--- title: Google Doodle Celebrates Sigmund Freud's Birthday description: Today's Google Doodle celebrates father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, who developed a clinical method for treating mental issues. canonical: https://time.com/4320633/google-doodle-sigmund-freud-birthday-psychoanalysis/ author: Simon Lewis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-06T08:59:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:32:11.952Z og:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Sigmund Freud's Birthday og:description: The father of psychoanalysis would have turned 160 today og:url: https://time.com/4320633/google-doodle-sigmund-freud-birthday-psychoanalysis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7c21fef62b57e74/6988921ee20a8748a1a90b93/screen-shot-2016-05-06-at-4-36-57-pm.png?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Screen Shot 2016-05-06 at 4.36.57 PM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Sigmund Freud's Birthday twitter:description: The father of psychoanalysis would have turned 160 today twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7c21fef62b57e74/6988921ee20a8748a1a90b93/screen-shot-2016-05-06-at-4-36-57-pm.png?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Doodle Celebrates Sigmund Freud's Birthday by [Simon Lewis](https://time.com/author/simon-lewis/) ## Simon Lewis May 6, 2016 8:59 AM UTC  Google by [Simon Lewis](https://time.com/author/simon-lewis/) ## Simon Lewis May 6, 2016 8:59 AM UTC Today’s Google Doodle celebrates Austrian doctor, and father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, who developed a clinical method for treating mental issues. Born on May 6, 1856, Freud revolutionized the way we understand the mind, although his approach has generally been abandoned by psychiatrists. Freud famously held sexuality to be at the root of most pathologies of the human brain, placing much emphasis on the Oedipus complex. He also developed the idea of the subconscious mind, which Google picks up on for his birthday doodle. “A dimpled leather couch might be the typical visual associated with Freud and other therapists, but Doodler Kevin Laughlin instead created this iceberg,” Google [explains](http://www.google.com/doodles/sigmund-freuds-160th-birthday). “With a vast hidden base, the iceberg references the murky depths of the unconscious mind. More importantly, the design draws our eye to the horizon, reminding us how the genius of Freud’s practice rests in the space between doctor and patient, reader and text, human and world.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4320633/google-doodle-sigmund-freud-birthday-psychoanalysis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4320633/google-doodle-sigmund-freud-birthday-psychoanalysis/"},"headline":"Google Doodle Celebrates Sigmund Freud's Birthday","datePublished":"2016-05-06T08:59:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:32:11.952Z","description":"He would have turned 160 today","url":"https://time.com/4320633/google-doodle-sigmund-freud-birthday-psychoanalysis/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google Doodle"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7c21fef62b57e74/6988921ee20a8748a1a90b93/screen-shot-2016-05-06-at-4-36-57-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Simon Lewis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/simon-lewis/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc7c21fef62b57e74/6988921ee20a8748a1a90b93/screen-shot-2016-05-06-at-4-36-57-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen Shot 2016-05-06 at 4.36.57 PM","caption":"","creditText":"Google","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4320633/google-doodle-sigmund-freud-birthday-psychoanalysis/","name":"Google Doodle Celebrates Sigmund Freud's Birthday"}}]}] ```