Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856, in Freiberg, Moravia, which is now Pribor, in Czech Republic, the son of Jacob Freud and his third wife Amalia. Sigmund was followed by seven younger brothers and sisters. His family constellation was unusual because Freud's two half-brothers, Emmanuel and Philip, were almost the same age as his mother. Freud was younger than his nephew John, Emmanuel's son. This odd situation may have triggered Freud's interest on family dynamics, leading to his ulterior formulations on the Oedipus Complex.

Freud's father, a Jewish wool merchant of modest means, moved the family to Leipzig, Germany in 1859, and then settled in Vienna, where Freud remained until 1938. When Freud was eight years old, he was reading Shakespeare, and, during his adolescence, the hearing of a lecture about Goethe's essay on nature impressed him very much.

Having considered studying law previously, he decided instead on a career...