Importance and Contributions
Sigmund Freud is known as the father of psychoanalysis. He was also a physiologist, medical doctor, psychologist and influential thinker of the early 20th century.
He enrolled at the University of Vienna in 1873. He took up the study of medicine and specialized in neurology. Freud was a trained neurologist. He had many patients who complained of ailments, but had nothing physically wrong with them. Around 1886, Freud spent time in Paris with Joseph Breuer. Alongside Breuer, Freud came up with the idea that many neurosis (phobias, paralysis and pains, some forms of paranoia, etc.) correlated with traumatic experiences that had occurred in the patient’s past, such as physical or sexual abuse, but they had forgotten and was now hidden from their consciousness. His treatment was known as psychoanalysis, which was therapy of neurosis of the unconscious mind.
Freud and the Oedipus Complex
Freud developed the concept of the Oedipus Complex, which Freud defined as, “the complex of emotions aroused in a young child, typically around the age of four, by an unconscious sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and a wish to exclude the parent of the same sex”. This is typically accompanied by repressed feelings due to fear of punishment by the other parent. Freud’s Oedipus Complex Theory correlates with his stages of Psychosexual Development. Freud’s Psychosexual Development belief outlines that all humans are sexual beings from the minute they’re born and that completion of these stages are important to become a healthy human developmentally. This was a somewhat unpopular idea. The stages are as followed:
Birth to 1 Year: The Oral Stage
Erogenous Zone: Mouth
1 to 3 years: The Anal Stage
Erogenous Zone: Bowel and Bladder Control
3 to 6 Years: The Phallic Stage
Erogenous Zone: Genitals
**This is when the Oedipus Complex begins for males. Freud did not believe in the Electra Complex, but believed all girls have “penis envy” and never fully get over this stage.
6 to Puberty: The Latent Period
Erogenous Zone: Sexual Feelings Are Inactive
Puberty to Death: The Genital StageErogenous Zone: Sexual Feelings Are Inactive
Erogenous Zone: Maturing Sexual Interests
Freud believed if one stage hadn’t fully been completed, a person would be fixated in that stage until the fixation had resolved. The fixation would lead to their neurosis. All stages successfully completed resulted in a healthy personality.
Sigmund Freud recognized the conflicts between society, customs, sex, and survival.
Sigmund Freud Biography
Freud's "somewhat unpopular idea" has been popular enough to hang around for decades, even though most of us recoil from the over-sexualization of young children - in popular culture especially. But as the stern teacher in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" says, "Even Freud spoke of a latency period." (And Woody, speaking more autobiographically than he may have intended, said "I didn't have a latency period.")
ReplyDeleteGood job Spring! All of this is so fascinating!
ReplyDelete