“The Father of Psychoanalysis” Sigmund Freud did not really like to talk about his personal life. As they say, just in case... You never know what conclusions his students will come to?! However, Freud's great love story is still quite well known. Because of his love for the beautiful Martha, Sigmund Freud overcame complexes, doubts, and prejudices.

On an April evening in 1882, Shlomo Sigismund Freud, who preferred to call himself Sigmund Freud in German (or Freud in traditional Russian transcription), found guests at home. Solomon, that is, Shlomo, was named by his dad in honor of his late father. His mother christened him Sigismund. At the age of 17, the young man changed his name to the Teutonic Sigmund and extremely disliked being called by the name his mother gave him. At that time, in Austria-Hungary, the hero of anti-Semitic jokes was called Sigismund, but Freud was generally ashamed of his Jewishness and there were never any of his German peers in their house. Sigi, as his mother affectionately called him, was ashamed that she spoke extremely poor German.

So this time, when Sigmund returned from work, judging by their attire, a couple of religious orthodox men were sitting in the kitchen. Having greeted Frau Emmeline Bernays and her son Eli with a skeptical grin, Sigmund's gaze involuntarily lingered on his sister Anna's friend, whose name was Martha Bernays. The young man came out of his stupor when everyone was called to the table, and before that he had been incessantly watching how deftly the girl peeled an apple... At dinner, Freud asked her several questions, but due to slight dizziness, he did not hear or did not understand the answers. That same night, painfully trying to sleep, the virgin young man decided for himself that Martha was obliged to become his wife. It doesn’t matter that the girl grew up in a “backward”, in his opinion, religious family; he will be able to re-educate her in the right way without “Jewish superstitions and prejudices.”

The author of the compilation biography of Freud, Israeli journalist Peter Lukimson, writes: “Then events developed truly rapidly. Freud, who had never courted girls before, asked to visit the Burnays. Then he became so bold that he proposed to Martha, whose family had moved to Vienna 11 years earlier. from Hamburg, to show her “the real Vienna and its beauty.” Frau Emmeline Bernays graciously agreed to these dates, stipulating that, as Jewish tradition dictates, the young people will not walk alone, but accompanied by Minna, Martha’s younger sister.”

Conversations about literature and art were interspersed with voyeurism on the part of the future creator of psychoanalysis. The beautiful Jewish woman stopped from time to time, went to the bench and, lifting the hem of her dress high, straightened her stockings that had slipped down on her graceful legs. Sigmund diligently tried at these moments not to look at the erotic action, but his gaze treacherously slid over the slender forms that opened to him. And then Freud made a vow to himself to send Martha a rose every day. Despite his meager income, he fulfilled his vow.

Freud experienced feelings of jealousy already in the first summer of their acquaintance. One day he found Martha copying a sheet music for her cousin Max Meyer. Marriages between cousins ​​were not uncommon among Jews in those days. And how did our lover behave? The next day he invited Martha for a romantic walk in the park. She agreed and Sigmund was in seventh heaven. At five minutes the professor behaved like a boy and recited poems from memory. Then he bent down, rummaged a little in the grass and fished out a double almond. Handing the fruit to the girl, Freud added something about secret signs from above.

Two days later, Martha’s response came. The homely girl baked a pie with her own hands and attached a note to it. In a joking tone, it was written that Freud dissected various organs and therefore she sent him her product for dissection. I wonder how Dr. Freud himself would have analyzed this case? The inventor of conversations on the couch himself did not like being asked about the intimate details of his private life. You never know what conclusions his students will come to?!

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

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

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

Sigmund Freud: date of birth and death

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

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

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

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

Little Sigmund had his own brothers and sister.

Childhood period

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

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

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

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

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

The early years of the life of Sigmund Freud

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

Personal life and family of a scientist

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

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

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

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

Freud's practice and innovations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other methods of Z. Freud

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

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

Turning years

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sigmund Freud and his publications

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

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

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

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

The last days of the great scientist

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

Austrian psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and neurologist. Sigmund Freud is best known as the founder of psychoanalysis, which had a significant influence on psychology, medicine, sociology, anthropology, literature and art of the 20th century.

Date and place of birth: May 6, 1856, Freiberg, Austrian Empire, (now Příbor, Czech Republic)

Children - Anna Freud

Sigmund Freud is best known as the founder of psychoanalysis, which had a significant influence 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 researcher's life they continued to cause resonance and criticism in the scientific community.

Interesting Facts

Almost every fundamental postulate of Freudian theory has been criticized by prominent scientists and writers such as Karl Jaspers, Erich Fromm, Albert Ellis, Karl Kraus and many others.

Being extremely ambitious since childhood, he knew all the books he came across and, possessing a photographic memory, could at any moment remember everything that was written in them. Without a hint of embarrassment, he spoke about his achievements.

An atheist, Freud was born into a Jewish family and became a special target of the Nazis when they came to power. His books were among those burned by the Nazis in 1933.

He held the titles of Doctor of Medicine, Professor, Honorary Doctor of Laws from Clark University and was a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of London, winner of the Goethe Prize, and an Honorary Fellow of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the French Psychoanalytic Society and the British Psychological Society.

Sigmund Freud did not want to go into medicine. In fact, since childhood he dreamed of being a general or minister. But in those distant times there were only two professions for Jews - medicine and law. He eventually entered the University of Vienna. He moved from one faculty to another until he finally went to medicine.

The street where Freud was born - Schlossergasse - now bears his name.

Sigmund Freud spoke: Latin, Greek, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew and German. Even considering that German is his native language, this is impressive.

After Germany captured Austria, the Nazis raided his apartments, arresting his daughter Anna. With the help of his friend and patient, Princess Marie Bonaparte, Freud and his family fled to Paris and then to London.

It was Freud who coined the now generally accepted term “cerebral palsy (CP).”

The book, which Freud called his “most significant work,” made little impact when it was published in 1899 and was a commercial failure. In its first six years, Freud's Interpretation of Dreams sold only 351 times, and the second edition was not published until 1909. This is one of the most interesting facts about Freud that few people know.

In 1884, Freud read about the experiments of a certain German military doctor with a new drug - cocaine. Scientific papers have included claims that this substance can increase endurance and significantly reduce fatigue. Freud was extremely interested in what he read and decided to conduct a series of experiments on himself. The first mention of this substance by a scientist dates back to April 21, 1884 - in one of his letters, Freud noted: “I got some cocaine and will try to test its effects, using it in cases of heart disease, as well as nervous exhaustion, especially in the terrible state of morphine withdrawal.”

Sigmund Freud was afraid of the combination of numbers 6 and 2 all his life. He never stayed in hotels that had more than sixty-one rooms, so that he would not even accidentally get a room with the ill-fated number. And on February 6, Freud preferred not to go outside.

Freud was called a charlatan and a sexual maniac because of his discovery of the sexual etymology of neuroses.

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.

After Freud's death, his ashes were placed in an ancient Greek urn given to him by Bonaparte. When his wife, Martha, died in 1951, her ashes were added to a vase and stored at Golders Green Crematorium in London. In January 2014, London police reported that thieves attempted to steal Freud's ashes. Although the theft was foiled, the thieves severely damaged the 2,300-year-old urn.

Sigmund Freud hated music. It got to the point that he didn’t even visit restaurants where the orchestra was playing.

The psychoanalyst was sure that we do not choose people at random. We meet only those who already exist in our subconscious.

The Sigmund Freud Museum also exists in London and is located in the building where the founder of psychoanalysis lived after being forced to emigrate from Vienna. The museum has a very rich exhibition containing original household items of the scientist, transported from his home on Bergasse.

By 1925, Freud's fame had spread so widely that film producer Samuel Goldwyn offered the Viennese psychoanalyst (whom he called "the most remarkable love specialist in the world") $100,000 to help write a film script "about the greatest romances in history." Despite the eye-popping offer, Freud turned it down, having previously accepted a $25,000 offer from the publisher of the Chicago Tribune. His job was to psychoanalyze the famous criminals Leopold and Loeb while they awaited their sensational murder trial.

Freud believed that the cause of all psychological problems in women lies in the fact that nature deprived them of penises. Moreover, according to the great psychologist, the fair sex does not have the ability to make objective judgments. He considered them childish, jealous and ignorant. And if a problem arises in society, its cause, according to Freud, must be sought precisely in the woman, especially when it comes to sexual tension between the sexes.

Freud considered himself his most beloved patient.

According to Freud, there are three psychosexual stages of personality development: oral, anal and phallic.

The Sigmund Freud Museum and Hall is located in the scientist’s homeland, in the Czech city of Příbor. It was opened on the 150th anniversary of Freud's birth - the house was bought by the city authorities and received cultural heritage status; The opening of the museum took place with the assistance of the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, and the scientist’s four grandchildren.

He was a heavy smoker and did not hide it. He considered smoking to be the greatest pleasure in life.

Quotes

Recognizing a problem is half the success in solving it.

Every person has desires that he does not communicate to others, and desires that he does not even admit to himself.

All our actions are based on two motives: the desire to become great and sexual attraction.

The limitation of pleasure only increases its value.

We do not choose each other by chance... We meet only those who already exist in our subconscious.

The first man who threw a curse instead of a stone was the creator of civilization.

Unfortunately, repressed emotions don't die. They were silenced. And they continue to influence a person from within.

No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, his fingertips speak; betrayal seeps out of him through every pore.

Nothing happens by chance, everything has a root cause.

Ideal, eternal, hate-free love exists only between an addict and a drug.

How brave and self-confident one becomes who becomes convinced that he is loved.

The secret of the human soul lies in the psychic dramas of childhood. Get to the bottom of these dramas and healing will come.

The more perfect a person is on the outside, the more demons he has inside.

The only person you should compare yourself to is your past self. And the only person you should be better than is you now.

Why don't we fall in love with someone new every month? Because if we parted, we would have to lose a piece of our own heart.

The stranger a dream seems to us, the deeper meaning it carries.

Neurosis is the inability to tolerate uncertainty.

We are never so defenseless as when we love and never so hopelessly unhappy as when we lose the object of our love or his love.

In a love relationship, you cannot spare each other, as this can only lead to alienation. If there are difficulties, they must be overcome.

Only making your childhood dreams come true can bring happiness.

When I am criticized, I can defend myself, but I am powerless against praise.

Depression is frozen fear.

The ultimate goal of any human activity is to achieve peace.

Being completely honest with yourself is a good exercise.

A woman should soften, not weaken a man.

The moment a person begins to think about the meaning and value of life, one can begin to consider him sick.

Sigmund Freud - the most interesting facts from life and quotes - Austrian psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and neurologist updated: November 17, 2016 by: website

The beginning of the twentieth century was the period of formation of a new direction in psychology and psychiatry - psychoanalysis. The pioneer of this trend was the Austrian psychotherapist Sigmund Freud. The period of his active scientific activity was 45 years. During this time he created:

• personality theory, this concept was the first in the history of science;
• method of treating neuroses;
• methodology for studying deep mental processes;
• systematized many clinical observations using self-analysis and his therapeutic practice.

S. Freud joked about his future biographers:

As for my biographers, let them suffer, we will not make their task easier. Everyone will be able to imagine the “evolution of the hero” in their own way, and everyone will be right; I'm already amused by their mistakes.

Discoverer of the depths of the unconscious

Much has been written about Sigmund Freud. The personality of the founder of psychoanalysis has aroused and continues to arouse great interest. There are many bright and extraordinary people in the history of science, but very few of them received such opposite assessments, and their scientific theories evoked such unconditional acceptance or absolute rejection. But no matter how one evaluates Sigmund Freud’s views on the psychosexual nature of man, one cannot deny his enormous influence on the development of modern culture.

By the way, let’s try to remember how many times we ourselves used the expression “Freudian slip.” The scientist’s views served as an impetus for the creation of an entire school in psychiatry and psychology. Thanks to him, the view of human nature itself was revised. His analysis of works of art and literature influenced the formation of the methodology of modern art criticism. Yes, his favorite students - A. Adler and K. Jung - went their own way, but they always recognized the enormous influence of the Teacher on their development as researchers. But at the same time, we know about S. Freud’s stubborn reluctance to change even one iota his views on libido as the only source of neuroses and unconscious impulses in human behavior. It is known that his unbridled passion for studying the unconscious was not always safe for his patients.

Erich Fromm, in his book dedicated to S. Freud, emphasizes the scientist’s faith in reason: “This faith in the power of reason suggests that Freud was the son of the Age of Enlightenment, whose motto - “Sapere aude” (“Dare to know”) - completely defined both Freud's personality and his works." I dare to object to him. S. Freud's view of human nature and his discovery of the powerful influence of the unconscious on people's actions brought irrational phenomena in the human psyche into the sphere of attention of science. Even more than S. Freud, his favorite student Carl Jung developed this tendency. Moreover, S. Freud made many of his discoveries in a state of altered consciousness caused by the use of cocaine. So Sigmund Freud cannot be called a rational person who perceives the world too one-dimensionally, a typical heir of the Enlightenment. In my opinion, he was rather a herald of the era about which Alexander Blok wrote:

And black earth blood
Promises us, swelling our veins
Unheard of changes
Unprecedented riots.

At first glance, the life and creative path of the famous Austrian psychologist and psychotherapist has been thoroughly studied, but the more you become acquainted with the works and biography of the scientist, the stronger the feeling of some kind of understatement and mystery arises. True, this feeling has some basis. For some reason, not all of S. Freud’s letters have been published; his letters to his wife’s sister Mina could have been made public back in 2000, but they have not yet been published. The author of one of the biographical books about S. Freud, Ferris Paul, wrote:

The desire to preserve Freud's papers and ward off curious researchers from them led to the creation of the archive. The papers had to be kept under lock and key. Freud had to be protected from the humiliation of having his methods publicly applied to himself. This did not fit with the internal goal of psychoanalysis - to find the truth behind the façade - but it suited Freud's authoritarian personality well.

Indeed, the task of a biographer is to reveal the complex inner world of a scientist, while managing not to descend into vulgar curiosity about the details of his personal life. But it is still necessary to identify the most significant circumstances of his fate for understanding the inner world of a great man. And today we, just like the contemporaries of the famous psychiatrist many years ago, mentally ask: so who are you, Dr. Freud?

Family secrets

Sigmund Freud looked for the origins of neuroses, illnesses and life problems of patients in their childhood experiences. Perhaps they played an important role in the life of the scientist himself. He was born in 1856 into the family of a textile merchant. Freud's birthplace is the Czech town of Freiburg. In childhood he was called Sigismund, and only after moving to Vienna the name of the famous psychiatrist acquired a more familiar sound for us - Sigmund. “Golden Siggy” is what his mother, Amalia Nathanson, called her first-born. By the way, a little-known fact - Amalia was originally from Odessa and lived in this city until she was 16 years old. His parents adored Sigmund and believed that the boy was amazingly gifted. They were not mistaken; Sigmund Freud managed to graduate from high school with honors.

Where are the secrets? - may I ask. At first glance, everything is crystal clear with the scientist’s childhood and youth. But not many people, for example, know that Freud’s mother was the second wife of Jacob Freud; she was 20 years younger than her husband. He had children from his first marriage, and they were much older than Sigmund.

Little Sigmund was born an uncle. His nephew, named John, was a year older than his uncle. Since the struggle between the two children determined the characteristic features of Freud's later development, it is absolutely worthwhile to mention these circumstances from the very beginning.

It is much less known that marriage to the mother of the future famous psychiatrist was Jacob Freud’s third. Perhaps this fact was not advertised, since three marriages are too much for a pious Jew. The name of Jacob's second wife is Rebecca, almost nothing is known about her; we find mention of her in a study of the biography of Sigmund Freud undertaken by R. Guilhorn, R. Clark and R. Down. Valery Leibin, the author of “A Psychopoetic Portrait of Sigmund Freud,” suggests that this foggy moment in the Freud family could have influenced the attitude towards little Sigmund’s father. Whether this is true or not is difficult to judge, but the fact that the informal leader in the family was the mother and it was her faith in her son, her ambitions regarding his brilliant future that had a great influence on Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis himself admitted. Having already become a famous scientist, he wrote:

I became convinced that people who, for some reason, were singled out by their mother in childhood, display in later life that special self-confidence and that unshakable optimism, which often seems heroic and actually preserves these subjects’ success in life.

Sigmund Freud's childhood traumas and the formation of the ideas of psychoanalysis

Were there other episodes in childhood that had a great influence on the “father of psychoanalysis”? Probably yes. The scientist himself analyzed his childhood experiences; the experience of introspection helped him bring them to the surface of his memory. And this is precisely what served as the basis for the formation of the ideas of classical psychoanalysis. For S. Freud, he himself, his childhood traumas and unconscious experiences served as the object of study. In “The Interpretation of Dreams,” the scientist emphasized that a child in early childhood is absolutely selfish and strives to satisfy his needs, competing even with his brothers and sisters.

When Sigmund was one year old, he had a brother, Julius, the baby lived very short and died of illness. A few months after the tragedy, Sigmund had an accident: a two-year-old child fell from a stool and hit his lower jaw so hard on the edge of the table that the wound had to be stitched. The wound healed and everything was forgotten. But in the process of self-analysis, Freud had reason to consider this incident as self-harm. Little Sigmund was jealous of his mother and brother; after the death of the baby, the child could not forgive himself for his jealousy, physical pain drowns out mental pain. This severe self-analysis allowed Freud to find the sources of neuroses in many patients.

The work “Psychopathology of Everyday Life” describes a case when a feeling of guilt before her husband forced a young woman to unknowingly injure herself; the resulting emotional block caused a nervous disease. Although, at first glance, nothing indicated the intentionality of the victim’s actions - she simply accidentally fell out of the carriage and broke her leg. In the process of psychoanalysis, Freud found out the circumstances that preceded the injury: while visiting relatives, a young woman demonstrated her art of performing the cancan. Everyone present was delighted, but the husband was very upset by his wife’s behavior, he said that she behaved “like a girl.” The upset woman spent a sleepless night, and in the morning she wanted to ride in a carriage. She chose the horses herself, and during the trip she was always afraid that the horses would get scared and the coachman would lose control of them. As soon as something resembling this happened, she jumped out of the carriage and broke her leg; none of those in the carriage next to her were injured. So the young woman unknowingly punished herself; she could no longer dance the cancan. Fortunately, having managed to transfer mental trauma to a conscious level, S. Freud cured the woman of a nervous disease.

Thus, the childhood experiences and traumas of the great psychiatrist helped him both in creating the theory of psychoanalysis and in successfully treating patients.

Studying at the University

Having successfully graduated from high school, Sigmund Freud entered the medical department of the University of Vienna. Medicine did not attract him, but the prejudice against Jews was so great that the choice of further career was small: business, trade, law or medicine. So he connected his future with medicine simply by elimination. Freud had a rather humanitarian mindset; he knew French, English, Spanish and Italian perfectly well; German was practically his native language. In his youth, he was fond of reading the works of Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Kant. At the gymnasium he received prizes more than once for his literary works.

At the university, Freud, in addition to his studies, successfully engaged in scientific research; he described the previously unknown properties of nerve cells in goldfish, and studied the reproductive characteristics of the eel. During the same period, he made a fatal discovery - Freud began to use cocaine to treat certain diseases, and he used it himself, since the influence of this substance significantly increased performance. Freud considered it almost a panacea, and abandoned the use of cocaine only when it was proven that cocaine was addictive and had a destructive effect on humans.

Choosing a path

In 1881, S. Freud received a medical degree and after graduating from the university he began working at the Institute of Brain Anatomy. The future founder of psychoanalysis was not interested in practical medicine; he was much more attracted to scientific research activities. However, due to the low pay for scientific work, Freud decided to go into private practice as a neurologist. But fate decreed otherwise: a research scholarship received in 1885 allowed him to go to Paris and undergo an internship with Jean Charcot. Charcot was the most famous neurologist at that time; he successfully treated hysteria by putting patients into a hypnotic state. As is known, hysteria manifests itself in such somatic diseases as paralysis and deafness. So Jean Charcot's method helped save many people. And although Freud avoided using hypnosis in therapeutic treatment, Charcot’s experience and his technique significantly influenced the choice of the future path. Z. Freud stopped studying neurology and became a psychopathologist.

First love and marriage

This may seem strange, but Freud was an extremely shy person and considered himself not very attractive to the fair sex. Apparently this is why he did not have intimate relationships with them until he was 30 years old. All the more beautiful is the story of his first love. He met his future wife, Martha Bernays, by chance. A young doctor was crossing the street, in his hands was the manuscript of a scientific article, suddenly a carriage appears around the bend, almost knocking the absent-minded scientist off his feet. The manuscript leaves crumble and fall into the mud. Just as Freud decides to express his indignation, he sees a lovely woman’s face with a desperately guilty expression. Sigmund Freud's mood instantly changed, he felt some strange excitement, completely beyond scientific explanation, he realized - this is love. And the carriage of the beautiful stranger sped off into the distance. True, the next day they brought him an invitation to the ball, where two girls surprisingly similar to each other - sisters Martha and Mina Bernays - approached him.

This is how he met his future wife, with whom he lived for more than 50 years. Despite everything (this refers to a long affair with Martha’s sister Mina), on the whole it was a happy marriage, they had five children. Daughter Anna continued her father's work.

First discoveries and lack of recognition

The eighties of the outgoing 19th century were very fruitful for Sigmund Freud. He began collaborating with the famous Viennese psychiatrist Joseph Breuer. Together they developed the method of free association, which became an essential part of psychoanalysis. This method was formed during the work of scientists to study the causes of hysteria and methods of treating it. In 1895, their joint book “Studies in Hysteria” was published. The authors see the cause of hysteria in repressed memories of tragic events that once traumatized patients. After the book was published, the collaboration of doctors was abruptly stopped, Brier and Freud became enemies. The views of S. Freud's biographers on the reasons for this gap are different. Perhaps Freud's theory about the sexual origins of hysteria was unacceptable to Bryer; this point of view is shared by the biographer and student of the founder of psychoanalysis, Ernest Jones.

Z. Freud wrote about himself: I have rather limited abilities or talents - I am not strong in the natural sciences, or in mathematics, or in counting. But what I possess, albeit in a limited form, is probably developed very intensively.

If I. Bayer’s attitude to S. Freud’s theory about the sexual conditionality of mental disorders is not reliably known, then members of the Vienna Medical Society absolutely definitely expressed their rejection of this theory, they excluded S. Freud from their ranks. It was a difficult period for him, a period of lack of recognition from colleagues and loneliness. Although Freud's loneliness was extremely productive. He begins the practice of analyzing his dreams. His work, The Interpretation of Dreams, published in 1900, was written based on an analysis of his own dreams. But this work, which glorified the scientist in the future, was met with extreme hostility and irony. However, this book was not the reason for public hostility towards the scientist. In 1905, S. Freud published the work “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality.” His conclusions about the exceptional influence of his sexual instincts on a person and the discovery of sexuality in children caused sharp rejection among the public. But what to do... Freud’s method of curing neuroses and hysteria worked perfectly. And gradually the scientific world abandoned its essentially sanctimonious point of view. The ideas of Sigmund Freud won more and more supporters.

Founding of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society

In 1902, Freud and like-minded people created the Psychological Environments society, and a little later in 1908, the significantly expanded organization was renamed the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Very little time passes after the publication of The Interpretation of Dreams, and Sigmund Freud becomes a world famous scientist. In 1909, he was invited to give a course of lectures at Clark University (USA), Freud's speeches were received very well, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate.

Yes, not everyone recognizes his theories, but such somewhat scandalous fame only contributes to an ever-increasing number of patients. Freud is surrounded by students and like-minded people: S. Ferenczi, O. Rank, E. Jones, K. Jung. And even though many of them later parted with their teacher and founded their own schools, they all recognized the enormous importance for them of both the personality of Sigmund Freud and his theory.

Eros and Thanatos

These two forces, according to Freud, rule man. Sexual energy is the energy of life. Thoughts about the destructive side of man, about his desire for self-destruction, came to Freud during the First World War.

Despite his rather advanced age, Freud works in a military hospital and writes a number of significant works: “Lectures on Introduction to Psychoanalysis”, “Beyond the Pleasure Principle”. In 1923 the book “I and It” was published, in 1927 - “The Future of an Illusion”, and in 1930 - “Civilization and Those Dissatisfied with It”. In 1930, Freud received the Goethe Prize, which is awarded for literary achievements. It was not for nothing that his literary talent was noticed back in the gymnasium. After the Nazis came to power, Freud was unable to leave Vienna. The granddaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte, Maria Bonaparte, managed to save him from mortal danger. She paid Hitler a huge sum so that Sigmund Freud could leave Austria. Miraculously, his beloved daughter Anna escaped from the clutches of the Gestapo. The family was reunited in England.

The last years of S. Freud's life were very difficult; he suffered from jaw cancer. He died on September 23, 1939.

Literature:

1. Wittels F. Freud. His personality, teaching, school. L., 1991.
2. Kjell L., Ziegler D. Theories of personality. Fundamentals, research and application. St. Petersburg, 1997.
3. Leibin V. Sigmund Freud. Psychopoetic portrait. M., 2006.
4. Stone I. Passions of the mind, or the life of Freud. M., 1994
5. Ferris Paul Sigmund Freud. - M,: Potpourri, 2001. - P.241.
6. Freud Z. Autobiography // Z. Freud. Beyond the pleasure principle. M., 1992. pp. 91-148.
7. Fromm E. The mission of Sigmund Freud. Analysis of his personality and influence. M., 1997.
8. Jones E. (1953). The life and work of Sigmund Freud. (Vol. 1, 1856-1900). The formative years and the great discoveries. New York: Basic Books., p. 119

Read 9394 once

Jealous, straightforward, conflicted - this portrait of the world-famous scientist emerges from his letters to his wife, Martha Bernays. Despite the “unfamily” nature of Sigmund Freud, their marriage would last 53 years. But what concessions did Martha have to make in order to maintain a relationship that many contemporaries considered harmonious?

Sigmund Freud and his wife Martha Bernays

26-year-old Sigmund, withdrawn and unsociable, fell dizzyingly in love with Martha. He had never dated girls before. Martha forced him to change his principles in relation to the opposite sex. The indecisive young man began to take initiative. There was no money, but every day he sent Martha a rose. Their meetings are filled with romance. One day, Sigmund decides to touch the girl’s hand, which according to Jewish traditions is strictly prohibited before the wedding.


Wedding photo of Sigmund and Martha, 1886

Soon the engagement took place, but they had to wait several years for the wedding due to financial reasons. Sigmund fills the years of waiting with long letters that today give insight into their relationship. Freud ambitiously promises his “little princess” that he will become a great scientist.

Sigmund Freud with his sons Ernst and Martin

Already at the very beginning, Sigmund showed himself to be a temperamental and unyielding person. Falling in love does not prevent him from saying that the bride is ugly. He constantly challenges her religiosity (Martha is a Jew from an Orthodox family). Conflicts begin with the future mother-in-law. The girl is waiting for her groom, although even he is surprised at her patience.
Freud is jealous of Martha's brother, Max, and his friend. He remembers that she did not immediately respond to his feelings. Forces you to refuse a wedding ceremony according to a religious rite. He wants to rehabilitate her. The most delicate moment is the ultimatum put forward to Martha: either he or her relatives.


Martha and Sigmund had six children

Obviously, Freud was aware of his difficult disposition, noting in the letter: “My beloved, you are waiting for a not very easy person.” He returns from Paris without the promised “greatness”, as well as without money. The search for our own method of treating patients has reached a dead end. And yet, on September 14, 1886, the wedding took place. Part of the amount had to be borrowed.


Martha-Sigmund-Minna: love triangle?

Freud preferred emotional women with a “masculine” character, like Minna, Martha’s sister, to whom some biographers attribute an affair with the scientist. However, considering Martha flexible and obedient is a mistake. She chose the strategy of waiting until her husband’s next outburst of nervousness passed and they could come to an agreement. In addition to being patient and calm, Martha was a stubborn and intelligent woman.

Sigmund Freud and his daughter Anna, 1938, Paris

Martha completely subordinated herself to the interests of the family. Realizing that science would always be in the first place for her husband, she took on everyday issues. The couple had six children. There were enough worries. However, financial difficulties had subsided by this time. Dr. Freud's teachings received wide publicity.
Freud, contrary to rumors, was a faithful and caring husband. After the birth of the last, sixth child, the scientist stopped sleeping with Martha. His personal life also influences his scientific practice. He is actively interested in the problems of contraception.

Anna Freud - future scientist

Freud's arrival in London, 1938

Freud at work. Last year of life

In the thirties, the life of the family was overshadowed by the serious illness of Sigmund Freud. His psychological state worsened. At this time, the youngest daughter, Anna, became her inspirer and ally, who later continued her father’s work, devoted herself to science and did not start a family.
Another threat loomed: Germany occupied Austria. Thanks to the intervention of influential people, the family manages to escape to London. In September 1939, Sigmund Freud was given a lethal injection of morphine. On September 23, he died surrounded by close people. Martha will live to be 90 years old. After her husband's death, she will return to religion.