Looking for Sigmund Freud - Essay Example

Looking into Freud’s stages of psychosexual development, and his contribution to developmental psychology,   I cannot recall if I indeed have gone through the oral and anal stages.  Maybe I was too young to remember.  But I distinctly remember going through the “feminine Oedipus attitude” phase or Elektra complex as how Carl Jung called it.  According to Freud, this happens during the phallic stage (Boeree).  When I was five years old, I remember I was so attached to my father.  This romantic attachment by a daughter to her father is also described by Dr. Spock, in his book Baby and Child Care, as a natural stage in a female child’s development.  Freud also posited the idea that if one had problems in these psychosexual stages, these problems will be manifested into fixations and will affect one’s character development.  In my experience when I was in the feminine Oedipal attitude or the Elektra complex stage, I perceived that my father favored me over my mother.  Because of these, I became quite self-centered and vain during my teens to early adulthood.  But as aged, I learned to veer away from these attitudes. 

In the realm of social psychology, one’s thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and perceptions of others or a situation are studied (Wikipedia).  According to Freud, most of our actions are driven by the unconscious (Allpsych).  There are many instances when I am puzzled why I respond to an idea, a situation, or a person in a certain way.  When I came across Freud’s theory on the human psyche, I thought that it might explain those responses.  For example, a homeless man in dirty clothes and a long beard accosted me to ask for a dollar, I was repulsed and had goosebumps.  I walked on and almost ran.  I wondered why I reacted that way instead of showing charity.  I then remembered that when I was 11 or so, there was a man who looks that way that lurked in the park and is said to molest young girls.  One afternoon, I saw the man leering at me ten meters away and I ran home as fast as I could.  I guess that experience made me react that way.

As to Freud’s concept of abnormal psychology, I think I can identify with his idea of the Turning Against Self type of defense mechanism.  According to Freud, this is a form of displacement when one targets himself/herself and is usually associated with aggression, anger, or hatred (Boeree).  This is also associated with feelings of guilt, depression, and inferiority.  There are many times when I was scolded or criticized, I tend to hurt myself rather than lash back.  Also, I tend to bottle up feelings of hurt, anger, and helplessness to myself.  I keep on the outside a veneer of calm and act as if everything’s going on a-OK while negative feelings are forced down into my subconscious.  These negative feelings pile up and I often am caught unguarded when I feel so low and am crying all of a sudden. I had experienced mild episodes of depression time and again. According to Freud, refusal to acknowledge the feeling of anger often results in depression (Boeree).  I admit there are still times when I feel so low and on the verge of another episode of depression but I think experience has taught me good lessons.