Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)

En1899 Freud publicaba por primera vez la obra que sería considerada como la más importante, representativa e influyente de su toda su producción: La interpretación de los sueños. Con ella daba inicio a una nueva disciplina, el psicoanálisis, que proponía el modo a través del cual acceder al inconsciente tomando elementos de las experiencias vividas. Por primera vez se introdujo el concepto del Yo y los sueños fueron objeto de un estudio científico. Gracias al método propuesto por Freud, pudieron interpretarse los contenidos de aquellos, generalmente como la representación de deseos latentes.La interpretación de los sueños es un libro fundamental para quienes quieran conocer o profundizar en las teorías del padre de psicoanálisis.… (mer)

Freud catalogues the various types of mistake (commonly known as Freudian Slips) made by normal people, which reveal more upon further inspection than they do at first glance. Among these are the misplacing and breaking of objects, forgetting names, words or intentions, and muddling actions or phrases. Each type is accompanied by the theory of its interpretation, many examples, and their analysis.

If you have read the introductory lectures then most of these will be familiar in concept, however this volume gives each a more exhaustive treatment and greater degree of illustration. This expanded edition contains extra material to Freud’s original publication, adding in examples sent to him by his readers (many of whom were also doctors), or that he experienced himself.

Behind nearly all of the types of misdoing or missaying we find repressed thoughts or feelings – be it related to an associated concept, name or action which our unconscious has a motive to forget or avoid. Though some of the examples are less convincing than others, and Freud admits himself that there are occasions of forgetting or misdoing etc that have other causes (such as due to memory in general, or clumsiness), most readers are likely to think of some examples of their own, or from those known to them.… (mer)

Freud has often bee accused of being overly obsessed with sex and after reading Dream Psychology I can definitely see why this is the case. While he does raise and discuss several interesting theories about dreams in general, eventually for Freud, they almost all come down to sex. He actually discussed a dream he himself had as a seven year old boy in which his "beloved mother" dies and states that this dream was a "repression to an obscure obviously sexual desire". Well, I do admire Freud and what he did for the field of psychology, but that example really does seem to be stretching the sex card a bit to far.… (mer)