Sigmund Freud's theory of the unconscious and conscious in man

Perhaps no personality theory was as widely known as psychodynamic theory (psychoanalysis), which went far beyond the boundaries of psychological science and influenced not only the development of psychology, but also sociology, medicine, culture, and art of the 20th century. Its founder was the Austrian scientist, psychoanalyst, psychiatrist and neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939).

Freud considered the main source of personality development to be innate biological factors (instincts), which generate libido energy (attraction, desire). It is the energy of a person’s life actions and finds release in sexual behavior. According to the scientist, a complex dynamic interaction occurs between instincts and drives on the one hand and between consciousness and moral and ethical standards on the other. This interaction is regulated by human behavior. Moreover, the unconscious plays the main role in this. This explanation led to the emergence of a whole direction in the theory of personality as psychodynamic (psychoanalysis).

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF SIGMUND FREUD

Based on biodeterminism, i.e. everyone's behavior

living beings lies the dynamics of drives.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) – Austrian psychologist, creator of psychoanalysis.

In 1915, his work “Attraction and Their Fates” was published, where the theory of motivation was developed.

Freud gives the psyche the main function associated with the perception of internal stimuli. Needs generate the energy of irritation, which is subjectively experienced as traumatic and unpleasant.

The subject tries to get rid of this energy or reduce it as much as possible, i.e. S. Freud's motivational theory is based on two principles:

Hedonic – any decrease in the level of accumulated irritation is accompanied by an experience of satisfaction, and an increase - dissatisfaction.

2. Homeostatic - the body’s balance is lower, the higher the level of accumulated irritation (tension).

The motivational process is aimed at reducing the energy of attraction.

ATTRACTION itself consists of elements:

- TENSION - the motor moment of the drive - the sum of forces to which the drive corresponds

- GOAL - associated with satisfaction, which can only be achieved by eliminating the irritable state of the source of attraction

- OBJECT OF ATTRACTION - something with the help or in which attraction can achieve its goal

- SOURCE OF ATTRACTION - that somatic process in an organ or part of the body, the irritation from which is represented in the mental life of the subject as an attraction.

All mental life is a dynamic of conflicts, which are based on the needs of the “I” aimed at maintaining its existence.

Types of motives:

(1) needs aimed at maintaining one’s existence (sexual desires).

(2) needs for aggression (Thanatos)

(3) attraction to life and death (Eros)

What is included in the basis

Consciousness - what is it in psychology

Briefly, psychoanalysis can be presented as a method for studying psychological processes that are beyond consciousness. The theory takes into account the interrelation of all hypotheses about the functions and structure of the mental apparatus and considers them as a whole.

Modern psychoanalysis is based on the following areas:

• A theory that defines the behavior and development of an individual;
• Research of motives through free associations, interpretation of dreams. This allows us to bring out the hidden prerequisites that led to mental disorder;
• Treatment method, including:

1. transfer and resistance analysis;
2. interpretation of the source of conflicts (interpretation);
3. elaboration as the final stage, leading to a restructuring of the psyche.

The main goal of the analyst is to rid the psyche of the subject of the hidden mechanisms that gave rise to conflict situations. This allows you to redirect the patient to the realization of positive desires and help him adapt to society.

What is hidden beyond consciousness

Additional Information. During the psychodynamic approach, the specialist tries to make the patient aware of the existence of unconscious conflicts, thereby influencing behavior and personal relationships.

THEORY OF A. MASLOW

Maslow Abraham Harald (1908-1970) - American psychologist. The founder of humanistic psychology, which studies the problem of the value of man himself. Created a hierarchical model of motivation (“Motivation and Personality”, 1954).

Maslow is the author of a detailed classification of motives, the features of which are as follows:

- represents not individual, but groups of motives

— groups of motives are ordered in an integral hierarchy.

Orderliness depends on the level of development of the individual, on age and the role of the social motivating group in the development of the individual.

Needs, or groups of needs, act as the initiator of activity.

Activity is not determined from within, it is attracted from outside by the opportunity to satisfy a need.

The needs that form the hierarchy interact with each other as follows:

— until the needs of lower levels are satisfied, the needs of a higher level are not updated;

- if the subject’s needs of different levels are actualized, then the needs of the life level win in this conflict.

Hierarchy of needs (according to A. Maslow):

Level I: physiological needs (hunger, thirst, etc.);

Level II: need for safety;

Level III: the need for social connections (appearance, love, identification, affiliation, etc.);

Level IV: need for self-esteem (signs, achievements, approval, etc.);

Level V: the need for self-actualization (realization of one’s own abilities, understanding and comprehension of oneself and others).

Self-actualizing individuals make up only 1% of the total number of people.

This need is not always achieved; this is the ideal to which a person strives (or should strive).

The main stages in the development of the science of mental development of personality

Psychology today has applied significance as a field of medicine, philosophy, pedagogy, and other sciences. Psychoanalytic theories of development are of particular importance in working with the individual. Each such theory has its own nuances in explaining the current personality and was developed by one or another specialist. But the history of this work proceeded in several stages. The most famous person whose name is associated with the study of mental characteristics of the individual is Sigmund Freud. But studies of this facet of the human individual, akin to the concept of psychoanalysis proposed by Freud, developed before the 19th century. The future world-famous psychologist, neurologist and psychoanalyst himself interned at the Salpêtrière clinic in Paris with neurologist and syphilologist Jean-Martin Charcot, who deeply studied the neuropsychiatric disorder paresis, as a consequence of syphilis. In 1985, the work of Sigmund Freud and Joseph Breuer, “Studies on Hysteria,” was published, which substantiates the origin of hysteria on repressed memories of any unpleasant situations for the patient, most often based on sexual associations. This view of one of the mental characteristics of the individual led to the fact that the majority of the scientific elite turned away from Freud, who exposed the novice psychoanalyst as an ordinary charlatan.

During the same period, the future psychoanalyst tries to formulate and build into a logical chain a neurophysiological theory of unconscious mental mechanisms. This work remained unfinished, and the world learned about it only after the death of the scientist. Then Freud became interested in the symbolism of dreams, the result of these thoughts was the hypothesis that the unconscious, on which the plot of dreams is based, is a “primary process”, since it has a concentrated and symbolic content. The “secondary process,” on the contrary, is based on logical, conscious content. This hypothesis became the basis of the monograph The Interpretation of Dreams, published by Freud in 1900. A feature of this psychologist’s work, which was developed in subsequent work, was Chapter 7. This describes an early “topographic model” - due to social sexual prohibitions, unacceptable sexual desires are squeezed into the “unconscious” system, which becomes the basis of individual anxiety.

In our country, a widespread passion for psychoanalysis occurred in the 20s of the 20th century. Then the State Psychoanalytic Institute was opened in Moscow. But gradually psychoanalysis ceases to be a branch of science and is subject to persecution. Only at the end of the century this area of ​​human research regained life in Russian psychology and psychiatry. Currently, the areas of psychoanalysis have become an integral part of medical practice, and the theory itself is constantly supplemented by new theoretical developments. Psychologists unite around the world for high-quality scientific research into the human psyche. for example, the International Psychoanalytic Association, which has about 12,000 members, deals with the problems of psychoanalysis. Modern psychology operates with more than one school of psychoanalysis, because Freud’s students and followers organized their own schools and areas of study in this area of ​​science, for example, Jung, Fromm, Adler.

CONFLICT THEORY by K. Levin

The main provisions were developed by K. Levin.

Lewin Kurt (1890-1947) – German-American psychologist.

He was close to Gestalt psychology.

The motivational theory was outlined in the work “The Psychological Situation of Reward and Punishment” - 1931.

Used the concepts of field valency.

Valence is the force of influence of an object on the subject, which depends either on the actual need of the subject, or on the challenging nature of the object - positive valence. If opposite power relations arise (the subject encounters something unpleasant and tries to get rid of it) – negative valence.

The current field of psychological forces is determined by valences and vectors emanating from objects in the surrounding world.

Kurt Lewin presented these valences and vectors in the form of motivating forces that determine the behavior of an individual.

K. Levin introduced the concept of “FIELD AT A GIVEN MOMENT”, which is determined not only by the actual valences of objects, but also by the retrospective development of personality and the prospect of personality development:

K. Levin focused on the conflict that unfolds within the field of the subject.

A conflict can be characterized as a situation in which a subject is simultaneously affected by forces that are oppositely directed, but have approximately the same magnitude.

Types of conflict situations:

(1) Conflict “aspiration - aspiration”.

Two objects (goals) are given, they are both positive, i.e.

have positive valences. The conflict is that the subject cannot simultaneously strive for two.

(2) Avoidance-avoidance conflict.

This conflict is the opposite of the first.

Represents a situation of psychological coercion. It creates a feeling of being trapped. The subject does not seem to see the possibility of leaving the zone of 2 evils.

(3) “Striving-avoidance” conflict.

The same action simultaneously attracts and repels the subject (positive and negative valence of the same magnitude).

(4) Conflict “double desire - avoidance”.

Several goals are given, each of which is characterized by ambivalence.

Kurt Lewin identified the specifics of the action of the forces of attraction and repulsion.

The magnitude of the behavioral tendency depends on:

- value of goal valence,

- the distance to the goal that remains to be overcome.

There is a moment of balance between striving and avoidance.

Distance is not always associated with spatial distance.

It can appear in the form of distances in time, the amount of required forces, the number of necessary intermediate actions, etc.

The relationship between these forces was presented in the form of a graph:

Miller D. 1944

– connected Lewin’s ideas with Hull’s hypothesis about the target gradient: the closer to the target, the fewer errors, the higher the speed of movement.

Miller put forward 6 hypotheses about the phenomenon of the “desire-avoidance” conflict:

The tendencies of aspiration are stronger, the closer the distance to the goal - the gradient of aspiration.

1. The tendency to avoid is stronger, the closer the distance to the feared stimulus - gradient.

2. The avoidance gradient grows faster than the aspiration gradient.

3. In the event of a conflict between two incompatible reactions, the stronger one wins.

The magnitude of the gradient depends on the strength of the drive.

5. The strength of the reinforced tendency of the subject to respond increases with the number of reinforcements - learning.

Gradient ratio graph:

If the distance to the target is less than X, then the avoidance gradient increases. At point X the subject oscillates between striving and avoiding.

As we approach inevitable events, the avoidance gradient decreases (the graph changes - see: dotted line graph).

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Freud's teachings

Freud Sigmund (1856 - 1939) - Austrian neuropathologist, psychiatrist and psychologist, professor at the University of Vienna, the first researcher of subconscious phenomena (emigrated to Great Britain in 1938).

Developed at the end of the 19th century. a special method of treating neuroses is psychoanalysis - analysis of free associations, erroneous actions, sayings and dreams. Later, Freud interpreted it as a way of penetrating the subconscious, and then, on this basis, proposed his general psychological theory of the structure of the psyche as a continuous conflict interaction of consciousness with unconscious drives (“Interpretation of Dreams,” 1900).

Consciousness, according to Freud, continuously suppresses unconscious drives (especially sexual), which, breaking through the censorship of consciousness, manifest themselves in various sayings, jokes, slips of the tongue, and slips of the tongue (“Psychopathology of everyday life,” 1901).

Later, Freud focused on sociocultural problems (“Psychology of the masses and analysis of the human “I”, 1921; “Civilization and those dissatisfied with it,” 1929) (see History of Foreign Psychology).

The human psyche consists of two main levels: conscious and unconscious .

It is like an iceberg, most of which is hidden from direct view. The unconscious part of the psyche has been formed over millions of years in animals. Consciousness is unique to humans and has been formed for several tens of thousands of years.

The unconscious contains the driving forces of human behavior.

The psychic energy of the unconscious manifests itself directly - in aspirations aimed at the self-preservation of the individual and the development of the species (the desire to reproduce), and indirectly - in the desire for destruction, aggression against obstacles to the survival and development of one's species.

There is a specific energy of life in the psyche - the energy of procreation - libido, sexual energy . Its source is in the unconscious, it is laid down by nature itself. Libido is aimed at the development and survival of the species, the genus. However, since a person has consciousness, it can come into conflict with the unconscious libido. A person, being a part of society, wants to develop not only his family, but also himself, his personality. The only source is forced to feed both aspirations equally.

Freud introduces, in addition to the power of love (Libido, Eros), a new force - the power of death (Mortido, Thanatos). The creature comes into the world to reproduce its species and make room for the next generation. All living things contain the potential for self-destruction.

Brief summary

Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud is the greatest attempt to come to an understanding and description of those components of human mental life that were incomprehensible before Freud. The very term “psychoanalysis” is currently used to describe:

• Scientific discipline
• A set of measures to study mental processes
• Methods for treating neurotic disorders

Freud's work and his psychoanalysis are often criticized even today, but the concepts that he introduced (Id, Ego, Super-Ego, defense mechanisms, sublimation, libido) are understood and applied in our time by both scientists and simply educated people. Psychoanalysis is reflected in many sciences (sociology, pedagogy, ethnography, anthropology and others), as well as in art, literature and even cinema.

We also recommend reading:

• Storytelling
• Free association method
• Cognitive psychology and cognitive psychotherapy
• Halperin's theory of mental action
• Fear: psychological foundations and famous scientific studies of this phenomenon
• Symboldrama as a way to reach the unconscious
• Theories of thinking
• Why does a person need a relationship: answers from psychologists
• Freudian slip: the hidden meaning of involuntary substitution of words
• A Brief History of Psychology: From Antiquity to the Present Day
• Skinner's operant conditioning as a technology for personality formation

Key words:1Communication

Psychoanalytic method

The goal of psychoanalytic techniques is to bring the unconscious into the realm of consciousness without the use of hypnosis.

1. Free association technique . The patient is placed on a comfortable couch in a small soundproofed room with soft lighting, without patterns on the wallpaper.

The purpose of such an organization is the absence of extraneous incentives. Even the psychoanalyst is placed in a chair at the head of the patient so that he does not see him and practically does not feel his presence.

Instructions to the patient: “Say everything that comes to your mind, without stopping for a second; do not stop your flow of thought by force of will.” The psychoanalyst must monitor the place where the instructions are violated and pauses appear. The session lasts no more than 40 minutes, as fatigue sets in after that.

At some point, the patient’s thought “bumps into” some obstacle and turns sharply to the side. The psychoanalyst does not interrupt the patient's story, but marks this place in the notebook.

The psychoanalyst asks the patient to talk about problem areas. Over time, the problem becomes obvious to the psychoanalyst. He clearly tells it to the patient.

The patient usually denies everything, sometimes this denial turns into aggression. The psychoanalyst must force the patient to relive this problem, accept it, and thus free himself.

• Dream interpretation.

The waking psyche does not let through some images that are prohibited by censorship or by some internal barriers. However, in a dream we see these images, although they are also veiled by the psyche, since consciousness does not let them pass in their pure form even in a dream.

• Interpretation of erroneous actions . Erroneous actions are awkward movements, slips of the tongue, missteps, jokes.

All of these are breakthroughs of the unconscious into the realm of consciousness.

The disadvantage of psychoanalysis was that it underestimated the fact that man is a social being and interacts in a system of social relations.

Freud creates a holistic doctrine of human personality. In the personality structure, he identifies:

• Id (It) is the unconscious with which a person is born. It is supported by the pleasure principle.

The unconscious is filled with libidinal energy of procreation and aggression. An increase in the energy potential of the libido creates tension, and its release is pleasure.

• Ego (I) is our consciousness, subordinate to the principle of rationality. The I is always between the Id and the Super-Ego, in the confrontation between these two structures. If we submit to the id, we pay with pangs of conscience, prohibitions of morality and law. Following the Super-Ego, we pay with neuroses and disorders.
• Super-Ego (Super-I) is an idealized person who follows the principles of public morality and duty.

This is the social part of the personality. This is an image of a person, what she could be if she followed all the rules and norms of society. However, the Super-Ego does not have its own source of energy; it is forced to feed on the same libidinal energy of the unconscious. Libido must activate two mechanisms at once, and this gives rise to intrapersonal contradictions.

Freud uses Plato's image of a charioteer who drives a chariot drawn by two horses, which are rushing in different directions, and the driver is forced to control them. Freud's theory of personality structure is complemented by the theory of personality development.

Another important part of Freud’s theory of personality was the doctrine of methods of psychological protection of the individual. When conflicts arise in the human psyche between consciousness and the unconscious, 2 fundamental forms of behavior are possible: aggression and retreat from the object.

Aggression can manifest itself in aggression towards other people and objects that we find unacceptable. Aggression can be expressed both in socialized forms of protest and in asocial forms. Auto-aggression, that is, aggression directed at oneself, is also possible.

A separate section of Freud's theory is devoted to the problem of deviation from the object.

HiSoUR Cultural history

Psychoanalytic theory is the true theory of personality and organization and the dynamics of personality development that guides psychoanalysis, the clinical treatment of psychopathology. First outlined by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century, psychoanalytic theory has undergone many refinements since his work. Psychoanalytic theory gained increasing prominence in the last third of the twentieth century as part of a stream of critical discourse regarding psychological treatments after the 1960s, following Freud's death in 1939, and its validity is now widely disputed or rejected. Freud stopped analyzing the brain and its physiological research and turned his attention to the study of the mind and the associated psychological attributes that make up the mind, and to treatments using free association and transference phenomena. His research emphasized recognition of childhood events that can influence adult mental functioning. His study of genetic and then developmental aspects gave psychoanalytic theory its characteristics. Beginning with his publication of The Interpretation of Dreams in 1899, his theories began to gain prominence.

Terminology and definition Psychoanalytic and psychoanalytic are used in English. The latter is an older term, and at first simply means "pertaining to the analysis of the human psyche." But with the emergence of psychoanalysis as a distinct clinical practice, both terms came to describe it. Although both are still in use, today the normal adjective is psychoanalytic.

Psychoanalysis is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as

A therapeutic method developed by Sigmund Freud to treat mental disorders by exploring the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the patient's mind and suppressing fear and conflicts in the mind using techniques such as dream interpretation and free association. Also: a system of psychological theory associated with this method.

Within the psychoanalytic lens, people are described as sexual and aggressive drives. Psychoanalytic theorists believe that human behavior is determined. It is controlled by irrational forces, unconscious ones, as well as instinctive and biological movements. Because of this deterministic nature, psychoanalytic theorists do not believe in free will.

The Beginning Freud first began to study psychoanalysis in collaboration with Dr. Josef Breuer, especially when he came to study Anna O. Freud and Breuer's relationship was a combination of admiration and competition, based on the fact that they worked together on Anna O.'s case and had to balance two different ideas regarding her diagnosis and treatment. Today Breuer can be considered the grandfather of psychoanalysis. Anna O. suffered both physical and psychological impairments, such as an inability to drink out of fear. Breuer and Freud found that hypnosis was a great help in revealing more about Anna O. and her treatment. Anna O.'s research and research ideas were highly referenced to Freud's lectures on the origins and development of psychoanalysis.

These observations led Freud to theorize that the problems experienced by hysterical patients may be related to painful childhood experiences that could not be recalled. The influence of these lost memories shaped the patients' feelings, thoughts and behavior. These studies contributed to the development of psychoanalytic theory.

Personality Structure Sigmund Freud decided that personality consists of three different elements: the id, the ego and the superego. Identity is an aspect of personality that is determined by internal and fundamental needs and wants. These are usually instinctive, such as hunger, thirst and desire for sex or libido. The ident operates according to the pleasure principle as he avoids pain and seeks pleasure. Due to the instinctive quality of the ID, he is impulsive and often unaware of the consequences of actions. The ego is governed by the reality principle. The ego works to balance the id and superego, trying to achieve the highest logical path of the id. It seeks to rationalize the id instinct and please drives that benefit the individual in the long run. It helps to separate what is real from what is realistic for our drives, as well as being realistic about the standards that the superego sets for a person. The superego is guided by the principle of morality. He acts in connection with the morality of higher thought and action. Instead of instinctively acting like the id, the superego works to act in socially acceptable ways. It uses morality by assessing our sense of wrong and right and using guilt to encourage socially acceptable behavior.

Unconscious The unconscious is the part of the mind that a person is unaware of. Freud said that the unconscious reveals a person's true feelings, emotions and thoughts. There are many psychoanalytic techniques used to access and understand the unconscious, ranging from techniques such as hypnosis, free association and dream analysis. Dreams allow us to explore the unconscious; according to Freud, they are the "royal road" for the unconscious." Dreams consist of hidden and explicit content. While latent content is the core meaning of a dream that cannot be remembered when a person wakes up, manifest content is the content from a dream that a person remembers after waking up and can be analyzed by a psychoanalytic psychologist. Studying and understanding the manifest content of dreams can inform a person about complexes or disorders that may lie beneath the surface of their personality. Dreams can provide access to the unconscious that is not easily accessible.

Freudian slips (also called parapraxes) occur when the ego and superego do not function properly, challenging the id and internal drives or desires. They are considered mistakes that reveal the unconscious. Examples range from calling someone by the wrong name, misinterpreting a spoken or written word, or simply being wrong.

Levels of consciousness or topological model of the mind However, a person is not aware of the entire process of generating and releasing energy. To explain this fact, Freud describes three levels of consciousness:

Conscious (al. Das Bewusste), which covers all phenomena that can currently be consciously perceived by the individual; Preconsciousness (e.g. "Vorbewusster") refers to phenomena that are not currently conscious, but can become if a person is willing to attend to them; Unconscious (al. Of Unbewusster), which concerns phenomena and contents that are not conscious and only under special circumstances can become. (The term subconscious is often used synonymously, although it was abandoned by Freud himself). Freud was not the first to propose that part of mental life develops unconsciously. However, he was the first to explore this territory in depth. According to him, human desires and thoughts often create contents that frighten a person unless they are stored in the unconscious. This is a very important function of stabilizing conscious life. His research led him to propose that the unconscious was allogeneic (and therefore open to controversy); timeless and spatial (i.e. contents belonging to different times or spaces can be nearby). Dreams are perceived as an expression symbolizing unconscious content.

By understanding the concept of the unconscious, the understanding of motivation in classical psychoanalysis becomes clear: many desires, feelings and motives are unconscious because they are too painful to become conscious. However, this unconscious content influences a person's conscious experience, for example through mistakes, seemingly irrational behavior, inexplicable emotions, fear, depression, guilt. Thus, unconscious feelings, dreams, desires and motives influence and guide conscious behavior.

Structural Model of Personality Freud later developed (1923) a structural model of personality in which the mental apparatus is organized into three structures:

Id (German: es, "he, it"): The id is the source of psychic energy, libido. The identifier is formed by drive, instincts, organic impulses and unconscious desires. It works on the principle of pleasure (Lustprinzip), that is, it always seeks what produces pleasure and avoids displeasure. He makes no plans, he does not wait, he seeks an immediate solution to tensions, he does not accept disappointment and knows no inhibition. It has no relation to reality, and satisfaction with a fantasy can have the same effect as the result. The id does not know judgment, logic, values, ethics or morals, demanding, impulsive, blind, irrational, antisocial and pleasure oriented. Eden is completely unconscious.

Ego (ich, "I"): The ego develops from the id in order for its impulses to be effective, i.e., taking into account the external world. This is the so-called reality principle. It is this principle that introduces reason, planning and expectation of human behavior. Satisfaction of drives is delayed until reality allows them to be satisfied with maximum pleasure and minimum negative consequences. The main function of the ego is to first seek harmonization between the desires of the id and the superego's supervisory/realistic/repressive ones.

Superego (Uber-Ich, “super-ego”, “beyond oneself”): the moral part of the human mind and represents the values ​​of society. The superego has three goals: (1) to suppress, through punishment or guilt, any impulse that contradicts the rules and ideals dictated by it; (2) make the ego behave morally, even if irrationally; and (3) lead a person to perfection in gestures, thoughts and words. The superego is formed after the ego, during the child's efforts to incorporate values ​​received from parents and society in order to receive love and affection. It can function in a very primitive way, punishing a person not only with practical actions, but also with unacceptable thoughts; Another characteristic is dualistic thinking (all or nothing, right or wrong, no point in between). The superego is divided into two subsystems: the ideal ego, which dictates the good to be sought, and the consciousness (Gewissen), which determines the evil to be avoided.

Defense Mechanisms The ego balances the id, superego and reality to maintain a healthy state of consciousness. Thus, it reacts to protect the person from any stressors and anxiety by distorting reality. This prevents unconscious thoughts and materials from entering consciousness. Different types of defense mechanisms: repression, reaction formation, denial, projection, displacement, sublimation, regression and rationalization.

Among the defense mechanisms, one must consider, on the one hand, the very complex defense mechanisms of the ego (ego), and on the other, those who are simply tasked with defending the existence of narcissism. Freud (1937) says that defense mechanisms falsify the subject's internal perception, providing only an imperfect and distorted representation.

Freud described many defense mechanisms during the course of his work, and his work was continued by his daughter Anna Freud; the main mechanisms are:

Repression is the process by which conflicts and frustrations that are too painful to experience or remember are brought out of consciousness, suppressed, and repressed into the unconscious; what is unpleasantly forgotten; Reactive learning consists of an athletic procedure and externalization of feelings that counteract true, unwanted impulses. Projection consists of attributing to others ideas and tendencies that the subject cannot recognize as his own. Regression is when a person returns to immature behavior characteristic of a developmental stage that the person has already passed. Committing is freezing development and preventing it from continuing. Part of the libido remains attached to a certain stage of development and does not allow the child to completely move to the next stage. Fixation is related to regression because the likelihood of regression at a certain stage of development increases if a person has developed a fixation. Sublimation is the satisfaction of an unacceptable impulse through socially accepted behavior. Identification is the process by which an individual acquires the characteristics of another. A special form of identification is identification with the aggressor. Displacement is the process by which aggression or other unwanted impulses, not directed at the person(s) to whom they are directed, are referred to third parties.

Psychological theories

Psychosexual development Freud takes upon himself the development of personality (psyche). This is a stage theory that believes that progress occurs through stages as libido is directed to different parts of the body. The various stages listed in order of progression are: Oral, Anal, Phallic (Oedipus complex), Retention, Genital. The genital stage is reached when individuals satisfy all their needs in all other stages with sufficient sexual energy available. Individuals who do not have their needs met at this stage become fixated or “stuck” at this stage. An important part of Freud's theory is devoted to personality development. Two hypotheses characterize his theory:

Freud was the first to affirm that the first years of life are the most important for the development of personality and the development of an individual occurs in stages or psychosexual stages. Thus, Freud was the first author to argue that children also have sexuality. Freud describes four different phases through which a child goes through its development. Each of these phases is determined by the area of ​​the body to which the actuators are directed. At each stage, new needs arise that require satisfying demand; The way these needs are met determines how the child relates to other people and how she feels about herself. The transition from one phase to another is biologically determined, so that a new phase can begin without the completion of previous phase processes. The phases follow each other in a fixed order, and although a phase develops from the previous one, the processes initiated in one phase are never completely completed and continue to operate throughout a person’s life.

Oral Phase The first stage of development is the oral phase, which extends from birth to about two years of age. At this stage, the child experiences joy and pain through the satisfaction (or frustration) of the oral drives, that is, through the mouth. This satisfaction comes from the satisfaction of hunger, but initially from it. Thus, for a baby to suck, chew, eat, bite, spit, etc., there is a function associated with pleasure and serve as food. When faced with disappointments, the child is forced to develop mechanisms to deal with such frustrations. These mechanisms are the basis of a person’s future personality. Thus, insufficient satisfaction of oral drives can lead to a tendency towards anxiety and pessimism; already excessive satisfaction can lead through fixation in this phase,

The oral phase is divided into two smaller stages, determined by the birth of teeth. Until then, the child is in a passive-receptive phase; With the first teeth, the child goes through a sadistic-active phase with the possibility of biting. Thus, the main object of both phases, the mother's breast, becomes an ambivalent object. This ambivalence characterizes most human relationships with both people and objects.

Thus, the oral phase represents five modes of functioning that can develop according to the characteristics of an adult:

Turning on food appears in the adult as "turning on" knowledge or power, or as the ability to identify with other people or integrate into groups; Holding onto the breast without wanting to separate from it is shown later as persistence and persistence or as a decision; Biting is the prototype of destructiveness, sarcasm, cynicism and tyranny; Shoulders turn into rejection and Closing the mouth, preventing feeding, leads to rejection, denial or introversion. The main process in the oral phase is the creation of a bond between mother and child.

Anal Phase The second phase, according to Freud, is the anal phase, which occurs from the first to the third year of life. At this stage, the satisfaction of the drives is directed to the anus, to control the tension of the intestines. At this stage, the child must learn to control the sphincters during defecation and thus must learn to cope with the frustration of wanting immediate gratification. As in the oral phase, the mechanisms developed during this stage also influence personality development. Immediate and uncontrollable bowel movements are the prototype of rabies attacks; an already very rigid hygiene education can lead to either chaos, carelessness, disorder, or a tendency to become overly controlled and compulsive in organization. If the mother gives too much praise to keep the child waiting for the toilet, a connection between giving (chair) and receiving love may arise, and the person may develop generosity; if the mother overestimates these biological needs, the child may develop creatively and productively or, on the contrary, become depressed if he does not live up to expectations; children who refuse to defecate may develop as hoarders, hoarders, or hoarders.

Phallic phase The phallic phase, which ranges from three to five years, is characterized by Freud's significance of the presence (or, in girls, absence) of a phallus or penis; at this stage pleasure and displeasure are thus concentrated in the genital area. The difficulties of this phase are associated with the direction of sexual or libidinal desires towards parents of the opposite sex and the problems that arise. The resolution of this conflict is associated with the Oedipus complex and identification with the same-sex parent.

Freud developed his theory mainly with boys in mind, since for him they were more exposed to the conflict of the phallic phase in a more intense and threatening way. According to Freud, the boy at this stage wants to have his mother only for himself and not share her with his father; at the same time, he fears that his father is taking revenge by castrating him. The solution to this conflict is the suppression of both the libidinal desire of the mother and the aggressive feelings towards the father; at the second moment, the boy identifies with his father, which brings them closer and, thus, leads to the boy’s assimilation of the values, beliefs, interests and positions of his father. The Oedipus complex represents an important step in the formation of the superego and in the socialization of boys, as the boy learns to follow the values ​​of his parents. This compromise solution allows both the ego (through the reduction of fear) and the id (because the boy can indirectly possess the mother through the parent with whom he identifies) to be partially satisfied.

The conflict that girls face is similar, but is more likely to be resolved. The girl desires her father, partly because of the envy she feels at not having a penis (e.g. Penisnade); she feels emasculated and blames her mother for depriving her of a phallus. On the other hand, the mother poses a less serious threat since castration is not possible. Because of this different situation, a girl's identification with her own mother is less strong than a boy's with his father, and therefore girls will have less developed awareness, a claim that has been rejected by empirical research. Freud used the term "Oedipus complex" for both sexes; Later authors restricted the use of the expression to boys, reserving the term "Electric complex" for girls, but this was rejected by Freud in his 1931 text On Female Sexuality.

However, the presentation of the Oedipus complex given above is simplified. In reality, the result of the resolution of the Oedipus complex is always an identification, since both parents and the strength of each of these identifications depend on various factors, such as the relationship between the male and female elements in the child's physiological predisposition or the intensity of castration fear or penis envy. Moreover, the mother retains her original role in both sexes, always remaining the main object of libido.

Waiting period After the excitement of the first years of life, there is a calmer phase that lasts until puberty. At this stage, libido is stripped of fantasy and sexuality, making them secondary, but is reinvested in other ways such as cognitive development, learning, internalization of values ​​and social norms, which become the child's primary activity, continuing the development of the ego and superego.

Genital phase The last phase of psychosocial development is the genital phase, which occurs during adolescence. At this stage, sexual desires, after a long latent phase and after changes in the body, awaken again, but this time they turn to a person of the opposite sex. As can be seen from the previous discussion, the choice of partner does not depend on previous development processes, but rather on the experience of previous stages. Moreover, although they continue to function throughout a person's life, the internal conflicts characteristic of the early stages reach relative stability in the genital phase, leading the person to an ego structure that allows him to cope with the problems of adult life.

Neoanalytic theory Freud's theory and work with psychosexual development lead to the neoanalytic/neo-Freudians, who also believed in the importance of the unconscious, dream interpretation, defense mechanisms, and the integral influence of childhood experiences, but also objected to the theory. They do not support the idea that personality development stops at age 6; instead, they believe that development extends throughout life. They expanded Freud's work to include more environmental influences and the importance of conscious thought along with the unconscious. The most important theorists are Erik Erikson (Psychosocial Development), Anna Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler and Karen Horney, as well as the object relations school.

Psychoanalytic theory of mental disorders

The best way to define “disorder” is to characterize it as a psychological disability, taking into account the emotional and interpersonal domains. This term characterizes a range that ranges from mild neurotic forms to madness, in the fullness of its term. "Normal" would be a person with the ability to live effectively, to maintain lasting and emotionally satisfying relationships with others, to work productively, to relax and enjoy, to be able to measure, judge and deal realistically with one's own qualities and imperfections as they are found. The failure of one or the other or all of these signs may indicate the presence of a psychological disorder or mental "disorder".

Mental disorders are divided into 3 main main types:

First type: neuroses It is the presence of excessive and prolonged tension, persistent conflict or long-standing frustrated needs that is a sign that a person has developed a neurosis. Neurosis determines modification, but not disorganization of personality, much less loss of reality values. Neurotic symptoms are usually cataloged in specific categories, such as:

a) Hysteria - when mental conflict is reflected in conversions. In this type of neurosis, the contradictory idea with the ego turns into physical symptoms such as blindness, mutism, paralysis, etc.; which are not of organic origin. Hysteria is now banned from psychiatric reference books, leading many people in the health field, including psychologists, to believe that hysteria no longer exists. However, hysteria still exists and will always exist, although the symptoms may vary depending on the society and time in which it belongs. Something very specific about hysteria is the reference to the body and sexuality, especially in relation to “what is a woman?”

b) Anxiety (distress) - a person is perceived by generalized and persistent feelings of intense distress without an objective reason. Some symptoms: palpitations, tremors, shortness of breath, sweating, nausea. There is an exaggerated and anxious concern for oneself.

c) Phobias - an area of ​​personality begins to act with responses of fear and anxiety. In suffering, fear is blurred, and when it comes to the surface, it is a sign that it has already existed for a long time. It is shrouded in a lot of tension, anxiety, worry and disorganized behavior. In a phobic reaction, fear is limited to a limited class of object stimuli and representations. Usually the connection between fear and certain objects, animals or situations is tested.

d) Obsessive-compulsive: Obsession is a term that refers to ideas that repeatedly force themselves upon the mind. Therefore, they are difficult to control. Drinking is impulses that lead to action. It is closely related to a psychological disorder called obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Second type: psychoses Now the psychotic may find himself in a state of depression, now in a state of extreme euphoria and agitation. One day he acts one way, and another time he behaves completely differently. He violated his identity. Clinical evidence for measuring psychosis is a change in judgments of reality. The psychotic begins to perceive reality in different ways, but no less real in his perception. That is why he confidently declares that he has ideas that seem unreal to us, not supported and not justified by logic and reason. In psychosis, in addition to behavioral changes, there are hallucinations (changes in the senses: hearing voices, perceiving things, smelling or touching) and delusions (changes in thinking in the form of conspiracies, persecution, grandeur, wealth, omnipotence or predestination).

a) Schizophrenia - emotional apathy, lack of ambition, general personality disorganization, loss of interest in life and personal and social achievements. disorganized thinking, superficial and inappropriate affection, unusual laughter, bobbies, childishness, hypochondria, delusions and transient hallucinations. (Consult DSM-V or CID 10 for additional subtypes)

b) Manic-depressive - it is characterized by lasting and intense mental disturbances due to loss or external traumatic situations. The manic state can be mild or severe. It is characterized by heightened behavior and hypersexuality. Maniacs are full of energy, restless, loud, loud and have bizarre ideas, one after another. A depressive state, on the contrary, is characterized by inactivity and despondency. His symptoms are apathy, regret, sadness, frustration, crying outbursts, loss of interest (affective dullness) in work, friends and family, and his usual distractions. He becomes slow in his speech, he has trouble sleeping at night, he loses his appetite, and he may become a little irritable and very anxious.

c) Paranoia - characterized primarily by fixed illusions. This is a crazy system. Illusions of persecution and grandeur are more persistent than in paranoid schizophrenia. The insults are deep. He is suspicious, aggressive, selfish and destructive. He believes that the ends justify the means and he cannot ask for affection.

d) Alcoholic psychosis - usually marked by violent disturbances accompanied by hallucinations of a terrifying nature.

Type Three: Psychopaths Psychopaths do not structure certain aspects of personality, and there is something of a failure in the structure itself. The main characteristics of psychopaths are: decreased or absent moral consciousness (Super eu). Right and wrong; what is permitted and prohibited by him does not make sense. Thus, to imitate, to deceive, to deceive, to steal, to rob, to kill, does not evoke feelings of disgust and repentance, neither in their minds nor in the form of actions or thoughts. The only thing that matters to them is their selfish interests: lack of empathy; absence of hallucinations; absence of neurotic manifestations; lack of trust; look for strong stimulation; inability to delay gratification; they do not tolerate routine efforts and do not know how to fight for a distant goal; don't learn from your mistakes because they don't recognize those mistakes; in general, have a good level of intelligence and low emotional capacity; seems unable to gain emotional involvement. They don't understand what is socially beneficial.

Critics of Psychoanalytic Theory The psychoanalytic approach has many advantages and limitations that have stimulated further research and expansion in the field of personality development.

benefits The theory emphasizes the importance of childhood experiences. He initiated and considered the importance of unconscious, sexual and aggressive urges, which constitute the majority of all personalities of people. The approach also explains defense mechanisms and why each person reacts differently to similar situations.

framework Some argue that theory is missing from the empirical data and is too focused on pathology. Some argue that this theory does not take into account culture and its influence on personality. Psychoanalysis and Aesthetics Psychoanalytic theory is an important factor in the philosophy of the continent and in particular in aesthetics. Freud is considered a philosopher in some fields, and other philosophers such as Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida have written many times about how psychoanalysis informs philosophical analysis.

Further development Sigmund Freud's work was continued by his daughter Anna Freud. Other authors have sought to develop the theory, emphasizing other aspects and seeking to resolve critical points, among which the most prominent are psychoanalysts Heinz Kohut, Melanie Klein and Karen Horney; humanists Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers; the founder of individual developmental psychology, Alfred Adler, and the founder of analytical psychology, Carl Jung.

Psychoanalysis and Literature When analyzing literary texts, psychoanalytic theory could be used to decipher or interpret hidden meaning in a text or to better understand the author's intentions. Through the analysis of motives, Freud's theory can be used to clarify the meaning of writing as well as the actions of characters in the text.

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Methods of psychological protection

Crowding out . Suppression, exclusion from consciousness of unpleasant or unacceptable impulses. In this case, they are transferred to the unconscious. Substitution .

Reorientation of impulse from one object to another, more accessible one. Rationalization . An attempt to rationally justify desires and actions caused by such a reason, the recognition of which would threaten the loss of self-esteem. Projection .

Unconscious transfer of one's own feelings and attractions to another person. Somatization . Fixation on the state of one's health as a form of protection from conflicts. Reactive education . Replacing unacceptable tendencies with the exact opposite. Regression . Return to primitive forms of behavior in a difficult situation. Denial . Unfulfilled desires, thoughts, and impulses are not recognized.

Their very existence is denied. Sublimation . Transformation of socially unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable and encouraged ones. The clearest example is the sphere of art.

Stages of psychosexual development

A special place in psychoanalytic theory is given to psychosexual development. It was explained on the basis of changes in the biological functioning of an individual that occur as he grows up. Each stage of development has a clear time frame, and the experiences gained at each time stage affect the character, values ​​and personality traits. The author of the psychoanalytic theory of child development, Sigmund Freud, identified five stages of child psychosexual development, called phases:

• From birth to one and a half years, a person lives through the so-called oral phase. It is characterized only by desire - the Id, since the main instinct is the satisfaction of a natural physiological need, which is expressed in sucking. biting and swallowing.
• At the age of one and a half to three and a half years, the anal phase occurs, during which the Ego (I) is formed - the main requirement is to cope with the physiological need of emptying the intestines and bladder in a designated place - a potty, a toilet, due to which the ability to fulfill prohibitions is formed society.
• The period from three and a half to 6 years is characterized by knowledge of one’s body and an understanding of one’s gender, which is why it is called the phallic phase. It is during this period that a child may develop an Oedipus complex or Electra complex.
• A child aged 6-12 years develops physically, intellectually, his sexual development experiences a lull, which is why the phase is called latent.
• At the age of 12, the genital phase begins, the characteristic feature of which is puberty, the first experience of sexual activity.

Facets of character

Freud's psychoanalytic theory of development, defining the stages of psychosexual development, focuses the attention of psychologists on the character of each person, linking it with one or another phase of personal maturation. Followers of Freud's psychoanalysis developed the concept of characterological types, linking personality traits with certain stages of psychosexual development. Otto Fenichel, a psychoanalyst known for his concept of the development of neuroses, identified several character types:

• oral;
• anal;
• urethral;
• phallic;
• genital

Features of one type or another are positioned by Freud, Fenichel and other psychoanalysts as a connection with the characteristics of the development and upbringing of the child. All psychoanalytic theories of development are based to one degree or another on the work of Freud, taking into account the phases of a child’s psychosexual development from birth to puberty, which have a direct impact on his character.

How it all began: the case of Anna O.

Freud's psychoanalytic theory arose at the end of the 19th century. One specific case was of no small importance for its formation.

A young woman, Bertha Pappenheim, approached Dr. Freud. The patient complained of symptoms of an unknown disease that appeared and disappeared. From time to time, Bertha experienced terrible migraines, her arms went numb and seemed to be taken away, she had problems with her vision, and sometimes it seemed to her that the walls were about to collapse right on her head. There was no visible physical reason for everything that was happening.

Freud's teacher, Dr. Breuer, took up the treatment of this patient. He helped the girl remember and, as if once again, relive some traumatic events of her life. During this therapy, certain successes were noted, and Dr. Breuer referred Bertha to his colleague and student, Sigmund Freud. This case history was subsequently included in the book “A Study of Hysteria,” which was published in 1895. For ethical reasons, the patient's real name was changed to a pseudonym - Anna O.

This is how the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud was born.

"Iceberg" of psychic reality

Freud called his first model of personality “topographical.” He presented the human psyche in the form of an iceberg, only a small part of the area of ​​which is on the surface, while the base is reliably hidden from prying eyes. The tip of this iceberg is consciousness, that is, what a person can subjectively perceive as the reality of the external world. The subconscious is a large part of the psyche, containing primitive desires and impulses.

Freud believed that some events or desires are too frightening and painful for people. And then, against his will, a person forgets about them. Thoughts about them are forced out of consciousness and sink deep, closer to the base of the “iceberg”. This is how Freud’s “Theory of the Unconscious” is formulated in general terms.

The scientist suggested that the repressed has a greater influence on a person’s life than he can imagine. As in the case of Bertha Pappenheim, it is possible for certain physical symptoms to occur without cause. And then a person can be helped in only one way - to make the unconscious conscious.