Psychoanalysis
LECTURE 2
,The Life of Freud (1856–1939)
,The Early Years
Freud was born in 1856, in Freiberg, Moravia, which is now the town of Pribor, in
the Czech Republic. His father was a relatively unsuccessful wool merchant.
When his business failed in Moravia, he moved the family to Leipzig, Germany,
and then later, when Freud was 4, to Vienna, where Freud remained for almost
80 years. When Freud was born his father was 40 years old and his mother (his
father’s third wife) was only 20. The father was strict and authoritarian. Freud
later remembered how much hostility and anger he felt toward him when he was
growing up. He also felt superior to his father as early as age 2. Freud’s mother
was very attractive and she was extremely protective and loving toward
Sigmund, her first son. Freud felt a passionate, even sexual attachment to her, a
relationship that set the stage for his concept of the Oedipus complex. As we will
see, much of Freud’s theory reflected and built on his own experiences as a child
, The Cocaine Episode
While in medical school, Freud began to experiment with cocaine, which at that
time was not an illegal substance (Markel, 2011, p. 81).
In 1884, he published an article about cocaine’s beneficial effects, thinking it
would make him famous. But that was not to be. This article was later judged to
be a major contributor to the epidemic of cocaine use which swept over Europe
and the United States, lasting well into the 1920s. Freud was strongly criticized
for his part in unleashing the cocaine plague
LECTURE 2
,The Life of Freud (1856–1939)
,The Early Years
Freud was born in 1856, in Freiberg, Moravia, which is now the town of Pribor, in
the Czech Republic. His father was a relatively unsuccessful wool merchant.
When his business failed in Moravia, he moved the family to Leipzig, Germany,
and then later, when Freud was 4, to Vienna, where Freud remained for almost
80 years. When Freud was born his father was 40 years old and his mother (his
father’s third wife) was only 20. The father was strict and authoritarian. Freud
later remembered how much hostility and anger he felt toward him when he was
growing up. He also felt superior to his father as early as age 2. Freud’s mother
was very attractive and she was extremely protective and loving toward
Sigmund, her first son. Freud felt a passionate, even sexual attachment to her, a
relationship that set the stage for his concept of the Oedipus complex. As we will
see, much of Freud’s theory reflected and built on his own experiences as a child
, The Cocaine Episode
While in medical school, Freud began to experiment with cocaine, which at that
time was not an illegal substance (Markel, 2011, p. 81).
In 1884, he published an article about cocaine’s beneficial effects, thinking it
would make him famous. But that was not to be. This article was later judged to
be a major contributor to the epidemic of cocaine use which swept over Europe
and the United States, lasting well into the 1920s. Freud was strongly criticized
for his part in unleashing the cocaine plague
