Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis, a system of interpretation and therapeutic treatment of psychological disorders based on the idea of the unconscious. Psychoanalysis attributes neurosis to the barring of libidinal ideations from consciousness, and, as a means of treatment, it proposes that patients become aware of these unconscious thoughts through the free association of ideas.

Although Freud’s psychoanalytic theory has been largely discredited, he was responsible for the concept of the “unconscious mind” which is now the underpinning of many psychological schools. More…