DEFINITION OF PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

INFORMATION SOURCE
psychosexual development: process proposed by Freud in which https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-
pleasure-seeking urges focus on different erogenous zones of the body psychology/chapter/lifespan-theories-psychosexual-and-psychosocial-
as humans move through five stages of life theories/

Psychosexual development is the central component of Freudian https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/psychosexual-

psychoanalytic theory. For Freud, the development of the personality development
was synonymous with the development of drives—particularly sexual
ones.
Freud's developmental theory on psychosexual development was https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557526/
among the first attempts to bring psychology under the same scientific
structure and methodology of medicine. This unification was Sarah E. Lantz; Sagarika Ray.
accomplished by first defining normative human sexual development.
Freud organized psychosexual maturation into 5 distinct phases. Each Author Information
stage symbolizes the concentration of the libido or instincts on a Last Update: February 7, 2021.
different area of the body (i.e., erogenous zones). In order to mature
into a well-functioning adult, one must progress sequentially through
each of the aforementioned psychosexual stages. When libidinal drives
are repressed or unable to be appropriately discharged, the child is left
wanting and unsatisfied. Freud identified this dissatisfaction as fixation.
Fixation at any stage would produce anxiety, persisting into adulthood
as neurosis. This dynamic formed the foundational bedrock for Freud's
psychoanalytic sexual drive theory
“The theory originated from Freud in early 1900s as a way to https://www.healthline.com/health/psychosexual-stages
understand and explain mental illness and emotional disturbance,”
explains psychotherapist Dana Dorfman, PhD. Medically reviewed by Janet Brito, Ph.D., LCSW, CST — Written by
Gabrielle Kassel on February 20, 2020
Sigmund Freud's theory of psychosexual development is based on the http://kolibri.teacherinabox.org.au/modules/en-
idea that parents play a crucial role in managing their children's sexual boundless/www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-
and aggressive drives during the first few years of life to foster their psychology-textbook/human-development-14/theories-of-human-
proper development. development-70/freud-s-psychosexual-theory-of-development-267-
12802/index.html

PSYCHOSEXUAL Merriam Webster Dictionary

 of or relating to the mental, emotional, and behavioral aspects
of sexual development.
 of or relating to mental or emotional attitudes concerning sexual
activity.
 of or relating to the physiological psychology of sex