It wasn’t until 1899; four years after the death of his father, that Freud published his first book ‘the interpretation of dreams’, containing dream analysis on the way to ‘the royal road to the unconscious’. Freud then went on to publish seven more books throughout his research into the human mind. Whilst working with his patients Freud began to develop his theories on the mind and also the therapy of psychoanalysis.
Feud’s theories have formed the basis of the psychodynamic perspective. In 1923 Freud explained the ‘Tripartite theory’. In this theory Freud identified three different parts of our mind, according to our levels of awareness. These included the instinctive drive (the ID), the ego and the super ego. The Id contains our primitive drives and operates largely according to the pleasure principle, whereby its two main goals are the seeking of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.
It has no real perception of reality and seeks to satisfy its needs through what Freud called the primary processes.
The id has 3 major instincts:
- Eros: the life instinct that motivates people to focus on pleasure-seeking tendencies.
- Thanatos: the death instinct that motivates people to use aggressive urges to destroy.
- Libido: the sexual drive.
Unlike the Id, the Ego is aware of reality, operating via the reality principle, whereby it recognizes what is real and understands that behaviours have consequences. It uses secondary processes (perception, recognition, judgment and memory) that are developed during childhood.
The dilemma of the Ego is that it has to somehow balance the demands of the Id and Super ego with the constraints of reality. The Ego controls higher mental processes such as reasoning and problem-solving, which it uses to solve the Id-Super ego dilemma, creatively finding ways to safely satisfy the Id's basic urges within the constraints of the Super ego.
The Super ego contains our and social morals, which often come from the rules of right and wrong that we learned in childhood from our parents and are contained in the conscience. The Super ego is a counterbalance to the Id, and seeks to inhibit the Id's pleasure-seeking demands, particularly those for sex and aggression.
From the Tripartite theory Freud also suggested the idea of defence mechanisms. Freud suggested that the ego develops these mechanisms as a way of reducing anxiety and guilt.
The ‘psycho-sexual stages’ are another of Freud’s theories. These stages indicate a sexual component of physiological development. These stages broke down development up until puberty into five different stages. This theory is where we find the controversial ‘Oedipus’ and ‘Electra’ complexes, in which Freud suggests that between the ages of three and five, children experience sexual feelings towards their opposite sex parent, leading onto same sex identification.
Freud also suggested that particular experiences during these stages can create the basis of our personalities.
When working with patients Freud developed his therapy of psychoanalysis. This is based on the observation that individuals are often unaware of many of the factors that determine their emotions and behaviour. Psychoanalytic treatment demonstrates how these unconscious factors can affect current patterns of behaviour, traces them back to their origins, shows how they have changed and helps individuals to deal better with the realities of adult life. For Freud, the purpose of psychoanalysis was to bring repressed memories, fears and thoughts back to the conscious level of awareness. Two techniques he used are free association and dream analysis. He considered dreams as the "royal road" to the unconscious. He also analyzed and interpreted the various defence mechanisms.
Today Freud falls under criticism form many as his speculative theories fail to find support. However, Freud’s work presented a new way of thinking about human nature and the ever mystical workings of the human mind.