1. Freud grew up as a young boy in a single room home with four other family members
2. He was very bright and studied excessively, becoming fluent in several languages by age 12
3. He had hoped his research on cocaine as a therapeutic agent would gain him success early on in his career
4. Freud used cocaine himself, but was fully aware of its addictive properties
5. Before Freud, doctors at the time thought mental ailments were caused by physical reasons
6. Freud used hypnosis in an attempt to enter and understand the unconscious mind
7. By using “talking therapy,” Freud realized that sex was the root of many of his patients’ problems
8. Freud had six children
9. After his father died, Freud conducted self-analysis by recording and interpreting his own thoughts and dreams for about 4 years
10. Freud smoked between 20 to 25 cigars a day
11. World War I revealed to Freud the aggressive potential of man
12. Freud developed a cancerous tumor in his mouth, and experienced excruciating pain throughout 33 surgeries
13. Freud called women “the dark continent”
14. His daughter also became a psychoanalyst
15. Freud died at the age of 83
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Throughout personality development, if a conflict during psychosexual stage is not resolved, an individual would become fixated and show problems relating to that point of development. These problems serve as defense mechanisms to decrease anxiety. For example, during the oral stage of Freud’s psychosexual stages, a fixation would cause an individual to bite their nails, excessively eat, or participate in various other activities regarding the mouth. In addition, a fixation can also occur if the id or superego are