Psycho-analytic theory is a recurring idea in the study pof Freud. Sigmund Freud endeavored to give shape to the accumulation of knowledge he had obtained through training and practice with patients. The totality of this is called 'psychoanalytic theory'. This is most clearly formulated during portions of The Freud Reader. The majority of it is covered in Part 3. The theory's most basic components are that there is the conscious mind and the unconscious.