Sigmund Freud's Purpose in Life and Science

The brain is the soft nervous tissue organ that controls the actions, personality, and traits of all living things. Based on the data presented to this organic learning computer, the brain makes every animal separate from the other. No data set is the same thus no skills and habits learned are the same. Every animal, including humans, is indisputably different in their own, individual way. Though everyone is different in some way or the other, many individuals are not so different. Such individuals are separated into certain classes of their own built ego and or personality classes.

This is where the major role of psychology comes into play. Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. “Psychology is a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such areas as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior and cognitive processes.” (McLeod, Saul) Such subsets include different types of Psychology, which revolve around certain areas. One of the more fascinating subsets is Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is a system of psychological theory of therapy, which aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind through techniques such as dream interpretation and free association. (Online dictionary, “What is psychoanalysis?”) Psychoanalysis was pioneered by, “Sigmund Freud”. Originally Sigismund Schlomo but later changed to Sigmund Freud, is commonly known as the founder of this vast subset of Psychology. Who was the person that brought us the concept of psychoanalysis? What drove him to develop this form of analysis? Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856 in Frieberg, Moravia (Now in current day Pribor in the Czech Republic). His family consisted of seven siblings and him. Adding more to the tree, on Sept. 14, 1886 Sigmund Freud got married to Martha Bernays. They had many children, 6 in total. However, with the unfortunate loss of his 4 daughters during World War II, only two children survived.

Sigmund Freud went through many tough years in his life and accomplished many things, most of which are tied into his undisputed knowledge of Psychology. In 1881, he earned his medical degree in neurobiology in the University of Vienna. With such education, he strived to obtain even more information and ultimately unlock the innermost mystery of the mind and the consciousness. His research led him to the development of the “Freudian theory”, a theory that states that the mind is split among three fundamental factors, the “Id, Ego and Superego”. This theory states that the surrounding environment and events that happen to that person make up what the person perceives as right or wrong and who they are. Sigmund Freud believed that these three fundamental factors make up the mind throughout the conscious, preconscious and subconscious state.

The “Id” symbolizes primitive immediate desire, a yearning for something deep inside their mind. Examples would be envy, jealousy and greed. The person could want something very greatly by their “id”, but that Id is stopped by the Superego. The superego is the perception of what is right, and what is wrong. It is the firewall that blocks the person from making bad, rash decisions. Depending on the concentration of the either factors, makes up the ego. The Ego is the final decision between the balance of the other two other factors. An example would be, the angel on one shoulder, and the devil on the other. They both share their ideas and the final decision is made by the person themselves. Another example of the ego’s scaling is positive and negative numbers. If the Id’s desire is lower than the Superego’s reality check, the Superego influences the person from doing what the Id wanted to do. The opposite can also be the same and the person would do exactly what the Id wants. Freud took this theory a bit further. He diagramed his final theory as an iceberg (see attached Exhibit A). The conscious is the action that the individual either does or creates. The Ego is within the preconscious, and the Superego, along with the Id, resides in the subconscious. Thus, the human mind is nothing more than a rational decision making computer; however, not all these computers are perfect. The Id of some minds is so powerful that of the superego is too misinformed and or miss guided, that the final decision made by the ego leads the individual to do rash, possibly unmoral, decisions. The severity of these decisions varies based on the outcome of the actions. Some can be harmless, like wanting to eat unhealthy food. But others can be theft, manslaughter, mass genocide, etc. Such individuals could have saved themselves if they were informed properly; a thinking process similar to that described by Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson believed that the common man was capable of making rational decisions if properly informed.

This vast, in depth analysis of the mind and its 3 determining factors are why Sigmund Freud is acclaimed as a master of the mind, along with all of it’s subsets. Psychoanalysis could also have been used in some of the testing and treatments of the mind of “Charlie Gordon”, the main character in, Flowers for Algernon. In this novel, Charlie Gordon was born with a mental disorder in which he is slow to process various data that is provided for him. As such, he is “slow minded” and it takes him more time to learn and figure out even the simplest of things. This as a whole, shapes his personality. Thus, he was directed into a “hospital”(actually research facility), and underwent many tests (including the “Rorschach test”, invented by Herman Rorschach). This eventually led him to a undergo neural brain surgery, which slowly but steadily caused his IQ triple; which amounted to 204, where before it was an IQ of 68. Psychoanalysis could explain this accurately as the main “iceberg” theory works perfectly with this given scenario. The “Id” would be his driving “want” factor, therefore it would be his want of a greater intelligence and to be viewed as an equal to those around him, if not greater. His Superego is relatively small, due to his misunderstanding and possible misinterpretation of what is right, and what is wrong. Thus his Superego would lose to the Id, causing his Ego to take side with his animalistic in nature, Id. Thus his decision of undergoing the surgery would be the same outcome as before and nothing would necessarily change. If he had been more educated, whether being mentally slow or not, the outcome might have been different because it might have changed his viewpoint and his general understanding. But why was Sigmund Freud’s work on Psychoanalysis significant? What made it different from the rest of other Psychology and other therapy?

Psychoanalysis can be used to treat many conditions, such as depression, anxiety, feelings of isolation, low self esteem, self destructive behavior, etc. Psychoanalysis was also the driving factor in Sigmund Freud’s work with his daughter, Anna Freud, in developing “Child Psychoanalysis”. The influence on Sigmund Freud’s work was a variety of things. The main one being Charles Darwin. Like many others, Sigmund Freud was greatly influenced by Darwin’s works, and ambitions. As well as living in the long-nineteenth century, Freud was influenced by the ever growing trend of study in the growing field of Psychology at the time. The main setting of Sigmund Freud’s research was in Vienna, where he first staring working at the “Vienna General Hospital”. As such, he was able to collaborate with Josef Breuer, his colleague and partner in treating “hysteria”, a psychological disorder. Then along came the dreaded second round of war. World War 2 was a relentless, consuming fire that spread throughout Eastern Europe and eventually made its way over to Vienna. Many bombings happened over head. First the Nazis took control of his country, and they were not only insistent on capturing and stealing from the Jews, but also capturing “psychoanalysts”, for they believe that the theories on Id’s “uncivilized and barbaric nature” was subversive to the “Volk” as they called it. (German word for folk, or common people.) As such, they destroyed Freud’s personal belongings, business industry, property, research and burned his books. Sigmund Freud later stated, 'What progress we are making,' Freud told a friend. 'In the Middle Ages they would have burnt me; nowadays they are content with burning my books.' -Sigmund Freud. Due to the immense pain and low life expectancy from oral cancer, he later committed suicide from 3 separate doses of the pain killer/opioid, Morphine.

As a whole, Sigmund Freud’s entire purpose in life was his life’s work. He struggled much as anyone would to overcome tough challenges of his life and times. His mind and psychological thinking are highly regarded by many even today. His theories have certainly not gone to waste, and they are still used and referred to in a variety of treatments. His work helped to form the basis for modern psychotherapy.