(c) 2016 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

Topics

▪ Was It Only a Dream?

▪ The Development of Psychoanalysis
▪ Antecedent Influences on Psychoanalysis
▪ Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and the Development of
Psychoanalysis
▪ Psychoanalysis as a Method of Treatment
▪ Psychoanalysis as a System of Personality
▪ Mechanism and Determinism in Freud’s System
▪ Relations Between Psychoanalysis and Psychology
▪ The Scientific Validity of Psychoanalytic Concepts
▪ Criticisms of Psychoanalysis
▪ Contributions of Psychoanalysis
▪ Selected Discussion Questions
 Was It Only a Dream?

• A little boy’s dream:

– Mother is carried into a room
– People carrying her are not human-extremely tall, dressed
in strange clothing, with bird-like faces
• 30 years later
– That dream is still highly emotional for Freud
– Superficial meaning: a little boy afraid of losing his mother
– True meaning: symbolized the sexual desire of a seven-
year-old boy for his mother
 The Development of Psychoanalysis

• Freud believes in three great shocks to the collective human

ego:
– Copernicus: Earth is not the center of the universe
– Darwin: the theory of evolution
– Freud: the influence of unconscious forces
• Psychoanalysis was distinct from mainstream psychological
thought in goals, subject matter, and methods
 The Development of Psychoanalysis

• Three major sources of influence on the psychoanalytic

movement were
1. Philosophical speculations about unconscious
psychological phenomena,
2. Early ideas about psychopathology, and
3. Evolutionary theory.
 Antecedent Influences on Psychoanalysis
• Philosophical speculations about unconscious psychological
phenomena
– Monadology:
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz’s theory of psychic entities,
called monads, which are similar to perceptions
– Johann Friedrich Herbart
• theorizing of a threshold of consciousness; conflict
develops among ideas as they struggle for conscious
realization
– Fechner
• suggested that the mind is analogous to an iceberg; had
a great impact on Freud
– Late 19th century
• The unconscious was a popular topic in Europe, seen in
literature like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
 Early Ideas about Psychopathology

• Origins of Psychoanalysis
– Emerged as a reaction against prevailing treatments for
mental illness, not academic psychology.
– Historically, mental disorders were attributed to
supernatural causes (demonic possession, sin) and treated
with magic, prayer, torture, or execution.
– During the Christian era and Inquisition, mentally ill
individuals were punished as heretics or witches.
– By the 18th century, mental illness was seen as irrational
behavior; patients were confined in harsh asylums under
inhumane conditions without treatment.
 Early Ideas about Psychopathology

• Early Humanitarian Reforms

– Juan Luis Vives (16th century) advocated humane
treatment, but ideas spread widely only in the late 18th
century.
– Philippe Pinel freed patients from chains, treated them
kindly, and kept detailed records, inspiring reforms in
Europe and the U.S.
– Dorothea Dix campaigned for improved asylum conditions
in America.
– Benjamin Rush, first U.S. psychiatrist, opened a hospital
for emotional disorders; used mechanistic treatments like
bloodletting, spinning chairs, and sedation.
 Early Ideas about Psychopathology

• Somatic vs. Psychic Schools

– 19th-century psychiatry split into two camps:
• Somatic school: mental illness caused by physical
factors (brain lesions, nerve issues).
• Psychic school: emphasized emotional and
psychological causes.
– Freud’s psychoanalysis arose as a revolt against the
somatic approach, stressing psychological roots of mental
disorders.
 Early Ideas about Psychopathology

• The Emmanuel Movement (1906–1910)

– Promoted psychotherapy and talk therapy in the U.S.,
highlighting psychological factors in mental illness.
– Founded by Elwood Worcester, a clergyman trained in
psychology under Wundt.
– Therapy sessions led by clergy relied on suggestion and
moral guidance; gained popularity through media and
books.
• Good Housekeeping and the book Religion and
Medicine
– Despite opposition from medical professionals, the
movement normalized talk therapy and paved the way for
Freud’s acceptance in America.
 Early Ideas about Psychopathology

• Hypnosis and the Shift to Psychic Causes

– Originated with Franz Anton Mesmer’s concept of “animal
magnetism” and dramatic group sessions.
– James Braid introduced the term “hypnosis,” giving it scientific
credibility.
– Jean-Martin Charcot advanced hypnosis in treating hysteria,
framing it in medical terms.
– Pierre Janet emphasized psychological causes (unconscious
forces, memory impairments) and used hypnosis as therapy.
– These developments shifted psychiatry from somatic to
psychic approaches, preparing the ground for Freud’s
psychoanalysis.
 The Influence of Charles Darwin
▪ Sulloway’s Argument (1979)
▪ Freud’s theories strongly influenced by Darwin.
▪ Evidence: Freud owned and annotated Darwin’s works; praised him
publicly and privately.
▪ Darwin’s Influence on Psychoanalysis
▪ Key ideas adopted: unconscious processes, dream significance,
symbolism, sexual arousal.
▪ Both emphasized non-rational aspects of thought and behavior.
▪ Impact on Childhood Development
▪ Darwin (via Romanes): emotional continuity from infancy to adulthood;
early sexual drive.
▪ Freud integrated these into psychoanalysis.
▪ Biological Drives
▪ Darwin: love and hunger as basic forces.
▪ Krafft-Ebing: sexual gratification and self-preservation as core instincts.
▪ Freud’s Position
▪ Considered Darwinian evolution essential for psychoanalytic training.
▪ Darwin’s ideas deeply shaped Freud’s system.
 Additional Influences
▪ Mechanistic Influence
▪ Freud trained under a mechanistic view: only physical and chemical forces act
in organisms.
▪ Adopted deterministic approach called psychic determinism.
▪ Vienna’s Cultural Context
▪ Late 19th-century Vienna was permissive, not sexually repressive.
▪ Sexuality widely discussed in society and science.
▪ Pre-Freudian Sexuality Research
▪ Patze & Maudsley: sex drive in young children.
▪ Krafft-Ebing: Psychopathia Sexualis (1886).
▪ Moll: childhood sexuality and parental love (Oedipus complex).
▪ Libido concept existed before Freud.
▪ Catharsis & Dream Symbolism
▪ Catharsis popular before Freud; 140+ German publications by 1890.
▪ Charcot, Janet, Krafft-Ebing linked dreams to unconscious sexual wishes.
▪ Freud’s Contribution
▪ Psychoanalysis evolved from earlier ideas.
▪ Freud’s genius: synthesizing diverse concepts into a unified system.
 Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and the
Development of Psychoanalysis
▪ Birth and Early Life
▪ Born 1856 in Moravia; moved to Vienna at age 4.
▪ Father strict; mother loving—basis for Oedipus complex.
▪ Personality and Education
▪ Favored firstborn; ambitious and confident.
▪ Excelled academically; mastered several languages.
▪ Inspired by Darwin; chose medicine for research.
▪ University Studies
▪ Studied at University of Vienna; graduated in 8 years.
▪ Focused on biology and physiology; researched eel
reproduction and spinal cords.
▪ Cocaine Experiments
▪ Believed cocaine was a miracle drug; shared with others.
▪ Introduced cocaine into medical practice.
▪ Lost fame to Carl Koller, who used cocaine as eye anesthetic.
 Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and the
Development of Psychoanalysis
▪ Cocaine Advocacy
▪ Praised cocaine’s benefits; later blamed for abuse epidemic.
▪ Faced criticism; omitted cocaine references from his
bibliography.
▪ Continued using cocaine for 10 years after medical school.
▪ Career Shift
▪ Wanted academic research but abandoned due to financial
limits.
▪ Earned M.D. in 1881; became clinical neurologist despite dislike.
▪ Personal Life
▪ Engagement to Martha delayed by financial hardship.
▪ Extremely jealous during courtship.
▪ After marriage: long work hours, solo vacations; had six children.
 The Case of Anna O.
• Anna O., treated by Breuer, had severe hysterical symptoms.
• Symptoms began while caring for her dying father.
• Breuer used hypnosis; recalling distressing events eased
symptoms.
• Anna called it the “talking cure” or “chimney sweeping.
• ”Reliving repressed experiences reduced symptoms,
influencing Freud’s ideas on catharsis and unconscious
conflicts.
 The Case of Anna O.
▪ Myths about Breuer’s romantic link to Anna O. were false.
▪ Anna O. (Bertha Pappenheim) wasn’t cured; she later faced
severe health issues but became a feminist and social reformer.
▪ Breuer’s case introduced Freud to the “talking cure,” shaping
psychoanalysis.
 The Sexual Basis of Neurosis

• Freud observed Charcot’s use of hypnosis to treat hysteria

• Adopted Breuer’s methods of hypnosis and catharsis to treat
his patients
• Also used free association: a psychotherapeutic technique in
which the patient says whatever comes to mind
– Freud found that his patients’ memories reached back to
childhood; many of the repressed experiences they
recalled concerned sexual issues
 Studies on Hysteria

• In 1895, Freud and Breuer published Studies on Hysteria.

– The book considered to mark the formal beginning of psychoanalysis
– Freud’s convinced that sex was the sole cause of neurotic
behavior
 The Childhood Seduction Controversy

• Freud believed most of his women patients reported

traumatic sexual experiences in childhood, often
involving family members
• Later revised to suggest that the childhood seduction
experiences his patients described were not real;
they had not actually happened
 Freud’s Sex Life

• Freud viewed sexuality as

– degrading
– abandoned sex at 41
– and his resulting frustrations contributed to
neuroses that shaped his theories,
– leading him to self-analyze through dream
interpretation.
 Dream Analysis
• Freud saw dreams as meaningful reflections of the unconscious.
• He analyzed his own dreams daily using free association.
• Discovered hostility toward his father and sexual desires for his
mother and daughter.
• These insights shaped his psychoanalytic theory; he called himself
his most important patient.
• Two-year self-analysis led to The Interpretation of Dreams (1900),
introducing the Oedipus complex.
• The book gained attention and influenced Carl Jung.
• Freud made dream analysis a standard technique; most of his
dreams focused on ambition, not sexuality.
 The Pinnacle of Success
• From 1900 onward, Freud published major works annually,
applying psychoanalytic theory to topics like sexuality, anxiety,
and creativity
– The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901)
– Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905)
• Founded and led the psychoanalytic movement
 The Pinnacle of Success
• Faced divisions with Adler (1911) and Jung (1914)
• Endured mouth cancer from 1923 while continuing work
• Fled Nazi-occupied Vienna in 1938 to England
• Died in 1939 after requesting euthanasia, leaving a lasting
impact on psychology despite controversies and personal
suffering.
 His Own Words
• Freud’s 1909 Clark University lecture credited Breuer’s
treatment of Anna O. as the start of psychoanalysis.
• Breuer used hypnosis and emotional expression to relieve
hysterical symptoms, a process Anna called the “talking cure.
• ”Symptoms like inability to drink were traced to repressed
traumatic experiences; recalling and releasing emotions cured
them.
• Breuer concluded hysterical symptoms are memory residues of
psychic trauma, leading Freud to state patients “suffer from
reminiscences.
• ”This insight became the foundation of psychoanalysis.
 Psychoanalysis as a Method of Treatment
• Free Association & Resistance
– Patients often resist recalling memories during free
association.
– Resistance = defense mechanism to avoid painful or
shameful memories.
• Repression
– Excludes unacceptable thoughts, desires, or memories
from awareness.
– Repressed material is actively kept in the unconscious.
– Considered the cornerstone of psychoanalysis.
• Therapist’s Role
– Help patients bring repressed material into consciousness.
– Goal: confront and resolve hidden conflicts.
 Psychoanalysis as a Method of Treatment
• Therapeutic Relationship
– Close therapist–patient bond is crucial.
– Transference: patients project feelings; goal is
independence.
• Dream Analysis
– Dreams = disguised wishes.
– Manifest content: story;
– Latent content: hidden meaning.
– Interpretation depends on patient’s conflicts; not all dreams
are emotional.
• Freud’s Focus
– More interested in explaining behavior than curing.
– Used free association and dream analysis mainly as research
tools.
 Psychoanalysis as a Method of Treatment
• Freud’s Priority
– Therapeutic value was secondary; main focus was research.
– Preferred theory-building over patient care.
• Therapist Style
– Impersonal; admitted lack of passion for helping.
– Sessions sometimes involved his dog Jofi for humorous
comments.
• Methods
– Rejected experimental research.
– Relied on free association, dream analysis, and case histories.
• Beliefs
– Hidden thoughts inevitably reveal themselves.
– Only psychoanalysts using his methods could judge his work.
– Psychoanalysis was his personal creation, shaped by his
interpretations.
Psychoanalysis as a System of Personality

• Instincts
– mental representations of internal stimuli that
motivate personality and behavior
• Life instinct (libido)
• Death instinct
Psychoanalysis as a System of Personality

• Levels of personality
– Conscious versus unconscious
– Id
– Ego
– Superego
 Psychoanalysis as a System of Personality

• Anxiety
– functions as a warning
that the ego is being
threatened
• Defense mechanisms:
behaviors that represent
unconscious denials or
distortions of reality but
which are adopted to
protect the ego against
anxiety
 Psychoanalysis as a System of Personality

• Psychosexual stages of personality development

– the developmental stages of childhood centering on
erogenous zones.
• Stage (Birth to 2 years): Pleasure from mouth activities
like sucking and biting.
• Anal Stage: Pleasure shifts to the anus, coinciding with
toilet training.
• Phallic Stage (Around age 4): Pleasure from genital
stimulation.
• Latency Period (Age 5 to 12): A period of relative calm
before puberty.
• Genital Stage: Begins at puberty, focusing on heterosexual
behavior and preparation for adult relationships.
 Mechanism and Determinism in Freud’s
System
• Freud influenced by mechanistic
ideas:
– All mental events, even
dreams, are predetermined
– Nothing occurs by chance or
free will
• Psychology’s aim:
– “represent [mental] processes Freud works in his Vienna study in
as quantitatively determined 1937. He is surrounded by his
states of specifiable material collection of Greek, Roman, and
Egyptian antiquities.
particles”
• Remained true to the positivism
and determinism that nurtured
experimental psychology
 Relations Between Psychoanalysis and
Psychology

• Psychoanalysis very different from academic psychology

• 1930s-1940s: psychoanalysis captured public attention
• Popularity of psychoanalysis bring criticism from psychology
– Psychologists declared that psychoanalysis was inferior to a
psychology based on experimentation
The Scientific Validation of Psychoanalytic
Concepts
• Research of greater validity was performed on
Freud’s theories
– Support found for: characteristics of the oral and anal
personality types; castration anxiety; the notion that
dreams reflect emotional concerns; aspects of the Oedipus
complex in boys
– No support found for ideas surrounding: symbolism of
dreams; the Oedipus complex and male identification with
father; women’s issues with body image, identity and
superego; personality formation by age five
 Criticisms of Psychoanalysis

• Conclusions draw from case studies of patients (lacks validity

and generalizability)
• Data collection was unsystematic and uncontrolled
• Freud may have used suggestion, or more coercive
procedures, to elicit or implant such memories when no
actual seduction had occurred
• Small and unrepresentative sample of people
 Contributions of Psychoanalysis

• Psychoanalysis is based instead on an intuitive appearance of

plausibility
• Tremendous impact on popular culture and academic
psychology
• Led psychology to revise thinking about the contributing
factors to mental illness
• Freudian psychoanalysis became a vital force in modern
psychology
 Selected Discussion Questions

• Describe the historical development of psychoanalysis relative

to the other schools of thought in psychology.
• What was the role of the unconscious in structuralism,
functionalism, and behaviorism?
• Discuss two major sources of influence on the psychoanalytic
movement.
• What was the controversy about Freud’s view of childhood
seduction experiences?
• How did Freud attempt to explain mental processes in
mechanistic and deterministic terms?
• What criticisms have been made of Freud’s methods for
collecting data? How did Freud believe his concepts should be
tested?