Chapter 2 Freud: Psychoanalysis 23aid. Reluctantly, Freud turned from his laboratory to the practice of medicine. He
worked for 3 years in the General Hospital of Vienna, becoming familiar with the
practice of various branches of medicine, including psychiatry and nervous diseases
(Freud, 1925/1959).
In 1885, he received a traveling grant from the University of Vienna and
decided to study in Paris with the famous French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot.
He spent 4 months with Charcot, from whom he learned the hypnotic technique
for treating hysteria, a disorder typically characterized by paralysis or the improper
functioning of certain parts of the body. Through hypnosis, Freud became con-
vinced of a psychogenic and sexual origin of hysterical symptoms.
While still a medical student, Freud developed a close professional associa-
tion and a personal friendship with Josef Breuer, a well-known Viennese physician
14 years older than Freud and a man of considerable scientific reputation (Ferris,
1997). Breuer taught Freud about catharsis, the process of removing hysterical
symptoms through “talking them out.” While using catharsis, Freud gradually and
laboriously discovered the free association technique, which soon replaced hypno-
sis as his principal therapeutic technique.
From as early as adolescence, Freud literally dreamed of making a monu-
mental discovery and achieving fame (Newton, 1995). On several occasions during
the 1880s and 1890s he believed he was on the verge of such a discovery. His first
opportunity to gain recognition came in 1884–1885 and involved his experiments
with cocaine, which we discussed in the opening vignette.
Freud’s second opportunity for achieving some measure of fame came in 1886
after he returned from Paris, where he had learned about male hysteria from Char-
cot. He assumed that this knowledge would gain him respect and recognition from
Sigmund Freud with his daughter, Anna, who was a psychoanalyst in her own right.
© Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo