THE ROUGH GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGYwas to provide a place of refuge, the conditions in many of these asylums
was grim, and treatment often extremely primitive, including ice baths,
straitjackets, isolation and blood letting.
In the West, the birth of psychotherapy – literally “healing the
mind” – is popularly traced to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, which
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
The grandfather of psychoanalysis began his career as a scientist and
medic with a leaning towards neuroscience. His interest in psychology
was triggered by his work under the French neurologist Jean-Martin
Charcot at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, where he encountered
patients diagnosed with hysteria – physical ailments with no apparent
organic cause. Freud’s most famous works include The Interpretation
of Dreams (1899) and Introduction to Psychoanalysis (1920), the latter
presented as a series of lectures. Mention of Freud today often
provokes sniggers from many quarters because of his belief in libidi-
nous desire as the primary human motive underlying all others, and
his numerous sex-themed theories including penis envy, the castra-
tion complex and the Oedipus complex (in which he argued that
children have lustful desires for their opposite-sex parent and, out of
jealousy, fantasize about the death
of their same-sex parent). However,
his recognition of the powerful
effect of non-conscious processes
on our attitudes and behaviour
was accurate, and his influence
on the field of psychotherapy is
immeasurable. Moreover, while
many contemporary psychologists
consider Freud’s theories as largely
unscientific, on the basic that they
are unfalsifiable, there has been
a trend in recent years to claim
support for his theories in modern
neuroscience. For example, it’s
been suggested that the neuropsy-
chological condition of anosog-
nosia – in which the paralysed
patient denies their disability – is a
manifestation of a classic Freudian
defence mechanism in which the
psychologically unpalatable is
swept under the proverbial carpet.Challenged on the symbolism of
his own heavy smoking, Freud
is alleged to have remarked
“sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”