Psychoanalysis and Freud• Sigmund Freud (born May 6 1856 –

23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist who became known as the founding father of psychoanalysis.

• Freud qualified as a doctor of medicine at the University of Vienna in 1881, and then carried out research into cerebral palsy, aphasia and microscopic neuroanatomy at the Vienna General Hospital. He was appointed a university lecturer in neuropathology in 1885 and became a professor in 1902.

PsychoanalysisPsychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud. Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, thus gaining “insight”.

The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences (i.e. make the unconscious conscious) Psychoanalysis is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders.It is only having a cathartic (i.e. healing) experience can the person be helped and "cured".

In psychoanalysis (therapy) Freud would have a patient lie on a couch to relax, and he would sit behind them taking notes while they told him about their dreams and childhood memories. Psychoanalysis would be a lengthy process, involving many sessions with the psychoanalyst.

Psychoanalyze yourself…ANSWERSThis has been a relational psychology test. The answers given to the questions have been shown to have a relevance to values and ideals that we hold in our personal lives. The analysis follows:1. The person who you are walking with is the most important person in your life.2. The size of the animal is representative of your perception of the size of your problems.3. The severity of the interaction you have with the animal is representative of how you deal with your problems. (passive/aggressive)4. The size of your dream house is representative of the size of your ambition to resolve your problems.5. No fence is indicative of an open personality. People are welcome at all times. The presence of a fence indicates a closed personality. You'd prefer people not to drop by unannounced.6. If your answer did not include food, people, or flowers, then you are generally unhappy.7. The durability of the material with which the cup is made of is representative of the perceived durability of your relationship with the person named in number 1. For example, styrafoam, plastic, and paper are all disposable, styrofoam, paper and glass are not durable, and metal and plastic are durable.8. Your disposition of the cup is representative of your attitude towards the person in number 1.9. The size of the body of water is representative of the size of your sexual desire.10. How wet you get in crossing the water is indicative of the relative importance of your sex life.

The IdThe id is the only component of personality that is present from birth. This aspect of personality is entirely unconscious and includes of the instinctive and primitive behaviors. According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy, making it the primary component of personality.

•The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is a state anxiety or tension. For example, an increase in hunger or thirst should produce an immediate attempt to eat or drink. The id is very important early in life, because it ensures that an infant's needs are met. If the infant is hungry or uncomfortable, he or she will cry until the demands of the id are met. •However, immediately satisfying these needs is not always realistic or even possible. If we were ruled entirely by the pleasure principle, we might find ourselves grabbing things we want out of other people's hands to satisfy our own cravings. This sort of behavior would be both disruptive and socially unacceptable. According to Freud, the id tries to resolve the tension created by the pleasure principle through the primary process, which involves forming a mental image of the desired object as a way of satisfying the need.

The Ego•The ego is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality. According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world. The ego functions in both the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind.

•The ego operates based on the reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id's desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways. The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to act upon or abandon impulses. In many cases, the id's impulses can be satisfied through a process of delayed gratification--the ego will eventually allow the behavior, but only in the appropriate time and place.

•The ego also discharges tension created by unmet impulses through the secondary process, in which the ego tries to find an object in the real world that matches the mental image created by the id's primary process.

The Superego•The last component of personality to develop is the superego. The superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society--our sense of right and wrong. The superego provides guidelines for making judgments. According to Freud, the superego begins to emerge at around age five. There are two parts of the superego:•1. The ego ideal includes the rules and standards for good behaviors. These behaviors include those which are approved of by parental and other authority figures. Obeying these rules leads to feelings of pride, value and accomplishment.•2. The conscience includes information about things that are viewed as bad by parents and society. These behaviors are often forbidden and lead to bad consequences, punishments or feelings of guilt and remorse.

•The superego acts to perfect and civilize our behavior. It works to suppress all unacceptable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather that upon realistic principles. The superego is present in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious.

Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development

Theory• Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development are

completed in a predetermined sequence and can result in either successful completion or a healthy personality or can result in failure, leading to an unhealthy personality.

• This theory is probably the most well known as well as the most controversial, as Freud believed that we develop through stages based upon a particular erogenous zone.

• During each stage, an unsuccessful completion means that a child becomes fixated on that particular erogenous zone and either over– or under-indulges once he or she becomes an adult

Oral Stage (Birth to 18 months) • During the oral stage, the child is • focused on oral pleasures (sucking)

• Too much or too little gratification can result in an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is evidenced by a preoccupation with oral activities

• This type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, over eat, or bite his or her nails. Personality wise, these individuals may become overly dependent upon others, gullible, and perpetual followers. On the other hand, they may also fight these urges and develop pessimism and aggression toward others

Anal Stage (18 months to three years) • The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is on

eliminating and retaining feces

• Through society’s pressure, mainly via parents, the child has to learn to control anal stimulation.

• In terms of personality, after effects of an anal fixation during this stage can result in an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control (anal retentive) • On the opposite end of the spectrum, they may

become messy and disorganized (anal expulsive).

Phallic Stage (ages three to six)

• The pleasure zone switches to the genitals

• Freud believed that during this stage boy develop unconscious sexual desires for their

mother. Because of this, he becomes rivals with his father and sees him as competition for the mother’s affection. During this time, boys also develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, such as by castrating them. This group of feelings is known as Oedipus Complex (after the Greek Mythology figure who accidentally killed his father and married his mother) or Electra complex (reverse)

Continued• According to Freud, out of fear of castration and

due to the strong competition of his father, boys eventually decide to identify with him rather than fight him. By identifying with his father, the boy develops masculine characteristics and identifies himself as a male, and represses his sexual feelings toward his mother. A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviancies (both overindulging and avoidance) and weak or confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysts

Latency Stage (age six to puberty) • It’s during this stage that sexual urges remain

repressed and children interact and play mostly with same sex peers.

Genital Stage (puberty on) • The final stage of

psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened. Through the lessons learned during the previous stages, adolescents direct their sexual urges onto opposite sex peers, with the primary focus of pleasure is the genitals.

Summary…

• http://video.about.com/psychology/Sigmund-Freud-s-Child-Development-Theory.htm

Results…

• Where in earlier stages the focus was solely on individual needs, interest in the welfare of others grows during this stage. If the other stages have been completed successfully, the individual should now be well-balanced, warm and caring. The goal of this stage is to establish a balance between the various life areas.

Freudian Slips…http://www.simplypsychology.org/psychoanalysis.html

In Search of the Good

• Read pages 36-38 and 53-54

• Write down 5 points about: (1 for each) Freud’s Theory of the Unconscious, the Life and death instinct, Ego, Superego and Moral Conscience