Psychoanalysis

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Psychoanalysis: A Brief History of Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

 Courtney E. Ackerman, MSc.  30

Psychoanalysis: What is Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory/Perspective?

You’ve almost certainly heard of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis, but if you’re like most people, you’re not really sure what psychoanalysis is.

You might also wonder how psychoanalysis differs from other forms of talk therapy, and how the theories behind psychoanalysis and other forms of talk therapy differ.

In this piece, we’ll give a brief but comprehensive overview of psychoanalytic theory and practice, the impact of psychoanalysis on other disciplines and areas, and its most common critiques.

So, let’s dive in and learn about Freud, his theories on human behavior and personality (some of which may seem kooky), and his role in the creation and popularization of talk therapy.

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This Article Contains:

What is Psychoanalysis? A Definition and History of Psychoanalytic Theory

The Approach: Psychoanalytic Perspective

Transference and Other Forms of Resistance in Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis Test: The Freudian Personality Test

Psychodynamic vs. Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalysis vs. Psychotherapy

Popular Books on Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis in Art and Literature

Criticisms of Psychoanalytic Therapy

A Take-Home Message

References

What is Psychoanalysis? A Definition and History of Psychoanalytic Theory

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

This goal is accomplished through talking to another person about the big questions in life, the things that matter, and diving into the complexities that lie beneath the simple-seeming surface.

 

The Founder of Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud and His Concepts

The Founder of Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud and His Concepts

It’s very likely you’ve heard of the influential but controversial founder of psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud.

Freud was born in Austria and spent most of his childhood and adult life in Vienna (Sigmund Freud Biography, 2017). He entered medical school and trained to become a neurologist, earning a medical degree in 1881.

Soon after his graduation, he set up a private practice and began treating patients with psychological disorders.

His attention was captured by a colleague’s intriguing experience with a patient; the colleague was Dr. Josef Breuer and his patient was the famous “Anna O.,” who suffered from physical symptoms with no apparent physical cause.

Dr. Breuer found that her symptoms abated when he helped her recover memories of traumatic experiences that she had repressed, or hidden from her conscious mind.

This case sparked Freud’s interest in the unconscious mind and spurred the development of some of his most influential ideas.

 

Models of the MindFreud’s Model of the Mind

Perhaps the most impactful idea put forth by Freud was his model of the human mind. His model divides the mind into three layers, or regions:

Conscious: This is where our current thoughts, feelings, and focus live;

Preconscious (sometimes called the subconscious): This is the home of everything we can recall or retrieve from our memory;

Unconscious: At the deepest level of our minds resides a repository of the processes that drive our behavior, including primitive and instinctual desires (McLeod, 2013).

Later, Freud posited a more structured model of the mind, one that can coexist with his original ideas about consciousness and unconsciousness.The Id, Ego and Superego

In this model, there are three metaphorical parts to the mind:

Id: The id operates at an unconscious level and focuses solely on instinctual drives and desires. Two biological instincts make up the id, according to Freud: eros, or the instinct to survive that drives us to engage in life-sustaining activities, and thanatos, or the death instinct that drives destructive, aggressive, and violent behavior.

Ego: The ego acts as both a conduit for and a check on the id, working to meet the id’s needs in a socially appropriate way. It is the most tied to reality and begins to develop in infancy;

Superego: The superego is the portion of the mind in which morality and higher principles reside, encouraging us to act in socially and morally acceptable ways (McLeod, 2013).

The image above offers a context of this “iceberg” model wherein much of our mind exists in the realm of the unconscious impulses and drives.

If you’ve ever read the book “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, then you have enjoyed the allegory of Freud’s mind as personified by Jack as the Id, Piggy as the ego, and Ralph as the superego.

 

Defense Mechanisms

Freud believed these three parts of the mind are in constant conflict because each part has a different primary goal. Sometimes, when the conflict is too much for a person to handle, his or her ego may engage in one or many defense mechanisms to protect the individual.

These defense mechanisms include:

Repression: The ego pushes disturbing or threatening thoughts out of one’s consciousness;

Denial: The ego blocks upsetting or overwhelming experiences from awareness, causing the individual to refuse to acknowledge or believe what is happening;

Projection: The ego attempts to solve discomfort by attributing the individual’s unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and motives to another person;

Displacement: The individual satisfies an impulse by acting on a substitute object or person in a socially unacceptable way (e.g., releasing frustration directed toward your boss on your spouse instead);

Regression: As a defense mechanism, the individual moves backward in development in order to cope with stress (e.g., an overwhelmed adult acting like a child);

Sublimation: Similar to displacement, this defense mechanism involves satisfying an impulse by acting on a substitute but in a socially acceptable way (e.g., channeling energy into work or a constructive hobby) (McLeod, 2013).

 

The 5 Psychosexual Stages of Development

Finally, one of the most enduring concepts associated with Freud is his psychosexual stages. Freud proposed that children develop in five distinct stages, each focused on a different source of pleasure:

First Stage: Oral—the child seeks pleasure from the mouth (e.g., sucking);

Second Stage: Anal—the child seeks pleasure from the anus (e.g., withholding and expelling feces);

Third Stage: Phallic—the child seeks pleasure from the penis or clitoris (e.g., masturbation);

Fourth Stage: Latent—the child has little or no sexual motivation;

Fifth Stage: Genital—the child seeks pleasure from the penis or vagina (e.g., sexual intercourse; McLeod, 2013).

Freud hypothesized that an individual must successfully complete each stage to become a psychologically healthy adult with a fully formed ego and superego. Otherwise, individuals may become stuck or “fixated” in a particular stage, causing emotional and behavioral problems in adulthood (McLeod, 2013).

 

The Interpretation of Dreams

Another well-known concept from Freud was his belief in the significance of dreams. He believed that analyzing one’s dreams can give valuable insight into the unconscious mind.

In 1900, Freud published the book The Interpretation of Dreams in which he outlined his hypothesis that the primary purpose of dreams was to provide individuals with wish fulfillment, allowing them to work through some of their repressed issues in a situation free from consciousness and the constraints of reality (Sigmund Freud Biography, n.d.).

In this book, he also distinguished between the manifest content (the actual dream) and the latent content (the true or hidden meaning behind the dream).

The purpose of dreams is to translate forbidden wishes and taboo desires into a non-threatening form through condensation (the joining of two or more ideas), displacement (transformation of the person or object we are concerned about into something or someone else), and secondary elaboration (the unconscious process of turning the wish-fulfillment images or events into a logical narrative) (McLeod, 2013).

Freud’s ideas about dreams were game-changing. Before Freud, dreams were considered insignificant and insensible ramblings of the mind at rest. His book provoked a new level of interest in dreams, an interest that continues to this day.