# Freud??

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freud/570843>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 10, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freud/570843 "2011-02-10T02:18:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nanordcm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ccd318/32.png) [@nanordcm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nanordcm)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freud/570843/1 "2011-02-10T02:18:45Z")

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Freud famously said about the Irish:

“This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever”

I believe this to be is untrue, however, am wondering if anybody knows why he thought this or if indeed there is any evidence to suggest the statement is valid.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freud/570843/2 "2011-02-10T02:23:29Z")

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Welcome to the Straight Dope, **nanordcm**. I’m moving this thread to the General Questions forum from About This Message Board. GQ is our forum for questions with fact-based answers. (I don’t think the statement is factually correct, but because there might be an answer in Freud’s biography.)

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**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freud/570843/3 "2011-02-10T02:23:58Z")

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[Wikiquotes says its from a movie, and Freud never said it.](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud)

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**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freud/570843/4 "2011-02-10T02:24:45Z")

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> [@nanordcm](#):
>
> Freud famously said about the Irish:
> 
> “This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever”
> 
> I believe this to be is untrue, however, am wondering if anybody knows why he thought this or if indeed there is any evidence to suggest the statement is valid.

It is probably true of the Irish, as well as most other varieties of H. sapiens.

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**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freud/570843/5 "2011-02-10T19:44:55Z")

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Oddly, Wikiquotes does not mention the famous “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”. Attributed to Freud but no roof he actually said it… Probably his best quote, though.