The Birth of Psychoanalysis

Uncovering the unconscious since 1896

Freud thinking

Freud and the Unconscious

Sigmund Freud proposed that much of our behavior is driven by unconscious motives. He believed that repressed childhood experiences shaped adult personality in ways both subtle and profound.

Early psyche diagram

Dream Analysis

In "The Interpretation of Dreams", Freud suggests that dreams are the "royal road" to understanding the unconscious mind. Symbolism, repression, and desire all played central roles.

strange device

Archetypes and the Collective

Carl Jung expanded the field with the concept of the collective unconscious, a repository of shared human archetypes: the Shadow, the Anima, the Self. All encoded in myth and dream.