Psychoanalytic Theory by Sigmund Freud

 Published Interpretation of Dreams. This book,

finished in 1899.
Overview of Psychoanalytic Theory

 Understanding of human personality was based Levels of Mental Life

on his experiences with patients, his analysis of
 Unconscious
his own dreams, and his vast readings in the
 Beyond our awareness
various sciences and humanities.
 Explanation for the meaning of
dreams lies within this.
Biography of Sigmund Freud
 Repression- certain kind of
 Born Either March of May 6,1856. forgetting.
 Died on September 23, 1939.
 Firstborn child of Jacob and Amalie Nathanson  Portion of our unconscious
Freud. originates from the experiences of
our early ancestors that have been
 mother/son relationship was the most perfect, passed on us through hundreds of
the freest from ambivalence of all human generations of repetition.
relations.
 Phylogenetic endowment- Inherited
 He worked for 3 years in the General Hospital of unconscious images.
Vienna, becoming familiar with the practice of
various branches of medicine, including  Preconscious
psychiatry and nervous diseases.  Not conscious but can become
conscious.
 Hysteria- disorder typically characterized by
paralysis or the improper functioning of certain  Past memories which are not readily
parts of the body. available.

 Catharsis-the process of removing hysterical 2 sources

symptoms through “talking them out.”
1. Conscious perception- perceives
 His first opportunity to gain recognition came in is conscious only for a transitory
1884–1885 and involved his experiments with period.
cocaine.
2.Preconscious images-
 Second opportunity for achieving some measure Unconscious. Ideas that can slip past
of fame came in 1886 after he returned from the vigilant censor and enter into the
Paris, where he had learned about male hysteria preconscious in disguised form.
from Charcot.
 Conscious
 During the late 1890s, Freud suffered both  Plays a relatively minor role in
professional isolation and personal crises. psychoanalytic theory.

 A second personal crisis was his realization that  Aware at any given point, directly
he was now middle-aged and had yet to achieve available.
the fame he so passionately desired.
2 different directions
 Ernest Jones- Freud’s official Biographer.
 His illness was due to a cardiac lesion,
aggravated by addiction to nicotine.
 1. Perceptual conscious- turned toward
the outer world and act as a medium for
the perception of external stimuli.
2.Mental structure- includes
nonthreatening ideas from preconscious
as well as menacing but well disguised
images from the unconscious.
2 Subsystem of Superego
1. Conscience- built in reinforcement,
process that makes a person feel
satisfied when doing right and guilt
when doing wrong.

2. Ego Ideal- what the person likes to

Provinces of the Mind be, develops from experiences with
rewards for proper behavior and tells us
 Id what we should do.
 Completely unconscious is the psychical
region.
Dynamics of Personality
 Term derived from the impersonal
 Drive
pronoun meaning “the it”.
 operate as a constant motivational
 No contact with reality
force.
 Strives constantly to reduce tension by
satisfying basic desires. Sole function is
 cannot be avoided through flight
to seek pleasure.
 Originated in ID, but come under the control of
EGO.
 Serves as the PLEASURE PRINCIPLE.
2 Major Headings
 Operates through the primary process
1. Sex or Eros
that blindly seeks to satisfy the pleasure
2. Aggression, distraction, or Thanatos
principle.
 Used the word LIBIDO for the sex drive.
 Survival depends on the secondary
 Every basic drive is characterized by an impetus
process to bring it into contact with the
external world. This process function
 Drive impetus- amount of force exerts.
through the ego.
 Source- region of the body in a state of
excitation or tension.
 Ego
 Aim- seek pleasure by removing that excitation
 Only region that have contact with or reducing the tension.
reality.
 Governed with the reality principle.  Object-is the person or thing that serves as the
 Substitute for the pleasure principle means through which the aim is satisfied.
of ID
 Decision maker or executive branch
 Sex
of personality.
 Aim is pleasure
 Erogenous zones-Mouth and Anus
 Superego  Sex can take many forms, including narcissism,
love, sadism, and masochism.
 Represents the moral and ideal aspects
of personality and is guided by the  Primary Narcissism- Primary self-centered
moralistic and idealistic principles. with their libido invested almost exclusively on
their own ego.
 Grows out of the ego.
 Secondary narcissism- not universal, moderate unpleasant, nonspecific feeling
degree of self love is common to nearly involving a possible danger.
everyone.

 Second manifestation of Eros is love, develops

when people invest their libido on an object or
person other than themselves. Defense Mechanism

 Repression- most basic defense mechanism,

 Sadism (aggression) - the need for sexual Whenever the ego is threatened by undesirable
pleasure by inflicting pain or humiliation on
id impulses, it protects itself by repressing those
another person. Carried to an extreme, it is impulses; that is, it forces threatening feelings
considered a sexual perversion, but in
into the unconscious. In many cases the
moderation, sadism is a common need and exists repression is then perpetuated for a lifetime.
to some extent in all sexual relationships.
 Reaction Formation- repressed impulse may
 Masochism (aggression) - a common need,
become conscious is through adopting a disguise
becomes a perversion when subservient to the
that is directly opposite its original form. Can be
destructive drive. Masochists experience sexual
identified by its exaggerated character by its
pleasure from suffering pain and humiliation
obsessive and compulsive form.
inflicted either by themselves or by others.
Because masochists can provide self-inflicted
 Displacement- taking out impulses on a less
pain, they do not depend on another person for
threatening target. (E.g. Slamming the door
the satisfaction of masochistic needs.
instead of hitting a person).
 Aggression- return the organism to an
 Fixation- prospect of taking the next step
inorganic state. The final aim of the
becomes too anxiety provoking, the ego may
aggressive drive is self-destruction.
resort to the strategy of remaining at the present,
With the sexual drive, aggression is
more comfortable psychological stage.
flexible and can take a number of forms,
such as teasing, gossip, sarcasm,
 Regression- revert back to the earliest stage.
humiliation, humor, and the enjoyment
Quiet common in children.
of other people’s suffering.
 Projection- attributing the unwanted impulse to
 Anxiety- it is a felt, affective, unpleasant
an external object, usually another person.
state accompanied by a physical
sensation that warns the person against
- Paranoia- Extreme type of projection.
impending danger. Only the ego can
Mental disorder characterized by powerful
produce or feel anxiety.
delusions of jealousy and persecution.
 Neurotic Anxiety- defined as
apprehension about an unknown  Introjection- people incorporate positive
danger. The feeling itself exists qualities of another person into their own ego.
in the ego, but it originates from
id impulses.  Sublimation- repression of the genital aim of
Eros by substituting a cultural or social aim. The
 Moral Anxiety- stems from the sublimated aim is expressed most obviously in
conflict between the ego and the creative cultural accomplishments such as art,
superego. music, and literature, but more subtly, it is part
of all human relationships and all social pursuit.
 Realistic Anxiety- closely
related to fear, defined as an  Denial- arguing against an anxiety provoking
stimulus by stating it doesn’t exist.
  Intellectualization- avoiding unacceptable
emotions by focusing on the intellectual aspects.
 Rationalization- supplying a logical or rational
reason as opposed to the real reason.
 Suppression- Pushing into the unconscious
(forgetting)
Stage of Development
 Infantile period- The mouth and anus are
particularly sensitive to erogenous stimulation.
3 infantile stages
Application of Psychoanalytic Theory
1. Oral Phase- obtain life-sustaining
nourishment through the oral cavity, but beyond
that, they also gain pleasure through the act of
sucking.
2. Anal Phase- This phase is divided into two
Subphases:
 Early anal period- receive satisfaction
by destroying or losing objects.
 Late anal period- interest toward their
feces, an interest that stems from the
erotic pleasure of defecating.
3. Phallic Phase- time when the genital area
becomes the leading erogenous zone.
 Male Oedipus Complex- believed that
preceding the phallic stage an infant
boy forms an identification with his
father. Later leads to castration
anxiety (begins when a young boy
become aware of his/ her own penis) or
losing of penis.
 Female Oedipus Complex- these
differences are due to anatomical
differences between the sexes. Pre-
Oedipal girls assume that all other
children have genitals similar to their
own. Development of penis envy
become envious of this appendage, feel
cheated, and desire to have a penis.
4. Latency Period- 4th or 5th year until
puberty, brought about partly by parents’
attempts to punish or discourage sexual activity
in their young children.
5. Genital Period - The final stage of
psychosexual development begins at the start of
puberty when sexual urges are once again
awakened.
6. Maturity- a stage attained after a person has
passed through the earlier developmental
periods in an ideal manner. People have a
balance among the structure of the mind.
 Free Association- patients are required to
verbalize every thought that comes to their
mind, no matter how irrelevant or repugnant it
may appear. Produces INSIGHT, the
understanding of the unconscious conflicts.
 Transference- refers to the strong sexual or
aggressive feelings, positive or negative, that
patients develop toward their analyst during the
course of treatment. Happens when the repressed
feelings can be channeled to the therapist.
 Countertransference- Therapist’s reaction to
the patient is distorted by own unresolved
conflicts.
 Dream Analysis - transform the manifest
content of dreams to the more important latent
content.
 Manifest content- surface meaning or
the conscious description given by the
dreamer.
 Latent content- refers to its
unconscious material.
 Catharsis- is the emergence of buried feelings
(fear, grief, other forgotten memories) in the
unconscious. Removed by “talking out” (free
association). This is the turning point or healing.