Major theories and concepts of psychoanalysis based on Freud

Initially, psychoanalysis was a method of treating mental patients. It has now developed into a new concept of how to understand the human mind. Although Sigmund Freud was the first person to base the idea of psychoanalysis on the notion of the unconscious mind controlling human behaviors, this theory has been reevaluated and expanded on over the past century. The existence of the unconscious which Freud reveals is now defined in psychology as: the thought process of the mind which does not have an ability to be recalled at will. From this central focus, Freud and other psychoanalysts have developed theories on why people act in certain ways and what stimulates these ideas and behavior.

Freud theories are categorized under three

Freuds theories are based on a very Euro-centric perspective. Freud speaks of homosexuality as a resulting from an “arrest” of sexual development. His ideas of sexual norms are based on the idea that there are 2 genders, male and female. Those people who do not adhere to the social gender norms are thought to have been fixated in one of the psychosexual stages of development and homosexuality therefore, would be diagnosed as an illness according to Freud. This model does not allow for different social norms, such as cultures that do not have binary gender rules

The super-ego is the perfection center of the mind. The purpose of the super-ego is to enforced the values and morals expected by society. Most often parents, in form of reward and punishment initiate these ideas. The super-ego is divided into 2 substructures, the conscious and the ego ideal. The conscious causes guilt when values and morals broken while the ego ideal creates pride when the ideals are accomplished.

Once Freud had developed an understanding of the Id, ego and super ego, he began applying them to different concepts of human behavior. The dynamic concept of instincts is the drive that initiates the psyche to have “wish” and the body to feel “need”. Freud believed that there are two main instincts that organized human behavior EROS and Thanatos. EROS or the life instinct includes all the survival and erotic instincts and Thanatos or the death instinct includes all the instinct towards aggression, self destruction and cruelty. Freud used the term libido to explain the energy people utilize in performing their life instincts. Since Freud strongly focused on the sex instinct, libido is often used in reference to sexual energy. Freud believed that death instincts derive from the idea that all people have inherit desire to die. The death instinct are also responsible for aggression drives and destructive instinct.

Next fallows the anal stage. This stage happens during the second year as the child begins in toilet

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