What are some of Sigmund Freud's contributions to psychology?

1) In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud revolutionized the psychological consideration of dreams. Previously, dreams were either treated analogically, in relation to age-old tales, or they were related to dream-guides, sets of predetermined symbols that were supposed to "decode" dreams. Instead, Freud advocates for a treatment of dreams based on their particular context in the dreamer's life. 

2) In Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud introduced the idea of the death drive. Previously, it...

1) In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud revolutionized the psychological consideration of dreams. Previously, dreams were either treated analogically, in relation to age-old tales, or they were related to dream-guides, sets of predetermined symbols that were supposed to "decode" dreams. Instead, Freud advocates for a treatment of dreams based on their particular context in the dreamer's life. 

2) In Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud introduced the idea of the death drive. Previously, it was widely believed that human life was directed toward the sustaining of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. However, Freud put forth the idea that humans have a death drive that often drives humans to self-destructive actions.

3) In The Ego and the Id, Freud worked out his idea of the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. The Id is the part of the psyche that deals with the basic drives. The Ego is the part of the psyche that tries to please the Id and keep it in check. The Superego is the internalization of societal forces and norms.

4) In Mourning and Melancholia, Freud works out the subjective responses to loss. Mourning is the subject's conscious way of dealing with a specific object that has been lost, whereas melancholia is unconscious and deals with a kind of loss that the subject cannot necessarily place.

5) A huge development of Freud's was his idea of the Oedipus complex. This is a theory of psychosexual development dealing with the mother and father, and Freud discusses this in The Interpretation of Dreams. 

6) Freud was hugely influential in his discussions of trauma and the ways in which it marked the body. According to Freud, what is repressed by the mind shows up again, in a different form, and plays itself out through the body.