PSYCHOANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION

Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, thus gaining "insight". The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e. make the unconscious conscious. Psychoanalysis is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders.

LIST OF COUNSELLING THEORIES

Under the cognitive and affective approach, below are the lists of counseling theories;

Cognitive - Trait/ factor approach:

• Rational emotive therapy
• Elective viewpoint behavioral counseling

Affective –approach :

• Psychoanalytic
• client centered counseling
• humanistic therapy
• gestalt therapy
• indigenous counseling

Definition of Psychoanalysis Theory

Psychoanalysis which is also known as psychodynamic theory, also known as the “historical perspective,” has its roots with Sigmund Freud, who believed there were unconscious forces that drive behavior. The techniques he developed, such as free association (freely talking to the therapist about whatever comes up without censoring), dream analysis (examining dreams for important information about the unconscious), and transference (redirecting feelings about certain people in one’s life onto the therapist) are still used by psychoanalysts today.

Psychoanalysis is a type of therapy that aims to release pent-up or repressed emotions and memories to lead the client to catharsis, or healing (McLeod, 2014). In other words, the goal of psychoanalysis is to bring that which is at the unconscious or subconscious level up to consciousness.

SIGMUND FREUD’S POSTULATIONS ON PSYCHOANALYSIS

Schlomo Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) is considered to be the founder of the psychodynamic approach to psychology which looks closely at the unconscious drives that motivate people to act in certain ways. The role of the mind is something that Freud repeatedly talked about because he believed that the mind is responsible for both conscious and unconscious decisions based on drives and forces. Unconscious desires motivate people to act accordingly. The id, ego, and super ego are three aspects of the mind; Freud believed to make up a person's personality. Freud believed people are "simply actors in the drama of their own minds, pushed by desire, pulled by coincidence. Underneath the surface, our personalities represent the power struggle going on deep within us".

ID:

The id according to Freud is the part of the unconscious that seeks pleasure. His idea of the id explains why people act out in certain ways, when it is not in line with the ego or superego. The id is the part of the mind, which holds all of human kind’s most basic and primal instincts. It is the impulsive, unconscious part of the mind that is based on desire to seek immediate satisfaction. The id does not have a grasp on any form of reality or consequence. Freud understood that some people are controlled by the id because it makes people engage in need-satisfying behavior without any accordance to what is right or wrong. Freud compared the id and the ego to a horse and a rider. The id is compared to the horse, is directed and controlled, by the ego or the rider. This example goes to show that although the id is supposed to be controlled by the ego, they often interact with one another according to the drives of the id.

Freud defined the id as the part of the mind "cut off from the external world, has a world of perception of its own. It detects with extraordinary acuteness certain changes in its interior, especially oscillations in the tension of its instinctual needs, and these changes become conscious as feelings in the pleasure-unpleasure series. It is hard to say, to be sure, by what means and with the help of what sensory terminal organs these perceptions come about. But it is an established fact that self-perceptions—coenesthetic feelings and feelings of pleasure-unpleasure—govern the passage of events in the id with despotic force. The id obeys the inexorable pleasure principle".

EGO:

In order for people to maintain a realistic sense here on earth, the ego is responsible for creating balance between pleasure and pain. It is impossible for all desires of the id to be met and the ego realizes this but continues to seek pleasure and satisfaction. Although the ego does not know the difference between right and wrong, it is aware that not all drives can be met at a given time. The reality principle is what the ego operates by in order to help satisfy the id’s demands as well as compromising according to reality. The ego is a person’s "self" composed of unconscious desires. The ego takes into account ethical and cultural ideals in order to balance out the desires originating in the id. Although both the id and the ego are unconscious, the ego has close contact with the perceptual system. The ego has the function of self-preservation, which is why it has the ability to control the instinctual demands from the id.

"The ego is first and foremost a bodily ego; it is not merely a surface entity, but is itself the projection of a surface. If we wish to find an anatomical analogy for it we can best identify it with the ‘cortical homunculus’ of the anatomists, which stands on its head in the cortex, sticks up its heels, faces backwards and, as we know, has its speech-area on the left-hand side. The ego is ultimately derived from bodily sensations, chiefly from those springing from the surface of the body. It may thus be regarded as a mental projection of the surface of the body, representing the superficies of the mental apparatus".

SUPEREGO:

The superego, which develops around age four or five, incorporates the morals of society. Freud believed that the superego is what allows the mind to control its impulses that are looked down upon morally. The superego can be considered to be the conscience of the mind because it has the ability to distinguish between realities as well as what is right or wrong. Without the superego Freud believed people would act out with aggression and other immoral behaviors because the mind would have no way of understanding the difference between right and wrong. The superego is considered to be the "consciousness" of a person’s personality and can override the drives from the id. Freud separates the superego into two separate categories; the ideal self and the conscience. The conscience contains ideals and morals that exist within society that prevent people from acting out based on their internal desires. The ideal self contains images of how people ought to behave according to societies ideals.

SIGMUND FRUED’S PSYCHO-SEXUAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

Sigmund Freud believed that each stage of a child’s development beginning at birth is directly related to specific needs and demands, each based on a particular body part and all rooted in a sexual base. Freud offered dynamic and psychosocial explanations for human behavior. He conceptualized what we call the psycho-sexual stages of development. Freud believed that there are specific stages in which an individual has a specific need, and gratification during each stage is important to prevent an individual from becoming fixated in any particular level. Fixation, as Freud described it, is attaching oneself in an unreasonable or exaggerated way to another individual or one particular stage of development. Freud claimed that such a fixation at one particular stage can cause bad habits or problems in an individual’s adult life. Freud’s explanation of these developmental stages provided early psychosocial explanations for an individual’s deviance or abnormal behavior.

Sigmund Freud’s developmental stages consist of many stages, and Freud outlined five stages of development: the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, the latency stage, and the genital stage;

• The Oral Stage: Birth to 18 Months: The first stage that we encounter is the oral stage. This stage occurs during the first two years of life. The mouth is the principal erogenous zone. An erogenous zone according to Freud was a particular part of the body where we seek and gain pleasure from. For example, according to Freud an infant’s greatest source of gratification is sucking. It is often common to see an infant between the ages of one to two to be constantly putting objects in his or her mouth. A baby’s first nourishment is received through suckling, and the sucking instinct is usually strong, even in newborns. Freud theorized that an infant’s oral focus brought not only nourishment, but pleasure. For example if a person is orally fixated (according to Freud, they are stuck in the oral stage of development), a person may bite their nails, chew on pens. Freud also blamed smoking on fixation at the oral stage. On the other hand, if an infant does not receive adequate oral gratification, the individual may be prone to excessive eating or drinking in adult life.
• The Anal Stage: 18 Months to Three Years: The anal stage occurs from age two to three. The membranes of the anal region provide the major source of pleasurable stimulation. Freud believed that during this time period, children derive much pleasure from the process of either retaining or eliminating faeces, and are quite focused on the process. This is often the time frame in which many parents choose to potty train their children. If an individual a strict anal stage and had a tough toilet training, Freud said that individual was more likely to be obsessively neat in adulthood. This is where the expression “anal-retentive” comes from when describing someone that is excessively neat and orderly. On the other hand if the child had a not so strict toilet training experience, Freud claimed it was more likely that the individual would grow up to be a creative adult.
• The Phallic Stage: 3 Years to 6 Years: The phallic stage occurs from age’s three to six. Freud believed that children’s pleasure centers focused on their genitals. It focuses on self-manipulation of the genitals as providing the major source of pleasurable stimulation. He further theorized that young boys develop unconscious sexual feelings for their mothers, complicating their relationships with both parents. Struggling with a feeling that they are in competition with their fathers for the attention of their mums, Freud felt that boys from 3-6 years also fear that their fathers will punish them for these sexual feelings. In general each stage of development places demands on an individual and arouses conflicts that must be resolved. One of the most important conflicts occurs during the phallic stage when the pleasures of self-stimulation pave the way for what is called the Oedipus complex. Oedipus, according to Greek mythology, unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. According to Freud, each young boy symbolically relives the Oedipus drama. He has incestuous cravings for his mother and views his father as a hated rival. Even though the father is considered a rival, the boy also fears his father. Freud suggested that the boy feels castration anxiety and as a result repressed his sexual desire for his mother. Eventually if all goes well, the boy identifies with the father and comes to have harmless affection for the mother. The Electra complex is the female counterpart. It is based on the view that each girl wants to possess her father and replace her mother. For either sex, resolution of this conflict is considered essential if a young adult is to develop.
• Latency Stage: 6 Years to Onset of Puberty: The latency stage occurs from age six to twelve. In this stage, sexual motivations recede in importance. At this stage a child is more preoccupied with developing skills and other activities. Freud seemed to view this time as the least complicated in childhood, believing that during these years, children focus their energies on their schooling as well as forming friendship bonds with other children of their own gender.
• The Genital Stage: From Puberty On: The genital stage is the final stage of development. It occurs after puberty and extends into adulthood. In this final stage of psycho-sexual development, Freud theorized that the onset of puberty represented the reawakening of sexual urges. At this more mature age, however, adolescents focus not only on their genitals, but also on developing sexual relationships with members of the opposite sex and on seeking sexual satisfaction. Many psychotherapists who are advocates of this theory blame many sexual disorders such as fetishes and pedophiles on being fixated at the genital stage.

CONCLUSION

Freud would likely recommend that parents encourage their children’s natural tendencies to focus on the above body parts and functions without allowing the children to overindulge. Obviously, that can be easier said than done. Most parents naturally try to guide their children toward moderation in all things, but of course, if you believe Freud’s theories, it seems logical that parents will certainly be limited by their own fixations left over from childhood, making it especially difficult for them to objectively steer their kids. The bottom line, then, must be that parents should make every effort to educate themselves about what is considered normal and healthy for their children and then balance the advice of child development professionals with their own parental instincts and common sense. For most parents, raising happy, healthy children is a top priority and by staying actively and directly involved in their children’s lives, parents will be able to judge the progress that their children are making along the way.