Freud summary

Freud shocked the world by demonstrating the importance of unconscious motivation in human behavior. Freud learned that physical disorders could have psychological as well as organic origins, and therefore hysteria should be viewed as a serious, treatable disorder. Freud learned that behavior can be caused by ideas of which individuals are unaware. He also learned that unconscious ideas can be made conscious if certain procedures are followed. Freud learned from Breuer that when a patient openly discusses his or her problems, a release of tension called catharsis often occurs. Sometimes a patient responds to a therapist as if he or she were an important person in the patient’s life, and this process is called transference. Also, the therapist sometimes becomes emotionally involved with the patient, and this occurrence is called countertransference. After experimenting with several therapeutic techniques, Freud arrived at free association as a primary means of studying the unconscious.

According to Freud, instincts constitute the driving force behind personality. Instincts have a source, an aim, an object, and an impetus. Freud referred to the life instincts collectively as Eros and to the energy associated with life instincts as libido or libidinal energy. A death instinct, called Thanatos, is responsible for aggression that Freud believed was the tendency toward self-destruction turned outward.

The adult mind is divided