Chapter 9 provides students an overview of classical psychoanalytic theory and therapy, as presented by Sigmund Freud. The authors begin with a brief review of the story of Ross Cheit, a famous case of recovered memories, to illustrate the possibility that traumatic experiences can be repressed into the unconscious, only to be driven up many years later. The authors then present a brief biography of Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis.

Next the authors review the fundamental assumptions of psychoanalytic theory, highlighting the basic instincts of sex and aggression, later termed by Freud the life and death instincts, respectively. According to Freud, the mind is made up of three key parts—the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious. According to Freud, the unconscious houses all the dreams, wishes, desires, and experiences that are too upsetting or disturbing for conscious awareness. Material that is brought up from the unconscious into the conscious causes anxiety and psychological and physiology distress. Much of a person's psychic energy therefore is used to keep this material relegated to the unconscious. A final fundamental assumption of psychoanalytic theory is that of "psychic determinism"—that nothing happens by chance. Instead, all thoughts, feelings, and behaviors reveal something about the internal conflict within the person.

Next the authors review Freud's theory about the structure of personality. Personality is made up of three parts—the id (the reservoir of psychic energy), the ego (the executive of personality), and the superego (the upholder of societal values and ideals).

The authors then discuss the three types of anxiety presented by Freud—objective, neurotic, and moral anxiety. Anxiety, according to Freud, is a clue that the person is facing some objective or internal conflict or threat. Because anxiety is upsetting and can interfere with normal functioning, the ego engages various defense mechanisms to reduce this anxiety by disguising for consciousness the conflict that generates this anxiety. These defense mechanisms include repression, denial, rationalization, and sublimation.

Next the authors review Freud's five-stage theory of psychosexual development. The authors then move to a discussion of psychoanalysis as a form of psychological therapy. Psychoanalytic therapy is designed to make unconscious material conscious and thereby allow the patient to gain insight into psychic conflicts.

Finally, the authors evaluate the contributions of Freud's theory of personality and psychotherapy, highlighting the impact his work had on the field of psychology in general, and on personality and clinical psychology in particular. The authors close with a discussion of some of the criticisms of classical psychoanalysis.