Psychoanalytic theory and practice evolved over the forty-three years of Freud’s professional career.

At
first, he hoped to advance a psychology anchored in neurology and physiology, a psychology that would
prove worthy as a natural science (Connors, 2000). Freud (1895/1950) expressed his early ambitions in a
paper titled “Project for a Scientific Psychology.” He soon realised it was premature to establish rigorous
connections between physiology and the world of experience. After much debate, he abandoned his
cherished project. Afterwards, Freud showed some distrust of experimental attempts to validate his clinical
model (Rosenzweig, 1997)

On numerous occasions, Freud pursued false leads that forced him to backtrack and start over. In terms of
development, psychoanalysis could have travelled a smoother progression of ideas. As we explore Freud’s
system, we’ll begin with his mature thought because it opens the broadest vista. We’ll then work back to
earlier ideas to fill in the details of his psychology.

UNCONSCIOUS, PRECONSCIOUS AND CONSCIOUS:

Freud's theory of the unconscious was influenced by experiences with hypnotism and catharsis, where
memory loss and recovery showed a continuum of mental processes. He believed obscure mental
phenomena needed flexible, evidence-based study, rather than rigid assumptions. Freud described the
unconscious as an observation-based concept, not just a theory. The unconscious includes perceptions
and actions we aren't aware of, like hysterical blindness (seeing without awareness) or somnambulism
(walking while asleep).

Consciousness develops as an infant learns to use memories, which collect near the surface of the
unconscious, forming the preconscious. The preconscious holds thoughts and memories that can easily
become conscious, like stored information that's readily accessible.

The deeper layers of the unconscious are harder or impossible to access. Consciousness is selective: only
a small part of mental activity is conscious at any time, while the unconscious tends to move toward the
preconscious and potentially to consciousness. Thoughts or impulses can become conscious temporarily
but might return to the unconscious.

Initially, Freud believed consciousness and unconsciousness had dynamic properties, but he later
attributed these dynamics to instincts and mental agencies (id, ego, superego). The terms are conscious,
preconscious, and unconscious describe the "depth" of mental processes, not forces.

● Conscious: What we are aware of.

● Preconscious: What is not currently conscious but can easily become so.
● Unconscious: What is inaccessible or requires effort to access.

Repression and Suppression

Freud distinguished between suppression and repression as ways the mind handles impulses. In
suppression, the energy driving an impulse is withdrawn, rendering it powerless and leaving it as a mere
memory. In repression, a strong effort prevents an impulse or thought from becoming conscious, either
blocking it from entering the preconscious or pushing it back into the unconscious, making repression a
topographic (related to mental levels) and dynamic (energy-driven) process. Repressed impulses do not
disappear but seek outlets for expression, as all mental processes involve energy that is stored, blocked, or
discharged. Forces later termed defence mechanisms, maintain repression by resisting the release of this
energy. In psychoanalytic therapy, patients often unconsciously resist efforts to release repressed energy,
with this resistance being a continuation of repression. Overcoming it requires therapeutic skill to undo
resistance and release blocked energy, reducing inner tension.

STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

Freud conceptualized the structure of human personality in terms of three interrelated systems called the
id, ego, and superego (meaning, respectively, it, I, and over-I). The three personality agents are embroiled
in frequent battles, delivering conflict that we must conquer if we hope to adapt to the world. Our
psychological adjustment depends on harmony among the three systems. If any of the three gains
excessive control, severe consequences will follow. The three agencies offer differing strategies for coping
with threats against the pleasure principle. Although Freud viewed the id, ego, and superego as
hypothetical systems of personality, he often spoke of them as if they were real entities.

● ID

In the beginning, there is the id. It emerges as the first component of personality. Primitive and feral, it is
driven by powerful biological needs necessary for physical survival. The needs of the id are common to all
animal species and seek expression in the most biologically efficient manner. Society can claim no
permanent hold on the id, but customs, morality, values, conventions, and ethics restrain it. Impulsively and
reflexively, it is directed toward immediate gratification. According to Freud, the id operates on the pleasure
principle.

The id is represented in impulsive and reflexive activity, but it also finds expression in primary processes,
images, or memories of objects that satisfy needs. Let’s say a person dreams about a sexual encounter. If
the dream appears rich in imagery, then Freud would say it embodies primary processes. Such processes
present themselves without the embellishment of polite social conventions and norms.

Freud employed the term libido to refer to the psychic energy that fuels our pursuit of need gratification. In
our hunt for pleasure, libidinal energy is often directed toward beloved or desired objects in the world
(object libido). However, the libido may attach itself to the ego. When this happens, an intense self-love
called narcissism replaces object love.

● THE EGO

The ego is the I or me of the personality (taken from the Latin first-person singular pronoun of I, ego is used
in English translations for Freud’s German term Das Ich). The ego is the centre of organization and
integration. Whereas the id is tied to the pleasure principle, the ego operates on the reality principle. The
ego must serve as a mediator, balancing the id’s demands with the demands of social convention. Caught
between such powerful forces, it learns to appropriate, compromise, substitute, and delay. The ego makes
use of the secondary process, devising strategies through which the id’s primary process can be satisfied
in a socially acceptable manner. Such techniques protect the individual and the social order by finding
acceptable channels for the demands of the id. Often at odds, the demands of the id and society impose
remarkable strain on the ego. To survive such aggressive and continuous conflict, it must be robust and
stable. But this is not the complete story. In time, the ego must contend with still another force.
 ● SUPEREGO

Every bit as irrational as the id, the superego consists of internalized social norms, ideals, and standards
that are not grounded in reality. Rather than seeking pleasure, the superego is a kind of conscience with an
inhibitory function. Over and above this, it pushes the ego to achieve higher values embraced by society.
No more realistic than the id, the superego is an intolerant taskmaster, driving the ego to reach impossible
standards of perfection.

Like Plato, Freud used the example of a charioteer struggling to reign in powerful steeds. Freud was
consumed with documenting the conflicts among the id, ego, and superego. All three serve important roles
and each must find legitimate and acceptable expression. The id represents dimensions of biological life
that cannot be ignored. On the other hand, we must inhibit primal desires if we are to live with other people.
If the id dominates the ego, antisocial behavior results and society must take action to correct such
behavior. Likewise, an aggressive superego may block the expression of basic biological needs. Freud
believed the repression of biological drives results in emotional difficulties common to civilized societies.
(We’ll return to this topic later.) According to Freud, the ego must have sufficient strength to deal with the
complex and sometimes capricious demands of the external world while permitting the compromised
expression of both id and superego. He believed the volatile interplay among the id, ego, and superego had
far-reaching consequences for the mental health of his patients.

TRIEB:-

Freud argued that Trieb originates in a stimulus that persists until it finds satisfaction. He suggested that the
term need best describes such a stimulus. We have a basic need to reduce powerful drives. Think about
times when you’ve been hungry or dehydrated. How great did it feel when you finally had the chance to eat
and drink? You can see how drive reduction can be pleasurable. But how many drives do we have?

Freud (1915/1957a) claimed, “There is a wide opportunity here for arbitrary choice” (p. 124). In addition to
biological needs like thirst and hunger, drives are behind social actions ranging from play to aggression.
Freud acknowledged that psychoanalysis, especially in its earliest development, focused largely on sexual
drives.

He proposed four components associated with a drive or Trieb.

● The first component is the source. A drive has its source in a bodily stimulus. For example,
mechanical and chemical changes in the body trigger hunger. The need for food will persist until the
source is abolished. Satisfaction, however, is temporary because drives operate on a cyclical
nature. Maybe you had a big breakfast and you’re not hungry now, but you will be tonight.
● A second characteristic, known as the impetus, refers to the amount of energy associated with the
drive. He also used the expression motor element to define the term impetus. Presumably, the
impetus grows as a function of the amount of time that has elapsed since the drive was last
experienced. In other words, the impetus will grow more intense the longer you go without food.
● The third characteristic of a drive is its aim. Satisfaction is the aim of every drive. Freud
(1915/1957a) noted that drives always seek satisfaction by altering the stimulation that produced
them in the first place. Though satisfaction is the aim, it may be attained in multiple ways. The ego
plays a crucial role in achieving the aim by making compromises, temporary delays, substitutions,
and so forth.
 ● The final, and most interesting, component of a drive is its object. This is where the drive achieves
its aim. Freud (1915/1957a) argued that the objects of drives are highly variable. Indeed, the object
is the most flexible component of a drive. A single stimulus may serve more than one drive. And a
given drive may become attached to a great variety of stimulus objects. A particularly strong
attachment to a stimulus is called a fixation.

Freud observed that drives undergo many vicissitudes or changes. For example, drives may be sublimated,
repressed, or even reversed into their opposites. He claimed that the vicissitudes of drives have
far-reaching consequences for human adjustment and health.

ANXIETY

In Freud’s psychology, interplaying tensions confront every human being. Various components of
personality may bring tension. So can competing drives and different sources of pain and suffering. Freud
believed such tensions could produce anxiety.

● Objective Anxiety

As noted, the outer world can rage against us. Our body is vulnerable to internal and external assaults.
And most of all, other people can hurt us. Anxieties arise from such threats to our well-being, a process
Freud called objective anxiety. It is part of the wear and tear of living in a world that can be hostile and
forbidding. This brand of anxiety emerges when objective forces in the world threaten the ego. Its force is a
function of the strength of the ego with the perceived power of the threat. In a sense, this is healthy—even
adaptive—anxiety. If you’re hiking in the wilderness and you encounter a bear, it would seem abnormal if
you don’t experience at least a little anxiety.

● Neurotic Anxiety

Unlike objective anxiety, neurotic anxiety emerges from within our personality and doesn’t serve an
adaptive or healthy purpose. Neurotic anxiety arises when the id dominates the ego. Because the source of
threat arises from within, there is no obvious escape and no identifiable cause. Neurotic anxiety can have a
mysterious quality because it can appear, for no apparent reason, at any time or place. Without noticeable
cause, the individual may experience impending doom or a panicked feeling. Neurotic anxiety is more
common when basic drives are thwarted or bottled up. During Freud’s day, Victorian culture imposed rigid
prohibitions on sexual expression. But if we stifle powerful drives at every turn, they will find expression in
unwanted intrusions into the stream of experience.

● Moral Anxiety

As a counterpart to neurotic anxiety, moral anxiety results when the superego dominates the ego. Here
again, the source of moral anxiety arises within the personality, so escape seems impossible. The source
of moral anxiety comes from caregivers and the outside world. Over time, the superego incorporates
society’s norms, values, customs, and prohibitions and is the source of internalized moral authority capable
of meting punishment. Moral anxiety appears when we feel guilt over real—even imagined—violations of
internalized values. The more robust the superego, the greater the likelihood a person will experience
moral anxiety. Sometimes the most virtuous and exemplary people experience the greatest moral anxiety.
On the opposite extreme, some people rarely experience moral anxiety. Such individuals risk placing their
own instinctual needs ahead of the rights of others. They may end up isolating themselves from others or,
in some cases, being forcibly isolated from others by the criminal justice system. However, people ruled by
excessive moral anxiety risk an existence that is colourless, overly controlled, and hollow.

The varieties of anxiety illustrate the importance of personality balance. Individual health and adjustment
depend on a flow of channelled energy from the id and the superego. The ego must possess ample
strength to deal with the harsh demands of the world and the nagging weight of its internal companions.
But what happens when the id and the superego don’t play nice? In those circumstances, the ego must
resort to desperate measures to seize control over the irrational forces that challenge it.

DEFENCE MECHANISMS:-

Freud believed work is the most admirable defence against pain and suffering. The capacity to work with
vigour and joy is, in his view, a mark of good health. Freud believed the ego can employ admirable
methods to cope with danger and anxiety. But everything may change if the id or superego overwhelms the
ego, making it “no longer master in its own house.” Moral and neurotic anxieties are hallmarks of neurosis
(in psychosis, the id or superego may destroy the ego; Freud had no interest in treating psychotic patients
because psychoanalysis cannot resurrect a dead ego). To reclaim the human psyche, the ego may engage
in disguises, distortions, falsifications, denials, and misrepresentations of reality.

REPRESSION: As a defence against irrational unconscious forces, repression involves forcing out
dangerous or anxiety-provoking thoughts, memories or perceptions from consciousness into the
unconscious realm. Whereas the ego makes use of repression, it may on occasion receive assistance from
the superego. Primal repression refers to a class of ideas so painful and unthinkable they are barred from
consciousness in the first place. Freud included ideas of incest and aggression against the same-sexed
parent in this group.

PROJECTION: When personal motives or ideas are unacceptable or when they provoke anxiety, they may
be repressed. In turn, the repressed materials may be ascribed to other people or events. Projection occurs
when we attribute personal faults or weaknesses to other people, objects, or situations. For example,
Aggressive individuals or groups may claim that others are the real aggressors. The ego finds safety in
projection because it distances itself from motives and ideas that provoke anxiety. It’s not a perfect refuge.
A dramatic reality distortion is the high price the ego pays for such protection.

REGRESSION: If the present proves too harrowing, the ego may find sanctuary in the past. Regression
involves the retreat to an earlier stage of development, resulting in attitudes and behaviours that define that
period. Regressions may be brief and episodic or, in the face of overwhelming threats, may persist over
months and years. Brief or episodic regression may be manifested in dreams or daydreams in which one
returns to an earlier, more secure stage in life. Regression may be reflected in activities such as temper
tantrums or easy submission to authority. In severe regression, the ego is removed from adult responsibility
and is aided and assisted as in childhood.

REACTION FORMATION: In “Instincts and Their Vicissitudes,” Freud talked about paradoxical situations in
which a drive may undergo a reversal into its opposite. Because mental life is marked by polarities,
reversals are always a possibility. Love may turn to hate, pleasure to pain, passivity to activity, and so forth.
In the reaction formation, we encounter a defence in which the ego masks awareness of an
anxiety-provoking motive by emphasising its opposite. For example, a parent who harbours hostility toward
a child may instead become overly indulgent and overprotective.

In reaction formations, we find clear denials of certain motives. Such denials are made more plausible by
engaging in activities that oppose the threatening motives. The idea that no one proclaims innocence
louder than the guilty is a classic illustration of reaction formation. As with other defence mechanisms, this
method can purchase the ego some degree of relief from anxiety, but the antagonistic extremes generate a
conflict of their own.

SUBLIMATION: The ego takes a wish or thought that society deems improper and substitutes it with a
more acceptable one. Many activities such as work, sporting events, art, and even philanthropic activities
may involve a rechanneling of sexual energy into socially acceptable activities.

RATIONALIZATION: It involves the attempt to “explain away” personal shortcomings by providing logical
but false reasons to excuse weaknesses or errors.

IDENTIFICATION: It covers weaknesses by emulating significant or impressive role models. A teenager

who admires a hip-hop artist may imitate his hero in everything from clothing, emcee style, and rap beats
down to his loose-fingered wag while freestyle rapping. In cases of extreme psychopathology, the
distinctions between self and model crumble until the person is lost in delusion, believing he or she is the
object of identification.

In his work titled The Ego and the Id, Freud (1923/1961b) described the ego as “a poor creature owing
service to three masters”. Since those masters—the id, the superego, and the external world—are so
powerful and uncompromising, the ego must amass a great psychological arsenal of its own. Yet it cannot
make the necessary acquisitions without help. It must be nurtured and assisted in a supportive
environment. Few psychologists have been as sensitive to the issues of development as Freud.

FUNCTIONS OF EGO

● MOTOR CONTROL

One of the first and key roles of the adult ego is to manage instinctual urges and transform their active,
restless energy (cathexis) into a more stable and calm form of energy.

“Reality Principle”: Ego pursues pleasure as much as the id does, but the ego is concerned with the
avoidance of displeasure. Thus, ego seeks the best way to gain a maximum of pleasure with a minimum of
unpleasure.

3 important factors of this function:

ABILITY TO WALK, CONTROL BOWEL MOVEMENTS, ABILITY TO TALK

The ego controls the path of access to mobility, it ensures that before a person acts on their instincts, they
take their reality into consideration. Therefore it keeps a balance between desire and the action of thinking.
 ● CONTROL OF INNER TENSIONS
➔ Ego has strong boundaries that keep the instinctual energies in check using anti-cathexis (energy
that controls these impulses)
➔ The ego, in sync with the superego, uses energy to block certain instincts that might be socially
unacceptable or harmful to the person's well-being.
➔ During sleep, the ego pulls back its energy from the senses, cutting off contact with the outside
world. This relaxation lets some of the id’s desires surface in dreams. In certain cases, like
sleepwalking, unconscious actions can occur without the person being aware.
➔ Newborns can't control their impulses and seek immediate satisfaction of needs. As the ego grows,
it learns to handle more excitement and control panic through energy used to block those urges
(anti-cathexes). This defense system comes from experience.
➔ As the child grows and stores memories, the ego develops ways to manage instinctual urges rather
than blocking them entirely. A stronger ego can handle more pressure, whether it comes from
outside situations or inner desires. For example, a child who experiences pain from acting on
impulses, like touching something hot, learns to be cautious.

FUNCTION OF SUPEREGO

➔ As children grow, the superego develops due to the weaknesses of the ego, especially during
conflicts with parents over toilet training, which lead to internalizing rules and fears of punishment.
For example, the little child may develop a dislike for playing with feces because his parents dislike
him to do this.
➔ These internalized rules which form the superego, they can be easily ignored as they are weak.
The superego's development peaks during the phallic stage, especially during the Oedipus
complex, where boys must give up their mothers due to castration fear. The frustrated child of either
sex regresses from object relationship to identification by introjection.
➔ The introjected parental figures are idealized and seem to be more powerful and more glorious than
they might be in reality.
➔ The superego reflects the "voice of the parents," imposing rigid, sometimes irrational moral
standards that can persist into adulthood without adapting to current situations.
➔ Another important aspect of superego is the ego-ideal. This develops from a child's admiration for
their parents and representing the desire to strive for perfection and meet expectations.
When the ego aligns with the ego-ideal, it feels triumphant; when it doesn't, feelings of guilt or
inferiority arise.
➔ The superego also derives its anti-instinctual forces from the id, often leaning towards negative
feelings. Therefore, superego is mostly unconscious and is composed of both instinctual forces,
love and hate, often with hate predominating.
The ego's relationship with the superego resembles a child's relationship with parents, seeking
approval and joy when meeting expectations, but feeling guilt and depression during conflicts.
➔ Depression is self-directed aggression; it is the result of the ego's being torn down by the superego,
in resemblance to parental criticism of the child's behavior.
➔ In manic- depressive disorder, the superego becomes over-severe, abuses, humiliates, and ill treats
the ego, threatens it with the severest punishments, reproaches it for long forgotten actions which
were at the time regarded quite lightly.
 ➔ In well-adjusted adults, the superego serves as a self-observer, representing moral standards
shaped by cultural, national, and social influences, beyond just parental input.
➔ Over time, the superego evolves from infantile images of parents to align more with objective social
and ethical standards.

PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT:-

Freud believed the quality of adult experience is connected to the quality of childhood experience. He is
often accused of advancing a narrow view of psychology based on a narrow view of sexual motivation.
Freud argued, however, that it is the common view of sexuality that is narrow. According to the common
view, sex is limited to genital contact with a member of the opposite sex. Freud believed that all surfaces of
the body, not just the genitals, are erotogenic. Some regions such as the lips are especially erogenous. He
tied sexuality to the pleasure principle, viewing the subject in broad terms. Sexuality, for Freud, was not a
single physical act. He believed that the object is the most flexible characteristic of a drive. We turn now to
Freud’s stage theory of psychosexual development.

THE NEONATE:

● Birth as Trauma: Being born is considered as stressful and a shocking experience for a baby, as it
disrupts the calm of life in the womb. Freud saw this as the first experience of anxiety, setting a
pattern for later feelings of fear.
● Overwhelmed by Stimuli: Once born, the baby faces many sensations it can't handle, so it tends to
escape them by sleeping. After discomforts like hunger are relieved, the baby feels peaceful and
happy, and wakes up only when there’s a need.
● Primary Narcissism: In the newborn’s early phase of “primary narcissism,” it is focused entirely on
itself. It cannot tell the difference between its desires and reality, or itself and the outside world,
feeling blissful when needs are instantly met and distressed when they are not.
● Oceanic Feeling: The newborn has a vague, instinctive desire to merge with the world, as though
wanting to return to the womb or to a state of non-existence. Freud called this the "oceanic feeling,"
where both life (Eros) and death (Thanatos) instincts seek peace.
● Oral Stage: The baby's first source of pleasure is sucking, either from the mother’s breast or a
bottle, marking the beginning of the "oral stage" in development.

ORAL STAGE: In the oral stage, a child’s mouth offers him or her initial interactions with the world.
Powerful hunger and thirst drives are satisfied through sucking and needs are expressed through crying. In
this early stage, the child learns a good deal: The world is either responsive or unresponsive to cries for
help, the nursing situation is friendly or cold, and pleasure is derived through food and liquids. A bit later,
the child experiments by shoving objects in her or his mouth. Freud assumed that neglect or
overindulgence during this stage could produce negative consequences for later development. For
example, overindulgence might result in unrealistic optimism whereas neglect might lead to a pessimistic or
angry adult. Freud believed that later “oral characters” are based on fixations at early stages. Such fixations
result from failures to meet basic needs during critical periods of development.
ANAL STAGE:

● In the second and third years, the anal stage, the child finds new gratification in the relief of bowel
and bladder tension. But this simple pleasure is fraught with difficulty because the external world
imposes strict regulations concerning toilet training.
● Parent and child may clash during this stage. From the child’s perspective, elimination is a source of
pleasure; the faeces are a curiosity and possibly even perceived as a part of one’s self (the kid
might wonder, “If my parents love me so much, why are they so eager to dispose of this part of
me?”)
● In this context, Freud was sensitive to the precarious balancing act confronting the small child. The
newly discovered pleasures of elimination and the curiosity about faeces must be steadied against
the controlling demands of the world. Freud believed that this stage held consequences for later
personality development. For example, if parents take a lenient and overly indulgent attitude and
the child derives joy from releasing his faeces, it might create an anal-expulsive character. In
adulthood, he is prone to be reckless, messy, disorganized, and attracted to filth. Another child
might find gratification in retaining her faecal matter. In an act of defiance, she might refuse to
release her excrement, leading to traits associated with the anal-retentive character. As an adult,
she is likely to be stingy, neat, meticulous, precise, and compulsive about rules and regulations.

PHALLIC STAGE:

● From ages three to five, in the phallic stage, a child’s interests shift to his or her sex organs and the
sex organs of the parents.
● In addition, the child begins to identify with the parent of the opposite sex. This identification
involves the positive sexual feelings of the boy for his mother and of the girl for her father.
● At the same time, the parent of the same sex is viewed as a threat and evokes hostile and
rebellious actions. The affection for the parent of the opposite sex and the hostility toward the
parent of the same sex is called the Oedipus complex.
● Freud found inspiration in Sophocles’s (c. 470–399 bce) Greek tragedy about a young man named
Oedipus who unwittingly kills his father, Laius, and marries his mother, Jocasta. (Oedipus had been
separated from both parents since birth.) After realizing he has murdered Laius, Oedipus blinds
himself with Jocasta’s brooch as an act of repentance.
● The desire for the mother leads to anxiety born in a fear of the father. The boy would like to replace
his father, but he recognizes that his father holds the threat of awesome retaliation.
● In Freud’s theory, such retaliation includes the threat of castration. The father might castrate the
boy, striking at the source of pleasure (in this case the genitals).
● Freud should not be taken concerning the use of the word castration. Rather he seems to be
referring to the sense of the overwhelming power and adequacy of the father to produce feelings of
impotence or feelings of emasculation.
● Fearing the father’s retaliatory power, the boy represses his feelings for his mother and then
gradually identifies with the father. For the boy, repression and identification help resolve the
Oedipal conflict.
● According to Freud, this kind of crisis plays out in an entirely different way for girls. He believed that
girls do not completely repress their striving for the father, nor do they thoroughly identify with the
mother. Instead, the girl transfers her desire for the father to other men, making the father the
prototype for her future husband.
 ● Freud insisted that the girl becomes envious of the protruding male sex organ and blames her
mother for what she considers to be her castrated condition.
● Freud argued that so-called penis envy played an important role in the psychology of women. As
with the male, the Oedipal situation (sometimes called the Electra complex for women) may never
be completely resolved. His views on feminine sexuality remain a controversial facet of his theory
(see Roith, 1987).

LATENCY STAGE:

In the aftermath of the phallic stage, the child enters a phase of development in which erotic interest
becomes latent or dormant. Signs of sexual interest are not explicit during this latency period. From age
four or five until the beginning of puberty, children busy themselves with intense physical activity and a
strong interest in peer groups. Sexual attachments are present but less noticeable than at other periods of
development.

GENITAL STAGE:

The genital stage of development begins as the person enters adolescence. Residue from earlier periods
may be present, but if development is normal, the individual will forge emotional ties with members of the
opposite sex. At this age, the genitals become the focus of sexual energy. During the genital stage, the
individual is preoccupied with object choices relating to friends, social institutions, and vocations. The major
goal of the genital stage is reproduction and ancillary activities (work, socialization) critical to the
propagation of the species.

PSYCHOANALYSIS AS A THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUE:

The Unconscious Mind and Its Role in Therapy

Freud viewed the unconscious mind as a storehouse of powerful drives and repressed sentiments, often
rooted in childhood experiences. These materials are expressed in disguised or symbolic forms, as the
conscious mind cannot directly access them. Freud identified a preconscious layer containing easily
retrievable information, distinct from the unconscious, which houses dangerous, less accessible materials
responsible for psychopathology. Evidence of the unconscious, according to Freud, is seen in phenomena
like slips of the tongue, forgotten appointments, and especially dreams. Dreams are categorized into
manifest content (what is remembered) and latent content (the underlying unconscious wish or drive).
Therapy involves interpreting this latent content.

Causes and Symptoms of Emotional Problems

Freud proposed that repressed unconscious material leads to emotional disturbances such as anxiety,
depression, phobias, and compulsions. Therapy aims to cautiously uncover repressed materials, thus
neutralizing their energy and alleviating psychological symptoms.

Goals of Psychoanalysis
The therapeutic goal is to strengthen the ego, making it more independent from the superego and id,
thereby expanding consciousness and liberating the individual from destructive unconscious forces. Freud
summarized this goal as transforming the unconscious “id” into a conscious “ego.”

Therapeutic Techniques

Freud emphasized that uncovering unconscious material could be achieved through:

1. Dream Interpretation: Translating manifest content into latent content.

2. Free Association: Patients verbalize their thoughts without inhibition, offering insights into their
unconscious processes.

During therapy, patients often recline comfortably, sharing dreams and free associations, while analysts
listen and interpret with caution, ensuring patients are ready to confront their unconscious.

Transference and Countertransference

Freud observed emotional attachments forming during therapy: transference (patients projecting feelings
onto therapists) and countertransference (therapists developing emotional attachments to patients).
Managing these phenomena is crucial for successful therapy, fostering patient independence from the
therapist.

Resistance in Psychoanalysis

Resistance, such as difficulty in free-associating or rejecting interpretations, can slow therapy. Over time,
trust between patient and analyst helps weaken resistance, enabling therapeutic progress.

Liberation and Independence

Freud believed that therapy should free individuals not only from parental authority but also from the
therapist’s influence. Strengthening the ego moderates the influence of the id and superego, empowering
individuals to engage effectively in love, work, and community life.

Conclusion

Psychoanalysis serves as both a psychological system and a therapeutic technique, aiming to help
individuals navigate the complex forces within and outside themselves to lead balanced and fulfilling lives.

FREUD’S SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY:

Freud addressed societal concerns in works like Civilization and Its Discontents (1930/1961a). Influenced
by World War I and his son’s imprisonment, he engaged in a 1932 exchange with Einstein on war, who
proposed an international body to resolve disputes.

Einstein’s Proposal and Challenges

Einstein suggested a world government but highlighted barriers such as narrow identities based on
nationality and religion. He criticized minorities exploiting war for power and noted internal conflicts like civil
wars. Seeking deeper insights, he turned to Freud.

Freud’s Perspective on Human Drives

Freud agreed with Einstein’s proposal for a world organization but acknowledged its challenges, rooted in
human nature. He described two fundamental drives: Eros, the life-preserving force seeking unity and
preservation, and Thanatos, the aggressive drive toward destruction. These drives rarely act alone, and
even self-preservation relies on aggression for survival. Freud argued that destructive instincts are often
reinforced when eros is suppressed, complicating human motivation.

Civilization’s Impact on Drives

Freud believed that civilization imposes constraints on eros by delaying gratification, restricting choices,
and requiring sublimation of drives. While civilization fosters societal advancement, it also creates
frustration that feeds destructive instincts. Repressive systems that limit opportunities for love,
self-expression, and valuing life often trigger destructive behaviours, manifesting as suicides, wars,
massacres, or murder-suicides. Freud cited examples ranging from individual self-harm to collective
tragedies like the Heaven’s Gate suicides or suicide bombings.

The Role of Social Structures

Freud acknowledged the biological necessity of aggression but argued for social structures that balance
destructive and erotic instincts. Arbitrary religious and political authorities often hinder freedom of thought
and work against peace. Effective structures must respect human nature’s complexity, encouraging
reasonable expressions of eros while curbing destructive tendencies.

Broadening Identification and Shared Interests

Freud valued expanding human identification beyond narrow affiliations by fostering common bonds and
shared interests. He endorsed the golden rule, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” but recognized
the difficulty of achieving this ideal through mere commands. Instead, he emphasized the importance of
reason, education, and emotional and intellectual insight in working toward this goal.

Conclusion

Freud’s response to Einstein highlighted the intricate interplay between human drives and societal
structures. While an international government is a step forward, Freud stressed the need for nuanced
systems sensitive to human nature, fostering peace through understanding and rational engagement.

CRITICAL APPRAISAL;-

Freud leaves us with a complicated legacy. Psychoanalysis opened intellectual vistas with far-reaching
consequences for psychology and other disciplines. The appreciative commentary that follows reflects the
expanded scope that Freud offered psychology. What then were his major contributions?
 1. Emphasis on development. Freud was one of the first to recognize the importance of childhood and the
special needs associated with stages of human development. It makes little difference if his stage theory
does not hold up. His larger developmental perspective has had an enduring influence.

2. Unconscious processes. Though many do not value Freud’s model of the unconscious, it has been a
continuing influence in psychology along with repression and the ego defence mechanisms.

3. Focus on motivation. Freud was not the only psychologist to emphasize motivation, but he contributed to
this content area so that it soon took its place alongside sensation, perception, and learning as a principal
topic of inquiry.

4. Psychotherapy. Though we can find much to criticize in Freud’s therapy, he nevertheless contributed to
the notion that human problems originate in everyday life. Proper therapy for such problems is not simply
medical but psychological. This idea ran counter to medical thought in Freud’s Vienna, so it is little wonder
he was not popular with his contemporaries. Still, many of his insights endured and now occupy a
respected and undisputed place in clinical texts and reference sources.

5. Interdisciplinary contributions. As noted, Freud’s thought had a widespread impact in diverse fields such
as history, philosophy, religion, literature, and medicine. Although controversial, psychoanalysis forced
psychology to be a less insular discipline. This in itself is a worthy achievement

A system as wide-ranging as psychoanalysis is bound to generate criticism, and reactions have ranged
from thoughtful disapproval to sarcasm and mocking. We’ll outline some of the better-known criticisms.

1. Tendency to overgeneralize. Freud often drew sweeping conclusions based on simple observation. Our
earlier discussion of a young doctor’s religious conversion is a case in point. If you wanted to conclude the
psychology of conversion, wouldn’t it make more sense to study many cases? Even then, generalizations
should be cautious and couched in language that encourages experimental work. This last point leads to
the next criticism.

2. Empirical verification. Despite experimental studies designed to test Freud’s predictions, psychoanalysis
does not lend itself to experimental verification. Part of the problem is that many of the terms of the theory
(e.g., libido, eros, primary process) are not easily operationalized.

3. Closedness. Freud had an almost unmatched zeal in discovering new truths about the workings of the
mental world. In time, however, he became dogmatic about his theory (Barratt, 2013; Rudnytsky, 2008).
Freud’s followers and associates were expected to be disciples dedicated to extending his theory. The
range of acceptable ideas was truncated and any person who deviated too far from core concepts was
viewed as disloyal. Unfortunately, loyalty and orthodoxy came to define classical psychoanalysis as an
increasingly closed system.

4. Sexual emphasis. Freud is accused of advancing a monistic theory where all behaviour is derived from
a single motivation—namely, sex. This criticism calls for greater scrutiny. Freud did champion the sex
motive, but his view of such motivation was broader than many critics acknowledge, and he explicitly
recognized the existence of many drives.
5. Psychoanalytic treatment. Psychoanalysis has been criticized on several grounds. One harsh criticism
suggests that practitioners are a closed club isolated from the meaningful correctives of critical and
scientific research (see Masson, 1991). Treatment has also been criticized because it is expensive and
time-consuming. Beyond its prohibitive cost, critics have questioned whether it accomplishes more than
other therapies.

6. Theory of female sexuality. Freud’s concept of penis envy and his views on female sexual conflict have
faced withering criticism (see Horney, 1967; Sprengnether, 1990). Scholarly work has attempted to clarify
the context of Freud’s views (see Roith, 1987). Nevertheless, his notion that women are “incomplete men”
must now be regarded as an error-driven more by theory than sensitivity to the complexity of human
sexuality. Freud did welcome women into the psychoanalytic movement. Here as in other institutions,
however, they did not enjoy equality (see Roith, 1987, chap. 3; Wolberg, 1989). Perhaps most telling is
Freud’s confession that a baffling mystery for him is what motivates a woman. Gay (1988) reports that
Freud “had, he thought, sincerely tried to understand the ‘sexual life of the adult woman,’ but it continued to
intrigue and puzzle him. It was something of a dark continent’ ” (p. 501)

NEOANALYTIC PSYCHOLOGIES:-

As with behaviourism, psychoanalysis became a house divided. Many who were influenced by Freud
disagreed with his emphasis on sexuality. Deep divisions emerged over a host of topics, such as the nature
of unconscious processes, the autonomy of the ego, the stages of development, and the nature of therapy.

I. KAREN HORNEY

Like Adler and Jung, Karen Danielsen Horney (1885–1952) initially found value in Freud’s ideas but in time
grew dissatisfied with the traditional assumptions of psychoanalysis. She challenged Freud’s ideas about
human sexuality, neurosis, and therapy. As a result, she incorporated a more sociocultural perspective into
psychoanalytic thinking.

SYSTEM OF THOUGHT

Following emigration from Europe to the United States, Horney became attuned to sociocultural influences
in the development of personality, especially in the shaping of neurosis. She believes neurotic behaviour
did not develop from psychic tension between the ego and unconscious forces, but instead from conflict in
interpersonal and social relationships. In her view, the neurotic person of our times was not the victim of
sexual instincts, as suggested by traditional psychoanalysis, but rather a product of the sociocultural
context of childhood.

BASIC ANXIETY AND NEUROSIS

During development, children naturally look to their caregivers for security and satisfaction. This process
fosters the development of the real self, that “central inner force common to all humans and yet unique in
each, which is a deep source of growth” (Horney, 1950, p. 17). Although children are born with a sense of
real self, some parents may undermine a child’s security through excessive isolation, rejection, indifference,
hostility, or ridicule. As a result, the child may experience a sense of basic anxiety, a “terrible feeling of
being isolated and helpless in a potentially hostile world”. Such debilitating anxiety is counter-productive to
growth because it stifles and distorts a person’s view of the real self.

Horney believed that basic anxiety was a universal aspect of childhood that could manifest itself in adult
neurosis. In time, a person may develop certain neurotic trends or irrational strategies for coping against
basic anxiety. Horney (1942) believed that her study of neurotic trends set her apart from other scholars in
the psychodynamic school:

Freud believed that the [neurotic] disturbances were generated from a conflict between environmental
factors and repressed instinctual impulses. Adler, more rationalistic and superficial than Freud, believes
that they are created by the ways and means that people use to assert their superiority over others. Jung,
more mystical than Freud, believes in collective unconscious fantasies which, though replete with creative
possibilities, may work havoc because the unconscious strivings fed by them are the exact opposite of
those in the conscious mind. My answer is that at the centre of psychic disturbances are unconscious
strivings developed to cope with life despite fears, helplessness, and isolation. I have called them “neurotic
trends.”

During neurotic trends, individuals may develop an insatiable need for affection, approval, power,
perfection, social recognition, or prestige. Likewise, they may feel a need to exploit others, to restrict their
life and goals to narrow borders or to seek a partner who will assume control of their life. Although all
people possess such needs to some degree, neurotic people adopt these trends as absolute needs that
dominate their lives and relationships.

Horney’s Three Unconscious Movements

In Our Inner Conflicts (1945), Karen Horney identified three unconscious coping strategies that neurotic
individuals use to deal with basic anxiety:

1. The Compliant Type

Motivated by helplessness, this type moves toward others, relying on dependence and
unassertiveness to feel safe. They seek approval, acceptance, love, and guidance, often prioritizing
others’ needs over their own.
2. The Hostile Type
This individual moves against people, using aggression, exploitation, and dominance to cope.
Relationships and situations are approached with self-interest, focusing on extracting personal gain
such as money, prestige, or power.
3. The Detached Type
Seeking emotional distance, this type moves away from others, avoiding attachment, cooperation,
or competition. They create an emotional "magic circle" to maintain their detachment, consciously
and unconsciously avoiding involvement with others.

Alienation from the Real Self

These neurotic strategies alienate individuals from their real selves, replacing them with an idealized
self—a distorted, fictitious self-image. Horney noted the neurotic's "search for glory," where individuals seek
to bolster their idealized self through neurotic pride, even denying experiences that conflict with this false
self.
Destructive Effects of Neurotic Strategies

Neurotic tendencies, such as blind spots, cynicism, and rationalization, impede personal growth and foster
destructive self-contempt or self-hatred. This self-hatred is amplified by an unrealistic “tyranny of the
should,” where individuals impose rigid and unattainable expectations on themselves, such as being a
perfect student or achieving an ideal appearance. These dynamics deepen the neurosis and prevent
genuine self-acceptance.

Goal of Psychotherapy

Horney proposed an alternative to traditional psychoanalysis, emphasizing the resolution of inner conflicts
by reconnecting with the real self. In Self-Analysis (1942), she highlighted that self-realization reduces
anxiety, promotes truth, and productivity, and fosters harmony within oneself and with others.

II. ERIK ERIKSON (PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY)

 sychosocial development theory is based on eight stages of development. Erikson's theory is based on
P
the idea that development through life is a series of stages which are each defined by a crisis or challenge.
The early stages provide the foundations for later stages so Erikson says that if a child does not resolve a
crisis in a particular stage, they will have problems in later stages. For example, if an adolescent does not
establish their own identity, they will have difficulty in relationships as an adult.

The most significant contributions Erikson has made fall under 2 major categories:

​ - A psychosocial theory of development from which emerges an expanded

conception of ego.
​ - Psychohistorical studies that exemplify his psychosocial theory in the lives
of famous individuals.

PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT

The psychosocial theory of development means significantly that stages of a person’s life from birth to
death are formed by social influences interacting with a physically and psychologically maturing organism.
According to Erikson, “there is a mutual fit of individual and environment.”
Psychosocial Development theory is based on 8 stages of development. Erikson’s theory is based on the
idea that development through life is a series of stages which are each defined by a challenge or crises.
The early stages provide a foundation for later stages so that if a child doesn’t resolve a crisis at a
particular stage, they will have problems in later stages of life.

The stages are as follows:

Stage 1 - Oral Sensory- Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy)
● The earliest basic trust is established during the oral-sensory stage and is demonstrated by the
infant by its capacity to sleep peacefully, to take nourishment peacefully and to excrete relaxfuly.
● Daily routines, consistency, and continuity in the infant’s environment provide for the early basis of
psychosocial identity.
 ● The proper ratio of trust and mistrust leads to the ascendance of hope. The foundation of hope
relies on the infant’s initial relations with trustworthy maternal persons who provide nourishment and
warmth.
● The first stage is the numinous ritualization. It is the baby’s sense of the hallowed presence of the
mother, her looking, feeding, and recognizing him.
● Lack of recognition can cause estrangement in an infant's personality and feelings of separation
and abandonment.
● A perverted form of numinous ritualization is expressed in adult life by idolatrous hero worship or
idolism.

Stage 2 - Muscular-Anal- Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt (Early Childhood)

● During the second stage, the child learns what is expected of it, what its obligations and privileges
are, and what limitations are placed upon it.
● The child’s striving for new and activity-oriented experiences places a dual demand: Demand for
self-control and demand for acceptance of control.
● The child should be encouraged to experience situations that require autonomy of free choice.
● Excessive shamefulness (often used by adults to tame will) will induce a child to be shameless, and
get away with things being sneaky and secretive.
● A sense of self-control provides the child with lasting feelings of goodwill, and a sense of loss of
self-control provides feelings of shame and doubt.
● The virtue of will emerges in this stage. Will is responsible for a child's gradual acceptance of
lawfulness and necessity. Will is the ever-increasing strength to make free choices.
● Erikson called the ritualization of this stage judicious because the child begins to judge himself and
others and differentiate between right and wrong.
● Erikson labelled this as pseudospecies. This is the origin of judicial ritual. In the adult form, it takes
the role of courtroom trials.
● The perverted form is legalism. The legalistic person achieves satisfaction in having the convinced
humiliated and punished, whether or not that was the intention of the law.

Stage 3 - Locomotor Initiative versus guilt (Play Age)

● The child during this stage presents himself as being decisively more advanced and more together
both physically and mentally.
● The initiative combines autonomy to give the child the quality of pursuing, planning and
determination to achieve tasks and goals.
● The feeling of guilt may haunt for an overzealous contemplation of goals including genital fantasies
and the use of aggressive, manipulative means of achieving these goals.
● The purpose is the virtue that ascends during this stage.
● The child’s major activity is playing and purpose results from playing, explorations, failures and
experiments with toys. In addition to physical games, it takes mental games by imitating or
assuming the roles of parents and other adults.
● This age is characterised by dramatic ritualization.
● The child actively participates in playacting, wearing costumes, and imitating adult personalities.
● The estrangement that may ensue is a feeling of guilt. The perverted form is the ritualism of
impersonation.
 ● The adult plays roles in order to present oneself that is not representative of its personality.

Stage 4 - Latency- Industry vs. Inferiority (School Age)

● During the fourth stage of epigenetic process, the child must control its exuberant imagination and
settle to formal education.
● It develops a sense of industry and learns the rewards of perseverance and diligence. The hazard
of this stage is that the child may develop inferiority that he is unable to master the tasks that he
undertakes or that set by teachers and school.
● The virtue of competence emerges from the industry stage.
● The virtues of previous stages provided the child with a view of future tasks.
● The important thing is that the child applies its intelligence and abounding energy to some
undertaking and direction.
● A sense of competence is achieved by applying oneself to work and to completing tasks, which
eventually develops to workmanship.
● School age is the age of formal ritualization, when the child learns how to perform
[Link] distorted ritualism in adulthood is that of formalism which consists of repetition
of meaningless formalities and empty rituals.

Stage 5 - Adolescence- Identity vs. Role Confusion

● During adolescence, the individual begins to sense a feeling of his/her own identity, a feeling that
one is a unique human being and yet prepared to fit into some meaningful role by the society.
● The activating inner agent in identity formation is the ego in its conscious and unconscious aspects.
● Because of the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood on one hand and historical and social
change on other, the adolescent during the stage of identity formation is likely to suffer identity
confusion.
● The adolescent can feel that he must take important decisions but is unable to do so.
● This state causes oneself to feel anxious and isolated.
● During identity confusion, the adolescent may feel he is regressing instead of progressing and
childhood retreats appear to be a pleasant alternative.
● The term identity crisis refers to the necessity to resolve the transitory failure to form a stable
identity.
● There also is a development of negative identity, which is the collection of potentially unworthy
characteristics.
● At this age, the virtue of fidelity is developed.
● The ego balance is confronted with a precarious precaution, on one hand, the person is expected to
assimilate oneself into an adult pattern of life but at the same time must deny the sexual freedom of
an adult.
● The ritualization is that of ideology. Ideology is the solidarity of conviction that incorporates
ritualizations from previous stages.
● The estrangement that results from this is identity confusion.
● The ritualism is that of totalism. Totalism refers to the fanatic preoccupation of questioning what is
ideal or wrong.

Stage 6 - Young Adulthood (Intimacy vs. Isolation)

 ● Young adults are prepared and willing to unite their identity with others.
● They seek relationships of partnerships, and intimacy and are prepared to develop the necessary
strengths to fulfil these commitments.
● For the first time in their lives, youth can develop sexual genitality in mutuality with a loved partner.
● Sex life in previous stages was restricted to a search for sexual identity and striving for transitory
intimacies.
● For genitality to be of lasting social significance, it requires someone to love and have sexual
relations with.
● The virtue of love comes into being in the intimacy stage.
● Although love is predominant in other stages, the development of true intimacy transpires after
adolescence.
● Young adults are now capable of committing themselves to a joint relationship in which their mode
of life is mutually shared with their partner.
● The corresponding ritualization of this stage is affiliative that is sharing together love, work and
friendship.
● The corresponding ritualism, namely elitism is a formation of exclusive groups that are a form of
communal narcissism.

Stage 7 - Middle Adulthood (Generativity vs. Stagnation)

● The stage of generativity is characterised by the concern of what is generated- progeny, products
ideas and so forth and the establishment and setting forth of guidelines for upcoming generations.
● This transmission of social values is a necessity for both. This transmission of social values is a
necessity for both the psychosexual and psychosocial aspects of personality enrichment.
● The virtue of care develops during this stage. Care is expressed by one’s concern for others by
wanting to take care of those who need it and to share one’s knowledge and experience with them.
● This is accomplished through child rearing, teaching, demonstrating, and supervising.
● Caring and teaching are responsible for the survival of cultures through the reiteration of their
customs, rituals and legends.
● The ritualization of this stage is generational, which is the ritualization of parenthood, production,
teaching etc.
● Distortions are represented through the ritualism of authoriticism. It is the seizure or encroachment
of authority incompatible with care.

Stage 8 - Maturity (Integrity vs. Despair)

● The last stage of the epigenetic process of development is labelled integrity.

● It can be best described as a state one reaches after having taken care of things and people,
products and ideas and having adapted to the successes and failures of existence.
● Through such accomplishments, individuals may reap the benefits of the first 7 stages of life and
perceive their life has some order and some larger meaning within that social order.
● The style of life and integrity of culture become the patrimony of the soul.
● The essential counterpart of integrity is a certain despair over the vicissitudes of the individual life
cycle, as well as historical and social conditions. This can aggravate the feeling that life is
meaningless and death is near.
● Wisdom is the virtue that develops during this cycle.
 ● The physical and mental activity of everyday life is slowing down by this time.
● The ritualization of old age may be called integral, this is reflected in wisdom of ages.
● In the corresponding ritualism, Erikson suggests sapientism- the unwise pretence of being wise.

Stages Psychosocial Radius of Basic Binding Ritualism

Crises Significant Strengths Ritualizations
Relations

Infancy Trust vs Maternal Person Hope Numinous Idolism

mistrust

Early Autonomy vs Paternal Person Will Judicious Legalism

Childhood shame, doubt

Play Age Initiative vs Basic Family Purpose Dramatic Moralism

guilt

School Age Industry vs Neighbourhood, Competence Formal Formalism

inferiority school

Adolescence Identity vs Peer groups, Fidelity Ideological Totalism

Identity outgroups, models
confusion of leadership

Young Intimacy vs Partners in friends, Love Affiliative Elitism

Adulthood isolation friendships, sex,
cooperation,
competition

Adulthood Generativity Divided labour and Care Generational Authoritism

vs stagnation shared household
Old Age Integrity vs Mankind, My kind Wisdom Philosophical Dogmatism
despair

HUMANISM V/S EXISTENTIALISM:-

Humanistic psychology is also considered a third-force psychology. It explores the positive, creative, and
emotional side of humans. This third-force psychology is a combination of existential philosophy and
romantic notions of humans; the combination is called humanistic psychology, as well as third-force
psychology.

Whereas existentialism focuses on individuals probing the meaning of human existence and tries to restore
the importance of human feeling, choice, and individuality that had been minimized in rationalism.

DIFFERENCE: