Latency, meaning hidden or inactive; age range 6 \text{ to } 12
No body-part focus because development has moved underground; it's inactive for a number of years.
This stage is important because you have to develop social and emotional skills before sexuality is shared; learning social skills and emotional stability to handle relationships, jealousy, and potential heartbreak.
The latency period is a prep phase before genital stage where more explicit sexual development reappears; it’s a time of learning to relate to peers and regulate emotions.
Genital Stage (Puberty)
Age range: around puberty; focus returns to the genitals; Freud says there can be readiness to share sexuality, but fixation is already resolved by this point; no new fixations form here.
Psychologically, focus is on establishing intimate relationships with another person; shaping the capacity for long-term relationships with others.
However, we now know there are many social and emotional skills that should come first; genital stage depends on earlier development and social learning.
Freud's Psychosexual Stages: Quick Context
Phallic stage is the fourth and fifth year; Freud believed personality is all set by around age five; latency stage was named to indicate hidden/inactive development.
The genital stage follows, focusing on the genitals again and on forming intimate relationships.
The early stages involve body-part focus; latency has none; genital stage re-focuses while prior social development is essential.
Freud's Therapy: Psychoanalysis (The Talking Cure)
Idea: to access unconscious material by getting the client to talk; the more they talk, the more material leaks from the unconscious.
Therapy is a long-term, close relationship; not quick, cheaper forms exist but psychoanalysis is more costly and lengthy; typical duration can be two years or more.
The therapy requires a close, genuine relationship between client and therapist; this closeness brings benefits and problems, notably transference and countertransference.
Transference and Countertransference
Transference: patients project feelings for significant people in their life onto the therapist; can be positive (insight, therapeutic leverage) or negative (distorting therapy, emotional entanglement).
Countertransference: therapists' own emotional reactions toward the client; they may project their feelings from their own life onto the client.
Both require monitoring: an unbiased outside party, typically another therapist, should judge the transference dynamics; therapists may refer the client if transference hinders therapy.
The analogy: psychoanalysts' perspective is like standing in an art museum with your nose close to a painting; you can't see the big picture; only a detached observer can assess the full context and impact of transference.
Analysts themselves undergo psychoanalysis to keep their licenses; this allows them to understand and manage transference and countertransference better; it’s common to trade services to maintain professional practice and confidentiality.
When countertransference fatigue or diminished empathy arises, refer the client to another therapist to preserve therapeutic integrity.
Note-Taking and Study Tips (from Transcript)
The transcript shows an example of a good notes snapshot from the anal stage—pause the slide and compare notes; thoroughly captured notes indicate good test readiness.
Video lectures provide pause functionality to review material and fill gaps in your notes; use pauses to ensure you’ve captured key ideas and details.