Freud biographer, Peter Gay, says that the only relationship Sigmund Freud sentimentalised was the tie between a mother and her son. Freud says that the maternal affection for the son is “the most perfect, easily the most ambivalence-free of all human relationship.”
Gay also notes that although Freud undertook systematic self-analysis of his own psyche, he never explored his attachment with his mother. Nor do mothers play a prominent role in Freud’s case studies.
What’s going on?
One clue might be that Amelia Freud adored her son and referred to him as her “Golden Sigi.” Freud twice said that the young man who has been his mother’s unquestionable favourite, will develop a triumphant self-esteem that will help him succeed in later life. It might have been too risky for Freud to question the relationship that underpinned his drive.
In future blogs, we will consider Sigmund Freud’s relationship to his mother and speculate on how this might have affected his inner world, how he thought about life and the development of psychoanalytic theories. It will help us to consider how parenting affects the development of personality.
For now, we will let Roberta Flack describe the glorious relationship between Sigmund Freud and his mum.