History and Evolution of Freudian Theory

2

Outline - History and Evolution of Freudian Theory

Department of Psychology, Grand Canyon University

PSY-802: Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Theory

Dr. Stacey Bridges

April 6, 2022

1.            Freud: The First 10 Years

In this chapter, Freud discusses his career as a psychoanalyst and a psychotherapist. The concepts of defense, resistance, and unconscious motivation develop in this part of Freud's career. In the same period, Freud also began his self-analysis, leading him to question whether the accounts of sexual abuse he heard from his patients were accurate or the product of a fantasy that originated early in their life. In this chapter one of the chapter’s main points is how his writings were influenced by the intellectual ferment of his time. A book set in Freud's world revolutionizes psychiatry with new psychotherapeutic techniques (Assoun, 2017). It is not only because Breuer's first publication inspired many of Freud's ideas during the following period. Let us look at the subsequent phases that are especially beneficial to Freud's theories in the following years.

0-1 year, oral, mouth: 

 He first experiences great pleasure when opening his mouth for the first time. The mother is often the person the infant forms the most robust attachment with, as she meets all their oral needs. Sexual energy will focus on oral fulfillment when appropriate stimulation is not provided, and this will lead to latent aggressive and passive tendencies developing.

Toilet training for children between the ages of 1 and 3 is a sensitive process. They transfer libidinal energy from oral to anal because they are anxious about producing appropriate performance.

The chances of this child being reprimanded, feeling inadequate, and receiving negative feedback from caretakers are more extraordinary if this child fails to perform appropriately.

 Within this stage of development that anal retentiveness (always having everything orderly) or anal explosiveness can manifest (Manning, 2013).

3-6 years old, phallic, genitalia: 

 During Freud's most controversial years, psychosexual maturation probably began. The child begins to feel pleasure as they approach this age regarding their genitalia. Children with the Oedipus complex can experience this fixation on an opposite-sex parent in the earliest stages of the development of their sexual identity.

 2.            Freud: Psycho-Sexual Development

 Within the second chapter, the author discusses two essays related to the interpretation and theory of sexuality. According to Freud, our psyche exhibits perversions at different stages of development, which is why we call them perversions. Phillips (2014) argues in contrast that autoerotism and object love can also be stages of development, which are described in the second essay. According to his third essay, he explores the differences in sexual interests and tendencies between men and women.

 They do not correspond precisely to Freud's beautiful, integrated, and perhaps somewhat simplified models of psychosexual development that appear in psychoanalytic textbooks. Freud's developmental theory on psychosexual development was among his first contributions to the science of psychology. Among his first findings was a clarifying description of the average sexual product.

 Freud described five distinct phases in his theories of psychosexual development. The many erogenous zones (or parts of the body) where a person's libido and sexual urges are focused are shown in each stage of the play.

 For someone to become an independent adult, the aforementioned psychosexual stages must be progressed sequentially. A child who cannot effectively express their libidinal drive will feel unsatisfied and wanton. According to Freud, such feelings are called fixation. Neurosis in adulthood can result from anxiety caused by fixation at any age. Freud used this dynamic throughout his psychoanalytic theory to build his idea of sexual drive (Stewart & Freud, 2019).

References

Assoun, P.-L. (2017). Freud and Nietzsche. London: Continuum.

Manning, P. (2013). Freud and American Sociology: The American Experience. Oxford: Wiley.

Phillips, A. (2014). Becoming Freud: The making of a psychoanalyst.

Stewart, W. A., & Freud, S. (2019). Psychoanalysis: the first ten years, 1888-1898. [With particular reference to Sigmund Freud's early ideas.]. Pp. viii. 224. George Allen & Unwin: London.