Freud Essential

In "Mass Psychology and Ego Analysis"Sigmund Freud retrieves the theories of a sociologist of his time named Le Bon. According to Le Bon, the individual gains immense power by associating with a group and feels security in being part of it. However, Freud adds that this sense of belonging leads to a loss of individual consciousness. Thus, the sensations that permeate the group tend to have a great influence and to override individual consciousness. In recent years in Brazil, massified behaviors have been clearly observed, currently amplified by social media. The analysis that Freud conducted on this type of behavior remains fully valid and useful in today's world. It is this analysis that is available to the reader now in "Mass Psychology and Ego Analysis."

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian neurologist and important psychologist. He is considered the father of psychoanalysis, which significantly influenced contemporary social psychology. In “Civilization and its Discontentes”, Freud argues that civilization forces us to renounce the individual's instinctual pursuit of pleasure and aggression. Religion and religious ideas help achieve this through taming human instinctual expression. Certainly, his interpretation contributes to the understanding of religious ideas and experiences and cultural and social development within a psychological perspective. However, his negation of the possibility of ultimate realities and his overly narrow focus on instinctual desire lead him overlook the value of human religious lives. Perhaps it is not the super-ego that gives human the sense of guilt, but the finitude of being that humans express. Maybe it is not civilization that obstructs the individual's pursuit of happiness, but the tendency of human beings to objectify everything. In fact, religion may be well suited to helping human beings overcome finitude and objectification. “Civilization and Its Discontent” is considered one of Freud's most important and widely read works, and was described in 1989 by historian Peter Gay as one of the most influential and studied books in the field of modern psychology.

In "The Interpretation of Dreams", Freud demonstrates that every dream carries a meaning related to the fulfillment of desires. These desires, sublimated in our waking life, are associated with primitive instincts and will manifest symbolically in our dreams. For Sigmund Freud, interpreting a dream means giving it a sense, that is, adjusting it to the chain of our mental faculties and gaining a better understanding of what we truly are. Filled with examples extracted from records of his patients and his own dreams, "The Interpretation of Dreams" is a unique work that, even as it delves into the study of dreams, is intelligible to all. Scholars or laypeople with an interest in exploring the fantastic and revealing world of dreams will be enchanted by this book, considered the magnum opus of the "Father of Psychoanalysis."