History Main / AllPsychologyIsFreudian

* Parodied in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'': When Mr. Nutt has to psychoanalyze himself (ItMakesSenseInContext), he uses a FreudianCouch and a "slight {{Uberwald}}ian accent." He also leads off with "Tell me about your mother".

The prevalence of this trope comes from Freudian psychology just being more interesting for character stories. After all, it's [[BoringButPractical not particularly interesting]] to diagnose a character with a mental illness and treat him or her with appropriate drugs -- but you can get a lot more mileage if you spin that illness into a FreudianExcuse like having AbusiveParents or an OedipusComplex. Furthermore, Freudian psychoanalysis and similar humanistic therapies lend themselves well to CharacterDevelopment; they take time, but they also lead to [[ContemplateOurNavels contemplation]], [[EpiphanyTherapy epiphany]], and triumphant catharsis. And just because Freudian psychology is outdated doesn't mean it's ''entirely'' useless, and such therapy might still be actually useful for some individuals.

Freud's model (drastically oversimplified, of course) is that many psychological problems can be traced to interaction with one's parental figures or some interaction of the UsefulNotes/IdSuperegoAndEgo, commonly known as the "Freudian Trio". The best way to cure someone was the "talking cure", where the patient is made to talk about his problem until it's out in the open and he can face it directly. Freudian psychology was the predominant model until the last quarter of the 20th century, particularly the 1990s (known among psychologists as the "Decade of the Brain"), when research started making many discovers about the chemical imbalances that can be intertwined with various mental illness, leading to medication becoming a major form of treatment (either by itself or in conjunction with some type of therapy). Plus there's the simple fact that many psychological issues can have ''multiple'' different reasons for developing outside whatever family issues someone may have. If someone has post-traumatic stress disorder because they saw a fellow soldier die in front of them, talking about that one time their mother yelled at them as a kid isn't going to help with that. And that's without getting into the different ''types'' of therapy outside just talk therapy that can serve as a pathway to healing, much less all the different schools of thought behind them: your aforementioned soldier may find themselves in an art therapist's studio painting or making masks instead of sitting on a couch just talking, for example.

When psychology comes up in media, it will almost always use the Freudian model – even though it's archaic and many modern psychologists don't subcribe to it.

Freud's model (drastically oversimplified, of course) is that many psychological problems can be traced to interaction with one's parental figures or some interaction of the UsefulNotes/IdSuperegoAndEgo, commonly known as the "Freudian Trio". The best way to cure someone was the "talking cure", where the patient is made to talk about his problem until it's out in the open and he can face it directly. Freudian psychology was the predominant model until the last quarter of the 20th century, particularly the 1990s (known among psychologists as the "Decade of the Brain"), when research started making many discovers about the chemical imbalances that can be intertwined with various mental illness, leading to medication becoming a major form of treatment (either by itself or in conjunction with some type of therapy). Plus there's the simple fact that many psychological issues can have ''multiple'' different reasons for developing outside whatever family issues someone may have. If someone has post-traumatic stress disorder because they saw a fellow solider die in front of them, talking about that one time their mother yelled at them as a kid isn't going to help with that. And that's without getting into the different ''types'' of therapy outside just talk therapy that can serve as a pathway to healing, much less all the different schools of thought behind them: your aforementioned soldier may find themselves in an art therapist's studio painting or making masks instead of sitting on a couch just talking, for example.

When psychology comes up in media, it will almost always use the Freudian model – even though it's archaic and many modern psychologists don't ascribe to it.

* Parodied in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'': When Mr. Nutt has to psychoanalyze himself (ItMakesSenseInContext), he uses a FreudianCouch and a "slight {{Uberwald}}ian accent."

Freud's model (drastically oversimplified, of course) is that many psychological problems can be traced to interaction with one's parental figures or some interaction of the UsefulNotes/IdSuperegoAndEgo, commonly known as the "Freudian Trio". The best way to cure someone was the "talking cure", where the patient is made to talk about his problem until it's out in the open and he can face it directly. Freudian psychology was the predominant model until the last quarter of the 20th century, particularly the 1990s (known among psychologists as the "Decade of the Brain"), when research started making many discovers about the chemical imbalances that can be intertwined with various mental illness, leading to medication becoming a major form of treatment (either by itself or in conjunction with some type of therapy). Plus there's the simple fact that many psychological issues have ''multiple'' reasons for developing outside whatever family issues someone may have. If someone has PTSD because they saw a fellow solider die in front of them, talking about that one time their mother yelled at them as a kid isn't going to help with that. And that's without getting into the different ''types'' of therapy outside just talk therapy that can serve as a pathway to healing, much less all the different schools of thought behind them: your aforementioned soldier may find themselves in an art therapist's studio painting or making masks instead of sitting on a couch just talking, for example.

Freud's model (drastically oversimplified, of course) is that many psychological problems can be traced to interaction with one's parental figures or some interaction of the UsefulNotes/IdSuperegoAndEgo, commonly known as the "Freudian Trio". The best way to cure someone was the "talking cure", where the patient is made to talk about his problem until it's out in the open and he can face it directly. Freudian psychology was the predominant model until the last quarter of the 20th century, particularly the 1990s (known among psychologists as the "Decade of the Brain"), when research started making many discovers about the chemical imbalances that can be intertwined with various mental illness, leading to medication becoming a major form of treatment (either by itself or in conjunction with some type of therapy). Plus there's the simple fact that many psychological issues have ''multiple'' reasons for developing outside whatever family issues someone may have. If you have PTSD because you saw a fellow solider die in front of you, talking about that one time your mother yelled at you isn't going to help with that. And that's without getting into the different ''types'' of therapy outside just talk therapy that can serve as a pathway to healing, much less all the different schools of thought behind them: your aforementioned soldier may find themselves in an art therapist's studio painting or making masks instead of sitting on a couch just talking, for example.

Freud's model (drastically oversimplified, of course) is that many psychological problems can be traced to interaction with one's parental figures or some interaction of the UsefulNotes/IdSuperegoAndEgo, commonly known as the "Freudian Trio". The best way to cure someone was the "talking cure", where the patient is made to talk about his problem until it's out in the open and he can face it directly. Freudian psychology was the predominant model until about 1975, when scientists starting finding out a lot more about the human brain, with the 1990s in particular leading to a large slew of discovers about some of the chemical imbalances that can be intertwined with various mental illness; this led to several other models of psychology to gain popularity, as well as the rise of using medication to aid clients.

Freud's model (drastically oversimplified, of course) is that many psychological problems can be traced to interaction with one's parental figures or some interaction of the UsefulNotes/IdSuperegoAndEgo, commonly known as the "Freudian Trio". The best way to cure someone was the "talking cure", where the patient is made to talk about his problem until it's out in the open and he can face it directly. Freudian psychology was the predominant model until about 1975, when scientists starting finding out a lot more about the human brain, with the 1990s in particular leading to a large slew of discovers about some of the chemical imbalances that can be intertwined with various mental illness; this led to several other models of psychology to gain popularity, as well as the rise of using medication in conjunction with therapy to aid clients.

Freud's model (drastically oversimplified, of course) is that many psychological problems can be traced to interaction with one's parental figures or some interaction of the UsefulNotes/IdSuperegoAndEgo, commonly known as the "Freudian Trio". The best way to cure someone was the "talking cure", where the patient is made to talk about his problem until it's out in the open and he can face it directly. Freudian psychology was the predominant model until about 1975, when scientists starting finding out a lot more about the human brain, with the 1990s in particular leading to a large slew of discovers about some of the chemical imbalances that can be intertwined with various mental illness; this led to several other models of psychology to gain popularity, as well as the rise of using medication ''in conjunction with'' therapy to aid clients.

When psychology comes up in media, it will almost always use the Freudian model – even though it's archaic and basically obsolete.

Freud's model (drastically oversimplified, of course) is that many psychological problems can be traced to interaction with one's parental figures or some interaction of the UsefulNotes/IdSuperegoAndEgo, commonly known as the "Freudian Trio". The best way to cure someone was the "talking cure", where the patient is made to talk about his problem until it's out in the open and he can face it directly. Freudian psychology was the predominant model until about 1975, when scientists found out a lot more about the human brain and the chemical imbalances that can ''really'' cause mental illness.

The prevalence of this trope comes from Freudian psychology just being more interesting for character stories. After all, it's [[BoringButPractical not particularly interesting]] to diagnose a character with a mental illness and treat him or her with appropriate drugs -- but you can get a lot more mileage if you spin that illness into a FreudianExcuse like having AbusiveParents or an OedipusComplex. Furthermore, Freudian psychoanalysis and similar humanistic therapies lend themselves well to CharacterDevelopment; they take time, but they also lead to [[ContemplateOurNavels contemplation]], [[EpiphanyTherapy epiphany]], and triumphant catharsis. And just because Freudian psychology is outdated doesn't mean it's ''entirely'' useless, and such therapy might still be actually useful.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}''

* In academia, his importance in the basic 101 of psychology (that only course people who don't go into psychology any further will take), means that Freud is taken more seriously in the humanities and literature department than in the psychology department (inversely, a lot of writers and novelists intentionally introduces Freudian themes into their writings, which leads to further Freudian criticism on the part of the academics). The psychology applied in sociology, gender studies and other tangentially related fields can be biased towards basic Freud, whose denial of a genetic/uninfluenced impact on behavior fits the ''{{society is to blame}}'' approach most sociology teachers take perfectly.

The ubiquity of this trope leads to many other [[HollywoodPsych psychology tropes]] deriving from TV-Freudianism, like the FreudianExcuse, the FreudianCouch (where the patient lies down and explains everything), and PsychologicalProjection. FreudWasRight is the extreme, where Freudianism is [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] into the idea that the subconscious id is our [[CovertPervert inner pervert]], supplying an endless stream of crude sexual thoughts.

* ''Series/ThePrisoner2009'': 2 has 6 speak to a psychologist, 70, so he can find out what drives 6's desire to escape the Village. 2 later visits 70 and mockingly talks about his own psychological problems, before deriding it all as freudian mumbo-jumbo.

* Averted by the Creator/IngmarBergman film ''Film/{{Persona}}'', which has no Freudian psychology but is basically a catalogue of Jungian psychology, including an ultra-rare example of "countertransference" (basically, when the patient drives the ''examiner'' crazy).

->''If often he was wrong and at times absurd\\

Now but a climate of opinion.''
-->--'''Creator/WHAuden''', "In Memory of Sigmund Freud" (1940)

* Essentially all psychology ''was'' Freudian in 1946, which is why it's portrayed that way in ''Film/LetThereBeLight'', a documentary about UsefulNotes/WorldWarII veterans suffering from severe [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]]. Although the narration talks about physical causes for psychological disorders, the troubled soldiers are fixed mostly with the Freudian "talking cure", with some help from hypnosis and sodium amytal.

-->-- '''Creator/WHAuden''', "In Memory of Sigmund Freud" (1940)

This is also known as "Somewhere, A Psychologist Is Crying" and is a subtrope of HollywoodPsych and SmallReferencePools. Whenever psychology comes up in media, it will always use archaic/obsolete models like the Freudian one.

The cause of this trope is obvious: while it may be more factually accurate to determine that TheSociopath has no empathy because of a dodgy prefrontal cortex, it makes a much more interesting ''story'' to say [[FreudianExcuse it is due to him being beaten by his father, misunderstood by everyone around him, and]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking rejected from]] [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler art school]]. A schizophrenic being treated with anti-psychotic drugs is unremarkable; one being cured by finally confronting the neighbour who raped her is triumphant. For that matter, biological treatment (e.g., drugs) is [[BoringButPractical practical but boring]], [[BedlamHouse while mental asylums suck]]; CharacterDevelopment–based treatment (e.g., psychoanalysis and humanistic therapies) might take time but brings [[ContemplateOurNavels contemplation]], [[EpiphanyTherapy epiphany]], and triumphant catharsis with it. Keep in mind that this is not always inaccurate per se, just limited.

Mostly {{justified|Trope}} in works set or made between about 1905 and 1975, before the invention of many of the modern psychiatric medications and when Freud's ideas were much more in the academic mainstream.

Often goes in hand-in-hand with discussion of PsychologicalProjection. Also see FreudianCouch. FreudWasRight [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant sounds as if]] it might refer to this trope, but actually refers to a still more [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] understanding of Freud--the idea that our subconscious id is nothing more or less than our [[CovertPervert inner pervert, providing a constant litany of crude sexual thoughts]]. For another perspective, check out Freud's one-time apprentice[=/=]main competition, UsefulNotes/CarlJung.

* In ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'', Misaki makes this mistake, and tries to help Satou by interpreting his dreams based on a book about Freud. Satou decides to fool around, describing a rather interesting dream.

** Played with when Kyon wakes up from a dream that ended with a kiss and cries, "What the hell?! Freud would have a field day with this!"
** Koizumi is fond of explaining Haruhi's and everyone else's behavior through Freudian psychology. Justified in that that's not his job. Also, he mostly stays clear of {{Freudian Excuse}}s and seems to use Freud's actual theories, not TheThemeParkVersion.
* In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', one of the duelists, Professor Frank, is a psychologist and a hypnotist, whose cards (most notably Id the Superdemonic Lord, aka [[{{Bowdlerize}} Ido the Supreme Magical Force]]) are a ShoutOut to Freudian Psychology (specifically, Psychonanalysis)—especially easy seeing as he's dueling a little girl, and his calm demeanor quickly leaves [[TalkativeLoon him talking like a lunatic]] when they both enter the SpiritWorld, and on top of that his star monster (the aforementioned Id) is in itself an extra ShoutOut to the monster of the same name from Film/ForbiddenPlanet.

* In Franchise/TheDCU's ''Kid Eternity'', the titular character, who can summon the spirits of the dead, brings in Freud ''and'' Jung to analyze him when he thinks he might be crazy. They spend so much time arguing with each other, each insult reflecting modern opinion of their theories, that Kid eventually figures himself out completely independent of them.
* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'': One story has a proto-Freudian doctor visit the US to test his theories (that all criminals trace their behavior back to a turning point in their childhoods). He demonstrates this by getting the criminals to talk about their childhoods, which leads them to start crying, return the loot they'd stolen and promise to live better lives from then on. He later goes bad (after realizing the Daltons are ''proud'' of their criminal childhoods) and ends up robbing a bank by getting the manager to realize he'd spent his entire life hating yet craving money, and rids himself of this burden into the charitable hands of the Daltons. In the end, the only Dalton he'd manage to cure was [[DumbIsGood Averell]]. The man himself makes a cameo at the very end, as a terrified nanny tells Mrs. Freud what baby Siggy tried to get her to do.
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'': Averted for the most part. Psychological disorders in the series are treated yes, but never cured. Magnus's OCD for one thing is something he always has to deal with, it's only in light of his nervous breakdown does it begin to overwhelm his life but as he gets himself under control, he's able to manage his compulsions rather than cure himself of them. The story even has two psychologists: Rung (based on Carl Jung, who's treated as empathetic and competent) and Froid (based on Sigmund Freud, who's treated as an unethical hack who later goes on to assist a serial killer) who both bring up various tropes on psychology.

* ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'': Played for laughs. When Ching tells Shinji she wants to talk about his father issues and counsel him she begins their talk by parodying Freud, donning glasses, a pipe and asking him about his father with a bad German accent:
-->''“No, last night I think she’ll talk to you about soon, but you’ll really have to ask her. I wanted to talk to you for your own sake. I know your relationship with your father is hmm… complicated, to put it mildly? And the recognition that you’re more like him than you thought hit pretty hard yesterday, correct?”''\\
''Shinji closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. “Yes. But I think I know what I want to do about it. And I believe Asuka can help me do so.”''\\
''Ching nodded. “That’s good to hear, but still, I’m willing to bet you’ll benefit from talking to me about it some. And with that in mind,” Ching reached her right hand into her left cuff and pulled out a neat packet of wires that sprang out into a pair of round-rimmed glasses when she snapped her wrist. She placed them on her face and repeated the gesture with her left hand and right cuff to somehow produce a small pipe. She placed that in her mouth and blew a couple of bubbles out of it. “Zo, tell me about you fadda,” she said with a terribly faked Vienna accent.''

* Played completely straight in ''Film/TheSnakePit'', where a psychiatrist cures a patient with a serious case of schizophrenia by using the classic Freudian "talking cure". No medication was required. TruthInTelevision at the time, part of a movement in psychiatry. Yesterday's "schizophrenia", however, was often today's "depression" or "anxiety disorder". The definition has changed radically.
* Used in ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure''. [[JustifiedTrope By Freud himself, no less.]] It helps that it's actually Ted's ''stepmother'' that's giving him the complex—his father's second wife who happens to be only a few years older than him.
* Subverted in ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet''. When the captain asks Morbius what the ship's doctor meant by "monsters from the id," Morbius tells him that "id" is an obsolete term for a person's selfish and destructive urges.
* In terms of Freudianism, the Creator/IngmarBergman film ''Film/{{Persona}}'' makes little to no sense. However, when compared to a glossary of common terms in Jungian psychology, it practically goes down the list one by one, including an ultra-rare example of countertransference (basically, [[Film/WhatAboutBob the patient drives the examiner crazy]].)
* ''Film/{{Inception}}'' doesn't even give Freud the dignity of a dismissal; the "projections" encountered within dreams are nothing but unexpressed fragments of the dreamer's personality.
** ... Which, ironically, is [[SubvertedTrope a very Freudian view of dream-psychology]].
* In the comedy ''Film/WhatAboutBob'' Dr. Marvin idolizes Freud to the point that he named his son Sigmund and his daughter Anna (the name of one of Freud's daughters and the one to follow him into psychoanalysis).
* Averted in ''Film/BatmanBegins'' with Jonathan Crane. The only psychology we see him engage in is total bullshit designed to get Rachel off his back, and even that actually name-checks [[UsefulNotes/CarlJung Jungian]] theories instead of Freud. Although one could technically argue his status as a behavioral or biological psychologist, considering the ways he was using the fear gas.
* Subverted in ''Film/HellraiserInferno''. As Detective Joseph Thorne gets more obsessed with the case, his captain orders him to see the precinct's psychiatrist. Joseph notes to his partner that he'll be off to talk about his childhood, but the psychiatrist's sessions are in fact very informal and he spends more time informing Joseph about the Cenobites.

* In ''Film/ApartmentZero'' one of the neighbors tells Jack that he reminds him of [[HoYay a boy]] [[DoubleEntendre he was close to when he was in school]] The neighbor speculates what Freud would have to say about that, and then [[SexyDiscretionShot it is implied that he and Jack get up to some... very Freudian activities]].
* ''Film/TheMask'': Dr. Newman has a theory that people wear metaphorical masks to conceal who they truly are, or their Id. A mainly Jungian concept, but the idea of an id is entirely Freudian (Jung's theories basically took the concept of an id, ego and superego and split them into far more complex parts).
* ''Film/TheCobweb'': Stewart practices the old-school "talking cure". Possibly justified in this instance as the clinic is really more of a mental health retreat; the patients at the clinic don't have anything really wrong with them like schizophrenia.

* One of the main characters of ''LightNovel/TheLongingOfShiinaRyo'' is firmly convinced of this.
* ''Acts of the Apostles'' by John F. X. Sundman involves a bunch of Bill Gatesesque billionaires running around attempting to become self-actualized. It may not count as they all are bat-shit crazy from a modern psychological perspective.
* In ''Literature/{{Cell}}'' the main characters theorize that the zombies running around killing people all had their ego and superego wiped out by a Pulse of electromagnetism coming from their cell phones, leaving only the id, which was Freud's fancy way of saying "the part of your brain that just wants to kill and screw".
* Played straight and averted in Chaim Potok's ''Literature/TheChosen''. Danny's entire pre-university education in psychology involved reading Freud (in the original German) and assumes that Freud is the be-all-and-end all of psychology. Only when he enters university (1960s–1970s) does he realize that Freudianism has been completely jettisoned by academia and replaced with Hard Behaviorism. The culture shock, needless to say, is considerable.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}: Legion'' Alcatraz snarks about this when asked about his saving of a mother and child.
* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' series, human psychologists are stumped when trying to analyze the [[TheReptilians Race]], whose species has a mating season, raise their children by the whole community, and don't even think about mating otherwise.
* Parodied in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals''. When Mr. Nutt has to psychoanalyze himself (long story, but ItMakesSenseInContext) he uses a FreudianCouch and a "slight {{Uberwald}}ian accent."
* In Joanne Greenberg's autobiographical novel ''I Never Promised You A Rose Garden'', Deborah Blau is diagnosed as schizophrenic. This was the late 1940s, when the term had a broader definition. (Professionals today looking at Greenberg's chart say her symptoms indicate severe depression and somatization.) She's hospitalized in a private facility and is lucky enough to have a Freudian analyst who believes psychotic communication is not just WordSalad or a RoomFullOfCrazy, and that even the most profoundly mentally ill often just need someone to listen to them. [[note]]This controversial belief, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPfKc-TknWU still held by a few professionals]], was espoused by Dr. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frieda_Fromm-Reichmann Frieda Fromm-Reichmann]], Greenberg's psychiatrist, and her colleagues at Chestnut Lodge, [[https://newrepublic.com/article/117985/joanne-greenbergs-i-never-promised-you-rose-garden-mental-health apparently with some success]], until the [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment equally controversial]] pharmaceutical approach took over.[[/note]] Through years of insight-oriented counseling sessions, Deborah is gradually helped to trust reality and begin to live a normal life ([[http://www.mountaintopauthor.com/pages/about.html as Greenberg does now]]). Greenberg says that if she were to write the book today, she would have emphasized Deborah's fantasy kingdom much less, as so many people mistook Deborah's illness as caused by "spending too much time in a fantasy world", and mistakenly connected the girl's intelligence and artistic talent with her mental disease. Greenberg's intended message was: Creativity flourishes ''in spite of'' mental illness, not because of it.
* Mrs. Levy in ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'' believes this, though she's pointedly quite incorrect. She took a correspondence course in psychology (which she failed) and constantly tries to apply her "knowledge" to her HenpeckedHusband and Miss Trixie, a senile employee of Levy's company who just wants to retire in peace. Miss Trixie gets it especially awful; Mrs. Levy ''insists'' against the complaints of both Mr. Levy and Miss Trixie herself that what Trixie really wants is to remain employed so she feels wanted. Of course, there's a real Freudian moment when it's revealed that, [[spoiler:with the makeup and wig, Mrs. Levy ends up applying to her, Miss Trixie looks almost exactly like Mrs. Levy's mother]].

* ''Series/TheSopranos'': In the series premiere, Tony, as part of a larger rant on how he has to keep his therapeutic sessions with Dr. Melfi a secret, says: "I had a semester and a half of college, so I ''understand'' Freud. I understand therapy, as a ''concept''. But in my world it does ''not'' go down!" The rest of the show is very good about it, but it figures that Tony, more given to malapropisms and pop-culture misunderstandings of complex topics, would immediately jump to Freud when thinking of psychology and psychiatry. Some of Tony's sessions discussed concepts linked with Freud in the collective consciousness, such as hinting at a sexual attraction towards his mother.
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' is a Freudian psychiatrist, his brother is a Jungian psychiatrist. In an episode where Niles guest hosted Frasier's radio show, he said "While my brother is a Freudian, I am a Jungian! So there will be no blaming mother today!"
** Niles' Jungian method sets up an epic joke when he pays for a magazine advertisement that ends up with one teeny typo:
--->Dr. Niles Crane, Hung specialist. Servicing individuals, couples, groups: satisfaction guaranteed. "Tell me where it hurts."
** Lilith on the other hand is a firm behaviorist, often mocking Niles' and Frasier's psychoanalytical beliefs.
--->Congratulations, Frasier, you've done it again. You've led another unsuspecting innocent down one of your dark dead end Freudian hallways.
** In fact, nearly every other doctor on ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' and ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' is a behaviorist, and Frasier's diehard Freudianism is something of a RunningGag (behaviorism itself has fallen out of favor in psychology).
*** {{Lampshaded}} when a student gave Frasier a bust of Freud, which he liked, then explained she gave it to him [[{{Irony}} ironically]], since nearly everything Freud said had since been proven false. Cut to Frasier's reaction.
** CrowningMomentOfFunny in "Don Juan in Hell", when Frasier starts hallucinating all his former lovers:
--->'''Lilith''': It's that search for perfection that ultimately defeats you, because there is no perfect woman.
--->'''Hester Crane''': Speak for yourself.
--->'''Frasier''': Mother! What are ''you'' doing here?
--->'''Lilith''': You have to ask? You're a Freudian.
** There is an episode where Fraiser has a homoerotic dream and the next day he turns to his brother for help in interpreting it as something less... threatening to his ego. Niles is a Jungian analyst, but because 'all dream intepretation is Freudian' his suggestions are all very basic (and misapplied) Freudian precepts.
--> '''Niles''': Here's something. [reads] "Dreams as an expression of wish fulfillment."
In the end, the brothers successfully "crack" the dream, only for Frasier [[spoiler:to have a homoerotic dream about Freud himself.]]
** In fact, Niles often spouts neo-Freudian jargon rather than Jungian. Fans point out that if Niles were a true Jungian, he would believe that the collective unconscious accounted for Daphne's psychic ability.
* ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen:'' Mother issues are responsible for all of Charlie's womanizing and Alan's lack of women. Episodes have [[{{Anvilicious}} anvilized]] this to the point where Charlie has sex with a woman with the exact personality of his mother and Alan and Charlie have a sibling rivalry over an older woman Charlie's psychiatrist is convinced is a mother figure.
-->'''Charlie''': You were conditioned as a child to seek Mom's approval. You're still seeking Mom's approval, and you make every woman in the world a substitute Mom.\\
'''Alan''': But what about you? We had the same mother.\\
'''Charlie''': Well, I handle my conditioning in a different way. I have casual and often degrading sex with my substitute Moms...but we're talking about you and not me so forget I said that.