Anxiety
The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, in "The Concept of Anxiety" (1844), described anxiety or dread associated with the "dizziness of freedom" and suggested the possibility for positive resolution of anxiety through the self-conscious exercise of responsibility and choosing. In "Art and Artist" (1932), the psychologist Otto Rank wrote that the psychological trauma of birth was the pre-eminent human symbol of existential anxiety and encompasses the creative person's simultaneous fear of – and desire for – separation, individuation, and differentiation.
Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint
Brentano was at work on "Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint" in 1873, while travelling in Europe after leaving the Roman Catholic Church and resigning from his position at the University of Würzburg. He completed the first two books of the work in March 1874. Brentano originally intended to produce a large work consisting of six books, the first five of which would cover psychology as a science, mental phenomena in general, and their three basic classes, while the sixth would deal with the mind-body problem, the soul, and immortality. However, Brentano was ill with smallpox after publishing the first two books. The work remained incomplete. In 1911, Brentano published book two of "Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint" under the new title "Von der Klassifikation der psychischen Phänomene", with the addition of remarks explaining his later views, where they differed from those he held in 1874.