FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY

FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY An Introduction to the Major Components, Part 1: The Stages of Psycho-Sexual Development

Freud’s Theory of Psycho-Sexual Development • Psychic energy  central concept in Freudian psychology, the fuel the mind runs on. • A newborn baby overflows with psychic energy  lacks focus or direction. • As with physical energy, psychic energy cannot be created or destroyed, so it needs a focus to ensure healthy psychic development. • Where does the infant’s, then the child’sthe adolescent'sand adult's energy get focused? Freud believed that as development occurs, the baby begins to focus on first one physical process, then another. As the infant’s focus shifts the style and type of gratification being sought changes.

The Stages of Psycho-Sexual Development • First Zone: The Oral Stage (0-18 months) • Second Zone: The Anal Stage (18 mo – 3.5 yrs.) • Third Zone: The Phallic Stage (3.5 - 6 yrs.) • (The Oedipus Complex) (5-6) • Fourth Zone: The Latency Stage (6 – puberty) • Fifth Zone: The Genital Stage (puberty – adulthood)

First Zone: The Oral Stage • Mouth/lips • Dependency • Infants are born knowing how to suck, and it is a source of pleasure and consolation for them. Their entire world is mouth, and their first love object is breast (or bottle). • When this is withdrawn during weaning, the infant learns that he does not control the world. • If the child is weaned prematurely, an oral fixation, like smoking, could occur. The oral stage also has resonance in mythology and fairy tales (think of Persephone eating the pomegranate seeds, for example).

The Second Zone: The Anal Stage • Anus • Self-control, obedience • During this phase, the child learns how to control his bowels voluntarily, and this power becomes a source of pleasure. • However, excrement ≠ cleanliness, but disgust. • How we are encouraged or discouraged to perform this process can have long term effects on our creative processes and on our feelings about hygiene, as well as about order and organization).

The Third Zone: The Phallic Stage • Penis • Morality, sexuality identification • Discovery of the differences between the genders  anxiety and confusion between personal wants and social mores • Hostility to one or both parents may occur. • During this stage, Oedipus / Electra complexes take place.

The Oedipus/Electra Complex • Begins by the age of 5 or 6. • Desire of the mother (of a sexual nature). • Boys unconsciously view the father as a rival for the mother’s attention. They experience castrationanxiety. • Girls unconsciously accept that they have already been castrated, and therefore suffer from penis envy. • Both genders must come to some understanding of their position vis-à-vis the mother; generally occurs initially through an act of repression.

The Fourth Zone: The Latency Stage • Calm • End of Phallic Stage – puberty  sex drive recedes. • Repression of the first 3 stages; all urges associated with them driven deeply into the unconscious. They remain as latent energies, which will affect the future development of an individual. • If a profound negative experience occurred during one of the initial 3 stages, Freud believed that a person could become fixated, i.e. his development is arrested at that stage. Later in life, that person may then experience regression back to that fixated level. Neurotics cannot move forward until the source of the fixation is resolved.

The Fifth Zone: The Genital Stage • Genitals • Creation (artistic, intellectual, and procreative), maturity • Interest in sexual relationships. • Healthy, psychologically well-adjusted, balance between love and work. • Dependent upon successfully passing through the first 4 stages. No fixation in this stage.

Freud and Sex – A Clarification • Freud believed that most conflicts in the psyche derived from sexual urges. • However, Freud did not view the basic sex drive as a physical one, but rather an instinctual energy that all humans are born possessing.

FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY