The Early Years

Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 in Freiberg, Moravia, a place that is now known as the town of Pribor in the Czech Republic. His father worked as a wool merchant but was not very successful in business. When his business failed in Moravia, the family first moved to Leipzig in Germany. Later, when Freud was four years old, they relocated to Vienna, the city where Freud would live for nearly eighty years.

At the time of Freud’s birth, his father was forty years old, while his mother—his father’s third wife—was only twenty. His father was known to be strict and authoritarian. Freud later recalled feeling strong hostility and anger toward him during childhood and even believed that he was intellectually superior to his father from a very early age. In contrast, his mother was very attractive and deeply affectionate toward Sigmund, her first child. She was extremely protective and loving. Freud later described feeling an intense emotional attachment to her, which later influenced the development of his concept of the Oedipus complex. Many elements of Freud’s psychological theories were influenced by his own childhood experiences.

Freud’s mother had great faith in him and believed that he would grow up to become an important and successful person. Throughout his life, Freud showed strong self-confidence, powerful ambition, and a deep desire for recognition and fame. Reflecting the influence of his mother’s admiration and encouragement, he once wrote: “A man who has been the indisputable favorite of his mother keeps for life the feeling of a conqueror, that confidence of success that often induces real success” (quoted in Jones, 1953, p. 5). The Freud family had eight children in total, including two adult half-brothers from his father’s previous marriage who already had families of their own. Freud often felt resentment toward his siblings and became jealous whenever a new child appeared to compete for his mother’s attention and affection.

From a young age Freud displayed remarkable intelligence, which his parents actively encouraged. His academic work was given such importance that his sisters were not allowed to practice the piano if the noise might disturb his studies. Freud was given his own room, and he frequently ate his meals there so he would not lose valuable study time. His room was also the only one in the apartment equipped with a special oil lamp, while the rest of the family had to rely on candles.

Freud began high school earlier than most students and consistently ranked among the top in his class. He became fluent in German and Hebrew and learned several other languages, including Latin, Greek, French, and English. He also taught himself Italian and Spanish. As a young student he enjoyed reading the works of William Shakespeare in English. Freud had many interests, including military history. However, when the time came to choose a profession—especially among the limited career options available to Jews in Vienna—he decided to study medicine.

Freud did not choose medicine because he wanted to become a practicing physician. Instead, he believed that medical training would open the door to a career in scientific research. Through scientific work, he hoped to achieve the recognition, glory, and fame that he strongly desired and believed he deserved.

 

The Cocaine Episode and the Discovery of the Sexual Basis of Neurosis

While studying medicine, Sigmund Freud began experimenting with cocaine, which at that time was not considered an illegal drug. He used it personally and even encouraged his fiancée, sisters, and friends to try it as well. Freud regarded cocaine as a remarkable substance and believed it could relieve his depression and chronic digestive problems. According to historical accounts, he used cocaine to improve his mood, believing it could turn unpleasant days into good ones and make good days even better. During this period he also wrote passionate and sometimes erotic letters to his fiancée and imagined ambitious visions of his future success (Markel, 2011).

In 1884, Freud published a paper describing the positive effects of cocaine. He hoped that this work would earn him recognition and help establish his reputation in the scientific community. However, the outcome was quite different from what he expected. The article was later viewed as one of the factors that contributed to the widespread use of cocaine across Europe and the United States, a problem that continued into the 1920s. As a result, Freud faced serious criticism for helping to promote the drug.

Instead of bringing him fame, the publicity surrounding cocaine damaged his reputation. For the rest of his life Freud attempted to distance himself from his earlier support of the drug by removing references to cocaine from his own bibliography. Nevertheless, he continued using it until middle age (Freud, 1985). Historical accounts suggest that he used cocaine between 1884 and 1896, after which he replaced it with wine. In a letter written in June 1899, he mentioned that he was gradually becoming accustomed to drinking wine and even described it as feeling like an old friend (Markel, 2011).

Freud had originally hoped to build a career in scientific research. However, his main professor informed him that obtaining a university professorship would take many years and would not provide immediate financial security. Because Freud did not have independent financial support, he believed his best option was to begin private medical practice. Another reason for this decision was his engagement to Martha Bernays. Their engagement lasted four years because Freud could not afford marriage until he established a stable income. In 1881, he opened a practice as a clinical neurologist and began studying the personalities and psychological difficulties of patients suffering from emotional disorders.

During this period Freud spent several months in Paris studying with the psychiatrist Jean Martin Charcot, who was well known for his work with hypnosis. Charcot introduced Freud to the idea that some psychological disorders might have a sexual origin. Freud once overheard Charcot remark that a particular patient’s condition was sexual in nature, stating that in such cases the issue always related to the genitals (Freud, 1914). Freud later recalled being astonished by Charcot’s statement and even remembered the professor’s animated gestures while discussing the topic.

After returning to Vienna, Freud encountered another situation that reinforced this idea. A colleague described a female patient suffering from severe anxiety. The therapist believed the cause was her husband’s impotence, noting that the couple had never had sexual relations during their eighteen years of marriage. The colleague remarked that the obvious treatment was well known but could not realistically be prescribed, humorously describing it in Latin as Penis normalis dosim repetatur! (Freud, 1914).

Experiences such as these, together with Freud’s own personal struggles with sexuality, led him to seriously consider the possibility that sexual factors played a major role in the development of emotional disorders. These observations later became an important foundation for his theories about the sexual origins of neurosis.

 

Childhood Sexual Abuse: Fact or Fantasy?

After several years of clinical work, Sigmund Freud became increasingly convinced that sexual conflicts were the central cause of neuroses. Many of his female patients reported disturbing sexual experiences from their childhood. These incidents often resembled acts of seduction, typically involving an older male relative, frequently the father. In modern terms, such experiences are recognized as forms of child sexual abuse and may include acts such as rape or incest. Freud initially believed that these early traumatic experiences were responsible for the development of neurotic symptoms later in adulthood.

However, about a year after presenting this theory, Freud reconsidered his position. He announced that many of the childhood abuse stories told by his patients had not actually occurred. Instead, he argued that these reports were fantasies created by the patients themselves. This shift created a major problem for his theory. If the traumatic events had never truly happened, it raised the question of how they could explain the development of neurosis.

After further reflection, Freud proposed that even if the events were imagined, the fantasies still held psychological significance. Patients often believed strongly that the events had occurred, and because these fantasies revolved around sexual themes, Freud maintained that sexuality continued to play a central role in neurotic disorders. In 1898 he wrote that the most immediate and significant causes of neurotic illness were rooted in factors related to sexual life (Breger, 2000).

Freud did not claim that every report of childhood sexual abuse was fictional. Rather, he argued that such reports were not always accurate. In his view, it seemed unlikely that abusive acts against children were as widespread as some reports suggested (Freud, 1954).

Modern research, however, has shown that childhood sexual abuse occurs far more frequently than earlier generations believed. Because of this, some contemporary scholars have suggested that Freud’s original interpretation of his patients’ experiences may have been closer to the truth than he later admitted. It remains unclear whether Freud intentionally minimized the reality of these events in order to make his theory more socially acceptable or whether he genuinely believed that his patients were describing fantasies. Some historians argue that more of Freud’s patients may have been telling the truth about their childhood experiences than Freud ultimately accepted (Crewsdon, 1988).

Interestingly, about ten years after rejecting the seduction theory, Freud acknowledged in a letter to a friend that traumatic childhood experiences of this type were often genuine. A few years later he wrote to another friend that he had personally analyzed and treated several cases of real incest, including some extremely severe situations (Kahr, 2010).

During the 1930s, one of Freud’s followers concluded that child sexual abuse occurred more frequently than Freud had publicly admitted. Freud reportedly attempted to prevent the publication of these ideas. Some scholars have suggested that Freud abandoned his earlier theory partly because accepting the widespread nature of such abuse would imply that many fathers—including possibly his own—might be suspected of inappropriate behavior toward their children (Krüll, 1986).

 

Freud’s Personal Sexual Life, Neurotic Crisis, and the Development of His Ideas

It is somewhat ironic that Sigmund Freud—who placed such strong emphasis on sexuality in human psychology—experienced many personal conflicts related to sex in his own life. During his early years he reportedly had almost no interaction with women. He was described as extremely shy and even fearful of them, remaining a virgin until his marriage at the age of thirty (Breger, 2009). Freud also held a rather negative view of sexual activity. In his writings he warned about the potential dangers of sex, even for psychologically healthy individuals, and suggested that people should rise above what he considered a basic animal instinct. He described sexual activity as degrading because it involved both physical and mental contamination. Around the age of forty-one, Freud appears to have ended his sexual life altogether, writing to a friend that sexual excitement was no longer useful for someone like him (Freud, 1954). During his marriage he sometimes experienced impotence and occasionally chose to abstain from sexual activity, partly because he disliked using condoms or practicing coitus interruptus, which were common methods of birth control at that time.

Freud partly blamed his wife, Martha, for the end of his sexual life. For many years he reportedly had dreams expressing resentment toward her, believing she had forced him to give up sex. According to one account, he felt frustrated because she became pregnant easily, often suffered health problems during pregnancy, and preferred sexual relations only for reproductive purposes (Elms, 1994). His episodes of impotence may also have been connected to his fear that sexual activity would lead to another pregnancy.

Freud’s personal frustrations and internal conflicts about sexuality eventually manifested in symptoms of neurosis, much like the sexual problems he believed were affecting his patients. In his forties he went through a serious neurotic episode. He described experiencing unusual mental states, confused thoughts, and persistent doubts that he struggled to understand. He also developed several physical symptoms, including severe migraines, urinary difficulties, and digestive problems such as a spastic colon. During this period he feared death, worried about heart problems, and became anxious about traveling or being in open spaces. Overall, this was a very difficult period in his life.

Freud diagnosed his own condition as a combination of anxiety neurosis and neurasthenia. Neurasthenia was a disorder associated with fatigue, nervousness, and problems related to digestion and circulation. Freud believed that these conditions were caused by the buildup of sexual tension. In his writings he suggested that neurasthenia in men could result from excessive masturbation, while anxiety neurosis might arise from abnormal sexual practices such as coitus interruptus or prolonged sexual abstinence. By interpreting his symptoms in this way, Freud was essentially using his theoretical ideas to understand his own psychological difficulties. Some scholars have argued that his theory of “actual neurosis” was strongly influenced by his personal experiences and symptoms (Krüll, 1986).

Despite his complicated relationship with sexuality, Freud was still drawn to attractive women. One observer even remarked that many of Freud’s female students were notably attractive, suggesting that this may not have been entirely coincidental (Roazen, 1993).

A major turning point in Freud’s intellectual development came when he began analyzing his own dreams. He used dream analysis as a form of self-psychoanalysis and continued this practice for the rest of his life. At the beginning of this process he wrote to a friend that his most important patient was himself (Kandel, 2012). During this period he produced some of his most creative ideas about personality. By examining his dreams, Freud realized the depth of his hostility toward his father and remembered the strong emotional and sexual feelings he had experienced toward his mother during childhood. He even reported dreaming about a sexual wish directed toward his eldest daughter. These reflections led him to construct many of his theoretical ideas based on his own childhood experiences and psychological conflicts, interpreted through the symbolism of dreams. As Freud himself later acknowledged, he considered himself to be the most significant case study for developing his theories (Gay, 1988).

As Freud’s writings and lectures became more widely known through books, journal articles, and presentations at scientific meetings, he attracted a group of followers who met regularly to discuss and learn about his developing system of psychoanalysis. Their first meeting reportedly focused on the psychology of cigar making. Some critics dismissed the group as a collection of marginal neurotics (Gardner, 1993). Freud’s daughter, Anna Freud, described them more sympathetically as unconventional thinkers—people who questioned established ideas, were dissatisfied with existing knowledge, and often had personal experiences with psychological suffering (Coles, 1998).

Among Freud’s followers were Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. Both eventually separated from Freud and developed their own psychological theories. Freud saw their departure as a betrayal and never fully forgave them for challenging his psychoanalytic approach. During one family dinner he reportedly complained about the disloyalty of his followers, to which an aunt humorously replied that his problem was that he simply did not understand people (Hilgard, 1987).

In his personal life Freud followed a highly structured and disciplined routine. According to his daughter-in-law, the family maintained strict schedules. Their main daily meal, which was traditionally eaten at noon in Vienna, was served exactly at one o’clock. Regardless of circumstances—even during wartime—anyone who was late risked missing the meal entirely (Berman, 2008).

 

Freud’s Visit to America and His Final Years

In 1909, Sigmund Freud received official recognition from the American psychological community. He was invited to deliver a series of lectures at Clark University in Worcester and was awarded an honorary doctoral degree. Although he appreciated the honor, Freud did not develop a positive impression of the United States. He criticized what he saw as excessive informality, poor food, and the limited availability of bathrooms. Freud had already struggled with digestive problems for many years, but he jokingly blamed his worsening condition on his experiences in the “New World” (Prochnik, 2006).

Despite Freud’s personal discomfort with America, his theory of psychoanalysis was enthusiastically received there. Within two years of his visit, American supporters established the American Psychoanalytic Association and the New York Psychoanalytic Society. Soon afterward, similar psychoanalytic groups appeared in several major cities, including Boston, Chicago, and Washington, DC.

Freud’s influence in America grew rapidly. By 1920—only eleven years after his visit—more than two hundred books discussing his ideas had been published in the United States (Abma, 2004). Major American magazines such as Time, Ladies' Home Journal, and The New Republic featured articles about him. The widely popular child-care books written by Benjamin Spock, which shaped the parenting practices of several generations of American families, were influenced by Freud’s ideas. Even popular culture reflected his impact: a well-known song about dreams included the line, “Don’t tell me what you dream’d last night—For I’ve been reading Freud” (Fancher, 2000). Although Freud sometimes claimed that America had harmed his health, it undeniably played a major role in spreading his reputation worldwide.

During the 1920s and 1930s Freud reached the height of his intellectual fame. At the same time, however, his physical health declined dramatically. Beginning in 1923 and continuing until his death sixteen years later, he underwent thirty-three surgeries for cancer of the mouth, possibly linked to his habit of smoking around twenty cigars a day. Surgeons removed parts of his palate and upper jaw, and he endured constant pain, often refusing medication. He also received treatments involving X-rays and radium, and at one point even underwent a vasectomy because some doctors believed it might slow the progression of the cancer.

Political events in Europe also affected Freud’s life. When the Nazi regime rose to power in Germany in 1933, the government publicly burned Freud’s books along with those of other individuals labeled “enemies of the state,” including Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway. Freud responded with bitter irony, remarking that in earlier centuries they would have burned him as well, whereas now they were satisfied with destroying his books (Jones, 1957).

In 1938, Nazi forces occupied Austria. Although friends urged Freud to leave Vienna, he initially refused. Nazi groups raided his home several times. Only after his daughter Anna Freud was arrested—though later released—did Freud finally agree to emigrate to London. Tragically, four of his sisters later died in Nazi concentration camps.

Freud’s health continued to deteriorate in his final years, but he remained intellectually active and continued writing and working almost until the end of his life. By late September 1939, he told his physician, Max Schur, that his suffering had become unbearable and meaningless (Schur, 1972). Schur had previously promised that he would not allow Freud to endure unnecessary pain. Over the next twenty-four hours he administered three injections of morphine, each stronger than a normal sedative dose. These injections ended Freud’s prolonged suffering and brought his life to a close.