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Psychology

Assignment on: ‘Psychoanalytic Theory’

Submitted to: Prof. MR Rastogi

Submitted by: Heemanshu
Singh
LLB (Hons)
Semester I
University Roll No: 123
Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalytic theory is the theory of personality organization and the

dynamics of personality development that guides psychoanalysis, a clinical
method for treating psychopathology. First laid out by Sigmund Freud in the
late 19th century, psychoanalytic theory has undergone many refinements
since his work. Psychoanalytic theory came to full prominence in the last
third of the twentieth century as part of the flow of critical discourse
regarding psychological treatments after the 1960s, long after Freud's death
in 1939, and its validity is now widely disputed or rejected. Freud had ceased
his analysis of the brain and his physiological studies and shifted his focus to
the study of the mind and the related psychological attributes making up the
mind, and on treatment using free association and the phenomena
of transference.

His study emphasized the recognition of childhood events that could

influence the mental functioning of adults. His examination of the genetic
and then the developmental aspects gave the psychoanalytic theory its
characteristics. Starting with his publication of The Interpretation of
Dreams in 1899, his theories began to gain prominence.

Psychoanalytic and psychoanalytical are used in English. The latter is the

older term, and at first simply meant 'relating to the analysis of the human
psyche'. But with the emergence of psychoanalysis as a distinct clinical
practice, both terms came to describe that. Although both are still used,
today, the normal adjective is psychoanalytic.

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Psychoanalysis is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as

“A therapeutic method, originated by Sigmund Freud, for treating mental

disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious
elements in the patient's mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into
the conscious mind, using techniques such as dream interpretation and free
association. Also: a system of psychological theory associated with this
method.”

Through the scope of a psychoanalytic lens, humans are described as having

sexual and aggressive drives. Psychoanalytic theorists believe that human
behavior is deterministic. It is governed by irrational forces, and the
unconscious, as well as instinctual and biological drives. Due to this
deterministic nature, psychoanalytic theorists do not believe in free will.

Freud first began his studies on psychoanalysis in collaboration with

Dr. Josef Breuer, especially when it came to the study on Anna O. The
relationship between Freud and Breuer was a mix of admiration and
competition, based on the fact that they were working together on the Anna
O. case and had to balance two different ideas as to her diagnosis and
treatment. Today, Breuer can be considered the grandfather of
psychoanalysis. Anna O. was subject to both physical and psychological
disturbances, such as not being able to drink out of fear. Breuer and Freud
both found that hypnosis was a great help in discovering more about Anna
O. and her treatment. The research and ideas behind the study on Anna O.
were highly referenced in Freud's lectures on the origin and development of
psychoanalysis.

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These observations led Freud to theorize that the problems faced by
hysterical patients could be associated with painful childhood experiences
that could not be recalled. The influence of these lost memories shaped the
feelings, thoughts and behaviors of patients. These studies contributed to
the development of the psychoanalytic theory.

Sigmund Freud determined that the personality consists of three different

elements, the id, the ego and the superego.

ID: The id is the aspect of personality that is driven by internal and basic
drives and needs. These are typically instinctual, such as hunger, thirst, and
the drive for sex, or libido. The id acts in accordance with the pleasure
principle, in that it avoids pain and seeks pleasure. Due to the instinctual
quality of the id, it is impulsive and often unaware of implications of actions.

Example: If your Id passed through a boy playing with a ball, the immediate
urge to get that ball will drive you to snatch it by any means, this is irrational
and may lead to the conflict between the boys. Thus, Id is the source of
psychic energy, a force that is behind all the mental forces.

Ego: The ego is driven by the reality principle. The ego works to balance the
id and superego, by trying to achieve the id's drive in the most realistic ways.
It seeks to rationalize the id's instinct and please the drives that benefit the
individual in the long term. It helps separate what is real, and realistic of our
drives as well as being realistic about the standards that the superego sets
for the individual.

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Example: If you pass through the same boy playing with the ball, your ego
will mediate the conflict between the Id and super-ego and will decide to
buy a new ball for yourself. This may hurt you Id, but the ego would take this
decision to reach to a compromise situation between the Id and super-ego
by satisfying the desire of getting a ball without committing any unpleasant
social behavior.

Superego: The superego is driven by the morality principle. It acts in

connection with the morality of higher thought and action. Instead of
instinctively acting like the id, the superego works to act in socially
acceptable ways. It employs morality, judging our sense of wrong and right
and using guilt to encourage socially acceptable behavior.

Example: If the super-ego passed that boy playing with a ball, it would not
snatch it, as it would know that snatching is bad and may lead to a quarrel.
Thus, super ego act as a constraint on your behavior and guides you to
follow the right path. But if the Id is stronger than super-ego, you will
definitely snatch the ball by any means.

Freud’s theory considers the sources and consequences of emotional

conflicts and the people deal with these. In doing so, it visualizes the human
mind in terms of three levels of consciousness:

Conscious: Freud said that conscious mind is just like the tip of the iceberg.
It includes the thoughts, feelings and actions of which people are aware.

Preconscious: It includes mental activity of which people may become

aware only if they attend to it closely.

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Unconscious: The unconscious is the portion of the mind of which a person
is not aware. Freud said that it is the unconscious that exposes the true
feelings, emotions, and thoughts of the individual. There are variety of
psychoanalytic techniques used to access and understand the unconscious,
ranging from methods like hypnosis, free association, and dream analysis.

Dreams allow us to explore the unconscious; according to Freud, they are

"the 'royal road' to the unconscious”. Dreams are composed
of latent and manifest content. Whereas latent content is the underlying
meaning of a dream that may not be remembered when a person wakes up,
manifest content is the content from the dream that a person remembers
upon waking and can be analyzed by a psychoanalytic psychologist.
Exploring and understanding the manifest content of dreams can inform the
individual of complexes or disorders that may be under the surface of their
personality. Dreams can provide access to the unconscious that is not easily
accessible.

Freudian slips (also known as parapraxes) occur when the ego and superego
do not work properly, exposing the id and internal drives or wants. They are
considered mistakes revealing the unconscious. Examples range from calling
someone by the wrong name, misinterpreting a spoken or written word, or
simply saying the wrong thing.

The ego balances the id, superego, and reality to maintain a healthy state of
consciousness. It thus reacts to protect the individual from any stressors and
anxiety by distorting reality. This prevents threatening unconscious thoughts
and material from entering the consciousness. The different types
of defense mechanisms are: Repression, reaction
formation, denial, projection, displacement, sublimation, regression,
and rationalization.

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Psychology Theories

Psychosexual development
Freud's take on the development of the personality (psyche). It is a stage
theory that believes progress occurs through stages as the libido is directed
to different body parts. The different stages, listed in order of progression,
are: Oral, Anal, Phallic (Oedipus complex), Latency, Genital. The Genital
stage is achieved if people meet all their needs throughout the other stages
with enough available sexual energy. Individuals who don't have their needs
met in a given stage become fixated, or "stuck" in that stage.

Neo-analytic theory
Freud's theory and work with psychosexual development lead to Neo-
Analytic/ Neo-Freudians who also believed in the importance of the
unconscious, dream interpretations, defense mechanisms and the integral
influence of childhood experiences but had objections to the theory as well.
They do not support the idea that development of the personality stops at
age 6, instead they believed development spreads across the lifespan. They
extended Freud's work and encompassed more influence from the
environment and the importance of conscious thought along with the
unconscious. The most important theorists are Erik Erikson (Psychosocial
Development), Anna Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler and Karen Horney, and
including the school of object relations.

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Critics of psychoanalytic theory
The psychoanalytic approach has a variety of advantages and limitations
that have spurred further research and expansion into the realm of
personality development.

Advantages
 The theory emphasizes the importance of childhood experiences.
 It initiated and addressed the importance of the unconscious, sexual
and aggressive drives that make up the majority of all human beings'
personalities.
 The approach also explains defense mechanisms and why every
individual reacts differently to similar situations.

Limits
 Some claim that the theory is lacking in empirical data and too focused
on pathology.
 Some claim that this theory lacks consideration of culture and its
influence on personality.

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Acknowledgement

I wish to extend my heartfelt and profound gratitude to all persons who in

one way or another have contributed efforts and support in the completion
of this Project.

I express my deep appreciation and indebtedness particularly to Dr. Rohit

Mishra who gave me the golden opportunity to work on this undertaking.

I am also immensely obliged to my friends for their elevating inspiration,

encouraging guidance and kind supervision without which the completion of
this project would have been an ordeal.