Home > Encyclopedia of Psychology > Josef Breuer

1842-1925
Austrian physician, physiologist, and a founder of psychoanalysis.

Josef Breuer made the crucial observations upon which early psychoanalytic theory was based. He discovered that neuroses could arise from unconscious processes and, furthermore, that the neurotic symptoms could disappear when these underlying causes became part of the conscious mind. He communicated these findings to Sigmund Freud and the two men entered into a collaboration. Breuer emphasized hypnosis. He also believed that differing levels of consciousness are very important in both