Psychoanalysis Notes
Freud Himself
Freud was a significant figure in the past two centuries.
Practiced as a medical doctor in Vienna, Austria, from the 1890s to the 1930s.
Freud, being Jewish, left Austria when Hitler rose to power.
He was concerned about humans having aggressive and destructive urges.
Freud's Work Environment
Freud had a home office overlooking a small garden.
His office and family apartment were on the second floor of Berggasse 19, Vienna.
In 1938, a swastika was affixed over the door shortly after the German army occupied Austria.
His former home is now a museum, with the other apartments occupied by ordinary citizens.
Freud sat behind the patient on his famous consulting couch because he reportedly didn’t like being stared at.
Development of Psychoanalysis
Freud began as a research neurologist before practicing psychiatry.
He believed studying psychology involves understanding one's own mind.
Influenced by his patients, particularly well-to-do women.
Employed free association, instructing patients to say whatever came to mind, known as the “talking cure,” which sometimes helped or even cured patients.
Psychic Determinism
Everything in a person's mind has a specific cause.
Contradictions in thoughts and behavior can be resolved by examining the unconscious mind.
The unconscious mind includes areas and processes a person is unaware of.
Only a portion of the mind's activities is accessible to conscious awareness.
Internal Structure
The mind consists of separate, independent parts that can conflict.
Id: Irrational and emotional.
Ego: Rational.
Superego: Moral.
Modern research suggests the mind is not as neatly divided.
Psychic Conflict and Compromise
The mind can experience internal conflicts.
Compromise formation involves finding a balance between different mental structures and individual desires.
The ego's primary function is to find these compromises.
This process results in conscious thought and behavior and is used in modern psychoanalytic thought.
Mental Energy
Libido: The psychological aspect of the mind requires energy.
Mental energy is considered fixed and finite.
Some implications are not supported by research.
Expressing anger may increase rather than decrease anger.
Modern thought suggests the mind's capacity for processing information is limited.
Controversy
Psychoanalysis is a controversial approach to psychology.
Objections to psychoanalysis have evolved over time.
Criticisms include an emphasis on sex and sexual energy and the theory being unscientific.
Complaints have also been directed at Freud's ethics, manners, and personal life.
People often resist explanations for their actions, especially if accurate.
Life and Death
Two fundamental motives:
Libido: Life or sex drive focused on creation, protection, and enjoyment of life, creativity, productivity, and growth.
Thanatos: Death drive introduced later to explain destructive activity and the inevitability of death, similar to entropy, the universal force moving toward randomness and disorder.
Doctrine of Opposites
Everything implies and requires its opposite.
Life and death.
Happiness and sadness.
Extremes on any scale may be more similar to each other than either extreme is to the middle.
Example: Pornographers and pornography censorship campaigners.
Psychosexual Development: Follow the Money
Focuses on where psychic energy is and how it is used.
Physical focus: Where energy is concentrated and gratification is obtained.
Psychological theme: Related to the physical focus and demands from the outside world.
Adult character type: Associated with being fixated or not resolving psychological issues.
Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development
Oral Stage
Timing: Birth to 18 months.
Physical focus: Mouth, lips, and tongue.
Relevant Mental Structure: Id
Psychological theme: Dependency, passivity.
Adult character types: Dependent or overly independent.
Anal Stage
Timing: 18 months to 3 1/2 years.
Physical focus: Anus and organs of elimination.
Relevant Mental Structure: Ego
Psychological theme: Obedience and self-control.
Adult character types: Obedient and obsessed with order or anti-authority and chaotic.
Phallic Stage
Timing: 3 1/2 years to 7 years.
Physical focus: Sexual organs.
Relevant Mental Structure: Superego
Psychological theme: Gender identity and sexuality.
Adult character types: Over- or undersexualized.
Latency Stage
Timing: 7 years to puberty.
Physical focus: N/A.
Relevant Mental Structure: N/A
Psychological theme: Learning and cognitive development.
Adult character types: N/A
Genital Stage
Timing: Puberty through adulthood.
Physical focus: Sexuality in the context of a mature relationship.
Relevant Mental Structure: Id, ego, and superego are well-balanced.
Psychological theme: Creation and enhancement of life.
Adult character types: A mature adult (seldom fully achieved).
Oral Stage Details
The mouth is the primary focus of psychic energy.
Timing: Birth to 18 months.
Id only: The baby wants immediate need fulfillment.
Physical focus: Mouth, lips, and tongue.
Psychological theme: Dependency, passivity.
Issues arise if needs are not met or are instantly and automatically fulfilled.
Adult character types: Overly independent versus passive.
Anal Stage Details
The child is expected to do some things independently.
Timing: About 18 months to 3 years.
Physical focus: Anus and organs of elimination.
Psychological theme: Self-control and obedience.
Self-control involves emotions, behavior, following orders, managing inappropriate urges, and toilet training.
Development of the ego
To find compromises between what is wanted and what is possible.
Two potential issues: Parents are too demanding or too lenient.
Overcontrolled: Obsessive, compulsive, stingy, orderly, rigid, subservient to authority, intolerant of disorganization or ambiguity.
Undercontrolled: Unable to do anything on time, chaotic, disorganized, compulsive need to defy authority.
Phallic Stage Details
The child realizes gender differences.
Timing: About 3 ½ to 7 years.
Physical focus: Sexual organs.
Basic task: Coming to terms with physical sex differences and their implications.
Oedipal crisis: Falling in love with opposite-sex parent, fear of same-sex parent (castration anxiety for boys), leading to identification with same-sex parent (not supported by research).
Psychological theme
Gender identity and sexuality, love, fear, and jealousy.
Figuring out what it means to be a boy or girl; developing a self-image as masculine or feminine.
Identification: Adopting many of the same-sex parent’s attitudes, values, and ways of relating to the opposite sex.
Development of morality, conscience, and the superego: A byproduct of identification; the superego passes moral judgments on the id and ego.
Latency
Concentrate on learning the tasks of childhood.
Timing: About 7 years to puberty.
A break from development.
Genital Stage
Adulthood is an achievement.
Timing: Puberty and beyond.
This stage is not passed through but attained.
Physical focus: Includes the physical organs and the process of reproduction or giving life.
Focus on creation and enhancement of life: Not limited to having children; also includes intellectual, artistic, or scientific work.
Psychological theme: Maturity.
Achievement: Psychologically well-adjusted and balanced.
Mental health: The ability “to love and to work.”
Moving Through Stages
Analogy: A mind progressing through the stages of psychosexual development is like an army conquering hostile territory.
Battles occur at each developmental stage.
The individual’s libido is the army.
Fixation: Leaving lots of energy behind if a stage is not completely resolved; the person continues to struggle with issues from that stage.
Regression: Retreat to an earlier stage when under stress.
Victory: Reaching the genital stage with most of the army (energy) intact.
Thinking and Consciousness
The mind undergoes a subtle shift between two kinds of thinking.
Secondary process thinking: Rational, practical, and prudent, typically associated with the word "think".
Primary process thinking: The way the unconscious mind operates, characteristic of both infants and adults.
Topographic model
Freud’s three levels of consciousness:
Conscious mind: The part of mental functioning you can observe when you turn your attention inward.
Preconscious: Ideas you are not currently aware of but that can be brought into awareness.
Unconscious: Areas and processes of the mind that do not come into awareness.
Consciousness and the Iceberg
Freud’s theory posits that most of what the mind does, occurs out of consciousness.
Only a small part of the functioning of the ego ordinarily enters conscious awareness.
Freud’s Diagram
Freud wrote about this diagram, “It is certainly hard to say today how far the drawing is correct. In one respect it is undoubtedly not. The space occupied by the unconscious id ought to have been incomparably greater than that of the ego or the preconscious. I must ask you to correct it in your thoughts.”
Anxiety and Defense
Anxiety can be generated by stresses from the outside world and by conflicts within the mind itself.
Defense mechanisms: Techniques the ego uses to keep certain thoughts and impulses hidden to avoid or lessen anxiety.
Common Defense Mechanisms
Denial: Prevent perception of the source of anxiety; e.g., “No! That’s not possible!”
Repression: Prevent recall of anything that might remind one of the source of anxiety; e.g., “I forgot.”
Reaction formation: Protect against a forbidden thought or impulse by instigating the opposite; e.g., “Pornography is the biggest menace to humanity there is!”
Projection: Attribute an unwanted impulse or attribute in oneself to other people; e.g., “I’m surrounded by morons!”
Rationalization: Create a seemingly logical reason for doing something shameful; e.g., “You have to be cruel to be kind.”
Intellectualization: Translate a threatening situation into cold, intellectual terms; e.g., “After a prolonged period of discomfort, the patient expired.”
Displacement: Redirect forbidden impulse onto a safer target; e.g., “I’m so angry at my boss, I’m going to kick a hole in the wall.”
Sublimation: Redirect base impulse in a constructive direction; e.g., “I like to argue so I want to be a lawyer.”
Examples of Defenses
Denial: Refusal to believe bad news or anything anxiety-inducing.
Repression: Failure to acknowledge reminders of unwanted thoughts.
Reaction Formation: Creating the opposite idea to what may cause anxiety.
Projection: Attributing anxiety-causing aspects of the self to others.
Rationalization: Creating a logical explanation that doesn’t acknowledge the real motivation.
Intellectualization: Translating anxiety-producing thoughts into unemotional jargon.
Displacement: Moving the object of emotions from a dangerous target to a safe target.
Sublimation: Providing a safe outlet for problematic desires.
Anna Freud
The famous “Freudian” defense mechanisms were developed not by Sigmund Freud but by his daughter, Anna.
Psychoanalysis as Therapy
Resolves problems by bringing unconscious conflicts to the surface so the ego can deal with them.
Takes time and can be painful.
Issues must be dealt with logically and emotionally.
Therapeutic alliance: Requires a therapist emotionally bonded with and guiding the patient.
Transference: Bringing ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving from one important relationship into the relationship with the therapist.
Critique of Psychoanalysis
Often criticized for its low cure rate and the potentially endless duration of treatment.
Long-term psychotherapy is often more effective compared to shorter treatments.
Patients in long-term psychoanalysis fared better than 96% of patients treated otherwise.
Freud ultimately saw psychoanalysis as a tool for understanding human nature and culture.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Has at least five important shortcomings:
Excessive complexity: The simplest explanation is the best (Occam’s razor).
Case study method: Theories are based on introspection and insight from specific cases, with a high likelihood of bias.
Vague definitions: Concepts not defined in terms of operational definitions.
Untestability: Hypotheses based on the theory can only sometimes be proven false.
Sexism: Freud viewed women as having less self-esteem, creativity, and moral fiber and believed much of a woman’s life is based on her struggle to terms with the tragedy that she is not a man.
Why Study Freud
Freud was correct that people have conflicting motives that can cause confusion and anxiety.
He was also right about:
Sex and aggression being powerful and mysterious forces in psychological life.
Childhood experiences shaping adult personality.
A child’s relationships with his or her parents affecting their relationships throughout life.
Psychoanalysis continues to profoundly influence psychology and modern conceptions of the mind.
Influence on the practice of psychotherapy: Use of talking to help problems, free association, transference.
Many ideas in popular culture: Helps people think and talk about each other.
Complete theory of personality: Covered all the important issues that we should continue to study.
Books about Freud and his works continue to appear regularly, almost 100 years after his death.
Freud Himself
Freud was a significant figure who practiced medicine in Vienna and left Austria due to Hitler's rise.
He was concerned about human aggressive and destructive urges.
Freud's Work Environment
Freud's office was at Berggasse 19, Vienna, now a museum.
He sat behind patients on a couch because he didn’t like being stared at.
Development of Psychoanalysis
Freud transitioned from neurology to psychiatry.
He used free association or the “talking cure”.
Psychic Determinism
Every mental event has a cause, often found in the unconscious mind.
The unconscious mind influences behavior.
Internal Structure
The mind consists of the Id (irrational), Ego (rational), and Superego (moral).
Psychic Conflict and Compromise
Internal conflicts lead to compromise formations managed by the ego.
Mental Energy
Libido is the psychological energy.
Modern thought focuses on limited information processing capacity.
Controversy
Psychoanalysis is controversial due to its emphasis on sex, unscientific nature, and criticisms of Freud's ethics.
Life and Death
Two fundamental motives: Libido (life drive) and Thanatos (death drive).
Doctrine of Opposites
Concepts imply their opposites; extremes can resemble each other more than the middle.
Psychosexual Development: Follow the Money
Focuses on psychic energy use, physical focus, psychological theme, and adult character type.
Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development
Oral Stage
Timing: Birth to 18 months.
Focus: Mouth.
Theme: Dependency.
Adult type: Dependent or independent.
Anal Stage
Timing: 18 months to 3 1/2 years.
Focus: Anus.
Theme: Self-control.
Adult type: Obsessed with order or chaotic.
Phallic Stage
Timing: 3 1/2 years to 7 years.
Focus: Sexual organs.
Theme: Gender identity.
Adult type: Over- or undersexualized.
Latency Stage
Timing: 7 years to puberty.
Focus: N/A.
Theme: Learning.
Adult type: N/A
Genital Stage
Timing: Puberty through adulthood.
Focus: Mature sexuality.
Theme: Creation and enhancement of life.
Adult type: Mature adult.
Oral Stage Details
Focus: Mouth, dependency.
Issues arise from unmet or over-met needs.
Anal Stage Details
Focus: Anus, self-control.
Development of the ego.
Development of the ego
Parents too demanding or lenient leads to over or under controlled behaviors.
Phallic Stage Details
Focus: Sexual organs.
Oedipal crisis: Identification with same-sex parent.
Psychological theme
Gender identity, sexuality, morality, superego development.
Latency
Timing: 7 years to puberty.
Focus: Learning.
Genital Stage
Timing: Puberty and beyond.
Focus: Reproduction, life enhancement, maturity.
Mental health: Ability to love and work.
Moving Through Stages
Analogy: Mind is an army conquering territory. Fixation and regression.
Thinking and Consciousness
Secondary (rational) and primary (unconscious) process thinking.
Topographic model
Conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind levels.
Consciousness and the Iceberg
Most mental activity occurs unconsciously.
Freud’s Diagram
Unconscious id should be larger than ego or preconscious.
Anxiety and Defense
Anxiety arises from internal and external stresses.
Defense mechanisms protect against anxiety.
Common Defense Mechanisms
Denial, repression, reaction formation, projection, rationalization, intellectualization, displacement, sublimation.
Examples of Defenses
Brief explanations of each defense mechanism (denial, repression, etc.).
Anna Freud
Anna Freud developed the defense mechanisms.
Psychoanalysis as Therapy
Brings unconscious conflicts to the surface.
Requires therapeutic alliance and transference.
Critique of Psychoanalysis
Criticized for low cure rate.
Long-term psychotherapy can be effective.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Shortcomings: Complexity, case study method, vague definitions, untestability, sexism.
Why Study Freud
Freud identified conflicting motives, the power of sex and aggression, the impact of childhood, and parent-child relationships.
Influenced psychotherapy, popular culture, and personality theory.