1. Sigmund Freud Born in 1856 in Freiburg, Austria
Moved to Vienna around 1860
First of eight children by his mother.
Favored child
Mother and he idolized one another
Entered University of Vienna at age 17 to become a professor of neurology

2. Sigmund Freud Met Dr. Joseph Breuer
Learned of Breuer’s work with Annie O.
Diagnosed with hysteria (modern day conversion disorder)
Symptoms began when father died (9 months prior)
Difficulty w/ speech
Paralysis in extremities
Disturbances of sight (tunnel vision)
Dual personality
Pseudocyesis (false pregnancy)

3. Sigmund Freud Annie O. “chimney sweeping” (catharsis)
“strangulated effect”
Breuer and Freud wrote book together on case
Theorized that:
Every hysteria is result of a traumatic experience
Emotions of experience are not expressed directly but as symptoms
When made aware of the meanings of symptoms, the emotions are released

4. Sigmund Freud
Had opportunities to observe several experts using hypnosis
As a result:
Interest turned more toward workings of mind
Behavior can be caused by ideas individual is not aware of
These can be brought into consciousness

5. Sigmund Freud 1886: started private practice
1889: began treating Frau Emmy von N.
“Quit asking questions let me say what I want to say”
Seeds of using free association sewn here
Began to suspect self protective deception

6. Sigmund Freud 1892: began seeing Elizabeth von R (Iiona Weis)
Resistant to hypnotism
Used “concentration technique”
Developed specific ideas about the nature of resistance

7. Sigmund Freud Resistance:
Resisted thoughts still exert unconscious pressure
Resulting symptoms involved strangulated emotion
Symptoms were substitute expressions of unresolved conflict
Conflict had been pushed from conscious awareness because it had not been resolved (repression)
Continued to be source of pain and unacceptable self perception
Worried about over suggestion

8. Sigmund Freud Moved to free association as therapeutic technique
Believed a common element among patients was the presence of erotic impulses from childhood that are frustrated or guilt ridden
Proposed seduction hypothesis
Children repressed feelings due to conflict and guilt
Upon realizing children not physically capable proposed sequence to be:
Incident > amnesia > trigger to maturity > repression > symptom formation

9. Sigmund Freud Abandoned seduction hypothesis:
Patients revelation of this accomplished little alleviation of symptoms
The unconscious cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality
High improbability of universal sexual abuse
Even in severe psychosis, no infantile seductions were revealed when the unconscious floods the conscious

10. Sigmund Freud 1897: began self psychoanalysis
Uncovered a more-or-less erotic love for his mother and hostility toward father
Became key to developing ideas about Oedipus complex
Also had disproportionate fear of death
Fear of travel

11. Sigmund Freud 1939: Emigrated to England just before WWII
Died of cancer of mouth and jaw he suffered from for 20 years due to his addiction to nicotine