Sigmund Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst.
Freud was born to Jewish parents in Freiberg, Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic. He was the firstborn of Jacob and Amalia Freud and the eldest of their eight children (six brothers and two sisters). His family moved to Vienna in 1859, where he studied at a Gymnasium school before enrolling in his father’s former place of employment, the University of Vienna (medicine). He began to study medicine there but soon switched to philosophy. He spent a short time at Leipzig University before transferring once again to Vienna, where he completed his studies in 1881. In that same year he obtained his M.D., qualifying him as a physician. After completing military service in 1885, he began work in neurology at the Vienna General Hospital where he met Josef Breuer, who was working with patients suffering from hysteria. Their collaboration led to the founding of psychoanalysis.
A famous Freudian concept is the unconscious mind, which contains all the experiences that have been repressed by the conscious mind. In addition to his work on psychoanalysis, Freud developed theories about dreams and childhood development, including concepts such as the Oedipus complex (whereby children desire sexual relationships with the parent of the opposite sex). Freud’s ideas are still influential today and he is considered one of the most important thinkers of all time.
