SIGMUND FREUD - PSYCHOANALYSIS

Sigmund Freud

Renowned for psychoanalysis, initially linked to cocaine.

Psychoanalysis

Freud's influential personality theory focusing on unconscious motivations.

Cocaine Experimentation

Freud tested cocaine on himself for depression relief and euphoria.

Panacea Search

Historical quest for magic cures like cocaine for pain relief.

Freud's Missed Opportunity

Failed to publish research on cocaine's analgesic value before a colleague.

Freud's Legacy

Known for psychoanalysis despite initial association with cocaine.

Core Focus of Freud's Theory

Emphasized sex and aggression, central to psychoanalysis.

Freud's Scientific Approach

Relied on subjective observations, case studies, and deductive reasoning.

Levels of Mental Life

Freud's division of mental processes into unconscious, preconscious, and conscious levels.

Unconscious Mind

Holds repressed thoughts, drives, and instincts influencing behavior.

Preconscious Mind

Contains elements not currently conscious but can be accessed with effort.

Conscious Mind

Minor role in Freudian theory, consists of direct awareness mental elements.

Freud's Metaphor of the Mind

Compares unconscious to a hall with censored thoughts striving to enter consciousness.

Psychoanalytic Societies

Founded Vienna Psychoanalytic Society and International Psychoanalytic Association.

Freud's Personal Qualities

Sensitive, intense relationships, disdain for Americans, complex emotional life.

Freud's Disdain for America

Negative view post-1909 U.S. trip due to cultural differences and psychoanalysis concerns.

Freud's Major Works

Included 'Interpretation of Dreams' and 'Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality.'

Freud's Education & Career

Studied medicine, shifted to practice, influenced by Charcot, and collaborated with Breuer.

Freud's Development of Psychoanalysis

Studied under Charcot, developed free association, faced setbacks with early research.

Freud's Personal & Professional Struggles

Ended partnership with Breuer, befriended Fliess, faced midlife crisis.

Freud's Key Discoveries & Theories

Evolved theories include Oedipus complex, unconscious role, and dream interpretation.

Freud's Formation of Psychoanalytic Societies

Established Vienna Psychoanalytic Society and International Psychoanalytic Association.

Freud's Later Years & Influence

Remained productive despite health issues, revised theories during World War I.

Freud's Approach to Followers

Insisted on loyalty, ostracized dissenters, and had dedicated followers.

Censor

A watchful guard preventing threatening images from entering the preconscious and throwing back any that try.

Conscious

An important guest seated at the far end of the reception room behind a screen, allowing only selected, non-threatening images to pass through.

Id

The core of personality, entirely unconscious, seeking to reduce tension by satisfying basic desires and operating on the pleasure principle.

Ego

The decision-making part of personality in contact with reality, balancing the demands of the id, superego, and external world.

Superego

Represents the moral and ideal aspects of personality, guided by moralistic and idealistic principles, responsible for feelings of guilt and inferiority.

Trieb

Internal stimulus serving as a motivational force, often referred to as 'drive' in Freudian theory.

Eros (Sex)

Drive seeking pleasure through various means, with impetus, source, aim, and object defining its characteristics.

Thanatos (Aggression)

Drive seeking destruction, including self-destruction, expressing itself in hostility and violence.

Neurotic Anxiety

Fear of unknown danger originating from id impulses, often linked to authority figures due to unconscious hostility towards parental figures.

Moral Anxiety

Conflict between the ego and the superego, arising when one feels morally wrong or fails to meet internalized moral standards.

Realistic Anxiety

Linked to actual danger from the external world, functioning similarly to fear but without a specific object.

Repression

Basic defense mechanism where threatening feelings are forced into the unconscious to avoid anxiety, potentially manifesting through physical symptoms, dreams, or slips of the tongue.

Reaction Formation

Defense mechanism where an unacceptable impulse is disguised as its opposite, often leading to exaggerated and obsessive behaviors.

Displacement

Defense mechanism redirecting unacceptable urges onto different objects or people to express the impulse in a less threatening way.

Fixation

Defense mechanism where the ego becomes stuck in an earlier stage of psychosexual development, responding to anxiety about advancing to the next developmental stage.

Regression

Defense mechanism reverting to behaviors of an earlier stage of development under stress, commonly seen in children and adults.

Projection

Defense mechanism attributing one's own unacceptable feelings to someone else.

Introjection

Defense mechanism incorporating positive qualities of another person into one's own ego.

Sublimation

The most socially beneficial defense mechanism where unacceptable impulses are transformed into socially acceptable activities like art, music, or literature.

Freud's Stages of Development

Emphasizes childhood years shaping personality through distinct psychosexual stages, with a latent period in middle childhood and a resurgence of sexuality in puberty.

Oral Phase

First psychosexual stage where the mouth is the primary source of pleasure, involving oral-receptive and oral-sadistic periods.

Anal Phase

Second psychosexual stage where the anus becomes a source of pleasure, divided into early and late subphases with implications for adult characteristics.

Phallic Phase

Third psychosexual stage where the genital area becomes the main erogenous zone, marking the first noticeable differences between male and female development.

Male Oedipus Complex

Involves pre-oedipal identification, rivalry, incestuous desire, castration anxiety, and resolution in boys.

Female Oedipus Complex

Includes penis envy, hostility toward mother, and a gradual resolution compared to the male experience.

Latency Period

Occurs from ages 4-5 until puberty, involving dormant psychosexual development due to parental suppression of sexual activity.

Genital Period

Begins at puberty, marking the return of sexual desire with key differences from the infantile stage.

Maturity

Begins at puberty and lasts throughout life, characterized by a balance between id, ego, and superego, minimal repression, and dissolved Oedipus complex.

Applications of Psychoanalytic Theory

Freud's focus on theoretical speculation and therapeutic practices to gain insights into human personality supporting psychoanalytic theory.

Freud's Early Therapeutic Technique

Active approach using a pressure technique to extract repressed childhood memories, later shifting perspective from seduction events to childhood fantasies.

Freud's Later Therapeutic Technique

Passive approach utilizing free association and dream analysis to make unconscious memories conscious and strengthen the ego.

Seduction Theory

Freud's initial belief that neurotic symptoms resulted from actual seduction events.

Free Association

Patients verbalize all thoughts to trace them back to the unconscious.

Dream Analysis

Freud used dreams to uncover repressed memories and thoughts.

Transference

Projection of emotional feelings from patient to therapist.

Resistance

Unconscious actions blocking therapy progress, sign of delving deeper.

Psychoanalysis Limitations

Not all memories should be brought to consciousness; less effective for psychoses.

Manifest Content

Surface description of a dream as recalled by the dreamer.

Latent Content

Deeper, unconscious material underlying a dream.

Condensation

Abbreviating or condensing unconscious material in dream formation.

Phallus Symbol

Objects like sticks, snakes, knives representing the phallus.

Vagina Symbol

Objects like boxes, chests, ovens symbolizing the vagina.

Castration Anxiety

Represented by images of baldness, losing teeth, cutting.

Freudian Slips

Everyday mistakes revealing unconscious intentions.

Faulty Acts

Meaningful acts indicating opposing intentions from the unconscious.

Determinism vs. Free Choice

Freud's theory leans towards determinism, behavior determined by past events.

Pessimism vs. Optimism

Freud's perspective is pessimistic, driven by conflicts and aggression.

Causality vs. Teleology

Freud's theory favors causality, behavior shaped by past causes.

Conscious vs. Unconscious

Freud emphasized unconscious motivations for actions.

Social vs. Biological Influences

Freud leaned towards biological influences over social influences.

Uniqueness vs. Similarities

Freud recognized both unique and shared experiences shaping personality.