The Science Book by Clifford A Pickover

Author:Clifford A Pickover
Language: eng
Format: epub

A lightning discharge involves a flow of electrons. The leading edge of a bolt of lightning can travel at speeds of 130,000 miles per hour (60,000 meters/second) and can reach temperatures approaching 54,000°F (30,000°C).

1899

Psychoanalysis • Clifford A. Pickover

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)

According to author Catherine Reef, the Austrian physician Sigmund Freud “explored the human mind more thoroughly than anyone who had come before him. He pioneered a new method for diagnosing and treating mental illness, a method he called psychoanalysis. He simply talked to his patients, and, more important, he listened.” Freud emphasized the importance of unconscious mental processes in shaping human behavior and emotions, and he encouraged his patients to “freely associate” and speak about images from fantasies and dreams. He encouraged patients to act as though they were travelers “sitting next to the window of a railway carriage and describing to someone outside the carriage the changing views” seen outside. When waiting for his patients’ words to reveal hidden messages, Freud often felt like an archeologist unearthing precious relics in ancient cities. His goal was to interpret unconscious conflicts that caused harmful symptoms, thereby giving the patients insight and resolutions to their problems, which might include abnormal fears or obsessions. The Interpretation of Dreams, published in 1899, was his greatest work.

In general, Freud often suggested that patients’ repressed sexual fantasies and early childhood experiences played an important role in later dysfunctional behavior. His most famous psychoanalytic model divided the mind into three separate parts: the id (concerned with basic drives such as sexual satisfaction), the superego (concerned with socially acquired controls and moral codes), and the ego (the conscious mind that motivates our decisions through the tension between the id and superego).

Although it is still difficult to discern what fraction of his often controversial ideas will ultimately be considered correct or even useful, his ideas on psychology “have completely revolutionized our conception of the human mind,” according to author Michael Hart. Rather than condemn or ridicule those with behavioral anomalies, Freud sought understanding. Psychiatrist Anthony Storr writes, “Freud’s technique of listening to distressed people over long periods rather than giving them orders or advice has formed the foundation of most modern forms of psychotherapy, with benefits to both patients and practitioners.”

SEE ALSO Cerebral Localization (1861), The Principles of Psychology (1890), Classical Conditioning (1903), Brain Lateralization (1964), Placebo Effect (1955), Antidepressant Medications (1957), Cognitive Behavior Therapy (1963), Theory of Mind (1978).

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