Sigmund Freuds Analysis Applied to Adolf Hitler - Research Paper Example

?Sigmund Freud’s Analysis Applied to Adolf Hitler Introduction According to Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the human psyche is mainly driven by unconscious desires. The unconscious is where our id resides, and also a place where bad memories are repressed. These repressed memories turn into hysteria, according to Freud. There are other motivations for doing what we do – we might use displacement, which means that we direct hostility towards an essentially innocent party. Or we might use rationalization, which means that we justify socially unacceptable behavior. Projection is another mechanism, which means that we see things in others which are abhorrent to oneself. Moreover, the psyche is mainly made up of three distinct areas – the id (primal), the superego (societal norms) and the ego (the mediator between the id and the superego). Adolf Hitler was a man of complex psychological motivations, many of which can be explained by Freud’s basic theory. This paper will seek to apply Freud’s theory to the psyche and motivations of Hitler. Freud's Theory Applied to Hitler Sigmund Freud's theory regarding psychological processes was known as psychoanalytic theory. According to Freud, the unconscious mind is the main driver for how we behave. For instance, Freud believed that hysteria was the unconscious mind's reaction to severe trauma. How this works is that repressed memories, inaccessible to one's conscious mind, reside in the unconscious and manifest as hysterical symptoms. These hysterical symptoms then become a way for the unconscious to release these memories and trauma. Repression thus became an underpinning for his theory, although he also had the theory that repressed memories are actually desires as opposed to pure memories (Murray, 1983).      To this end, Hitler may be analyzed by the theory that trauma in his life caused hysteria and repression, and that the hysteria manifested in the extreme thought processes that he had regarding the Jews. The particular trauma which might have caused this to manifest was when Hitler was hospitalized at Pasewalk when he was only 29 years old. This occurred when he was serving in the German army during World War I. While Hitler was in the Pasewalk hospital, the hospital was attacked with tear gas. As a result of the tear gas incident, Hitler lost his eyesight. Hitler was also an aspiring artist during this time, and, because of the tear gas blinding him, he was not able to draw (Coolidge, 2007). Applying the theory of trauma and repression to this incident, it would become obvious that this kind of trauma would be a part of Hitler’s psyche and would form his underlying psychological processes. The incident, for the most part, would reside in Hitler’s unconscious mind and would manifest in hysteria. The hysteria, in this case, would manifest as Hitler’s extreme persecution of the Jews, particularly if Hitler perceived that the Jews were somehow behind what happened to him at Pasgrave. This would be the way that Hitler would deal with the discomfort of the repressed memories of Pasgrave. There is some question, however, why it was that the Jews were scapegoated by Hitler, if it would be true that, at least in part, Hitler targeted Jewish people because of hysteria caused by the trauma at Pasgrave. The answer to this might lie in the fact that, according to Mandel (2002), there was talk that Jews were profiteering from the war and that they were undermining the Germans in the war. Therefore, using psychoanalytic theory regarding hysteria, trauma and repression, the thought would be that Hitler would blame the Jews for Germany losing the war. He was blinded during this war, if only temporarily, but the incident at Pasgrave would have been traumatic for anybody surviving this. Moreover, Hitler apparently lost his ability to draw because of the tear gas as Pasgrave. He probably also thought that he was going to die. When Germany lost the war, Hitler would have thought that his suffering at Pasgrave would have been for naught. That would be why the hysteria, which was the unconscious mind manifesting severe trauma, would have been focused upon the Jews. Perhaps he even blamed the Jews for the Pasgrave incident – if the Jews were not undermining the Germans in the war, then perhaps the enemy would not have attacked Pasgrave. Perhaps the enemy would have been vanquished before the Pasgrave incident. This would be the cause of Hitler’s hysteria regarding the Jews, and this would explain, at least in part, why Hitler behaved the way that he did towards the Jews.      Freud’s other theory elements may also explain Hitler. For instance, one of Freud’s theories is that one’s personality is made up of three components – the id, the ego and the superego (Benjafield, 1996). The discussion will begin with the Id. Freud states that the Id is that part of the personality which is primal and thrives on chaos. It is also instinctual. It is the part of one’s personality makeup that would dominate if there were no societal norms to follow, and if one was not interested in the feelings of other people. For instance, a man might have the instinctual and underlying desire to sleep with many women. He is controlled, for the most part, by societal norms that state that this is not appropriate, so this is the reason why he does not sleep with many women. If not for these societal norms, then he would behave according to his id. In applying this part of Freud’s theories, one can say that Hitler was controlled by his id. This is because, of course, what he was doing was not socially acceptable, nor did it comport with societal norms. It most likely devolved from some type of primal hatred that Hitler had for the Jews, especially if, as indicated above, Hitler thought that the Jews were responsible for Germany losing the first World War. He, in essence, behaved in a way that denotes that he was unconcerned about societal norms or what the world thought of him, so he seemed to be entirely driven by his id. Freud’s theory also states that one’s personality is also dominated by the super ego. Specifically, the super ego is, according to Benjafield (1996), the social norms and standard which are imposed. The superego is what absorbs these societal constructs, and commands the id to behave accordingly. In a typical movie, with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, the angel would be the superego and the devil would be the id. Interestingly, one can state that the superego is what deals with reality, much more than the id. The id operates from a position where reality does not impinge upon action. It is the ultimate in acting without thinking of the societal consequences. The superego deals with the real world, which includes the consequences for one’s actions. There was ample evidence that Hitler did not operate from a position of reality, however, which would mean that his superego would have a limited chance to actually contain his id. As an example of this, Dorner and Guess (2011) states that Hitler did not live in reality, as he had an inflated view of his own abilities and an unreasonably diminished view of his enemy’s abilities. This means that Hitler made bad decisions. One such decision was his decision to attack Russia through both Stalingrad and through the Caucasus Mountains. This was a strategy that had no basis in reality, as it could not work, and it did not work. However, Hitler tried this, in part because he did not deal well with reality, according to Dorner and Guess (2011). Dorner and Guess (2011) give other examples of why they believe that Hitler was not living in the real world. They state that Hitler had a world view which was not based upon reality - that Jews were sub-human. Thus, if Dorner and Guess (2011) are correct in that Hitler did not live in the real world, but, rather, lived in a world that was created by his own mind, it stands to reason that Hitler’s superego was damaged. As noted above, the superego is that part of the psyche which is governed by reality. Whether the reality is societal norms or the feelings and well-being of others, the superego takes these cues from one’s environment and tamps down the id, so that that the person does not behave in a manner which is socially unacceptable, just because the id is in control. However, if one does not deal with reality, therefore does not deal with the environmental and societal norms, then these norms would not have the desired effect of keeping one’s id under control. This would be one explanation for Hitler’s behavior – he couldn’t get his superego to control his id, because his superego was defective, and the reason why it was defective was because Hitler did not deal with reality. In his reality, Jews were subhuman and were responsible for Germany losing the first world war. His superego would have taken this to be the proper norm, and this would mean that his id would not be controlled by a damaged superego. The ego is another part of Freud’s theory. The ego is a kind of mediator between the id and the superego, according to Benjafield (1996). What this means is that it one’s psyche is not necessarily controlled by either the id or the superego – while a man will not behave primally, without restraint, neither will a man entirely live his life by what society deems is right. He will, rather, act according to what he believes to be right, and this might be a combination of the id and the superego together. Using the example above, of the man who desires to sleep with multiple women, the id would give the man license to sleep with as many women as he chooses; the superego would restrain this, and would dictate that he should only sleep with one woman, and he should be married to that woman; his ego would mediate between the two, which means that he might sleep with one woman, without being married to her. Or he would sleep with several women throughout his life, and marry none of them. The point of the ego is that it operates more on the conscious level than the id, but is not entirely dictated by what society deems proper, which sets it apart from the superego. There is strong suggestion that Hitler’s ego was damaged, much like his superego.   Mandel (2002) offers this evidence. He states that Hitler actually had a strong sense of self-esteem, which would mean that his ego was particularly strong. However, his ego was also unstable.   When an individual has an unstable ego, according to Mandel (2002), threats to one’s sense of self, or one’s self-esteem, are seen to be the product of an outside force, as opposed to being the product of a defect within one’s self. Thus, for example, Hitler was not a good enough artist to make something of himself, nor was he a good enough artist to get into an art academy. Hitler could not imagine that this was because he wasn’t good enough – his ego and self-esteem told him that he was plenty talented. Therefore, it must be the fault of others, like the Jews (Mandel, 2002). This would play into Hitler’s hatred of the Jews, who he largely saw as being responsible not just for defects within himself, but also for worldwide problems. Besides the concepts of the id, the superego and the ego, Freud also introduced other psychoanalytic concepts which would explain Hitler’s actions. Chief among these are displacement, projection and rationalization.  With rationalization, according to Murray (1983), socially unacceptable actions are justified. With displacement, hostility towards one thing is directed towards another thing. Projection is where one believes that others are acting in a manner in which he, himself, is acting. With Hitler, the rationalization and the displacement essentially worked hand in hand. This is because Hitler displaced negative feelings about himself or about Germany onto the Jews of the world. Germany lost the war, and Hitler could have felt negatively about this. However, he took his hostility towards Germany for losing the war, and put his hostility onto the Jews, whom Hitler deemed responsible for Germany’s loss during the first world war. This means, in turn, that Hitler could rationalize what he was doing – since Jews were the reason why Germany lost the war, and because Jews were sub-human anyhow, whatever happens to them is deserved. Lastly, Hitler also used projection. One example of this is that Hitler felt that he suffered from syphilis, or, rather, was phobic about catching syphilis. He felt that syphilis was the scourge of mankind, and was the root cause of the world’s problems. Since he was afraid of catching syphilis, and thought that he had syphilis, when he believed, according to Bari and Zulqernain (2006), that the Jews were the root cause of the spread of syphilis, which is what he believed, then this would be projection. Conclusion Freud’s theory would help explain why Hitler became the man that he became. His id was what ruled - Hitler, at a primal level, blamed the Jews for the ills of the world, and he pursued a course of action that was not condoned by society. His superego was damaged, because, in his worldview, what he was doing was condoned by society because he was ridding the world of a scourge, which is what he saw the Jews as being. His ego was also damaged, because he couldn’t believe that his failures were his own, so he blamed others. Moreover, he projected – he felt that the Jews spread syphilis, which is what he was afraid that he had himself; he rationalized – the Jews were sub-human, and the cause of the world’s problems, so this justified what he was doing; and he displaced – all hostilities felt within himself, or with Germany, were targeted towards the Jews. Hitler himself was a walking, talking example of psychoanalytic theory gone awry. Sources Used Benjafield, J. (1996) A History of Psychology.London: Allyn and Bacon. Coolidge, F., Davis, F. & Segal, D. 2007. Understanding madmen: A DSM-IV assessment of Adolf Hitler. Individual Differences Research, 5.1, 30-43. Dorner, D. & Guess, C. 2011. A psychological analysis of Hitler's decision-making as Commander-in-Chief. Review of General Psychology, 15.1, 37-49. Mandel, D. 2002. Instigators of genocide: Examining Hitler from a social-psychological perspective. In L.S. Newman and R. Eber (Eds.) Understanding Genocide: The Social-Psychology of the Holocaust. New York: Oxford University Press. Murray, J. (1983) A History of Western Psychology.Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Ul Bari, A. & Zulqernain, A. 2006. Syphilophobia: A frustrating psychiatric illness presenting to dermatologists. Journal of Pakistan Association of Dermatologists, 16, 236-238. Read More