Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis

Freud referred to the Libido or Life Drive as “the energy, regarded as a quantitative magnitude … of those instincts which have to do with all that may be comprised under the word 'love‘” (Freud, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, 1959).
Libido, the energy of life producing and affirming impulses, is invested by a person in various activities, people, objects, and goals.
Libido is not only about sexuality and sexual desires; it is about survival, propagation, and similar life-producing drives.
The process of investing libidinal energy is called cathexis.
Excessive cathexis in a single object or person can lead to Neurosis.
Neurosis can be cured through the process of catharsis, which allows the cathected energy to be released.
Also known as Eros.

Death Drive is the drive towards self-destruction, death, and chaos.
Functions as a balance against the libido.
Freud says: “The aim of all life is death…inanimate things existed before living ones”. (Beyond the Pleasure Principle, 1920)
Associated with negative emotions, e.g., hate, anger.
Also referred to as Thanatos (juxtaposed against Eros).

The elements of the Psyche are:
- Layers – conscious, preconscious, and unconscious
- Parts – id, superego, and ego
Often represented with ‘iceberg’ analogies.

Conscious
- That which we know
- Small portion of the psyche
Preconscious
- That which we can know
- Just below consciousness
- Can be made conscious
Unconscious
- Can’t be known directly
- Instincts, repressed material, impulses

The human being goes through four psychosexual stages during life, namely:
1. Oral stage
2. Anal stage
3. Phallic stage
4. Latency period
5. Genital stage
Stunted development (i.e., fixation) at any stage could lead to issues later in life.

Age: Birth – 1 year
Erogenous area: Mouth
Source: Breast feeding; oral exploration of environment
Consequences of fixation:
- Dependence on others
- Excessive eating and smoking (oral pleasures)
- Gullibility
- Via reaction formation, can also lead to excessive independence and suspicion.

Age: 3-6 years
Erogenous area: Penis/Clitoris
Source: Manual stimulation of penis/clitoris; leads to an Oedipus complex.
Consequences of fixation:
- Depending on the resolution of the Oedipus complex, can lead to promiscuity or chastity.

Age: 6-12 years
Technically not a stage (according to Ewers); may be absent altogether.
Erotic drives lessen.
Child derives pleasure from other sources (e.g., affection, friendships, hobbies, etc.).

Seduction Theory: a necessary precondition for psychoneuroses is unconscious memories of sexual molestation during early childhood.
Eventually shifted from the idea that infantile sexual abuse was the genesis of all neuroses, to a stance that real or imagined abuse, when functioning as repressed memories, become pathogenic.
Oedipus Complex: moving away from Seduction Theory, Freud argued the existence of autonomous infantile sexuality. Oedipus Complex suggests that child has unconscious desires to have sexual relations with parent of the opposite sex.
Penis Envy:
- Normal part of female psychosexual development; stems from female Oedipus Complex.
- Upon learning of male anatomy, females believe they once had a penis but have been castrated.
- In normal development this leads to adult females wanting to have a male partner and/or a baby.
- Fixation leads to a desire in adult females to either have a penis or seek revenge on ‘the male’ (e.g., humiliation).
- No counterpart for adult males.
Ego Strength, Ego Defense and Defense Mechanisms
Studies on therapeutic effects of cocaine.
Considerable impact on the arts.

Freud believed that this technique - asking a patient to lie down, without making eye contact, to say whatever readily came to mind - could provide new insights for the psychoanalyst.
The couch helped create an environment that was clinical yet intimate, allowing a patient to freely explore ideas that could build a picture for a psychoanalyst to work with.