To think about book that read (1)

 I finished Freud's "Introduction to Psychoanalysis" today. It's a massive 838-page work, two volumes in total. I probably bought the Shincho Bunko edition I had when I was a university student, and the type was small and densely packed across the double-page spreads. I probably wouldn't have been able to finish it if I hadn't set it as a goal. I can read a full-length novel without any particular reason, but reading an academic book (not a paper) all the way through has always been difficult.

Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, is an undeniable great man who established his own unique analytical method by examining patients (clients) as a sole clinician. Since the book is presented as a transcript of a lecture given to a general audience and medical researchers, I struggled at first to keep up with his lawyer-level eloquence and logical development. In addition to the founder's efforts to create something from nothing, his inclusion of an analysis of infantile sexuality, which is often criticized by the public, evokes not only his conscience as a doctor but also his extraordinary pride as a scientist. All of Freud's methods were gradually established through clinical validation.

Come to think of it, I've read works by economists, sociologists, critics, and thinkers, but this was my first time reading something written by a doctor. Concepts like libido, superego, and id are not ideological abstractions. Psychology is constructed by references to physiology, biology, zoology, anthropology, and even physics (inspired by the law of constancy of energy), as well as mythology, which forms the core of free association and dream analysis. I felt that this was what it meant to pioneer a new academic field. His disciples included Jung (depth psychology) and Adler (individual psychology), but Freud, of course, criticized them (in this work) during his lifetime.

By the way, I decided to read psychoanalysis because I found it useful for analyzing my own mind. I experienced mild depression in my second year of high school and again as a middle-aged office worker, and while it is possible to subject oneself to analysis, I believe this book will be a very rewarding reading experience for many people, including myself, who suffer from neuroses in today's stressful society.