Modern Correlates of Freudian Psychology

F reud's ideas permeate our society today. They form the basis for psychoanalysis and have been used to analyze art, history, myths, literature, and many forms of human behavior . Yet at the time Freud formulated his theories, there was little or no physiologic basis for them. However, in the past few years, advances in neurophysiology suggest that at least the following two elements of Freudian doctrine may have physiologic underpinnings: (1) infant sexuality and the latent period and (2) the unconscious. In this article, a brief description of Freud's ideas will be given, followed by the modern evidence that may support them .