[Sigmund Freud's ambition and Alfred Adler]

Freud never admitted to himself that he possessed a greater-than-average sense of ambition, which manifested itself in dreams, malachievement and priority problems. A completely new picture of Freud arises from such a perspective. Freud experienced childhood trauma in the form of his relationship with his nephew, John, in whom both an intimate friend and hated enemy were incorporated. This experience left a life-long impression which predetermined the neurotic element in Freud's relationship with men. Freud's own interpretation being that he had been betrayed by Breuer, Fliess, Adler and Jung. That is why the sentencing of his Uncle Joseph to a term of imprisonment had such far-reaching consequences for Freud. A further noteworthy observation is the close connection between ambition and death wishes and also between ambition and guilt feelings. Who, after all, likes to admit to harbouring such feelings? It appeared necessary to investigate the extent to which Freud's excessive ambition influenced his relationships with Breuer, Fliess and Adler. Freud was never prepared to recognize that Adler's contribution consisted of revealing the importance of the natural laws governing those layers of the psyche nearer to the conscious. The picture of the whole person emerges only by a combination of psychoanalysis and individual psychology.