Freud, Sigmund
▶ Watch on YouTubeCoverage note: full (a recording of about one minute; the automatic English transcript is clear)
Core ideas
Freud gives a compact account of his career in his own words. He began his professional life as a neurologist trying to bring relief to his neurotic patients. Under the influence of an older friend and by his own efforts, he says, he discovered "some important new facts about the unconscious in psychic life, the role of instincts and urges and so on". From these findings grew "a new science, psychoanalysis, a branch of psychology, and a new method of treatment of the neuroses".
He adds that he "had to pay heavily for this bit of good luck": people did not believe in his facts and thought his theories unsound, and resistance was "strong and unrelenting". In the end, he says, he succeeded in establishing his work (the transcript wording is garbled) and building up an international psychoanalytic association, but "the struggle is not yet over". The statement ends with a brief spoken self-introduction, "My name is Sigmund Freud," followed by a courteous exchange with a doctor present in the studio, who is not identified.
Excerpts
“Out of these findings there grew a new science, psychoanalysis, a branch of psychology.”
“People did not believe in my facts and thought my theories unsound.”
“Resistance was strong and unrelenting.”