Sigmund Freuds Research

By: Brittany Deal

EDUC 121-Child and Adolescent Development
Constance Deardorff
December 11, 2014

Sigmund Freud was a man of many words and he had much to say about
expanding mans knowledge of himself. His work stretches for over centuries from when
he was born in 1856 to when he perished in 1939. Freuds guidance about psychoanalysis
became the major tool of research, as well as an important method of psychiatric
treatment, which is still used today by thousands of practitioners. Sigmund Freud gave
his life to his findings and wanted them to be shared around the world. Who was
Sigmund Freud, what was he really known for, and how are we using his research today?
Amalia Nathanson was 19 when she gave birth to Sigmund Freud on May 6,
1856, in Freiburg, Morvia. Freuds father was 39 and had already had two other children
from his first marriage that were approximately the same age as Freuds mother. When
Freud was four his family moved to Vienna were he lived a year before he died. Freuds
studies didnt really begin until he hit is college years at the age of 17, Freud enrolled in
medical school initially attracted to the laboratory and the scientific side of medicine
rather than clinical practice. He spent seven instead of the usual five years acquiring his
doctorate. For the next few years Freud pursued his laboratory work, but several factors
shifted his interest. Opportunities for advancement in academic medicine were rare at
best, and his Jewish background was a decided disadvantage. More important, he fell in
love and wanted to marry, but the stipends available to a young scientist could not
support a wife and family. He married Martha Bernays in 1887. Of their six children, a
daughter, Anna, became one of her fathers most famous followers (Freud, Sigmund
(1856-1939), 2001). Later Freud established himself in the private practice of neurology.
Soon after he devoted himself to the treatment of hysterical patients with the help of
hypnosis. Freud found that, hysterical symptoms could consistently be traced to highly

emotional experiences which had been repressed, that is, excluded from conscious
memory (Freud, Sigmund (1856-1939), 2001). Freud then authored a book, with the
help of Breuer, called Studies of Hysteria (1895). At the age of 39 Sigmund Freud first
used the word psychoanalysis which began his journey.
Freud was known as many different things, but he seen himself differently than
others, Early in his career Sigmund Freud distinguished himself as a histologist,
neuropathologist, and clinical neurologist, and in his later life he was acclaimed as a
talented writer and essayist (Sigmund Freud, 1998). However, others knew him or
know him for him laying the foundations of unconscious mental processes, neurosis, the
sexual life of infants, and the interpretation of dreams. After Freud wrote his book he
began self-analyzing and pursued analyzing his dreams. This, however, changed is
personality. Freud began developing a greater inner security while his impulsive
emotional response decreased. As a result of this came Freuds new book The
Interpretation of Dreams (1901). Interpretation of dreams led Freud to new discoveries,
Freud reasoned that dreams represented thoughts in the unconscious mind. He had
noticed how often the train of thought in free-association included the recollection of a
dream. By using free-association on the subjects of some of his own dreams he explained
them as attempts to fulfill in fantasy some desire that he was repressing. The use of dream
interpretation thus lay in revealing the contents of the unconscious, which are repressed
when one is awake (Freud, Sigmund,). In 1905, Freud determined that sexual
gratification in childhood could carry through to adulthood that resulted in psychological
problems. An example he gave was that the first sexual impulses are felt during the
suckling phase of an infant's life, and if these impulses become fixated, the child may

mature into an adult dependent on the mother (Freud, Sigmund,). Freud came up with
five stages of Psychosexual Stages of Development. The first stage is the oral stage. This
stage starts from the ages of 0-1 year. Sucking, biting, and breastfeeding all happen in this
stage. Thats why babies are always putting things in their mouths. Freud said, oral
stimulation could lead to an oral fixation in later life. We see oral personalities all around
us such as smokers, nail-biters, finger-chewers, and thumb suckers. Oral personalities
engage in such oral behaviors particularly when under stress (McLeod, S.A. 2008). The
second stage is the anal stage from ages 1-3 years. This consists of getting pleasure from
releasing your bowels. Early or harsh potty training can lead to the child becoming an
anal-retentive personality who hates mess, is obsessively tidy, punctual and respectful of
authority. They can be stubborn and tight-fisted with their cash and possessions. This is
all related to pleasure got from holding on to their feces when toddlers mothers insist
they go on the potty. The third stage is the phallic stage. The child becomes aware of sex
differences, such as conflict between attraction, resentment, rivalry, jealousy, and fear,
which Freud called the Oedipus complex in boys and the Electra complex in girls. This is
from ages 3-6 years old. The fourth stage is the latency stage, which is from 5- puberty.
In this stage kids focus there energy on developing new skills, new knowledge, and play
becomes largely confined to other children of the same gender. The last stage is the
genital stage and this is from puberty to adulthood. This stage develops one-to-one
relationships with another person. These stages are Sigmund Freuds greatest
accomplishment.
Nazi Germany invaded Austria and Freud had to flee to London. A year later, on
September 23, 1939, Sigmund Freud died of jaw cancer that he suffered with for 16

years. By the time of his death, Freud's ideas had become part of the fabric of twentieth
century life. His wife died in London in 1951, but his children carried on his legacy.
Freud stated, "I recall an anecdote I often heard repeated in my childhood. At the time of
my birth an old peasant-woman had prophesied to my proud mother that with her firstborn child she brought a great man into the world (Young Dr. Freud, 2002).

Work Cited
Freud, Sigmund. (n.d.). AccessScience. Retrieved December 9,
2014, from
http://www.accessscience.com.madison.libproxy.ivytech.edu.allstate.libproxy.ivyt
ech.edu/content/freud-sigmund/m0090392
Freud, Sigmund (1856 - 1939). (2001). In World of sociology, Gale.
Retrieved from
http://search.credoreference.com.madison.libproxy.ivytech.edu.allstate.libproxy.iv
ytech.edu/content/entry/worldsocs/freud_sigmund_1856_1939/0
McLeod, S. A. (2008). Psychosexual Stages. Retrieved from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/psychosexual.html
Sigmund Freud. (1998). In Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale.
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Family Childhood. (2002). Young Dr. Freud. Retrieved December 9, 2014, from
http://www.pbs.org/youngdrfreud/pages/family_childhood.htm