History and Evolution of Freudian Theory Understanding Freud's ideas regarding the unconscious mind is foundational to developing a theoretic understanding of human behavior. However, for the doctora
Running head: HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF FREUDIAN THEORY 0
History and Evolution of Freudian Theory
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History and Evolution of Freudian Theory
Introduction
Freudian developed several theories that played a vital role in the field of psychology over the years. The first ten years of Sigmund Freudian career was between 1888 and 1898, which have been very beneficial to the field of psychology. The major theories include the theory of the dream, seduction theory, and the theory of regression. According to Freudian psychosexual development has five major development stages which include oral, anal, latency, phallic and genital stages
The First 10 Years
Hysteria concept
In Freud's study about hysteria, he found out that women are affected by the disorder baring severe symptoms that may have acute diagnosis most of the times. Freudian and Breuer discovered a technique known as the hypnotic technique, which was aimed at reproducing traumatic memories that will help in producing the onset of hysteria. The symptoms of hysteria disappeared entirely after the patients had described the traumatic memories in more reasoned ways (Ellman, 2019).
Defence concept
Freud defines defence as an existing force that can only be overcome by the will, and thus he motivates patients to put more effort to overcome the forces. Pathogenic memories are usually the forgotten ideas that are easily accessible the moment one understands the importance of overcoming the force of will. Different people have different capabilities of overcoming the force of will due to the varying difference in attitude.
Transference
The transference was described by Freudian as a psychotherapy phenomenon where there is an unconscious redirection of feelings between an individual to someone who they encountered in childhood. There are three major types of transference as portrayed by the psychoanalytic theory, which includes sexualized, negative and positive transference. Transference is complex and multilayered, and thus it may introduce obstacles making therapy challenging.
Seduction theory
The seduction theory greatly emphasizes on the causative impacts of nature in shaping the minds of an individual by the use of their experiences. The theory states that the major causes of repressed memories are the obsessional and hysteria neurosis in the body (Donley, 1911). Neurosis is characterized by depression, distress, anxiety or other unhappy feelings which are in most cases, not in line with a person's life proportions.
Psycho Sexual Development
Psycho Sexual Development stages
Freudian proposed four major Psycho Sexual Development stages that children must go through to be considered mature adults. The five stages include oral, anal, latency, phallic and genital stages. The stages are regarded as Psycho Sexual Development because each stage occurs in different parts of the body while representing specific libido fixation (Derrida, Brault, & Naas,1994).
The theory of dreams
Freudian introduced the theory of dreams which majorly concentrates on the psychoanalytic perspective of the patients' conditions. According to Freudian, dreams represent unconscious thoughts, motivations and desires of individuals which they cannot express in their healthy lives. The theory states that individuals are driven by sexual and aggressive natures that are as a result of a repress of their conscious awareness.
Freudian assumption
In his theories, Freudian made an assumption on the level of consciousness in individuals stating that unconscious minds play a vital role in shaping the behaviors of people. Three levels of awareness are identified by Freudian includes unconscious, conscious and precautious. For this reason, psychoanalysis aims to reveal the defence mechanisms to make sure that the unconscious mind is made conscious (Messias, 2014).
The theory of regression
The theory of regression was developed to help in understanding the defence mechanism used to reverse the ego of individuals rather than dealing with them at an earlier stage. Regressions theory explains why individuals postpone unpleasant thought or events and choose a childish mannerism of postponing them. The regression appears in two major types which include temporal and formal types.
References
Ellman, S. J. (2019). When theories touch: A historical and theoretical integration of psychoanalytic thought. New York, NY: Routledge. (Chapters 1 and 2)
Derrida, J., Brault, P. A., & Naas, M. (1994). "To do justice to Freud": The history of madness in the age of psychoanalysis. Critical Inquiry, 20(2), 227-266. https://doi.org/10.1086/448710
Donley, J. E. (1911). Freud’s anxiety neurosis. The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 6(2), 126-134. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0073533
Messias, E. (2014). Standing on the shoulders of Pinel, Freud, and Kraepelin: A historiometric inquiry into the histories of psychiatry. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 202(11), 788-792. doi:10.1097/NMD.0000000000000208
