Psychodynamic Theorist Paper

Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 and died in 1939. He was a leading thinker as far as psychology is concerned. To this moment, many psychologists refer to his line of thinking when making conclusions about a psychological aspect. The theories he developed and his work played an important role in shaping the views of personality, childhood, memory, therapy and sexuality (Freud, 1949). It is important to note that other thinkers have contributed to the growth of Freud’s legacy while others have developed new theories in opposition to the work of Freud. In this paper, I shall explain why Freud’s work was so influential, I shall also discuss on how theorists in the psychoanalytic theory followed Freud dissent from his viewpoint. Also I shall state what links the theorists in this group, and also state some of the concepts that are still relevant in today’s culture.

Why Freud’s Work So Influential

Freud’s works are said to be influential because of the approach and techniques that he uses in coming up with theory. He has tried as much as possible to illustrate and illuminate various aspects that he talks about, including religion. Despite t he fact that much of his writings being met with hostility, they were not disregarded, a factor that encourages other psychoanalysts. His works are also influential in the sense that they produce great knowledge though exhaustive explanations, meant to reveal the mental forces that tend to underlie them, and those that have not been dealt with by any other intellectual discipline.

Freud tried to his best ability to increase psychological understanding. He did this through provision of illustrations and explanations of partially comprehensive phenomena. This was achieved through the efforts he made in making sure that he revealed meaningful motivations as well as conflicts at the base of irrational and meaningless material. The methods he used are what many of the psychoanalysts admire (Infoplease, 2011). These include skills in observation, speculation as well as formulation of what has already been observed as far as general theories are concerned. It is also important to note that the discovery made were of origin, mental life as well as processes.