Sigmund Freud is known as the 'father of psychoanalysis', and he revolutionised thinking about mental health. His work was often criticised, but many of his theories are now firmly accepted.
Freud's pioneering work was the first to show the existence of an unconscious mind that could have far-reaching effects on behaviour. Until then, no one realised how much everyday dreams and slips of the tongue (later called 'Freudian slips') could reveal about the mind and help people to solve their problems. No one had ever said before that childhood sexuality could play such an important role in adult development.
Dr Josef Breuer (1842-1925)
Freud was still a student when he met Breuer. He was almost a father-figure to Freud, and would give the young man advice and lend him money. Breuer's work in 1880 with his patient Bertha Pappenheim, named 'Anna O' to protect her privacy, was the first case of psychoanalysis. Freud was fascinated by the details of the case, and based much of his work on it.
Professor Jean Martin Charcot (1825-1893)
'Hysteria' – the physical symptoms of mental disorder, such as headaches, convulsions and sleeplessness – was widely diagnosed in the 19th century, and people thought it was caused by the patient's imagination. French neurologist Charcot made the first serious efforts to cure hysteria, and found that he could stop or change a patient's symptoms with hypnosis. Freud was excited by Charcot's findings, which tapped into the subconscious mind, and worked with him in Paris in 1885.
1856 Sigismund Schlomo Freud is born in Moldavia (now part of the Czech Republic). His mother Amalia is 20 years younger than his father.
1860 The family settles in Vienna.
1873 Freud enters the University of Vienna to study medicine. He changes his name to Sigmund.
1881 Freud graduates. Josef Breuer works on the first psychoanalytic case with 'Anna O'.
1885 Freud studies hysteria with Professor Charcot in Paris.
1886 Freud opens private practice in Vienna. He marries Martha Bernays.
1887 Their first child is born. Freud is working on hysteria.
1891 The family moves to Berggasse 19 in Vienna, where Freud lives and practises for 46 years.
1894 He falls out with Josef Breuer.
1896 Freud uses the word 'psychoanalysis' for the first time. He lectures on his 'seduction theory'.
1897 Freud rejects his seduction theory, begins to analyse himself, and develops his theory of the Oedipus complex.
1900 He publishes The Interpretation of Dreams.
1907 Freud meets Dr Carl Gustav Jung, the Swiss psychoanalyst.
1910 The International Psychoanalytic Association is formed, with Jung as president.
1913 Freud breaks away from Jung.
1914 The outbreak of the First World War. Jung leaves the psychoanalytic movement.
1918 The First World War ends. Freud begins to analyse his daughter Anna.
1923 Freud publishes The Ego and the Id. He is diagnosed with cancer of the jaw.
1924 Freud's analysis of Anna ends. She begins to practise psychoanalysis.
1926 Freud, now 70, meets Einstein.
1930 Freud's mother dies.
1932 His exchange of letters with Einstein, Why War?, is published.
1933 Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany and the Nazis burn books by Freud.
1938 Nazis invade Austria. Freud, a Jew, and his family flee Vienna and settle in London.
1939 The outbreak of the Second World War. Sigmund Freud dies on 23 September.
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