A student and a colleague of Sigmund Freud, he was the earliest exponent of psychoanalytical concepts with regard to clinical psychosis and the personality of the artist.

In 1919, after he had stepped out from Freud's shadow, Tausk published a paper on the origin of a delusion common to a wide array of schizophrenic patients, namely that an alien device, malignant and remote, had influenced their thoughts and their behavior.

This work influenced many later theorists of psychoanalysis, including Heinz Kohut in his book Analysis of the Self where narcissistic regression showed great similarities with psychotic fantasmatic configurations.

His many other works include On Masturbation and The Psychology of the War Deserter, all of which have generated much controversy and discussion, arguably due to his experience within the psychoanalytic community.

However, Paul Roazen has argued that Tausk's legacy is still ongoing, and that his influence has not been properly acknowledged by the psychological, or psychoanalytical communities.