Freud's psychodynamic theory.

Freud's psychodynamic theory

By Iram 6L

Freud's theory is split into two parts, the theory of the mind and the instincts. The theory of the mind consists of the conscious and the unconscious. The instincts are the life instinct and the death instinct.

In the unconscious is the ID where the instincts reside and it is concerned with self-gratification i.e. operating on the pleasure principle. In the conscious part of the mind are the superego and the ego. The superego develops via the oedipus complex and is our social conscience that threatens punishment, it is formed by parental and other significant influences such as culture or family. The ego is concerned with social rules i.e. operates on the reality principle. It is modified by the real world and is the intermediary between the ID and the real world, it has reason and common sense.

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The instincts are the life instinct and the death instinct. The death instinct (Thanatos) expresses itself as aggression. The life instinct i.e. sex drive (libido) can be split into two parts. The first part is the conflict between gratification demanded by ID and conformity demanded by the superego, the ego tries to keep the balance between the two and the anxieties that are produced by this are dealt with by the defence mechanisms e.g. repression - involuntary exclusion of conflicting thought or awareness, the most common defence mechanism. Another defence mechanism is denial, which is a non-acceptance of the external world (e.g. my husband is not dead). The second part of the life instinct is the psycho-sexual stages. They start at the oral phase (birth-15 months), then the anal phase (15 months-3 years) then the phallic stage(3-5 years) then the latency phase (5 years to puberty) and finally the genital phase (puberty onwards). The oral stage is when the infant gets sensual and sexual pleasure from sucking and when the child gets teeth the child gets the pleasure of biting. In the anal stage the child gets pleasure from retaining and releasing faeces. The phallic stage is when the child discovers the pleasure of his/her own genitals and enjoys masturbation. The phallic stage ends with the oedipal stage, this is when the boy becomes attached to his mother but is prevented from loving her because of his fear that his father will punish him by castration. He therefore identifies with his father and is able to form future relationships. The girl becomes attached to her father but thinks she has already been castrated by the mother and wants a penis of her own, the disappointment enables her to let go of her father and later form relationships. The latency stage of psycho-sexual development is the stage at which the sexual energies are diverted and used for cognitive and social development. The final stage, the genital stage, is the onset of puberty and the awakening of genital awareness. This stage sees the exploration of sexual activity with partners and there may be a break from parental authority as individuals establish their own adult relationships. The following through of these stages brings the optimum amount of gratification and psychological health. A fixation with any of these stages or a failure to resolve the oedipal complex can lead to neurotic behaviour depending on the type of fixation. Fixation is shown as regressing to behaviour typical of that stage e.g. smoking - oral stage. These problems can be dealt with through psycho-analysis.

By Iram