PSYCHOANALYSIS AND FREUD

Psychoanalysis

Field of psychology/therapy founded by Freud starting in the 1890s, focuses on the unconscious drives and impulses that cause us to behave in certain ways. 

Levels of Consciousness

Freud said that we have 3 level of consiousness..

• Conscious 

• Pre Conscious

• Un Conscious 

Most of our knowledge, experience, memories, etc are held in the unconscious, but still affect our behavior.

Destructive Drive

Freud stated that we all have drives and motivations that are threatening to our sense of self. Many of these drives are violent and/or sexual in nature.

4 Stages of Psychosexual Development

Freud talked about the role of psychosexual stages in the normal development of young children..

• Oral

• Anal

• Phallic

• Genital

Oedipus Complex

As part of psychosexual development, Freud stated that all boys experienced a conflict during the phallic phase (ages 3-6) that is referred to as this..

• Sexually desired their mother.

• Were jealous of their father, and wanted to kill him.

• Were afraid that women were castrated men who had lost their penises, and that their father would castrate them.

• Ultimately resolved their complex by identifying with the father and taking on male gender roles.

The violent and sexual urges experienced as part of this are threatening to the sense of self, and so we purposefully repress these urges and memories of these feelings.

These urges become part of the unconscious - they are still there and still present, we are just not aware of them.

Defense Mechanisms

In order to protect our conscious selves, we engage in defense mechanisms, which keep us unaware of these threatening drives..

• Repression. 

• Reaction Formation. 

• Regression.

• Projection. 

• Displacement. 

• Sublimation. 

Repression as a Defense Mechanism

Freud said that individuals engaged in repressions as a defense mechanism.

Repression: beliefs, desires, and memories that are so disturbing to an individual are actively pushed out of conscious awareness.

Critically, Freud says that repressed memories are not forgotten, they are still there just inaccessible. He states that repressed memories cause psychological problems until they are uncovered and processed.

Symbolic Interpretation

Because unconscious memories/drives cannot be accessed consciously, the therapist must use symbolic interpretation to uncover the unconscious content.

Techniques..

• Projective Tests

• Dream Analysis

• Free Association

• Hypnosis

• Analysis of Freudian Slips

• Analysis of Patterns in Relationships

The Case of Little Hans 

Early Life History..

Hans is a weird kid who talks about his “widdler”. Han’s mother threatens to have the doctor cut it off. He asks questions about other peoples widdlers. Freud claims Hans is trying to seduce his mother? Hans becomes afraid of horses, and the horses resemble his father. His fear of horses eventually goes away when playing with imaginary children ultimately saying, “I was their mummy before and now I am their daddy”. Weird as fuck. 

Psychoanalysis Today

Controversial..

• Many psychologists identify as psychoanalysts and say psychoanalytic therapy has been shown to be effective compared to control.

• Many psychologist outright reject his ideas and say that they cannot be scientifially tested (and that is pseudoscientific), so you cannot base therapy on it.

• Many of us (not just psychologists) still refer to aspects of psychoanalytic theory without even realizing it.

Common Beliefs/Practices that Stem from Freud

• Talk therapy as a practice for addressing psychological concerns.

• Defense mechanisms, especially repression and projection.

• The concept of repressed memories.

• Belief that dreams have hidden meanings.

• The belief that you must get to the root of psychological problems/gain understanding of the origin in order to see improvement.

• Terminology (“ego”, “anal” to refer to someone who is very uptight, “projection”, etc).