Beginning in Europe and spreading to the United States, Freud’s new and controversial theories kick started the development of modern psychology and the transformation of beliefs surrounding the cause of mental illness. With the publication of The Unconscious Mind at the turn of the 20th century, and further works being published into 1920s, Freud’s approach to mental illness and understanding human behavior greatly shaped the beginning of the 20th century (psychfreud). Sigmund Freud was the founder of the psychoanalytic approach in psychology. Psychoanalysis a method used for treating the mentally ill as well as a theory that explains human behavior (PSYCHFREUD). Focusing on the unconscious mind as well as dream interpretation, psychoanalysis, also known as the “talking cure”, put an emphasis on patients verbally expressing their problems, feelings, and ailments (same as above). Within Freud’s numerous beliefs and theories regarding the human mind, his proposed psychosexual stages aimed at explaining the cause of mental illness. “Mental abnormality can occur if a stage is not completed successfully – the person becomes ‘fixated’ in a particular stage” (same as above). In patients with neurotic illnesses, Freud would often seek to “understand the nature and variety of these illnesses by retracing the sexual history of his patients” (same). Freud wanted to gain insight into “the patient’s wishes and desires, their experience of love, hate, shame, guilt and fear – and how they handled these powerful emotions”
Beginning in Europe and spreading to the United States, Freud’s new and controversial theories kick started the development of modern psychology and the transformation of beliefs surrounding the cause of mental illness. With the publication of The Unconscious Mind at the turn of the 20th century, and further works being published into 1920s, Freud’s approach to mental illness and understanding human behavior greatly shaped the beginning of the 20th century (psychfreud). Sigmund Freud was the founder of the psychoanalytic approach in psychology. Psychoanalysis a method used for treating the mentally ill as well as a theory that explains human behavior (PSYCHFREUD). Focusing on the unconscious mind as well as dream interpretation, psychoanalysis, also known as the “talking cure”, put an emphasis on patients verbally expressing their problems, feelings, and ailments (same as above). Within Freud’s numerous beliefs and theories regarding the human mind, his proposed psychosexual stages aimed at explaining the cause of mental illness. “Mental abnormality can occur if a stage is not completed successfully – the person becomes ‘fixated’ in a particular stage” (same as above). In patients with neurotic illnesses, Freud would often seek to “understand the nature and variety of these illnesses by retracing the sexual history of his patients” (same). Freud wanted to gain insight into “the patient’s wishes and desires, their experience of love, hate, shame, guilt and fear – and how they handled these powerful emotions”