A General Introduction To Psychoanalysis - free ebook by Sigmund Freud

Read as playlist

A General Introduction To Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud

30 chapters

12 hour read

Read as playlist

Selected Chapters

30 chapters

A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis

A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis

BY PROF. SIGMUND FREUD, LL.D. A UTHORIZED T RANSLATION W ITH A P REFACE BY G. STANLEY HALL P RESIDENT , C LARK U NIVERSITY HORACE LIVERIGHT PUBLISHER NEW YORK Published, 1920, by Horace Liveright, Inc. Printed in the United States of America Copyright, 1920, by Edward L. Bernays...

21 minute read

Read Chapter

PREFACE

PREFACE

Few, especially in this country, realize that while Freudian themes have rarely found a place on the programs of the American Psychological Association, they have attracted great and growing attention and found frequent elaboration by students of literature, history, biography, sociology, morals and aesthetics, anthropology, education, and religion. They have given the world a new conception of both infancy and adolescence, and shed much new light upon characterology; given us a new and clearer

5 minute read

Read Chapter

FIRST LECTURE INTRODUCTION

FIRST LECTURE INTRODUCTION

I DO not know how familiar some of you may be, either from your reading or from hearsay, with psychoanalysis. But, in keeping with the title of these lectures— A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis —I am obliged to proceed as though you knew nothing about this subject, and stood in need of preliminary instruction. To be sure, this much I may presume that you do know, namely, that psychoanalysis is a method of treating nervous patients medically. And just at this point I can give you an exampl

15 minute read

Read Chapter

SECOND LECTURE THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ERRORS

SECOND LECTURE THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ERRORS

W E begin with an investigation, not with hypotheses. To this end we choose certain phenomena which are very frequent, very familiar and very little heeded, and which have nothing to do with the pathological, inasmuch as they can be observed in every normal person. I refer to the errors which an individual commits—as for example, errors of speech in which he wishes to say something and uses the wrong word; or those which happen to him in writing, and which he may or may not notice; or the case o

21 minute read

Read Chapter

THIRD LECTURE THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ERRORS—(Continued)

THIRD LECTURE THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ERRORS—(Continued)

A T the last session we conceived the idea of considering the error, not in its relation to the intended act which it distorted, but by itself alone, and we received the impression that in isolated instances it seems to betray a meaning of its own. We declared that if this fact could be established on a larger scale, then the meaning of the error itself would soon come to interest us more than an investigation of the circumstances under which the error occurs. Let us agree once more on what we u

33 minute read

Read Chapter

FOURTH LECTURE THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ERRORS—(Conclusion)

FOURTH LECTURE THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ERRORS—(Conclusion)

W E may certainly put it down as the conclusion of our labors up to this point that errors have a meaning, and we may make this conclusion the basis of our further investigations. Let me stress the fact once more that we do not assert—and for our purposes need not assert—that every single mistake which occurs is meaningful, although I consider that probable. It will suffice us if we prove the presence of such a meaning with relative frequency in the various forms of errors. These various forms,

35 minute read

Read Chapter

FIFTH LECTURE THE DREAM

FIFTH LECTURE THE DREAM

Difficulties and Preliminary Approach O NE day the discovery was made that the disease symptoms of certain nervous patients have a meaning. [22] Thereupon the psychoanalytic method of therapy was founded. In this treatment it happened that the patients also presented dreams in place of their symptoms. Herewith originated the conjecture that these dreams also have a meaning. We will not, however, pursue this historical path, but enter upon the opposite one. We wish to discover the meaning of drea

27 minute read

Read Chapter

SIXTH LECTURE THE DREAM

SIXTH LECTURE THE DREAM

Hypothesis and Technique of Interpretation W E must find a new path, a new method, in order to proceed with the investigation of the dream. I shall now make an obvious suggestion. Let us assume as a hypothesis for everything which follows, that the dream is not a somatic but a psychic phenomenon . You appreciate the significance of that statement, but what justification have we for making it? None; but that alone need not deter us from making it. The matter stands thus: If the dream is a somatic

21 minute read

Read Chapter

SEVENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

SEVENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

Manifest Dream Content and Latent Dream Thought W E have not studied the problem of errors in vain. Thanks to our efforts in this field, under the conditions known to you, we have evolved two different things, a conception of the elements of the dream and a technique for dream interpretation. The conception of the dream element goes to show something unreal, a substitute for something else, unknown to the dreamer, similar to the tendency of errors, a substitute for something the dreamer knows bu

20 minute read

Read Chapter

EIGHTH LECTURE THE DREAM

EIGHTH LECTURE THE DREAM

Dreams of Childhood W E think we have advanced too rapidly. Let us go back a little. Before our last attempt to overcome the difficulties of dream distortion through our technique, we had decided that it would be best to avoid them by limiting ourselves only to those dreams in which distortion is either entirely absent or of trifling importance, if there are such. But here again we digress from the history of the evolution of our knowledge, for as a matter of fact we become aware of dreams entir

16 minute read

Read Chapter

NINTH LECTURE THE DREAM

NINTH LECTURE THE DREAM

The Dream Censor W E have learned to know the origin, nature and function of the dream from the study of children's dreams. Dreams are the removal of sleep-disturbing psychic stimuli by way of hallucinated satisfaction. Of adults' dreams, to be sure, we could explain only one group, what we characterized as dreams of an infantile type. As to the others we know nothing as yet, nor do we understand them. For the present, however, we have obtained a result whose significance we do not wish to under

20 minute read

Read Chapter

TENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

TENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

Symbolism in the Dream W E have discovered that the distortion of dreams, a disturbing element in our work of understanding them, is the result of a censorious activity which is directed against the unacceptable of the unconscious wish-impulses. But, of course, we have not maintained that censorship is the only factor which is to blame for the dream distortion, and we may actually make the discovery in a further study of the dream that other items play a part in this result. That is, even if the

35 minute read

Read Chapter

ELEVENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

ELEVENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

The Dream-Work I F you have mastered dream censorship and symbolic representation, you are, to be sure, not yet adept in dream distortion, but you are nevertheless in a position to understand most dreams. For this you employ two mutually supplementary methods, call up the associations of the dreamer until you have penetrated from the substitute to the actual, and from your own knowledge supply the meaning for the symbol. Later we shall discuss certain uncertainties which show themselves in this

19 minute read

Read Chapter

TWELFTH LECTURE THE DREAM

TWELFTH LECTURE THE DREAM

Analysis of Sample Dreams I HOPE you will not be disappointed if I again lay before you excerpts from dream analyses instead of inviting you to participate in the interpretation of a beautiful long dream. You will say that after so much preparation you ought to have this right, and that after the successful interpretation of so many thousands of dreams it should long ago have become possible to assemble a collection of excellent dream samples with which we could demonstrate all our assertions co

26 minute read

Read Chapter

THIRTEENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

THIRTEENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

Archaic Remnants and Infantilism in the Dream L ET us revert to our conclusion that the dream-work, under the influence of the dream censorship, transforms the latent dream thoughts into some other form of expression. The latent thoughts are no other than the conscious thoughts known to us in our waking hours; the new mode of expression is incomprehensible to us because of its many-sided features. We have said it extends back to conditions of our intellectual development which we have long progr

23 minute read

Read Chapter

FOURTEENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

FOURTEENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

Wish Fulfillment M AY I bring to your attention once more the ground we have already covered? How, when we met with dream distortion in the application of our technique, we decided to leave it alone for the time being, and set out to obtain decisive information about the nature of the dream by way of infantile dreams? How, then, armed with the results of this investigation, we attacked dream distortion directly and, I trust, in some measure overcame it? But we must remind ourselves that the resu

24 minute read

Read Chapter

FIFTEENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

FIFTEENTH LECTURE THE DREAM

Doubtful Points and Criticism L ET us not leave the subject of dreams before we have touched upon the most common doubts and uncertainties which have arisen in connection with the new ideas and conceptions we have discussed up to this point. The more attentive members of the audience probably have already accumulated some material bearing upon this. 1. You may have received the impression that the results of our work of interpretation of the dream have left so much that is uncertain, despite our

20 minute read

Read Chapter

SIXTEENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

SIXTEENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry I AM very glad to welcome you back to continue our discussions. I last lectured to you on the psychoanalytic treatment of errors and of the dream. To-day I should like to introduce you to an understanding of neurotic phenomena, which, as you soon will discover, have much in common with both of those topics. But I shall tell you in advance that I cannot leave you to take the same attitude toward me that you had before. At that time I was anxious to take no step witho

22 minute read

Read Chapter

SEVENTEENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

SEVENTEENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

The Meaning of the Symptoms I N the last lecture I explained to you that clinical psychiatry concerns itself very little with the form under which the symptoms appear or with the burden they carry, but that it is precisely here that psychoanalysis steps in and shows that the symptom carries a meaning and is connected with the experience of the patient. The meaning of neurotic symptoms was first discovered by J. Breuer in the study and felicitous cure of a case of hysteria which has since become

26 minute read

Read Chapter

EIGHTEENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

EIGHTEENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

Traumatic Fixation—The Unconscious I SAID last time that we would not continue our work from the standpoint of our doubts, but on the basis of our results. We have not even touched upon two of the most interesting conclusions, derived equally from the same two sample analyses. In the first place, both patients give us the impression of being fixated upon some very definite part of their past; they are unable to free themselves therefrom, and have therefore come to be completely estranged both fr

21 minute read

Read Chapter

NINETEENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

NINETEENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

Resistance and Suppression I N order to progress in our understanding of the neuroses, we need new experiences and we are about to obtain two. Both are very remarkable and were at the time of their discovery, very surprising. You are, of course, prepared for both from our discussions of the past semester. In the first place: When we undertake to cure a patient, to free him from the symptoms of his malady, he confronts us with a vigorous, tenacious resistance that lasts during the whole time of t

26 minute read

Read Chapter

TWENTIETH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

TWENTIETH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

The Sexual Life of Man O NE might think we could take for granted what we are to understand by the term "sexual." Of course, the sexual is the indecent, which we must not talk about. I have been told that the pupils of a famous psychiatrist once took the trouble to convince their teacher that the symptoms of hysteria very frequently represent sexual matters. With this intention they took him to the bedside of a woman suffering from hysteria, whose attacks were unmistakable imitations of the act

26 minute read

Read Chapter

TWENTY-FIRST LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

TWENTY-FIRST LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

Development of the Libido and Sexual Organizations I AM under the impression that I did not succeed in convincing you of the significance of perversions for our conception of sexuality. I should therefore like to clarify and add as much as I can. It was not only perversions that necessitated an alteration of our conception of sexuality, which aroused such vehement contradiction. The study of infantile sexuality did a great deal more along that line, and its close correspondence to the perversion

31 minute read

Read Chapter

TWENTY-SECOND LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

TWENTY-SECOND LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

Theories of Development and Regression—Etiology W E have learned that the libidio goes through an extensive development before it can enter the service of reproduction in a way which may be regarded as normal. Now I wish to present to you what importance this fact possesses for the causation of neuroses. I believe we are in harmony with the teachings of general pathology in assuming that this development involves two dangers, inhibition and regression. In other words, with the universal tendency

29 minute read

Read Chapter

TWENTY-THIRD LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

TWENTY-THIRD LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

The Development of the Symptoms I N the layman's eyes the symptom shows the nature of the disease, and cure means removal of symptoms. The physician, however, finds it important to distinguish the symptoms from the disease and recognizes that doing away with the symptoms is not necessarily curing the disease. Of course, the only tangible thing left over after the removal of the symptoms is the capacity to build new symptoms. Accordingly, for the time being, let us accept the layman's viewpoint a

30 minute read

Read Chapter

TWENTY-FOURTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

TWENTY-FOURTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

Ordinary Nervousness I N our last discussion we accomplish a difficult task. Now I shall temporarily leave our subject and address myself to you. For I know quite well that you are dissatisfied. You thought that an introduction to psychoanalysis would be quite a different matter. You expected to hear vivid illustrations instead of theories. You will tell me that when I gave you the illustration of "on the ground floor in the first story," you had grasped something of the causation of neurosis, o

22 minute read

Read Chapter

TWENTY-FIFTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

TWENTY-FIFTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

Fear and Anxiety P ROBABLY you will term what I told you about ordinary nervousness in my last lecture most fragmentary and unsatisfactory information. I know this, and I think you were probably most surprised that I did not mention fear, which most nervous people complain of and describe as their greatest source of suffering. It can attain a terrible intensity which may result in the wildest enterprises. But I do not wish to fall short of your expectations in this matter. I intend, on the contr

28 minute read

Read Chapter

TWENTY-SIXTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

TWENTY-SIXTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

The Libido Theory and Narcism R EPEATEDLY in the past and more recently we have dealt with the distinction between the ego instincts and the sexual instincts. At first, suppression taught us that the two may be flatly opposed to each other, that in the struggle the sexual instincts suffer apparent defeat and are forced to obtain satisfaction by other regressive methods, and so find the compensation for defeat in their invulnerability. After that we learned that at the outset both have a differen

29 minute read

Read Chapter

TWENTY-SEVENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

TWENTY-SEVENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

Transference W E are nearing the close of our discussions, and you probably cherish certain expectations, which shall not be disappointed. You think, I suppose, that I have not guided you through thick and thin of psychoanalytic subject matter to dismiss you without a word about therapy, which furnishes the only possibility of carrying on psychoanalysis. I cannot possibly omit this subject, for the observation of some of its aspects will teach you a new fact, without which the understanding of t

28 minute read

Read Chapter

TWENTY-EIGHTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

TWENTY-EIGHTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES

Analytical Therapy Y OU know our subject for today. You asked me why we do not make use of direct suggestion in psychoanalytic therapy, when we admit that our influence depends substantially upon transference, i.e., suggestion, for you have come to doubt whether or not we can answer for the objectivity of our psychological discoveries in the face of such a predominance of suggestion. I promised to give you a comprehensive answer. Direct suggestion is suggestion directed against the expression of

26 minute read

Read Chapter