Freud’s Psychoanalytic Approach to Psychology

The psycho anal retentiveytic approach to psychology is based on the organization of psychoanalysis, riseed by Sigmund Freud (1859 1939). Freud was interested in studies of the unconscious mind and psychogenic illness. He preformed studies to look into human personality, psycho informal stand upment and conducted method of treatments to order the causes of neurotic mental illness.Freud thought that mental illness was caused by primal childhood trauma of which treatment for such illness could only be successful when these childhood memories were dealt with and subdue. He developed his own proficiency to subdue and remember and overcome the events from their past that had disturbed their development. He made his patients define anything that came into their mind no matter how silly they thought it may be. This technique helped Freud determine the cause of the mental illness and encouraged the patient to rise up pent-up memories. Freud thought this would help them come to term s with the events helping overcome the illness, which was said to be removing the neurosis.According to Freud, everything we do, why we do things, who we are and how we became handle this are completely related to our sexual drive. Childhood sexual experiences de character determine our personality in adult life. Freud outlined 5 symbolizes of sexual development. In each coiffure the libido, the energy from the love instinct, Eros, fixates on dissimilar parts of the body, tapering on sexual pleasure on that particular(prenominal) part. Differences in the way sexual pleasure is obtained in each stage will lead to differences in adult personalities.Oral Stage This occurs from behave to 8 months over-the-hill when the libido fixates on the mouth. Sexual pleasure is obtained by sucking, gumming, grip and swallowing. Insufficient and forceful feeding can cause fixation in this stage causing symptoms like smoking, eating and drinking to excess, argumentative, sarcastic, demand ing and exploitive personalities in adult life.Anal Stage This occurs from 8 months to 4 years old when the libido fixates on the anal orifice. Sexual pleasure is obtained with stimulation of the anal membrane with bowl movement and withholding of such movement. Fixation in this stage can be caused by how the child copes with toilet preparedness and how they are trained by their arouses. There are 2 types of anal fixation.Phallic Stage This occurs from 3-6 years old, when the libido fixates on the genitals. Sexual pleasure is obtained through stimulation of the genitals. The key event at this stage is the attraction to the parent of the opposite sex together with the envy and cultism of the parent of the homogeneous sex. In boys this situation is called the Oedipus Complex and in girls it is called the Electra Complex. Boys experience expurgation anxiety caused by the fear of the fathers punishment for the desire for his m new(prenominal), which is overcome when his conscio us comes to realise that incest is wrong. Girls on the other hand experience penis envy believing that they once had a penis, only if due to castration has lost it. She becomes hostile and aggressive towards her mother who she believes did the castration and a special tenderness for her father. This is overcome when the girls affections are directed towards other males.The Latency Period This occurs from 5-12 years when the libido is de-sexualised and directed out into peer root activities. It is a stage where there is little sexual activity and allows children to focus their energy on other aspects of life. Earlier sexual activities are repressed to the unconscious mind and this stage lasts until puberty when their sexuality is re-awakened.Puberty and Adolescence This occurs from 12-16years when all sexual impulses re-appear. The child experiments with all their previous patterns of sexual activity until stepwise leading to normal genitality. After this stage the individual wi ll develop intimate sexual relationships.Freuds theories enabled him to develop a dynamic model of personality. His books on psychosexual development set the groundwork for how our personalities developed. He as well believed that there were 3 different driving forces that develop during these stages which played an of the essence(predicate) role on how we interact with the world.According to Freud we are all natural with our Id. This is a drive that needs immediate satisfaction and does not get a line anything else. Like a newborn luxuriate, the Id is present at birth and causes the baby to cry when it needs feeding, changing, and is the babies way of getting its needs met immediately. The second part of our personality comes within the next three years, which Freud called the Ego. As the child interacts more(prenominal) with the world they learn and understand the needs and desires of others. It is the Ego that works to make full the Id, as well as considering others. Even tually, usually after the phallic stage of development, the Super-Ego develops. This is the moral part of our personality letting us know what is justly and what is wrong.Freuds theories brought with them a lot of criticism. Many psychologists thought Freuds theories were imprecise and un-testable, as in the latency period of psychosexual development all experiences and sexual activities in the earlier stages are repressed. This meaning the individuals will have no memories of these experiences, indeed they can not be proven. His theories were said to be unfair in the way they had been studied. It was based on a small sample of tribe which were middle class, middle aged Jewish women, most of which had mental illnesses. These factors such as age, gender, culture and mental state should have been considered trough Freuds studies as they could well be factors that also affect the way in which we develop mentally and sexually and could differ from each individual dependent upon these factors.