Freud & Psychoanalysis

Who is Magnus Hirschfeld?

Trained in Philosophy and Medicine in University of Strasbourg

• Wrote about the vibrant homosexual subculture in berlin, as part of sexologist thesis work.

Working in clinics

• Shocking at how many of his gay patients had signs of suicide attempts.

• Noted how these medical issues were caused by social pressures.

Founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, The First Gay Rights Organization

Who is Sigmund Freud?

Trained in Physiology under a Darwinist Biologist.

Went to Paris to study with jean-martin charcot.

• Learned about mesmerism, and neurology.

Created Psychoanalysis

What are the 3 parts of Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory?

1. Superego

2. Ego

3. ID

What is the Superego?

• Morals of society, our understanding of what we are “supposed to do”

• Develops around 4 or 5 years old.

• “Right/Wrong”

What is the Ego?

• The embodied self

• Makes sense of the unconscious desires from the ID

• Main goal is to maintain the sense of self, and survive.

• “Do/Don’t do”

What is the ID?

• Completely unconscious, pleasure seeking.

• Animalistic, old hardware still inside us.

• “Want/Don’t Want

What is the explanation for the unconscious mind?

Most of the mind is inaccessible to our consciousness.

• Eros and Thanatos

What is Eros and Thanatos?

Life Drive and Death Drive

• Pleasure principle is an easy enough argument, but he noted that it does not explain all human behaviour.

  • If our ID is simply pleasure and survival seeking, why do we ever do dangerous things that are unpleasant, or dangerous.

• We know death will happen to us and are unconsciously struggling to process that.

What is Eros?

It is obviously pleasurable to pursue life.

• E.g., Love, Passion, Creativity, Production of New Things.

What is Thanatos?

The pleasure in pursuing self-destruction.

• E.g., Dangerous/risky behaviour, Smoking, Complusions, Extreme Endurance Feats, etc.

What is the Goal of Psychoanalysis?

Attempts to guide the attention of the conversation to the true conflcit and the root cause of the illness.

• Find the core, original problem - it could be an event, a relationship, or a feeling.

Something injured in the brain, during develpment or by trauma, produces distortions in the mind.

What are the differences between old and modern psychoanalysis?

1. Less discussion of sexual development and the unconscious.

2. Focus on needs, communication of needs and how the client’s needs meet the world.

What is the Wolfman Case?

• Superego: fear of castration, and complusions to perform religious duties.

• Ego: shame and self-denial, further restriction of social behaviours.

• ID: wants sex and affection but does not have developed social relationships.

What is the Ratman Case?

Superego: Rat fear of himself or his sexual partner being tortured and killed.

Ego: sexual desire is associated with hurt or pain. feeling held back and unable to be intimate.

ID: desires sex, development has been arrested as some point.