Initial Freudian theories and practices: considerations on discovery of the unconscious

Abstract

This article compares some theoretical postulates and some clinical practices of early moments of Freudian works, favoring production periods of Studies on Hysteria and the Interpretation of Dreams. Other works are cited in order to complement. The study highlights the role of concepts such as repression, resistance and transference before the emergence of the concept of the unconscious – without which all previous lose much of their senses; suggests that, rather than a Freud’s willful disposition in the formulation of concept of the unconscious, what we see is, instead, his reluctance to admit such a concept, which justifies its late appearance compared to the others. We conclude, finally, that such reluctance itself, conveys a valuable model to psychoanalysts about how theoretical and practical developments of psychoanalysis must happens.