Sigmund

Sigmund (1856–1939). Clinical neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis. Born in Freiberg in Moravia, and educated at the University of Vienna, he studied in Paris in 1885 under the neurologist J. M. Charcot, who encouraged him to investigate hysteria from a psychologic point of view. Freud stressed the existence of an unconscious that exerts a dynamic influence on consciousness, and was led to develop his method of “free association” in order to discover these buried memories. He emphasized the role of sexuality in the development of neurotic conditions, and published Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901), and many more works. He was also director of the International Journal of Psychology. After fleeing the Nazi regime in Vienna in 1938, he died in London.