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Freudians?

Any Freudians out there? Most people dismiss Freud's theories, but I think he gets a bad rap. As the "father of psychoanalysis" he set up the foundations for psychology, and I'll admit a few of his ideas are wrong.

But his basic positions still stand today. People say he was too focused on sex, but take a look at the world today and you'll see it is consumed by sexuality. From advertising to entertainment to art to religion, sexuality is driving the culture.

Freud's views on the structure of the ego/superego/id are still valid. His views on hysteria seem outdated today, but he was addressing clearly the cultural issues of his day. Today he would be focusing on hypersexuality (girls gone wild, anyone?) in the same way he focused on hysteria in the 1800s and early 1900s.

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    My congratulations to you. Most everything that has been done since Freud, and Jung, can and should be traced back to their theory's, and can be found there in their embryonic form. An example of how their theory's was use and no credit given is one you mentioned in your question. Id, ego and super ego, equates to child, adult and parent, or better yet non-assertive, assertive or aggressive.

    Once again, stay with Freud's thinking, and I assure you, you will be of great benefit to your fellow man. Just an after thought to reinforce the above, Freud stated, and I have yet found anyone that disagrees. The basic motivation of human beings are "sex and power".

    Hysteria, is now called dissociative reaction.

    Source(s): Always give credit where credit is due.
  • Aria T
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    Negative. Without going into a long, awful rant, I'll just say that Freud did not base almost any of his theories on ANY kind of scientific evidence at all. His "subjects" were middle aged, middle class white women with nothing more than anecdotal evidence toward Freud's claims. He only noted things that proved his theories and nothing else. He did NOT set up the foundations for psychology (psychotherapy, perhaps you may argue that, but NOT psychology) - many different forms of psych were around long before Freud stepped in with his pompous ignorance.... but I digress.

    True much of our world is based on sex today, however, the unlikely and outright far-fetched assumptions/interpretations that Freud made regarding people's motivations for things... sure you can trace a lot of people's actions back to power and sex, but not back to penis-envy, or a desire to sleep with your mother, or to the fact that your mother didn't let you breast feed long enough! That stuff was outright ridiculous and a disgrace to the field.

    Thankfully, the psychoanalysts are becoming fewer and fewer each year...

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Newsweek had a special magazine with the 3 people who caused the biggest change in the last 100 years. They are Einstein, Karl Marx and Freud. See article on site below about a modern day Freud and the latest in psychology and being happy. Those 3 mentioned were all Jewish.

  • 1 decade ago

    Truely the man was a genius!

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