Freud claimed that psychoanalysis represented a major assault on human narcissism. This view is only partially correct for it is largely ahistorical. Freud's view must now be balanced against the historians' perspective on psychoanalysis, which in its turn represents a potential narcissistic blow to psychoanalysis, so long as psychoanalysts isolate themselves from fuller recognition of the sociocultural matrix of Freud's work.

This article, by a psychoanalyst, presents some of the newer perspectives of historians on the development of Freud's work against the background of late 19th century Austrian and German political, cultural, and social history. Through understanding this past, we are better able to understand the present dilemmas of psychoanalysis, in particular the relevance of social forces in the development of emotional disorder.