Question

There is probably no single person in the history of psychology more controversial than Sigmund Freud. Some argue that Freud is dead and good riddance; others counter that there has been a lasting impact of Freud's work and his writings. Where do you stand? Is Freud totally passé, or has he left a lasting mark on the fields of psychology and psychiatry? Justify your position.

Answer 1

Sigmund Freud the father of psycho analysis , a theory which explains human behaviour on the basis of childhood experiences. The major ideas of Sygmund freud was, levels of consciousness ( conscious, preconscious and unconscious), structures of mind ( id, ego, superego), Defence mechanisms- the methods used by ego to save itself from anxiety experiencing situations and psycho sexual stages of development. The important theraputic technique he developed was free association. Freud was famous for his dream analysis which made a remarkable change in the history of psychology. He explained that dreams serve as a royal pathway to unconscious that is we can read our unconscious by analysing our dreams.

Eventhough freuds work on psycho analysis was interesting, its view about human nature was pesimistic and negative. His over emphasis about human nature cannot be accepted. For eg, he explained that breast feeding and the sucking reflex have a close relationship with the libido or sexual energy of the baby which is a negative view about human nature. From his explanation about the past childhood experiences we can understand that people have nothing to do with their present, every thing is gone and our destiny is created by the past, is a pessimistic view. Even though his theory was good at explaining behaviour his theory is unsatisfiable as it is difficult to measure the major terms such as levels of consciousness and structure of mind. Objectivity is low in his studies