FAMOUS PSYCHO-ANALYST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22991, 19 March 1938, Page 16

FAMOUS PSYCHO-ANALYST

PROFESSOR SIGMUND FREUD SERIOUSLY ILL IN yiENNA (Received March 17, 5.5 p.m.) VIENNA, March J« Professor Sigmund Freud, the famous psycho-analyst, is seriously ill. Sigmund 'Freud, famous as the founder of psycho-analysis, was born in Freiburg in 1856, but since the age of four has lived in Vienna. He graduated as a doctor in Vienna and later taught at Vienna University. Having decided to specialise in nerve diseases, he studied under Charcot, the famous French neurologist, who encouraged him in his revolutionary method of investigating nerve diseases by analysing the mind of the patient. His theory is that nervous disorders are due to repressions or inadequate emotional responses by the patient during unpleasant experiences at some time in the past. Because of the frustration of emotional expression, mental complexes are built up and disorders result which can be cured only by assisting the patient by analytical questioning to recall the experience and then to release the delayed emotional response. Although there is strong opposition to the theory of psycho-analysis, especially to its emphasis on the influence of sexual instinct on tho subconscious mind, it is recognised that Freud has given a powerful impulse to psychology. On his 70th birthday, he received congratulations from learned societies in many parts of the world and was given the freedom of the city of Vienna.