For the first half of the 1900s, he ideas of Sigmund Freud dominated explanations of how the human mind works. His basic proposition was that our motivations remain largely hidden in our unconscious minds. Moreover, they are actively withheld from consciousness by a repressive force. The executive apparatus of the mind (the ego) rejects any unconscious drives (the id) that might prompt behavior that would be incompatible with our civilized conception of ourselves. This repression is necessary because the drives express themselves in unconstrained passions, childish fantasies, and sexual and aggressive urges.

Mental illness, Freud said until his death in 1939, results when repression fails. Phobias, panic attacks and obsessions are caused by intrusions of the hidden drives into voluntary behavior. The aim of psychotherapy, then, was to trace neurotic symptoms back to their unconscious roots and expose these roots to mature, rational judgment, thereby depriving them of their compulsive power.

This article was originally published with the title Freud Returns.

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