THE 19 MOST IMPORTANT FREUD BOOKS (RECOMMENDED) - GEOGRAFÍA - 2025

Today I come with a list of the most important Sigmund Freud books, which you should know if you want to study a little psychoanalysis, are curious about psychoanalytic theory or simply want to enjoy a well written book.

Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of Psychoanalysis, a practice formulated for the treatment of psychopathological disorders, based on the dialogue between the patient and the psychoanalyst.

His work was prolific and left a mark on the culture and history of mankind; various terms conceptualized by him (such as the unconscious) have become part of popular knowledge and Western culture. Such was the quality of his writing, from a point of view of style and content, that it earned him the prestigious Goethe Prize in 1930.

His theories marked the treatment of psychopathologies by both psychology and psychiatry, since Freud advocated a treatment in which mental illness had a close relationship with the personal, family, social and even cultural history of the patient who suffers. Freud, in "Psychology of the masses and analysis of the self" affirms that all psychology is social psychology.

His work was compiled and curated in Spanish by the Amorrortu Editores publishing house, covering an impressive 23 volumes, not counting other publications of a more intimate nature such as letters or manuscripts.

The most important Sigmund Freud books

1- Defense neuropsychoses (1894)

It is one of Freud's first texts, where he begins to outline ideas that he would later develop throughout his entire career.

In this book he introduces the concept of splitting of consciousness, where he starts from the fact that consciousness is inaccessible to the "I" (which is not the I that I would develop later).

His very first insights are due to studies he does on hysteria, where he finds that there are no organic lesions in the suffering of women and that the symptom occurs as a consequence of said excision.

The split arises from an irreconcilable representation with the others that, generally, come from sexual life. This conflict between representations sets the defense in motion, generating the aforementioned split.

Said division allows the amount of affection linked to the irreconcilable representation to be separated. Thus, the IR remains unconscious and the amount of affect is linked to a substitute representation that usually has logical links with the IR, which can cause hysterical symptoms.

In this work, Freud affirms that the psychic apparatus is governed by the Principle of constancy, whose function is to eliminate all kinds of displeasure to maintain an energy balance.

2- The interpretation of dreams (1900)

Without a doubt one of his most important works and perhaps the best known. In this work Freud publishes important theoretical advances, detailing in depth his developments on the unconscious in relation to dreams.

It details, by means of the Scheme of the comb, that the psychic apparatus works in a similar way to a photographic camera. On one side is the perceptual pole, which registers external or internal stimuli.

In the middle there are memory traces of what was previously perceived that are activated according to the perceived stimulus. On the other side is the motor pole, which carries out an action in response to this stimulus.

The novelty of the scheme, however, is that Freud places perception and memory activation as unconscious first and conscious later: that is, we only become aware of what is perceived (long) after the fact has occurred, but we have already acted accordingly unconsciously.

In relation to the analysis of dreams, Freud works on the interpretation of the dream story, since he is not interested in how well the analysand remembers the dream, but rather the story that he assembles in the therapy session about it. Freud develops four components of dream work:

• Condensation: The manifest content of the dream is a condensation or compendium of latent thoughts. These elements have something in common, a logical nexus, so the manifest is over-determined.
• Displacement: Thanks to the oneiric censorship (which is similar to repression in its way of acting), displacement consists of the movement of an important element for the subject to an unimportant one. In this way the dream becomes something alien and strange.
• Transposition in images: It is the staging of the dream. It consists of the disfigurement of latent thoughts and their mixture with the diurnal remains by means of condensation and displacement to show the images of the dream itself.
• Secondary elaboration: It is after the dream and refers to the act of telling it. Here it seeks to order the events that occurred in the dream temporally and spatially and is an important part of its analysis.

Irma's injection dream

As an example, let's take Freud's famous "Irma injection" dream. In it, Freud recognizes that by condensation Irma represents several women, his patients who have been reluctant to treat her.

By displacement, the feeling of guilt and responsibility for Irma's illness is attributed to another doctor when it was Freud himself who felt guilty for the suffering of his patient. The transposition into images is the scene of the dream itself, like the Freud experience; secondary elaboration is the famous tale.

3- Three Essays on Sex Theory (1905)

Another key text in Freud's work in particular and psychoanalytic theory in general, here a new approach is made to sexuality, making a separation between it and genitality.

The first is a broad concept, which includes the subject's ways of relating and feeling, while the second is related to their genitalia, intercourse and onanism exclusively. Genitality is part of sexuality.

Here Freud develops the concept of drive as a border concept because it relates the psychic with the biological, affirming that the drive is the psychic response to an internal biological stimulus from which the subject cannot escape.

It also makes important developments in relation to child sexuality. He affirms that infantile sexuality has two phases: the first at an early age and marked mainly by eroticism and drive pleasure. The second phase occurs with the entry into puberty and the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics. Between both phases there is a latency period.

In the development of infantile sexuality, he postulates the famous phases of its organization: oral, anal, phallic and genital. Each one bears its name from the object of satisfaction that are, respectively, the mouth, the anus and the penis (clitoris in women).

The difference between the phallic and genital stages is that in the phallic stage children have the unconscious theory that there is only one genital, the phallus / penis.

In the genital the female genitalia are recognized, although in the unconscious the belief that there is only one genital, the phallus, which may be present or absent, persists. These phases occur in both men and women.

4- Totem and taboo (1913)

A work more anthropological than psychological in nature, Freud draws on observations made of indigenous Australian peoples, as well as studies by Darwin, Atkinson, and Robenson-Smith.

Although anthropological theses are discredited today, their developments on the Oedipus complex continue to have importance within psychoanalysis today.

Freud affirms the existence of a primordial repression made to a "primordial Father". The myth of the murder of this father accounts for the emergence of law and culture among his children. Freud affirms that the act of murdering and devouring him founds the culture in a loss (that of the father).

The children have committed a crime for which they feel guilty and to prevent it from happening again they make a law that no one can take their place again.

Thus, incest is prohibited by not being able to take the mother as a couple, so the children are forced to exogamy and look for women from other tribes that they can take as partners.

5- Introduction of narcissism (1914)

This writing arises in part as an amendment to his theory of drives that had been harshly criticized by his former disciple Carl Jung previously. Here Freud introduces narcissism into his sexual theory as a structural part of the subject, which is formed before the subject can invest objects libidinally.

Sexual energy is first placed in the Self during sexual development, whereby the Self becomes libidinized. This libidinization is a complement to the egoism of the self-preservation drives, since it is thanks to the libido that the subject has the desire to preserve her ego.

It is necessary that previously there is a constituted and libidinized I so that this libido can leave the I (although never totally) and be deposited in objects of love.

Objects, however, can be lost and when the libido occurs, it withdraws from them and returns to the self, depositing itself in its fantasies, which allows the object to "live" on a phantasmic level.

6- Drives and drive destinations (1915)

In this writing Freud develops the concept of drive in detail. Here the Stimulus-Response model of the Peine scheme changes, stating that drive stimuli (that is, drive stimuli) operate with constant force and cannot be run away or attacked.

The drive has four components:

• Effort / thrust: It is the sum of force or measure of constant work done by the drive.
• Goal / end: It is the satisfaction achievable when canceling the stimulation state of the source.
• Object: The drive reaches its goal through it. Its an instrument.
• Source: The body itself, its orifices, its surface. It is experienced as arousal.

The drive is not satisfied in the object. Through libido, the Ego invests an object by which the drive can be satisfied (cancel its stimulus) by using it as an instrument.

As the stimulus is constant, the drive is continually searching for objects to reach its goal, which it will only reach when it dies.

7- The repression (1915) and 8. The unconscious (1915)

These two works are so closely related that it is very difficult to talk about one without having to mention the other.

Freud details the nature of the unconscious, giving it three definitions: a descriptive one (everything that is not conscious), dynamic (it is the repressed contents) and a systemic one (it is the functioning of the unconscious as a structure of the psychic apparatus).

On the nature of repression, Freud affirms that there was a primary repression prior to the repression that is commonly known or secondary. This primary repression was not content, but the foundation of the unconscious by splitting it from the conscious.

It is a founding operation that inscribes the representation of the drive in the psyche and accounts for the particular functioning of the unconscious, where laws different from those of consciousness or reality govern.

9- The I and the It (1923)

In this text Freud asserts that the individual is first of all an It, that is to say that he is not aware of himself and acts according to the Pleasure Principle, seeking his instinctual satisfaction through objects.

The Id is totally unconscious but a part of it is altered because of its relationship with the external world, becoming the I, which is partially conscious.

The superego, in turn, is made up of alterations in the ego (of an unconscious nature). These alterations come from moral conscience and self-criticism, as well as an unconscious feeling of guilt. The superego is extreme, cruel and fierce and from it arises the need for punishment.

The conscious part of the I is related to access to motility. The Self is a vassal of three lords:

From the Id, which constantly seeks instinctual satisfaction, forcing the Ego to libidinally invest different objects.

From reality, since it cannot invest any object and must respect the rules and laws of the reality in which it lives.

From the Super-ego, for having to respect one's own and social morals, as well as for the need to punish oneself for breaking the laws.

10- The malaise of culture (1930)

This is an essay that together with "Psychology of the masses and analysis of the self", make up his best-known and most relevant works in the study of 20th century social psychoanalysis.

The main theme of the writing is the divergence that exists between the natural drives of man and the restrictions imposed by society and culture, that is, while culture creates more stable social units, it restricts the sexual and aggressive drives of the individual, creating a feeling of guilt.

For this reason, culture generates suffering and dissatisfaction and if it grows, discomfort and guilt increase progressively.

11- Psychopathology of everyday life (1901)

It is a work in which Freud describes themes and terms that are easy to understand, related to everyday situations such as mistakes or common failed acts.

These situations do not occur by chance, but because of the unconscious or preconscious. Although they do not want to do certain actions the individual performs them, an example of this is to name someone they do not want to name.

In addition, Freud describes "cloaking memories", which come from childhood and cause some problem, conflict or repression.

12- The future of an illusion (1927)

In this writing Freud treats as a central theme the relationship between culture and religion. It describes the beginnings, evolution, psychoanalysis and the future of religion within societies.

Concluding as a personal criticism, Freud considered that religion was only a scheme of false beliefs. It describes that the acceptance of religion means giving up the natural instinctual satisfaction of man.

13- Moses and the monotheistic religion (1939)

It is the last work published by Freud in life, it brings together three essays, which describe the origins of the belief in one God.

In addition, he expresses his opinions about the origins, destiny and relationship of the Jews with Moses. For the father of psychoanalysis, the Jewish people murders Moses and collectively repress this fact from their minds, after a time the repressed memory appears and with it the Jewish people and their religion are born.

Others

14- The joke and its relationship with the unconscious

15- A childhood memory of Leonardo da Vinci

16- Contribution to the history of the psychoanalytic movement

17- Scheme of psychoanalysis

18- Inhibition, symptom and anguish

19- aphasia

What do you think has been Freud's most important book?

References

1. Freud, S.: Defense neuropsychosis, Amorrortu Editores (AE), volume III, Buenos Aires, 1976.
2. Freud, S.: The interpretation of dreams, IV, idem.
3. Freud, S.: Three essays on sexual theory, AE, VII, idem.
4. Freud, S.: Totem and taboo, XIII, idem.
5. Freud, S.: Introduction of narcissism, XIV, idem.
6. Freud, S.: Drives and drive destinations, idem.
7. Freud, S.: Repression, idem.
8. Freud, S.: The unconscious, idem.
9. Freud, S.: Psychology of the masses and analysis of the self, XVIII, idem.
10. Freud, S.: The ego and the id, XIX, idem.