Sigmund Freud

Freud's theories are groundbreaking but their use in clinical practice has been pretty much whittled down to a basic construct of human anxieties and coping techniques, along with his concepts of the mind, and while it's debatable, parts are undeniable. If you take his unethical conduct (sleeping with clients, Jung was worse of course), sexism, racism, and classism out of the equation (this is not a slight to him, but the time itself) you have some really interesting and honest thoughts about human consciousness and the way our experiences early on shape our reactions in later life.

The psychosexual stages are better explained by Erikson's developmental model, in my opinion. I like the idea of taking the reasonable portions out of the former and adding them to the latter. Erikson's developmental stages are brilliant, in my opinion. Even better built upon by Ivey, breaking up adolescence to fit the changing times.

Freud gave a lot of smart people a nice starting point to create some brilliant theories about psychology and therapy. Unmatched.
The theories as he originally intended them are out dated, and over the top to some degree, but like I said...he really had insight.

He was also pretty fucked up, thus starting the trend of the mental health professionals being made out of whacky people. :p
 
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