A Psychiatrist Can Also Be Abnormal

A psychiatrist can also be abnormal

One of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century is Dr. Sigmund Freud. He is a doctor, psychologist and also the father of few of the most intriguing developments and theories in this vast field of thought and process. He is easily recognizable by his wise gray hair, cigar in hand, well-trimmed beard and a very elegant sense of dressing. His piercing eyes seem to penetrate the human soul to the extent of having your thoughts exposed, as his appearance and stiff posture reflect a person with strong determination. Freud’s advance on the psychoanalytical model and his discovery of the “unconscious mind” have resulted in his immense fame. Adding to that resume is his work on the interpretation of dreams, female sexuality, schizophrenia, intra-psychic conflicts, and an abundance of essays. His theories are complex and new for people to understand or consider being the ultimate truth. “It should be evident why psychoanalysis in general, and Freud in particular, have exerted such a strong influence upon the popular imagination in the Western World over the past 90 years or so, and why both the theory and practice of psychoanalysis should remain the object of a great deal of controversy” (1).

Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 in a small town in Vienna and had the fate of being brought up in a small, impoverished family in the midst of 10 other siblings. This situation cultivated a feeling of fear, of insecurity as well as of unhappiness, all on the common basis of neglect. “Like many bright children in similar circumstances, he escaped into the world of his imagination. As an adult, Freud sought fame, created theories that he hoped would surpass all others and secured his stature in the world as a great man. This drive arose from the same source as the heroic identifications of this childhood”(3) According to Louis Breger, involved in research on Freud, there were four important events in Freud’s life which helped him break free of his emotional insecurities and constrictions; falling in love with his future wife Martha, growing intimate relations with friend Breuer, a career change from physiology to medical practitioner and his experimentation of the drug cocaine.

DSM IV criterion

“A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, and marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.

2. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.

3. Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self.

4. Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating).

5. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior

6. Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days).

7. Chronic feelings of emptiness

8. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights)

9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms” (6)

On the basis of evidence from his books, letters and biographies, Freud could be analyzed and claimed to have an abnormal disorder, a substance abuse disorder. To be exact, it could be given the name of cocaine intoxication. According to the DSM-IV-TR, criteria for a substance abuse disorder includes recurrent substance use causing a failure to fulfill work, school or family obligations, Continued use despite having persistent or recurring personal problems caused or made worse by the use of the substance. By the standard psychiatric definition, “the person should take the substance more than originally intended and take the substance to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms”(2).

Freud was an early advocate of cocaine and he knew of the use of this drug to improve energy among the German soldiers. In one of his letters to Martha he says, “It is a magical drug. I take very small doses of it regularly against depression and ingestion, with almost brilliant success”(3). From the above letter it is apparent that Freud used cocaine to make himself happy or to cheer