921), "I and It" (1923). In April 1923, Freud was diagnosed with a tumor on the palate; the operation to remove it was unsuccessful and almost cost the scientist his life. Subsequently, he had to go through 32 more operations. Soon the cancer began to spread, and Freud had part of his jaw removed - from that moment on he used an extremely painful prosthesis that left non-healing wounds, in addition to everything else, which also made it difficult to speak. The darkest period in Freud's life had come: he could no longer give lectures, because the audience did not understand him. Until his death, his daughter Anna took care of him: "It was she who went to congresses and conferences, where she read the texts of speeches prepared by her father." A series of sad events for Freud continued: at the age of four, his grandson Heinele (the son of the late Sophia) died of tuberculosis, and some time later his close friend Karl Abraham died; Freud began to take possession of sadness and grief, more and more often began to appear in his letters words about his own impending death.

The last years of life and death

In the summer of 1930, Freud was awarded the Goethe Prize for his significant contribution to science and literature, which brought great satisfaction to the scientist and contributed to the spread of psychoanalysis in Germany. However, this event was overshadowed by another loss: at the age of ninety-five, Freud's mother Amalia died of gangrene. The most terrible tests for the scientist were just beginning - in 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany, and National Socialism became the state ideology. The new government passed a number of discriminatory laws against Jews, and books that contradicted Nazi ideology were destroyed. Along with the works of Heine, Marx, Mann, Kafka and Einstein, the works of Freud were also banned. The Psychoanalytic Association was disbanded by order of the government, many of its members were repressed, and funds were confiscated. Many of Freud's associates insistently suggested that he leave the country, but he flatly refused.

In 1938, after the annexation of Austria to Germany and the ensuing persecution of Jews by the Nazis, Freud's position became much more complicated. After the arrest of his daughter Anna and interrogation by the Gestapo, Freud decided to leave the Third Reich and go to England. It turned out to be difficult to implement the plan: in exchange for the right to leave the country, the authorities demanded an impressive amount of money, which Freud did not have. The scientist had to resort to the help of influential friends in order to obtain permission to emigrate. For example, his longtime friend William Bullitt, then the US ambassador to France, interceded for Freud with President Franklin Roosevelt. The German ambassador to France, Count von Welzeck, also joined the petitions. By joint efforts, Freud obtained the right to leave the country, but the question of "debt to the German government" remained unresolved. Freud was helped to resolve it by his longtime friend (as well as a patient and student), Princess Marie Bonaparte, who lent the necessary funds.

In the summer of 1939, Freud suffered particularly badly from a progressive illness. The scientist turned to the doctor who was caring for him, Max Shura, recalling his earlier promise to help die. At first, Anna, who did not leave a single step from her sick father, resisted his desire, but soon agreed. On September 23, Schur injected Freud with a dose of morphine sufficient to interrupt the life of an old man weakened by illness. At three o'clock in the morning, Sigmund Freud died. The scientist's body was cremated in Golders Green, and the ashes were placed in an ancient Etruscan vase, donated to Freud by Marie Bonaparte. A vase with the ashes of a scientist stands in the Ernest George Mausoleum in Golders Green. On the night of January 1, 2014, unknown persons made their way into the crematorium, where there was a vase with the ashes of Martha and Sigmund Freud, and smashed it. After that, the caretakers of the crematorium moved the vase with the ashes of the spouses to a more secure place.

Major contribution to science

Among Freud's achievements, the most important are the development of a three-component structural model of the psyche (consisting of "It", "I" and "Super-I"), the identification of specific phases of psychosexual development of the personality, the creation of the theory of the Oedipus complex, the detection of protective mechanisms functioning in the psyche, the psychologization of the concept The “unconscious,” the discovery of transfer and counter-transfer, and the development of therapeutic techniques such as free association and dream interpretation.

One of the main scientific achievements of Freud is the development of an original for its time structural model of the human psyche... In the course of numerous clinical observations, the scientist suggested the presence of opposition between drives, revealing that socially determined inhibitions often limit the manifestation of biological drives. Based on the data obtained, Freud developed the concept of mental organization, highlighting three structural elements of personality: "It" (or "Id", German Das es), "I" (or "Ego", German Ego) and "Super-I" (or "Super-Ego", German. Das Über-Ich). " It", According to the Freudian concept, denotes an unknown force that controls a person's actions and serves as the basis for two other manifestations of personality, containing energy for them. " I"- this, in fact, is a person's personality, the personification of his mind," I "exercises control over all processes taking place in the psyche of an individual, and its main function is to maintain the relationship between instincts and actions. " Super-I"Is a psychic instance, which includes" parental authority, self-observation, ideals, conscience - in the metaphorical meaning "Super-I" acts as an inner voice, censor, judge. "

Another major achievement of Freud is the discovery psychosexual developmental phases person. In the most general sense, the term "psychosexual development" refers to "the movement of a child from infantile ways of gratifying drives to more mature ones, allowing eventually to enter into sexual contact with a person of the opposite sex." Psychosexual development is extremely important for the formation of the personality - it is during the passage of all its stages that the prerequisites for future sexual, emotional and communication problems are laid. Freud identified five such stages: oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital.

Freud's entire psychoanalytic theory was based on the concept oedipus complex, the essence of which lies in the designation of the child's ambivalent attitude towards his parents; the term itself characterizes a person's manifestation of unconscious drives, in which love borders on hatred of parents. In Freud's understanding, the boy is erotically attached to his mother and seeks to possess her, and he perceives his father as a rival and an obstacle to the realization of this desire (for the girl, the situation is the opposite and is called the Electra Complex). The Oedipus complex develops at the age of three to six years, and its successful resolution (identification with the parent of the same sex, or "identification with the aggressor") is fundamentally important for the child. The resolution ("destruction") of the complex leads to the transition from the phallic stage of development to the latent one and is the foundation for the formation of the "Super-I"; the authority of the parents, thus, “moves” into the psyche - the resolved Oedipus complex becomes the main source of the feeling of guilt (with which the “Super-I” affects the “I”) and at the same time marks the end of the period of the infantile sexuality of the individual.

Important for the development of Freudianism was the description by scientists defense mechanismsfunctioning in the human psyche. According to Freud, defense is a psychological mechanism for resisting anxiety, which, unlike constructive actions aimed at solving a problem situation, distorts or denies reality, Freiger and Feydimen note. Defense mechanisms relate to the "I" of a person who has to resist a mass of various threats from the outside world and the desires of "It", which are restrained by the "Super-I"; Freud assigned a significant role to their research, but did not attempt to classify them - this was undertaken by his daughter Anna, who in her work “I and Defense Mechanisms” (1936) systematized the mental phenomena previously described by the scientist. Freud described the following defense mechanisms: repression, projection, substitution, rationalization, reactive formation, regression, sublimation and denial.

The cornerstone of Freud's theory was the discovery unconscious - part of the human psyche, in terms of volume, content and principles of functioning, different from consciousness. In topographic theory, the unconscious is considered one of the systems of the mental apparatus. After the appearance of the three-component model of consciousness ("It", "I" and "Super-I"), the unconscious is expressed exclusively with the help of an adjective, that is, it reflects a mental quality equally characteristic of each of the three structures of the psyche. The main features of the unconscious, according to Freud, are as follows: the content of the unconscious is a representation of drives; the content of the unconscious is regulated by primary processes, in particular, condensation and displacement; fueled by the energy of drives, the contents of the unconscious strive to return to consciousness, manifesting themselves in behavior (the return of the repressed content), but in fact, they can appear in preconsciousness only in a form distorted by the censorship of the "Super-I"; in the unconscious, children's desires are very often fixed.

One of the main tools of the psychoanalyst in working with the patient is the one developed by Freud free association method... Free associations are statements based on the arbitrary presentation of any thoughts about anything. The method of the same name lies at the heart of psychoanalysis and is one of its main techniques. In psychoanalysis, free associations are considered as a signal of the presence of ideas or fantasies that cannot be realized by a person without the analytical help of a psychologist, since they are in preconsciousness. Any association can become fundamentally important in determining the causes of the disease. The use of this method made it possible to completely abandon the use of hypnosis in sessions and, according to Freud himself, served as an impetus for the formation and development of psychoanalysis.

Another important tool of the psychoanalyst in his work is represented by technique interpretation of dreams... The interpretation of dreams is the process of revealing the meaning and meaning of dreams, aimed at deciphering their unconscious content. According to Freud, dreams are mental phenomena that are a reflection of something existing in the human soul, which the dreamer himself does not know about; thus, the individual is never aware of the true meaning of his dream. The work of a psychoanalyst, accordingly, boils down to revealing this meaning to a person. By building free associations to individual parts of a dream, a person reveals its true essence, unconsciously focusing on its real content. The interpretation process is about translation explicit dream content (that is, its plot) in hidden content.

No less important for psychoanalytic therapy is the phenomenon discovered by Freud transfer and counter-transfer... Transfer is a phenomenon observed in the relationship of two people and manifests itself in the transfer of feelings and affections to each other. In the process of psychoanalysis, the transfer is characterized as a shift of unconscious ideas, desires, drives, stereotypes of thinking and behavior from one individual to another, while the experience of the past becomes a model of interaction in the present. The term "counter-transfer", accordingly, means the reverse transfer process, namely the transfer by the analyst to his client of an emotional relationship to a person from his past.

Scientific heritage

Works of Sigmund Freud

• 1899 Interpretation of dreams
• 1901 The psychopathology of everyday life
• 1905 Three essays on the theory of sexuality
• 1913 Totem and taboo
• 1915 Attractions and their destinies
• 1920 Beyond the pleasure principle
• 1921 Psychology of the masses and analysis of the human "I"
• 1927 The future of one illusion
• 1930 Dissatisfaction with culture

Freud's ideological predecessors

The development of Freud's psychoanalytic concept was significantly influenced by many different scientists and researchers. First of all, researchers note the impact of the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin, the biogenetic law of Ernst Haeckel, the "cathartic method" of Joseph Breuer and Jean Charcot's theory of the effects of hypnosis for the treatment of hysteria. Freud drew many ideas from the works of Gottfried Leibniz (in particular, from his doctrine of monads - the smallest spiritual and mental particles), Carl Gustav Carus (namely, the assumption that unconscious mental activity manifests itself through experiences and dreams), Eduard Hartmann and his "The philosophy of the unconscious" by Johann Friedrich Herbart (who argued that certain human drives can be pushed out of the threshold of consciousness) and Arthur Schopenhauer (who emphasized the "will to live", which Freud designated as Eros). A significant influence on the formation of Freud's views was exerted by the German philosopher and psychologist Theodor Lipps, who devoted several works to unconscious mental processes. Psychoanalysis was also influenced by the ideas of Gustav Fechner - from his developments originate the concept of the principle of pleasure, psychic energy, as well as an interest in the study of aggression.

In addition, Freud was influenced by the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche, Clemens Brentano and many famous scientists, for example, Ernst Brücke. Many concepts, original for their time, now traditionally associated with the name of Freud, were in fact partially borrowed - for example, the unconscious as a field of the psyche was studied by Goethe and Schiller; one of the elements of the mental organization - "It" - was borrowed by Freud from the German physician Georg Groddeck; the theory of the Oedipus complex - inspired by the work of Sophocles "King Oedipus"; the method of free association was born not as an independent methodology, but in the course of the revision of the approach of Joseph Breuer; the idea of \u200b\u200bthe interpretation of dreams was also not new - the first ideas about their symbolism were expressed by Aristotle.

Influence and significance of Freud's ideas

Researchers note that the influence of Freud's ideas on the Western civilization of the 20th century was deep and lasting, - Larry Kjell (Doctor of Psychology, Associate Professor at the State University of New York) and Daniel Ziegler (Doctor of Psychology, Dean of the Graduate School of Villanova University) note that “throughout in the history of mankind, very few ideas have had such a wide and powerful impact. " According to these authors, the main achievements of the scientist include the creation of the first detailed theory of personality, the development of a system of clinical observations (based on their own analysis and therapeutic experience), the formation of an original method of treating neurotic disorders that cannot be investigated in any other way. Robert Frager (Ph.D., founder and president of the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology) and James Feydiman (Ph.D., professor at the University of San Francisco and Stanford University) call Freud's scientific views radical and innovative for their time, arguing that the scientist's ideas are still continue to have a significant impact on psychology, medicine, sociology, anthropology, literature and art. Freud and Feydiman note that a number of Freud's discoveries - for example, the recognition of the importance of dreams and the discovery of the energy of unconscious processes - are currently generally accepted, although many other aspects of his theory are actively criticized. Researchers conclude: "Regardless of time, Freud is a figure in psychology to be reckoned with."

The well-known Russian psychologist Mikhail Yaroshevsky is also of the opinion that Freud's works determined the direction of the development of psychology in the XX century and are still of interest, and modern psychotherapy has learned the scientist's lessons, “taking away everything that excites creative thought”. Carlos Nemirovsky, a psychiatrist, a member of the Association for Psychoanalysis of Buenos Aires and the International Association for Psychoanalysis, calls Freud a tireless researcher, an enthusiast, far from conformism, and writes: “Today we can supplement, challenge or change accents in the legacy of Freud, but still his method - his approach to research - continues with only minor changes. " French psychoanalyst André Green, in turn, states: "No orthodox follower of Freud, although he made a significant contribution to science, is not able to offer anything fundamentally new."

One of the brightest followers of the scientist, the French psychologist and philosopher Jacques Lacan, characterized Freud's teaching as a "Copernican revolution." Freud's companion and disciple Sandor Ferenczi, describing the scientist's influence on medicine, wrote: “Strange as it may seem, but before Freud, researchers considered it almost immoral to consider sexual problems and the psychological side of love relationships”; it was this that led Freud to rethink the practice and theory of therapy, which completely failed in attempts to treat neuroses. Ferenczi noted that the most important achievement of the scientist is the creation of a specific language and technique for the study of the unconscious, helping in the process of interpreting dreams and neurotic, psychotic symptoms in everyday life. Like Lacan, Ferenczi calls Freud's discoveries a "great revolution," comparing them to the introduction of percussion, radiology, bacteriology, and chemistry into medicine. The researcher ends the article with the words: “Freud blew up the strict demarcation border between the sciences of nature and spirit.<…> Freud's influence on medicine had a profound impact on the development of this science. It is possible that the desire for its development existed before, but the actual implementation required the emergence of a personality of such importance as Freud. "

The Russian philosopher Sergei Mareev suggested that it is permissible to consider Freudianism as one of the three main worldview systems of the 20th century, along with Marxism and Christianity; Mareev writes that Freud's influence was mainly manifested in psychology and philosophy. According to the researcher, Freud's contribution to philosophy lies in the advancement of a fundamentally new statement, stating that “the mental life of a person is not at all a stream of impressions and reactions, but contains a certain substance, a certain constant, which not only does not lend itself to the influence of external impressions, but on the contrary, it defines them from within, attaching to them a meaning that is completely inexplicable neither from the present nor from the past experience. " Thus, Mareev explains, Freud challenged the concept of the soul as an immaterial principle, which is dominant in empirical science, and accordingly, the founding father of psychoanalysis returned the concept of "soul" to a strictly scientific meaning (albeit partially re-formed); as a result, this concept went beyond the framework of philosophy alone, to which it was previously attributed by empiricists.

Another Russian researcher, psychologist Lyudmila Obukhova, writes that the main secret of Freud's enormous influence lies in the dynamic theory of personality development that he developed, which proved that “the other person is of primary importance for human development, and not the objects that surround him.” Referring to James Watson, Obukhova noted that Freud was well ahead of his time and (along with Charles Darwin) "destroyed the narrow, rigid boundaries of common sense of his time and cleared new territory for the study of human behavior." EP Koryakina notes the significant influence of Freud on the development of cultural thought in the XX century - the main contribution of the scientist in this area is to create an original concept of culture, according to which all cultural values \u200b\u200bare a product of sublimation, or, in other words, the process of subordination of energy by culture “It »And redirecting it from sexual purposes to spiritual (artistic) ones. Koryakina writes: “Culture, in the understanding of psychoanalytic theory, is based on coercion and prohibition of drives, it is a mechanism for suppressing primary desires that threaten society, it directs instincts, including aggressiveness, in a different direction, and that is why culture, from the point of view of Freud, is the source of the mental illness of the individual. "

Freud had a significant impact on the evolution of personality theories - his views on human development, united in the framework of psychoanalysis, are still well known in psychology. Few ideas in the history of human civilization have had such a wide and profound influence as Freud's. The popularity of Freud's concepts continues to expand and penetrate into various scientific fields. As Jerome Neu (Ph.D., professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz) noted, "Freud still has a lot to learn."

Criticism

In the West, Freud's psychoanalysis was criticized at its very appearance, in particular by phenomenologically oriented authors such as K. Jaspers, A. Kronfeld, K. Schneider, G.-J. Weitbrecht and many others. Initially, European psychiatrists' rejection of the Freudian concept was resolute and widespread - with a few exceptions, such as E. Bleuler and V.P.Serbsky. Most psychiatrists considered the Freudian school a marginal sect engaged in psychotherapy of neuroses, the very concept of which seemed to be a phantom - an undifferentiated group of somatoneurological disorders bordering on the norm. However, in 1909, Freud's "conquest" of the United States began, and after the Second World War - of German psychiatry.

K. Jaspers had unconditional respect for Freud as a person and a scientist and recognized the significant contribution of his theories to science, but considered the psychoanalytic direction of research to be an unproductive vulgarization of the ideas of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, “a product of myth-making fantasies,” and the psychoanalysis movement itself was sectarian. While highly appreciating some of Freud's particular hypotheses and the empirical material he collected, Jaspers nevertheless pointed to the fantastic nature of many of his generalizations. Jaspers called psychoanalysis "popular psychology," which allows the layman to easily explain anything. For K. Jaspers, Freudianism, like Marxism, is a surrogate for faith. According to Jaspers, "psychoanalysis bears a significant share of responsibility for the overall decline in the spiritual level of modern psychopathology."

E. Kraepelin also had a negative attitude towards Freudianism, arguing:

On the basis of many-sided experience, I argue that prolonged and persistent questioning of patients about their intimate experiences, as well as the usual strong emphasis on sexual relations and related advice, can have the most adverse consequences.

- Kraepelin, E. Introduction to the psychiatric clinic

Renowned anthropologists Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Cora Dubois and Franz Boas have collected data that refute the assertion of the universality of such basic Freudian concepts as libido, the instincts of destruction and death, innate infantile sexual stages and the Oedipus complex. A number of these concepts have been experimentally tested and found to be wrong. Robert Sears, reviewing these experimental data in his Review of Objective Research on Psychoanalytic Concepts, concluded:

According to the criteria of the physical sciences, psychoanalysis is not genuine science ...<…> Psychoanalysis is based on methods that do not allow replication of observations, do not have self-evidence or denotative validity, and bear some of the imprint of the observer's subjective bias. When such a method is used to discover psychological factors that must have objective validity, it turns out to be completely untenable.

Psychoanalysis was persecuted in Germany with the rise of the Nazis to power and very soon found itself in a similar position on the territory of the USSR (although for a short time Freud's theories were quite popular there). Psychoanalysis as a scientific direction in psychology appeared in Russia even before 1917, its followers published their own scientific journal, among the supporters of Freud's teachings were prominent members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In Petrograd, a special analytical group was organized for children with neurotic disorders; by the end of the decade, a training institute, an outpatient clinic and an experimental school based on psychoanalytic principles were successfully functioning. Freud's works were actively translated into Russian. One of the capital's higher educational institutions trained psychoanalysts. However, by the mid-1920s, psychoanalysis was ousted from the midst of official science. The most acute contradictions between supporters and opponents of Freud appeared during the discussion about the possibility of combining psychoanalysis with Marxism:

“The object of criticism in the course of these debates was often not Freud himself, but various interpreters and interpreters of his ideas.<…> Therefore, in order to formulate an accusation against psychoanalysis, it was not at all difficult to find any number of silly ideas passed off as Freudian ones, for example, the assertion of a certain analyst (quoted during one of the Soviet polemic campaigns against Freud) that the communist slogan “Workers of all countries , connect! ”is actually an unconscious manifestation of homosexuality. Equally crude and simplistic interpretations were encountered in the field of literary criticism, where psychoanalysis seemed to achieve little beyond the search for phallic symbols. But it is clear that such a complex and multifaceted theory as psychoanalysis must be judged by its best, not worst, manifestations. "

Frank Brenner. "Fearless Thought: Psychoanalysis in the Soviet Union"

Since the 1930s, from the point of view of official Soviet psychological science, Freud has become "criminal No. 1". This was largely due to personal dislike for psychoanalysis of Joseph Stalin. In the Soviet Union, Freud's theories were now understood exclusively "as dirty words associated with sexual depravity." For the official ideology, Freudianism was unacceptable for another reason: psychoanalysis considered the individual in isolation, not taking into account his connection with society. The result of the confrontation was very sad: “Already in 1930, all activity of the Soviet psychoanalytic movement was stopped, and from that moment it was allowed to mention the Freudian theory only in terms of condemnation. Like so many other promising cultural trends caused by the revolution itself, psychoanalysis was uprooted and destroyed by the Stalinist terror.

However, criticism of psychoanalysis was motivated not only by political reasons. After Freud's death in 1939, heated debates around psychoanalysis and the scientist himself did not stop - on the contrary, they flared up with renewed vigor. The inconsistency in assessments of Freud's contribution to science is observed to this day. Biologist and Nobel laureate Peter Medawar has described psychoanalysis as "the greatest intellectual fraud of the twentieth century." The philosopher of science Karl Popper was critical of Freud's teachings. Popper argued that the theories of psychoanalysis do not have predictive power and that it is impossible to set up an experiment that could refute them (that is, psychoanalysis is not falsifiable); therefore, these theories are pseudoscientific. In addition to Karl Popper, Freud's ideas were criticized by Frederick Crews and Adolph Grünbaum, who noted the insufficiency of the empirical basis of psychoanalysis and the unverifiability of its main provisions; scientists called Freudianism built on speculative reasoning and "insights".

Thus, A. Grünbaum pointed out that the lasting therapeutic success, on which Freud's assertion about the etiological evidence of the method of free association is based, never took place in reality, which Freud had to admit both at the beginning and at the very end of his career, and temporary therapeutic the results can be explained not by the true effectiveness of this method, but by the placebo effect. “Isn't it too simple to be true - that someone can lay a mentally preoccupied subject on the couch and reveal the etiology of her or his illness through free association? Compared to finding out the causes of the main somatic diseases, this looks almost a miracle, if only verily", - writes A. Grünbaum. He notes that over the past century, psychoanalytic treatment has not been shown to be more effective than a control group of the same patients whose repressions were not removed. Grünbaum questions the effectiveness of the method of free association in determining the causes of both neurotic symptoms and dreams or errors and slips (and calls the combination of the first, second and third, which gives the impression of "the commendable all-encompassing central theory of repression", "pseudo-unification" and " dubious unification "). He mentions that, according to careful research, the so-called "free associations" are not really free, but depend on subtle clues from the psychoanalyst to the patient, and therefore cannot reliably vouch for the content of the alleged repressions that they supposedly remove.

Freud's scientific legacy was criticized by Erich Fromm, who believed that the scientist, being under the influence of "bourgeois materialism", "could not imagine psychic forces that did not have a physiological source - hence Freud's appeal to sexuality." Fromm was also skeptical about the structure of human personality put forward by Freud ("It", "I" and "Super-I"), considering it hierarchical - that is, denying the possibility of a free existence of a person who is not under the yoke of society. Recognizing the merit of the scientist in the study of the unconscious, Fromm found Freud's view of this phenomenon too narrow - according to the founding father of psychoanalysis, the conflict between being and thinking is the essence of the conflict between thinking and infantile sexuality; Fromm considered this conclusion to be erroneous, criticizing Freud's very understanding of sexuality, who ignored it as a possible product of impulses due to socio-economic and cultural factors. Another important "pillar" of psychoanalytic theory - the concept of the Oedipus complex - was also criticized by Fromm:

“Freud made the mistake of explaining the boy’s attachment to his mother in terms of sexuality. Thus, Freud misinterpreted his discovery, did not understand that attachment to the mother is one of the deepest emotional ties (not necessarily sexual), rooted in the true (humanistic) existence of man. Another aspect of the "Oedipus complex", which is the son's hostility to the father, was also misinterpreted by Freud, who viewed this conflict as sexual, while its origins lie in the nature of patriarchal society ":" Another part of the Oedipus complex, that is, hostile rivalry with the father, culminating in the desire to kill him, is also a true observation, which, however, does not have to be related to attachment to the mother. Freud gives universal significance to a trait characteristic only of a patriarchal society. In a patriarchal society, the son obeys the will of the father; he belongs to the father, and his fate is determined by the father. To be the heir of his father - that is, to succeed in a broader sense - he must not only please his father, he must submit to him and replace his will with the will of his father. As you know, oppression leads to hatred, to the desire to free ourselves from the oppressor and ultimately destroy him. This situation can be clearly seen, for example, when an old peasant, as a dictator, controls his son, wife, until he dies. If this does not happen soon, if the son, having reached the age of 30, 40, 50, still has to accept the supremacy of the father, then he will really hate him as an oppressor. Today, this situation is largely mitigated: the father usually does not own property that the son could inherit, since the advancement of young people largely depends on their abilities, and only in rare cases, for example, when owning a private business, the longevity of the father keeps the son in a subordinate position. Nevertheless, this situation arose not very long ago, and we can rightfully say that for several millennia, there has been a conflict between father and son within the patriarchal society, based on the father's control over his son and the son's desire to free himself from this dictate. Freud saw this conflict, but did not understand that it was a feature of a patriarchal society, but interpreted it as a sexual rivalry between father and son. "

Leibin V. M. "Discoveries and limitations of Freud's theory"

Erich Fromm, in fact, criticized every significant aspect of Freudian theory, including the concepts of transfer, narcissism, character and interpretation of dreams. Fromm argued that psychoanalytic theory was adapted to the needs of bourgeois society, “the concentration on the problem of sex in reality diverted from the criticism of society and, thus, was partly reactionary political in nature. If at the heart of all mental disorders lies the inability of a person to solve their sexual problems, then there is no need for a critical analysis of the economic, social and political factors that stand in the way of a developing individuality. On the other hand, political radicalism began to be seen as a peculiar sign of neurosis, especially since Freud and his followers considered the liberal bourgeois to be the model of a mentally healthy person. Left or right radicalism began to be explained by the consequences of neurotic processes like the Oedipus complex, and primarily political convictions that were different from the views of the liberal middle class were declared neurotic.

Robert Carroll, PhD, in The Skeptic's Dictionary, criticized the psychoanalytic concept of the unconscious, which retains memories of childhood traumas, as contrary to modern ideas about the work of implicit memory: “Psychoanalytic therapy is in many ways based on the search for what probably does not exist (repressed children memories), an assumption that is probably wrong (that childhood experiences are the cause of patients' problems), and a therapeutic theory that has little chance of being correct (that the translation of repressed memories into consciousness is an essential part of the course of treatment).

Leslie Stevenson, a philosopher and professor emeritus at St Andrews University, who examined Freud's concepts in detail in his book Ten Theories of Human Nature (1974), noted that adherents of Freudianism can “easily analyze in a derogatory manner the motivation of his critics ”- that is, to attribute to unconscious resistance any attempts to doubt the truth of the concept they share. In fact, Freudianism is a closed system that neutralizes any evidence that speaks of falsification, and can be perceived as an ideology, the acceptance of which is mandatory for every psychoanalyst. Empirical verification of Freud's psychoanalytic concept is an almost impossible task for a number of reasons: first, the consequences of a traumatic childhood are not always amenable to elimination; second, a “correct” theory can give bad results if it is “incorrectly” applied in clinical practice; thirdly, the criteria for curing neurotic diseases are not clearly defined. Stevenson also notes:

“Psychoanalysis is more likely not a set of scientific hypotheses that must undergo empirical testing, but primarily a way of understanding people, seeing the meaning of their actions, mistakes, jokes, dreams, and neurotic symptoms. […] Many Freudian concepts can be seen as an addition to the usual ways people understand each other in terms of everyday concepts - love, hate, fear, anxiety, rivalry, etc. And in an experienced psychoanalyst, you can see someone who has gained a deep intuitive understanding of the springs of human motivation and has mastered the art of interpreting the actions of these many different complex mechanisms in specific situations, regardless of the theoretical views that he adheres to. "

Stevenson L. Ten Theories About Human Nature

Freud's very personality was also subjected to serious criticism. In particular, he was reproached for “unscientific”, it was argued that his clinical research was often erroneous, and he himself showed sexism. In addition, the scientist was accused of providing a psychological basis for almost any disease - up to allergies or asthma. The application of the methods of psychoanalysis to literary works has been repeatedly criticized: the interpretation of literary texts from the standpoint of Freudian theory, according to a number of researchers, stands on the "false and erroneous" assumption, according to which the author's unconscious thoughts and desires are expressed on paper, and many literary heroes are nothing more as a projection of the psyche of their creator. Some of Freud's opponents called him not a scientist, but a brilliant playwright, "Shakespeare of the XX century", "in the dramas invented by whom the villain (" It "), the hero (" Super-I ") fight and everything revolves around sex."

According to research by the American Association of Psychoanalysts, despite the fact that psychoanalysis is widespread in many humanities, psychology departments (at least in the United States) treat it only as a historical artifact. A number of authors note that from a scientific point of view, Freud's doctrine is dead both as a theory of development and as a therapeutic technique: empirical evidence of a person's passage through the stages of psychosexual development has not been obtained, nor has there been any evidence that transfers and catharsis are the reasons for the effectiveness of psychoanalytic therapy. There is currently no evidence that psychoanalysis is a more productive treatment than other forms of psychotherapy. Drew Western, a professor of medicine at Harvard University, for example, calls Freud's theory archaic and outdated.

The well-known psychologist G. Yu. Eysenck also studied Freud's teachings. He concluded that there was no convincing experimental support for Freud's theories. Eysenck noted that for a long time "the superiority of psychoanalysis was simply assumed on the basis of pseudoscientific arguments without any objective evidence", and the practical cases described by Freud are not such evidence, since what he claimed to be a "cure" in there was no real cure. In particular, the famous "wolf man", contrary to claims about this, was not cured at all, since in fact the symptoms of his disorder persisted in the next 60 years of the patient's life, during which he was constantly treated. The treatment of the "rat man" was also unsuccessful. A similar situation is with the famous case of "cure" by Breuer of Anna O .: in fact, as historians have shown, the diagnosis of hysteria made by the patient was erroneous - the woman suffered from tuberculous meningitis and was in the hospital for a long time with symptoms of this disease.

Based on many studies, Eysenck concludes that remission without treatment ("spontaneous remission") develops in neurotic patients as often as cure after psychoanalysis: about 67% of patients with serious symptoms recovered within two years. Based on the fact that psychoanalysis is not more effective than placebo, Eysenck concludes that the theory underlying it is wrong, and also that "it is completely unethical to prescribe it to patients, charge them for it, or teach therapists such an ineffective method." ... In addition, Eysenck cites data that psychoanalysis can have a negative effect on patients, worsen their psychological and physical condition.

Books about Sigmund Freud

• Dadong, Roger. Freud. - M .: Kh.G.S., 1994 .-- 512 p.
• Casafont, Josep Ramon. Sigmund Freud / trans. with Spanish A. Berkova. - M .: AST, 2006 .-- 253 p. - (Biography and creativity).
• Jones, Ernest. The life and works of Sigmund Freud / trans. from English V. Starovoitov. - M .: Humanitarian AGI, 1996 .-- 448 p.
• Shterensis, Mikhail. Sigmund Freud. - ISRADON / IsraDon, Phoenix, 2012 .-- 160 p. - (Mark on history).
• Nadezhdin, Nikolay. Sigmund Freud. “Beyond Consciousness”. - Major, 2011 .-- 192 p. - (Informal biographies).
• Ferris, Paul. Sigmund Freud / trans. from English Ekaterina Martinkevich. - Minsk: Poppuri, 2001 .-- 448 p.
• Stone, Irving. Passion of the mind. Biographical novel about Sigmund Freud / trans. from English I. Usacheva. - M .: AST, 2011 .-- 864 p.
• Babin, Pierre. Sigmund Freud. Tragic in the Age of Science / trans. with fr. Elena Sutotskaya. - M .: AST, 2003 .-- 144 p. - (Science. Discovery).
• Berry, Ruth. Sigmund Freud. A beginner's guide. Life and teachings of the founder of psychoanalysis. - Hippo, 2010 .-- 128 p.
• Wittels, Fritz. Freud. His personality, teaching and school / per. with him. G. Taubman. - KomKniga, 2007 .-- 200 p.
• Markus, Gerorg. Sigmund Freud and the Secrets of the Soul. Biography / per. from English A. Zhuravel. - AST, 2008 .-- 336 p.
• Brown, James. Freud's Psychology and Post-Freudians / per. from English .. - M .: Refl-book, 1997 .-- 304 p. - (Actual psychology).
• Lukimson P. Freud: a case history. - M.: Molodaya gvardiya, 2014 .-- 461 p., Fol. silt - (The life of wonderful people; Issue 1651 (1451)). - 5000 copies.

Reflection in culture

Literature and cinema

Freud has been mentioned several times in works of fiction. As a character, the scientist appeared in the novels:

• The Passion of the Mind (1971) by Irving Stone,
• Ragtime (1975) by Edgar Doctorow,
• The White Hotel (1981) by D. M. Thomas
• "When Nietzsche Wept" (1992) by Irwin Yalom,
• "The Box of Dreams" (2003) by D. Madson,
• Freud's Murder (2006) by Jed Rubenfeld,
• The Little Book (2008) by Selden Edwards,
• Vienna Triangle (2009) Brands Webster.

Freud and his theory had a significant influence on the famous Russian and American writer Vladimir Nabokov - despite the well-documented and well-known dislike of the latter for Freud and psychoanalytic interpretations in general, the influence of the founding father of psychoanalysis on the writer can be traced in many novels; so, for example, Nabokov's descriptions of incest in the novel "Lolita" are clearly similar to Freud's understanding of the theory of seduction. In addition to "Lolita", references to Freud's work are contained in many other works of Nabokov, despite the latter's numerous attacks on psychoanalysis and the stigma of Freud as a "Viennese charlatan." For example, the author of the book The Talking Cure: Literary Representations of Psychoanalysis Jeffrey Berman, professor of English at the University of Albany, writes: "Freud is a central figure in Nabokov's life, always following the writer in shadow."

Freud more than once became the hero of dramatic works - for example, "Hysteria" (1993) by Terry Johnson, "Cure by Conversation" (2002) by Christopher Hampton (filmed by David Cronenberg in 2011 under the title "A Dangerous Method"), "Porcupine" (2008) Michael Merino, The Last Session of Freud (2009) by Mark Germain.

The scientist has also become a character in numerous films and television series - the full list of them in the IMDb catalog is 71 paintings.

Museums and monuments

Several monuments have been erected in honor of Freud - in London, in Vienna near the alma mater of the scientist - his statue (there is also his stele in the city); there is a memorial plaque on the house where the researcher was born in the town of Pribor. In Austria, Freud's portraits were used in the design of schillings - coins and banknotes. There are several museums dedicated to the memory of Freud. One of them, the Freud's Dream Museum, is located in St. Petersburg; it was opened in 1999 for the centenary of the publication of "Interpretation of Dreams" and is dedicated to the theories of the scientist, dreams, art and various antiquities. The museum is an installation on the theme of dreams and is located in the building of the East European Institute of Psychoanalysis.

The larger Sigmund Freud Museum is located in Vienna at Bergasse 19 - in the house where the scientist worked most of his life. The museum was created in 1971 with the assistance of Anna Freud and currently occupies the premises of the former apartment and study of the researcher; his collection contains a large number of original furnishings, antiquities belonging to the scientist, originals of many manuscripts and an extensive library. In addition, the museum displays film recordings from the Freud family archives, provided with commentaries by Anna Freud, lecture and exhibition halls function.

The Sigmund Freud Museum also exists in London and is located in the building where the founder of psychoanalysis lived after his forced emigration from Vienna. The museum has a very rich exposition containing the scientist's original household items, transported from his home in Bergasse. In addition, the exhibition includes many antiques from Freud's personal collection, including works of ancient Greek, ancient Roman and ancient Egyptian art. There is a research center in the museum building.

Freud Monument (Vienna)

Sigmund from a young age was distinguished by exceptional abilities and a keen interest in the latest achievements of science. Mainly he is attracted by natural sciences - in their strict laws, he hopes to acquire the key to the secrets of nature and human existence. But curiosity and breadth of interests do not allow him to limit himself to only one area of \u200b\u200bknowledge. At the University of Sigmund, he is a member of the student union for the study of history, politics and philosophy, studies the works of Plato and Aristotle, as well as the texts of oriental philosophers.

After graduating from the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna, Freud dreams of a career as a scientist, but he is forced to take care of "a piece of bread" and therefore becomes a practicing neurologist. He works in one of the Vienna psychiatric clinics under the guidance of the largest psychiatrist and neuropathologist of that time T. Meinert. During this period, Freud wrote several articles on the original methods of studying the nervous tissue and they are quickly gaining popularity in the scientific world. Subsequently, his observations played an important role in the creation of neural theory - the basic principle of modern neurology. In 1881, Freud received a degree in medicine.

One of the reasons that prompted Freud to take care not only of his scientific interests, but also of material well-being, was the upcoming marriage. In 1882, he was engaged to Martha Bernays. Caring for his family, relationships with loved ones have always been extremely important to him. Subsequently, the problem of the relationship between fathers and children, as well as the intricacies of desires and duty in family relationships, become one of the main themes of his work.

In the same year, an event took place in Freud's life that greatly influenced the further development of his views. By this time, Freud begins to feel the limitations of the physiotherapy treatments offered by neurologists. He becomes a student of Joseph Breuer, a successful practicing physician who later became not only his teacher, but also a close friend. Breuer used light hypnosis to treat his patients and had good results. At the end of 1882, Freud reads the story of Anna O., Breuer's patient. This girl lost her father, after which she developed hysterical symptoms: paralysis of the limbs, impaired skin sensitivity, speech and vision disorders. In addition, she had a split personality. The transition from one personality to another was accompanied by self-hypnosis, accompanied by stories about her daily life. During one of these states, she described in detail how she developed one of the symptoms. When she returned to her usual state, it was suddenly discovered that this symptom had disappeared. This event prompted Breuer to create a new method of treatment, which he called cathartic: he immersed the patient in a hypnotic state and asked him to tell in detail about all the events accompanying the onset of the symptom.

Despite his success in treating Anna O., Breuer suddenly refuses to continue working with her and hastily leaves with his wife for Venice. The reason for this is passionate feelings that suddenly awakened to him in the patient. When he refuses further sessions, Anna experiences a severe hysterical crisis, symbolizing childbirth. It turned out that even during the treatment, Breuer developed an imaginary pregnancy, for some reason not noticed by the doctor. Breuer is shocked and confused, he cannot find an explanation for this incident.

Since ancient times, hysteria has been called a “deceiving disease.” Usually, doctors did not take seriously hysterical patients, believing them to be ordinary simulators, skillfully parodying the symptoms of various diseases - paralysis, asthma, stomach diseases, etc. The case of Anna O. awakened Freud's deep interest in this disease.

In 1885, Freud learns about the unusual methods of treating mental illness by the French physician Charcot, nicknamed by his contemporaries "the king of neuroses." Most of the work of this scientist is devoted to the study of hysteria. To study the nature of this disease and its treatment, Charcot, like Breuer, uses hypnosis. The French school of neuropathology had a wealth of clinical material and extraordinary success in the study of hypnosis and hysteria, but in Vienna these studies were met with rather skepticism. Therefore, Freud decides to go to Paris to personally study with Charcot.

Before leaving for Paris, Freud's bride, Martha, finds him doing a strange job: he burns his letters and papers in the oven. He explains to her that he wants to complicate the work of his biographers, because he has a dislike for them in advance. To her objection that he will not have any biographers, he confidently replies that great people always have biographers ... This scene is described by Sartre in his screenplay "Freud". When this script was written, Freud's personality had already become legendary, and psychoanalysis had gained the strength of one of the new mythologies of the twentieth century. It is difficult to say with certainty whether this conversation actually took place, but there is no doubt that Freud believed in his special destiny and this belief gave him resilience and determination in the most difficult periods of his life.

Acquaintance with the works of Charcot, the "Parisian period" turned out to be a turning point in his life. Charcot paid great attention to the patient's fantasy world, he argued that the causes of hysteria are in the psyche, and not in physiology. In one of the conversations with Freud, he notices that, in his opinion, the causes of the neurotic's illness lie in the peculiarities of his sex life. These ideas, compared with the observations of Freud himself, as well as with the memorable case of Anna O., suggest the existence of a special sphere of the psyche, hidden from consciousness, but having a great influence on our life. Moreover, this area consists mainly of sexual desires and desires, one way or another manifested during treatment.

Nya.
In 1886 Freud returned to Vienna and in October made a report to the Medical Society "on hysteria in men." Mainly, he expounds in it the ideas of Charcot, seeing in them the possibility of solving the riddle of this disease. However, his message was received rather skeptically and was soon forgotten. Deeply disappointed, Freud returned to neurology, while also practicing medicine. His works "Aphasia" (1891), "Project of Scientific Psychology" (1895), "On Infant Paralysis of the Brain" (1897) were published.

Together with Breuer, Freud continued the study of hysteria and its treatment using the cathartic method. In 1895, they published the book "Studies in Hysteria", which for the first time speaks of the relationship between the emergence of neurosis and unsatisfied drives and emotions displaced from consciousness. Freud is also occupied with another state of the human psyche, similar to the hypnotic one - a dream. In the same year, he discovers the basic formula for the secret of dreams: each of them is the fulfillment of a desire. This thought struck him so much that he even jokingly suggested nailing a commemorative plaque in the place where it happened. Five years later, he expounded these ideas in his book, The Interpretation of Dreams, which he invariably considered his best work.

Developing his ideas, Freud concludes that the main force guiding all actions, thoughts and desires of a person is the energy of libido, that is, the power of sexual desire. The human unconscious is filled with this energy and therefore it is in constant confrontation with consciousness - the embodiment of moral norms and moral foundations. Thus, he comes to a description of the hierarchical structure of the psyche, consisting of three "levels": consciousness, preconscious and unconscious. The preconscious consists of those desires and thoughts that were realized, but were repressed, they can be quite easily returned to the area of \u200b\u200bconsciousness. The unconscious is made up of natural forces and instincts, the realization of which is very difficult. In addition, Freud identifies three qualities of the psyche, three "characters" present in each of us, between which there is a constant confrontation. These characters are Super-I, I and It. The first of them is the focus of moral norms and stereotypes dictated by society. It is a world of chaos, natural forces and drives. The self that found itself between them is forced to reconcile with each other the requirements of one and the other, taking into account also the conditions of the external world. Freud wrote: "I, moved by It, constrained by the Superego, repulsed by reality" is forced to make every effort to harmonize relations between these three "masters".

Freud's discoveries were met very coldly by the Puritan Vienna. He himself wrote about this: "the attitude towards them was negative, imbued with a sense of contempt, compassion, or superiority." Scientifically accurate descriptions of the “reverse side” of the human soul, the play of instincts and unconscious elements made the prim scientific men feel like something base and obscene. Freud's theory was accepted as a "bad taste" (P. Janet). But Freud remains true to the truth of scientific facts, maintaining rigor and impartiality. He doesn't make any compromises

From 1896 to 1902, Freud finds himself in complete isolation. Even his mentor Breuer turns his back on him, not wanting to harm his career. He devotes years of solitude to the continuation of his research and receives new confirmation of the truth of his views. The emptiness that reigned around him was greeted by him with great courage and calmness, later he calls this period "a wonderful, heroic time."

Despite the negative reaction of the intellectual elite, Freud's extraordinary ideas are gradually gaining acceptance among young doctors in Vienna. In 1902, students and like-minded people gathered around Freud, and a psychoanalytic circle was formed. During this period, Freud wrote The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1904), Wit and Its Relationship to the Unconscious (1905), and Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1909). In 1907 he establishes contact with the school of psychiatrists of their Zurich and his student becomes a young Swiss doctor C.G. Jung. Freud pinned great hopes on this man - he considered him the best successor to his brainchild, capable of leading the psychoanalytic community. In 1909, the two of them were invited to the United States to give lectures, where they performed with great success.

However, C.G. Jung is bold and independent in his judgments and he gets into an argument with his teacher. As a result of his own research and observations, Jung cannot agree that the main force driving the will and desires of all mankind is the energy of sexual attraction, designated by Freud by the term libido. Jung also uses this term, but he understands by it the energy of a more general, global nature, a kind of fundamental "life force" as such. A relationship that began with mutual admiration ends in a lawsuit. At the request of Freud, Jung is "excommunicated" from psychoanalysis and is forced to name his method of psychotherapy in a different way: "analytical psychology."

Freud is still surrounded by disciples, but in none of them he sees a worthy successor. He constructs the theory of psychoanalysis on the model of natural science, with all its inherent rigor. Therefore, he also requires his students to comply with these strict rules, to follow clear principles and patterns. But the most talented students, one by one, leave it, creating their own directions. Despite all the blows of fate, Freud does not lose hope. He ends one of his books from this period of his life with the wish that "fate would grant a slight upsurge to all those who became uncomfortable in the underworld of psychoanalysis, and let the rest be free to complete the work in its depths."

Freud continues to work actively, psychoanalysis is widely known throughout Europe, in the USA, in Russia. In 1909 he gave lectures in the USA, in 1910 the First International Congress on Psychoanalysis was held in Nuremberg. In 1915-1917. he lectures in his homeland, at the University of Vienna. His new works are published, where he continues his research on the secrets of the unconscious. Now his ideas go beyond just medicine and psychology, but also relate to the laws of the development of culture and society. Many young doctors come to study psychoanalysis directly to its founder.

Among them are S. Spielrein, L. Andreas-Salome, Nikolai Osipov, Moses Wulf from Russia. From 1910 to 1930 psychoanalysis was one of the most important components of Russian culture. In 1914, Freud wrote: “In Russia psychoanalysis is known and widespread; almost all of my books, like those of other adherents of psychoanalysis, have been translated into Russian. " The Russian Psychoanalytic Society included such brilliant psychologists as N.E. Osipov, L.S. Vygotsky, A.R. Luria. However, since the mid-1920s, some of them were forced to change the topic of their research, abandoning psychoanalysis, while others had to continue working outside their homeland. The further development of psychoanalysis in Russia became impossible. The fate of S. Spielrein eloquently testifies to this. Returning to Russia in 1923, full of romantic hopes, she tries to continue her psychoanalytic practice, but ends her life tragically, alone and in poverty ...

In the early 1920s, fate once again subjected Freud to severe trials: he develops jaw cancer caused by an addiction to cigars. The alarming social and political situation is giving rise to riots and unrest. Freud, remaining faithful to the natural scientific tradition, increasingly turns to the themes of mass psychology, the psychological structure of religious and ideological dogmas. Continuing to explore the abyss of the unconscious, he now comes to the conclusion that two equally strong principles govern a person: this is the desire for life (Eros) and the desire for death (Thanatos). The instinct of destruction, the forces of aggression and violence manifest themselves too clearly around to be overlooked.

In 1933, fascism came to power in Germany and Freud's books, along with many others that were not pleasing to the new authorities, were set on fire. To this Freud remarks: “What progress we have made! In the Middle Ages they would have burned me, today they are content to burn my books. " After the capture of Austria by the Nazis, Freud finds himself in the hands of the Gestapo, and only the English queen, having paid the ransom for his life, manages to save him from inevitable death. Freud emigrates with his family to England, where he spends the rest of his days.

Today, Freud's personality has become legendary, and his works are unanimously recognized as a new milestone in world culture. Philosophers and writers, artists and directors are interested in the discoveries of psychoanalysis. Even during Freud's lifetime, Stefan Zweig's book "Medicine and Psyche" was published. One of its chapters is devoted to the "father of psychoanalysis", his role in the final revolution of the concept of medicine and the nature of disease. After the Second World War in the USA, psychoanalysis becomes a "second religion" and it is paid tribute to the outstanding masters of American cinema: Vincent Minnelli, Elia Kazan, Nicholas Rey, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin. One of the greatest French philosophers - Jean Paul Sartre writes a script about the life of Freud, and a little later Hollywood director John Houston makes a film based on his motives ... Today it is impossible to name any major writer or scientist, philosopher or director of the twentieth century who has not experienced would be the direct or indirect influence of psychoanalysis. This is how the promise of the young Viennese doctor, which he made to his future wife Martha, came true - he really became a great man.