He qualified as a doctor of medicine in at the University of Vienna. He died in exile in the United Kingdom in In founding psychoanalysis , Freud developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association and discovered transference , establishing its central role in the analytic process. Freud's redefinition of sexuality to include its infantile forms led him to formulate the Oedipus complex as the central tenet of psychoanalytical theory.
On this basis, Freud elaborated his theory of the unconscious and went on to develop a model of psychic structure comprising id, ego and super-ego. Though in overall decline as a diagnostic and clinical practice, psychoanalysis remains influential within psychology , psychiatry , psychotherapy , and across the humanities. It thus continues to generate extensive and highly contested debate concerning its therapeutic efficacy, its scientific status, and whether it advances or hinders the feminist cause.
His father, Jakob Freud , a wool merchant, had two sons, Emanuel and Philipp, by his first marriage. Jakob's family were Hasidic Jews and, although Jakob himself had moved away from the tradition, he came to be known for his Torah study. In , the Freud family left Freiberg.
Freud's half-brothers immigrated to Manchester , England, parting him from the "inseparable" playmate of his early childhood, Emanuel's son, John. He proved to be an outstanding pupil and graduated from the Matura in with honors.
Freud entered the University of Vienna at age His research work on the biology of nervous tissue proved seminal for the subsequent discovery of the neuron in the s. The lengthy downtimes enabled him to complete a commission to translate four essays from John Stuart Mill 's collected works.
