Freud psychosexual stages of development - Research Proposal Example

The mouth, anus and genital regions are the three major zones that Freud identified. The theory looks at the effects of sexual pleasure drive on a person’s psyche. A person cannot proceed to the next stage if the current stage’s developmental conflicts have not been resolved. This paper seeks to analyze the progression of a child through the five stages that result into a healthy or unhealthy person. The oral stage is the first Freud stage begins when the child is born up to when it is about one and a half years.

The oral cavity or rather the mouth is the main focus of libido energy. The child accepts anything that comes close to its mouth and has great pleasure in sucking (Phillip, 2002: p224). The child also expects to be held, cared for and mothered. If a child doesn’t receive these services from the mother or the services were denied before the stage was over, the child is likely to get frustrated and will grow up to be pessimist, envious, sarcastic and suspicious. If the child on the other hand got an excess of these needs, it will grow to be optimistic, gullible and will always admire the individual in him.

Weaning brings the stage to an end (Theo, 2000: p1). This is the second stage that takes place between one and a half years to three years. The erogenous zone at this stage is the anus and the child’s focus is on the retention and elimination of faeces. The parent’s child takes quite sometime in training the child on toilet issues trying to ensure that the child learns to control its anal stimulations. A child that doesn’t receive enough training in the field is more likely to be obsessed on perfection, cleanliness, meticulous, etc.

On the other hand, a child who receives excess training is more likely to be messy, careless, reckless, disorganized, defiant, etc (Phillip, 2002: p224). The third stage occurs between the third and the sixth year. The erogenous zone at