Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud
the father of
psychoanalysis

Freud's psychoanalytic theory developed for more than forty years. His concepts are closely interwoven and it is not easy to know where their description should begin (Jacobs, 1992). However, Freud himself stressed the acceptance of certain key theories as essential to the practice of psychoanalysis. An encyclopaedia by Freud lists the corner stones of psychoanalytic theory as:

the assumption that there are unconscious mental processes
the recognition of the theory of resistance and repression
the appreciation of the importance of sexuality and of the Oedipus complex

These constitute the principle subject matter of psychoanalysis and the foundation of its theory. No one who cannot accept them all should count himself as a psychoanalyst (Freud, 1923)

Other aspects of his theory include attempts to describe the structure of the mind and the theory of instincts.

Technique of psychoanalysis

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