Sigmund Freud (1856–1939): The Morphine-Dulled Pain of Dying

This chapter is about the portrayal of the life of Sigmund Freud, that is, how the stern, serious father of psychoanalysis lived, how he died, and how the cool analyst, who wanted to turn the Id into the Ego, did not want to simply face death unconsciously. It revolves around his tenacious struggle with “the monster”, the oral prosthesis. He fights against his cancer and yet sticks to his excessive cigar consumption, even though it is closely linked to his terminal illness. In this 16-year-long battle, he develops his death drive theory (“Destrudo”) and in the end, has his family doctor inject him with an overdose of morphine.