Freud proposed that the mind is made up of three parts. Id, the instinct part of our personality, present at birth it is full of drives and desires, the id wants ‘instant satisfaction’. Ego, the regulator, controls the id by making it take control of reality and what is possible in the real world. Then the superego, the voice of conscience which develops as a result of childhood interactions with parents. The ego has the most difficult job as it is constantly trying to cope with the demands of the id and superego.
Freud also began to map out a sequence of stages in child development. These stages are known as the psychosexual stages. Freud was interested in the erotogenic zones all humans share. These are the mouth, the anus and the genitals. A child invests a high proportion of energy into each of these parts of the body in turn. The first is the oral stage 0-2 years, this focuses on the pleasure being the mouth. Too much or too little oral satisfaction can lead to fixation, or being stuck in this stage. In adulthood these fixations are revealed in habits like smoking, chewing gum or biting nails. The second stage is the anal stage 2-4 years, the pleasure is the anus and focuses on ‘giving away’ or ‘retention’ of body waste. Fixation in this stage leads to personality traits like generosity or meanness. The phallic stage occurs at 4-5 years, this is the stage where males and females learn their gender role. Boys experience intense physical desire for their mother and at the same time they experience fear and jealousy of their father. This leads the child to experience conflict.
Many early explanations of eating disorders were based on psychodynamic theories, especially anorexia. The behaviour is seen as an unconscious attempt to return to the oral stage of infancy. Becoming sexually mature can be a daunting prospect and anorexia is seen as a solution. In Freudian theory, eating and sex are seen as related, severe restriction of food gives the body the appearance of a prepubescent girl. Menstruation and the development of breasts is halted, making the girl appear sexually immature. Bruch (1978, cited in Haralambos & Rice et al 2002), suggests that unconsciously, anorexic adolescents try to prevent the onset of sexual maturity.
The psychodynamic perspective focuses heavily on childhood, it is a deterministic approach suggesting we have no free will and everything is ‘determined’ by our childhood. There is very little scientific evidence to support the psychodynamic approach, concepts like the id, ego, superego and repression cannot be directly observed and measured. Feminists argue that Freud’s theory is sexist as it is only written from a male point of view making it inaccurate.