Before his marriage Freud had spent time in Paris studying nerve and brain diseases under J. M. Charcot (1825—1993). Charcot treated many patients who were partially paralysed①. Paralysis usually means that a muscle cannot move. This occurs when a nerve fails to carry signals to make the muscle move. The muscle is paralysed because a nerve is damaged or out of order.
Freud began to believe there was a mental cause for some of these illnesses. That is， he thought， some paralysis might be caused by a state of mind and not by any bodily illness. Freud realized that what these patients really wanted was someone to talk to. They had problems in their daily lives that were bothering them.
As Freud worked with these patients he came to believe that mental illness could be traced② to childhood fears. A child might see or hear something too frightening to think about. Yet the memory could stay hidden in the mind. It could worry the person later in life—especially when something similar happened. The result could be mental illness.
Freud got patients to talk about anything that crossed their minds. He noticed things that bothered③ them and analysed what they said. Then he was able to help patients remember a frightening experience， he could begin to understand it. With understanding， the patient could improve. Freud’s method is called psychoanalysis④.
① paralysevt. 使麻痹；使瘫痪；使全面停顿；使无力
② tracevt. 追溯；查考；查出，探出 n. 痕迹；遗迹
③ bothervt. 烦扰，打搅；使恼怒；使困惑，使不安
④ psychoanalysisn. 精神分析(学)；心理分析(学)
精神分析法
在结婚前，弗洛伊德曾在巴黎夏科特医生(1825—1893)手下研究神经和大脑方面的疾病。夏科特医生治疗了许多偏瘫病人。瘫痪常指一块肌肉不能移动。当神经不能传送信号使肌肉运动时，就会产生瘫痪。肌肉的瘫痪是因为神经被破坏或失常。
弗洛伊德开始认为一些这样的疾病有精神方面的原因。就是说，他认为有些瘫痪是由精神状态而不是身体疾病引起的。他意识到这些病人真正需要的是与人交谈。因为在日常生活中有许多令他们烦恼问题。
当弗洛伊德治疗这些病人时，他渐渐认识到精神病可追溯到儿童时期的恐惧。小孩可能看见或听见了非常可怕的事而不敢再去想它，但记忆却偷偷地藏在了心里。这可能在以后的生活中对他产生影响，特别是在类似的事情发生时。结果便可能产生精神病。
弗洛伊德让病人谈论任何他们想到的事情。他留意困扰他们的事情，分析他们所说的话。然后他帮助病人回忆过去的经历。一旦病人记起了一段可怕的经历，他就可以慢慢去理解它。随着他的理解，病人的病情可能得到改善。弗洛伊德的方法被称做精神分析法。