Psychopathology Of Everyday Life Analysis

Words: 515
Pages: 3

By analyzing Freud’s style of writing one can arrive at the conclusion that he is egoistical and self-centered. He provides the reader with personal examples, referring to other psychologists’ work only to dismiss their theories. Phrases such as “it is certainly wrong to claim that…,” and “I cannot help disagreeing,” (The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, 54) deny others’ ideas and almost force the reader to accept Freud’s point of view. Although personal examples can go a long way with providing the reader with good insight, they often lack professional depth. Lack of professionalism in science-based writing tends to come off as bad work or carelessness, but in this case, it presents the author as a self-appointed “know-it-all”.
Freud treats the audience with an intentional hint of disrespect. The written words come off as dull and simple, almost blatantly calling the reader dumb.
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Notice, that he never corrects himself, nor seems to make mistakes. In the line “I hope my readers will note the difference of value between those interpretations for which there is no evidence, and the examples I have collected myself and elucidated by analysis,” (The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, 80) Freud puts his own examples above those that are lacking evidence, although there is no difference between the two. None of Freud’s 38 examples are backed up by authentic research. The excruciating amount of analysis done by Freud should not be mistaken for scientific evidence, because he provides the reader with nothing but his own opinions. He also uses himself as an example: “when I analyze those instances of forgetting names that I observe in myself, I almost always find that the name which eludes me is related to some subject closely affecting my own person,” (The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, 25) and this self-serving method is applied to all of his patients and the general