Introduction

     If asked, “Who is the most significant figure in the entire history of psychiatry?” one would undoubtedly answer “Sigmund Freud.”  Freud is a household name because of the incredible contributions towards our profound, yet still vastly incomplete, understanding of the human mind.  However, despite the universal recognition of  “psychoanalysis” as an incredibly important contribution to Western society, very few people realize the pivotal role in its development played by the political, economic and social conditions of Fin de Siecle Vienna—the city in which Freud developed his theories.  Psychoanalysis is a product of Vienna just as much as it is the creation of one, Sigmund Freud.

            This assertion can be supported twofold.  The first way in which one can prove the intricate role played by Fin de Siecle Vienna in the birth of Psychoanalysis, is by understanding the status of Freud within his society.  Freud found himself constantly struggling to achieve any measure of success and always viewed himself as an outsider trying to fit in.  Freud was a Jew, certainly the most threatened religious population in an increasingly anti-Semitic Vienna.  In addition to religious bigotry, Freud was constantly engaged in an uphill battle to succeed in the highly competitive medical field.  Professionally, Freud’s life was no easier than his personal life.  However, in merely proving that Freud faced unique struggles in his home city, we are not fully showing how certain characteristics of Fin de Siecle Vienna directly produced Psychoanalysis

            The second way, in which to examine the connection between Vienna and Psychoanalysis, is through a careful examination of Vienna’s history and its identity at the turn of the century, certain themes begin to manifest themselves and one sees a commonality in the nature of Psychoanalysis and Fin de Siecle Vienna.  Indeed, through an examination of Vienna’s foreign and domestic politics, in addition to its cultural milieu and ambivalent embrace and rejection of 20^th century Modernism, it becomes clear that Psychoanalysis could not have been developed elsewhere.

• Introduction
• Anti-Semitism
• Freud's Processional Struggle
• Vienna's Political Situation
• Conclusion
• Bibliography