Opinion of Sigmund Freud

[© tweed]

Hp of course

[Dr. Cynic]

Studied him extensively in Advanced Psych... His theory of the levels of conciousness and defense mechanisims are very probable psychological theories...

However, Freud was also a misogynist and Penis envy is completely invalid.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

HP

[Alcon]

Aside from the fact that he was wrong on a lot of things, what exactly is your objection, here?  A lot of people only vaguely familiar with psychology go around hating on Freud because they think the most important part of his work is penis envy or being in love with your mother.  He was flawed, but his contributions to psychology are significant nonetheless.

[Dr. Cynic]

Actually his own admission was that he felt his greatest contribution was the defense mechanisim of Repression.

The Oedipal and the Electra complexes are minor parts of Freud's work. It's true, and there can be no doubt that he held women inferior... Yes, he was terrified of Ferns... I don't think one can judge him as totally horrible or totally a freedom fighter.

He made many contributions to modern psychology, and psychoanalysis is still very popular.

[dazzleman]

..... and Penis envy is completely invalid.

How do you know?   You could only know that for sure if you were without a penis, and wanted one.

Freud made contributions, but some of his theories are a little distorted, in my opinion.  I tend not to fall into the trap of worshiping a particular psychoanalytic theory, but look at the picture as a whole.  It's been many years since I actually studied this stuff.

[Joe Republic]

Aside from the fact that he was wrong on a lot of things, what exactly is your objection, here?  A lot of people only vaguely familiar with psychology go around hating on Freud because they think the most important part of his work is penis envy or being in love with your mother.  He was flawed, but his contributions to psychology are significant nonetheless.

My only gripe with Freud is that yes he did have many "significant" theories, but not one of them was actually backed up by any evidence at all.  Psychology is a science (or at least a pseudo-science), and as a result it is expected that theories have at least some empirical evidence to support it when first introduced.

[John Dibble]

Aside from the fact that he was wrong on a lot of things, what exactly is your objection, here?  A lot of people only vaguely familiar with psychology go around hating on Freud because they think the most important part of his work is penis envy or being in love with your mother.  He was flawed, but his contributions to psychology are significant nonetheless.

My only gripe with Freud is that yes he did have many "significant" theories, but not one of them was actually backed up by any evidence at all.  Psychology is a science (or at least a pseudo-science), and as a result it is expected that theories have at least some empirical evidence to support it when first introduced.

Ditto. However, he did have a major role in getting the ball rolling in the field of psychology much as the study of alchemy helped chemistry get going.

[MaC]

though a determinist, a Freedom Fighter who helped many with the techniques of psycho-analysis.

[The Dowager Mod]

..... and Penis envy is completely invalid.

How do you know?   You could only know that for sure if you were without a penis, and wanted one.

Freud made contributions, but some of his theories are a little distorted, in my opinion.  I tend not to fall into the trap of worshiping a particular psychoanalytic theory, but look at the picture as a whole.  It's been many years since I actually studied this stuff.

Don't got one don't want one.

[Michael Z]

Aside from the fact that he was wrong on a lot of things, what exactly is your objection, here?  A lot of people only vaguely familiar with psychology go around hating on Freud because they think the most important part of his work is penis envy or being in love with your mother.  He was flawed, but his contributions to psychology are significant nonetheless.

though a determinist, a Freedom Fighter who helped many with the techniques of psycho-analysis.

What MaC and Alcon said. FF.

[Joe Republic]

I take it few of you actually studied Psychology?

Psycho-analysis is about as scientific and effective as astrology.  If you want to study a real psychotherapy, try cognitive therapy, behavior therapy, or the hybrid cognitive-behavioral therapy.

[Umengus]

this guy is just a joke...

[John Dibble]

I take it few of you actually studied Psychology?

I did - took two classes. General pscyh and social psych. Freud was mentioned in the former, and like I said the main credit he was given was that his ideas got the ball rolling on modering psychology even though he was wrong more often than not.

[Joe Republic]

I take it few of you actually studied Psychology?

I did - took two classes. General pscyh and social psych. Freud was mentioned in the former, and like I said the main credit he was given was that his ideas got the ball rolling on modering psychology even though he was wrong more often than not.

That's pretty much what I got too.  I guess you could in a way compare Freud to Hippocrates' impact on medicine.  Both were largely wrong in many of their conclusions, but at least they had generally the right idea, and their respective fields can credit them for laying much of the groundwork.

[MaC]

I take it few of you actually studied Psychology?

Psycho-analysis is about as scientific and effective as astrology.  If you want to study a real psychotherapy, try cognitive therapy, behavior therapy, or the hybrid cognitive-behavioral therapy.

I have.  Cognitive is good for studying how people learn, and for parlor tricks-(OMG STROOP TEST!, or let's see how fast the guy can put the letter in the box and it he's .15 seconds faster this time).  Lot of it is useless.

Behaviourism is a good method for explaining how and why people act as they do, but it has it's limitations also-as what the cognitivist camp learned-that not everything is a learned behavior

Neither of these are good at curing schizophrenics or obsessive-compulsives though.  The psycho-analysis comes into play when helping people with mental disorders, and for all you who say that "Frued is an HP", look at all the people he's treated, and please don't give me that 'he perscribed cocaine to his patients' crap (as retrospectively knowing that cocaine is bad ruins your argument.