His Life
Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856 in Moravia (Czechia). Freud's father married his mother when he was 40 years old. There was a nearly 20-year age gap between them. Freud had two half-siblings from his father's first marriage and they were approximately the same age as his mother. When Sigmund was four years old, the family moved to Vienna.
While attending high school and learning Latin, French, and English, he taught himself Hebrew, Spanish, and Italian. Freud enrolled in medical school in 1873. Vienna had become the capital of the medical world, and young Sigmund was initially drawn to the scientific side of medicine rather than clinical practice.
Freud's Work
Freud received his Doctorate degree at the age of 24. He began working as an assistant at a psychiatric clinic under the supervision of Dr. Theodor Meynert, a famous brain anatomist and neuropathologist. In 1884, he was tasked with conducting a study on cocaine. Freud spent five months in the department of psychiatry (a branch of medicine that deals with emotional and mental health) under the presidency of Theodor Meynert. At that time, psychiatry was rigid and descriptive. The psychological meaning of behavior was not considered important. Freud's later work changed this attitude.
In Vienna, Freud opened his own clinic and began working on hysteria. He started using hypnosis techniques to treat hysterical patients based on the teachings of his colleague Joseph Breuer. Freud called Breuer's treatment 'catharsis'. Breuer and Freud encouraged their patients to speak freely about their symptoms and experiences, and published a study on hysteria. However, this publication was not well received by the medical community.
Although Freud initially worked with Breuer, the paths of these two doctors eventually diverged. This is because Freud believed that neuroses had sexual roots