The Psychopathology of Everyday Life
Also known as Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens, The Mistake Book
Freud's 1901 book reading slips of the tongue and forgotten names as hidden motives
At a glance
What it argues
Mistakes have motives, We are all a bit neurotic, Nothing is random
See all 3Key ideas
Forgetting as repression, Substitutes are lawful, Verbal bridges …
See all 4Examples from the book
Signorelli, Dora who was Rosa
See all 2Criticism and limits
Not science, Too many examples, Translation
See all 3Read next
The Interpretation of Dreams, Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, Defense mechanisms
See all 3Connections
Sigmund Freud, Defence mechanisms and Psychodynamic psychotherapy
See all 3
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Freud argues that everyday mistakes, such as forgetting a name, a slip of the tongue or a mislaid object, are not random.
- Each shows an unconscious thought or impulse pushing through.
- So the line between a normal and a neurotic mind is unstable: we are all a bit neurotic.
- The last chapter argues for psychic determinism, that even a number picked at random is caused.
- It is light on theory and packed with examples, many from his own life.
Why it matters
- The easiest way into Freud: short cases anyone can check against their own slips, and the source of the idea behind the Freudian slip.
Key facts
- Author
- Sigmund Freud1
- Published
- 1901 in a psychiatry and neurology monograph; as a book in 1904; new material added in almost every later edition1
- Original title
- Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens1
- English translations
- A. A. Brill (Macmillan, New York, 1914); Anthea Bell (2003)2
- Chapters
- 12, from forgetting proper names to determinism, chance and superstition (Brill edition)2
- Audience
- General readers; popular and theory-light1
- Influence
- Perhaps the best known of all Freud's writings; Lacan counted it among three key texts on the unconscious1
What it argues
-
Mistakes have motives1
Slips, forgetting and odd little actions express unconscious thoughts and impulses.
-
We are all a bit neurotic1
So many normal people make these errors that the boundary between normal and abnormal is unstable.
-
Nothing is random1
Even a seemingly free choice, like a name or number picked at random, proves strictly determined.
Key ideas
-
Forgetting as repression2
"I wanted to forget something, I repressed something": the forgotten word is tied to a thought he wanted to avoid.
-
Substitutes are lawful2
The wrong names that come to mind follow associative paths back to the lost one.
-
Verbal bridges1
Its stress on "switch words" and "verbal bridges" makes it important for psychopathology.
-
Used in therapy1
Like dreams, explaining wrong actions can be used for diagnosis and treatment.
Examples from the book
-
Signorelli2
Freud forgot the painter of the Orvieto frescoes; Botticelli and Boltraffio came instead, traced to the theme "Death and Sexuality" he had pushed away.
-
Dora who was Rosa1
He picks the name Dora "at random", then traces it to his sister's nursemaid, who had to give up her real name, Rosa.
Criticism and limits
-
Not science1
Philosopher Michel Onfray argues the book is not scientific; Jacques Bénesteau says Freud added lies with each edition.
-
Too many examples1
Its editor James Strachey said the new examples added in each edition interrupt and confuse the argument.
-
Translation1
Louis Breger faults Strachey for "parapraxis" where "blunder" or "faulty action" would be truer to Freud.
Read next
-
The fuller theory behind the slips: the unconscious wish and its censor.
-
Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis
Its first four lectures retell this book for a live audience.
-
Repression and the other ways the mind keeps things out of awareness.
Connections
Links
Sources
Last checked against its sources today
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