Sigmund Freud
The Development and Practice of Freud’s Psychoanalysis
Abstract
Freud’s has a view of human nature that is driven by instinct. It is deterministic. The two dominant forces are the life and death forces that Freud calls Eros and Thanatos. The three levels of awareness for Freud are what he called the conscious, preconscious, and the unconscious. The most important of the three is the role of the unconscious. Problem formation according to Freud occurs when there are repressed memories, drives, or desires in the unconscious. There is a constant battle between the Id and the Superego and the Ego serves to mediate between the demands of both. This mediation of the two can serve to threaten the ego and cause anxiety, thus forcing the ego to utilize other defense mechanisms. The mother of all defense mechanisms is repression. Other problem formation occurs during a disturbance or trauma during the psychosexual stages of development which causes the person to become fixated at the stage. Consequences are to be experienced in later adulthood. Finally, change occurs when memories, drives, and desires are brought into consciousness. This can be achieved according to Freud through the techniques of free association, dream analysis, and transference. Keywords: instinct, eros, thanatos, conscious, unconscious, preconscious, id, ego, superego, repression, psychosexual development, stages, techniques
HUMAN NATURE Freud essentially embraced a deterministic view of human nature. Human behavior is determined by uncontrollable irrational forces that are continuously operating in the individual. The human person is unconsciously motivated and key biological and instinctual drives manifest within the person over what Freud called the psychosexual phases of development in the first 6 years of life (Corey, 2009). Freud’s view of human nature takes on some basic assumptions that are key to understanding his position. The foundation of his
Abstract
Freud’s has a view of human nature that is driven by instinct. It is deterministic. The two dominant forces are the life and death forces that Freud calls Eros and Thanatos. The three levels of awareness for Freud are what he called the conscious, preconscious, and the unconscious. The most important of the three is the role of the unconscious. Problem formation according to Freud occurs when there are repressed memories, drives, or desires in the unconscious. There is a constant battle between the Id and the Superego and the Ego serves to mediate between the demands of both. This mediation of the two can serve to threaten the ego and cause anxiety, thus forcing the ego to utilize other defense mechanisms. The mother of all defense mechanisms is repression. Other problem formation occurs during a disturbance or trauma during the psychosexual stages of development which causes the person to become fixated at the stage. Consequences are to be experienced in later adulthood. Finally, change occurs when memories, drives, and desires are brought into consciousness. This can be achieved according to Freud through the techniques of free association, dream analysis, and transference. Keywords: instinct, eros, thanatos, conscious, unconscious, preconscious, id, ego, superego, repression, psychosexual development, stages, techniques
HUMAN NATURE Freud essentially embraced a deterministic view of human nature. Human behavior is determined by uncontrollable irrational forces that are continuously operating in the individual. The human person is unconsciously motivated and key biological and instinctual drives manifest within the person over what Freud called the psychosexual phases of development in the first 6 years of life (Corey, 2009). Freud’s view of human nature takes on some basic assumptions that are key to understanding his position. The foundation of his
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