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About the author
Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who developed psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies thought to be caused by psyche conflicts, through dialogue between patient and psychoanalyst, and the resulting distinct theory of mind and human agency. Freud was born to Galician Jewish parents in the Moravian town of Freiberg, Austrian Empire. In 1881, he received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Vienna. After earning his habilitation in 1885, he was named a docent in neuropathology before becoming an attached professor in 1902. Freud lived and worked in Vienna, having established his psychiatric practice there in 1886. Freud founded psychoanalysis by developing therapeutic procedures such as free association and discovering transference, so establishing its fundamental role in the analytic process. Freud's conceptualization of sexuality, which included infantile forms, led him to develop the Oedipus complex as the basic pillar of psychoanalytic theory. His interpretation of dreams as wish-fulfillment provided him with models for clinically analyzing symptom genesis and underlying repressive mechanisms. On this foundation, Freud expanded his theory of the unconscious and created a model of psychological organization that included the id, ego, and superego.
