Freudian Theory of Anxiety - Essay Example

Freudian Theory of Anxiety Introduction Freud recognized the importance of anxiety by arguing that anxiety is a critical component of neurosis and distinguished between objective and neurotic anxiety. According to Freud, objective means the reaction that human beings have to external danger, injury that is expected while neurotic anxiety is free-floating, or something that is likely to hinder or impede actions. He also theorized on phobias, which are a form of anxiety that was not groundless but focused on one or more objects or situations as well as reasoning that anxiety was largely sexual in origin and the sexual impulses and thoughts were repressed and then transformed into symbolic representation. The Freudian theory of anxiety of anxiety postulates that in this embryonic and chaotic world, a small child copes with the fear of death through the development of psychic structures and defensive mechanisms that ensures its psychic survival (Wolson 2005, p.676). The initial approach to this theory referred to as seduction theory was obtained through the extraction of repressed memories from childhood that helped coerce ideas out of patients (Feist and Feist 2009, p.16). The main focus of Freud’s earlier study in psychoanalysis was to recover repressed memories through free association with introspection whereby patients verbalize every thought that is in their minds with a purpose to begin with the present consciousness to lead it into the unconsciousness. Freud believed that for psychoanalysis to be effective and believable, the part of libido previously attached to a neurotic system must be allowed to work freely with the ego in a two-stage process. Firstly, the transference stage that denotes strong feelings of aggression or a sexual nature developed by the patient in the course of the treatment which could be negative or positive. This means that there are times the feelings could be hostile known as negative transference that requires that the therapist recognizes it and explain it to the patient during therapy to avoid resistance. In the analysis of dreams, Freud focused on content that may be either manifest or latent respectively which denotes the surface meaning of a dream and the unconscious meaning of a dream respectively. Freud therefore believed that most dreams are mere fulfilments of wishes but an exception arises if it is a traumatic dream that follows the principle of repetition compulsion. The final key point to Freud’s idea of psychoanalysis is the slip of the tongue or parapraxes which he believes were not coincidences but were misuses of words with no meaning, delved into the unconscious and reflected the inner desires of the patient in question (Feist and Feist 2009, p.16).  Freudian Psychoanalysis of Anxiety In Freudian psychoanalysis of anxiety, there are three different types of anxiety that can only be produced by the ego while the id and the superego can also be involved. When the ego depends on the id, there can result neurotic anxiety that refers to the fear of danger, which is unknown. The sensation of neurotic anxiety exist in in the ego but originates from the instincts in the id while moral anxiety is derived from the conflict that occurs between the integrity and the ego signified by a battle of what one actually needs and what the superego dictates. The third type of anxiety according to Freud is the realistic anxiety that refers to an unpleasant feeling that may involve a real possible danger, and is similar to fear. Anxiety is referred to as something that is perceived outside the body that could possibly cause or lead to danger or fright looked at as against the individual in question (Parker 2006, p.281). Freud therefore has the idea that psychoanalysis and how a traumatic event cannot be extracted, meaning cannot be interpreted and therefore looks at anxiety caused by the traumatic event and how the individual started perceiving it as traumatic. Even though the event could be repressed, it does not mean that it is removed from the person’s consciousness but is often reflected in the actions of the individual that has been affected by the event. Therefore, a traumatic event can be worked out in an individual and worked through but this does not mean that the anxiety caused by the event is worked through; rather the anxiety caused by the traumatic event can change the life and the mind-set of the individual. According to Freud, neuroses could be divided into two groups namely psycho and actual whereby the anxiety neuroses could be classified under the actual group. To him, the anxiety neuroses originated from somatic sexual injuries meaning anxiety had its own sexual etiology. The symptoms associated with anxiety neuroses include general irritability that may cause insomnia, anxious expectations and negative outlook on events and breaking into consciousness without any specific idea associated with it. Freud believed that the conversion of the psychic characteristics of anxiety to the psychological effects constituted neurosis or hysteria and later posited that anxiety was the subject of libidinal troubles to the idea that it resulted from some sort of danger that was impending (Stolorow 2006, pp.417-419). Freud in his 1936 work states that there are two distinct schools of thought on anxiety and its development with symptoms of mental illness, which include the idea that anxiety is a symptom of neurosis in and of itself. Further, that neurotic symptom formation is usually brought about in order to avoid anxiety altogether and that the psychic energy of an individual is strongly attached to the symptoms and would otherwise be expressed as anxiety meaning that anxiety forms the basis of neurosis and fuels all the problems associated with it (Freud 1936, p.415). In addition, Freud states that there are three types of death anxiety, first the predatory death anxiety that is the fear of being killed or the fear of hurting or killing others while the personal prospect of dying is known as existential death anxiety. Freud therefore believed that human beings have no idea of death in the unconscious mind but had a primal horde theory that hostility towards other fellow human beings is a reflection of the fear of death by a person (Langs 2004, p.31). To qualify this, he states that castration could be a source of anxiety but death would not be a cause of anxiety as shown in the Oedipus complex of the genital stage as argued in his 1900 article Interpretation of Dreams, where he erroneously describes Zeus castrating his father instead of Kronos. Freud states that anxiety is something felt and has a physical state that is supposed to warn the individual of any danger that is impending and is usually effective and unpleasant of which it is not easy to point out where it originates from whatsoever. This state includes apprehensive feelings, nervousness and feelings of tension and caused worry about the physical ramifications associated with it. This idea is consistent with the Darwinian evolutionary perspective because the idea was adaptive in certain ways such as adaptive ability in motivating behaviour that helps individuals cope with threatening situations (Spielberger 2010, p.1748). Therefore, according to the Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the emphasis is on the unconscious determinants of behaviour and experiences of early childhood as well as the often changing interaction of components of the psyche as they transit through the psychosexual stages of development. His psychoanalytic model has got three components that include structure of the personality, the defence mechanisms and the stages of psychosexual development whereby structure of the mind includes the id, ego and the superego require smooth integration to minimize anxiety and intrapsychic conflicts. In the Freud’s model of personality, the ego deals with reality which requires that it copes with the conflicting demands of the id and the super ego while the id seeks to fulfil all the needs, wants and impulses of the human while the superego tries to ensure that the ego acts in a moral and idealistic manner. In relating with the foregoing, anxiety therefore acts to signal to the ego that things are not right or in order. Anxiety and Psychoanalytic Therapy Freud projected two diverse theories of anxiety and defence during his career spanning from 1890 to the period after 1920 whereby the difference between the two theories is how he perceives the relationship between anxiety and defence (Erwin 2002, p.515). In his earlier theory, defence, which is the warding off, or repression is a precondition of nervousness, which is followed by libido or any other sexual strife. The second theory of Freud states that the theory of anxiety or the signal of anxiety causes defence and the signal of defence activity is a complete reversal of the sequence in the previous theory (Erwin 2002, p.520). Feud therefore believed that objective anxiety also at times referred to as fear is aroused when an individual is confronted with an aversive event or object that is likely to cause pain (Sarnaoff & Zimbardo, 196, pp. 356-363).  Therefore, the only thing that could possibly separate an individual from the anxiety is to separate him from the object. He also believed that anxiety is brought about by innocuous stimuli whereby in people with egos in proper working order, the motives that cause anxiety are usually warded off unless necessary. The different levels of fear and anxiety mean that if the levels of anxiety are moderate, the individual will prefer to be left alone while if the levels of fear and anxiety are high, the individual finds comfort and safety among fellow human beings. Post Freudian views on Anxiety Under Freud’s 1926 theory of anxiety, neurotic symptoms are formed in response to the presence of anxiety thus demanding that any psychoanalytical investigation be interpreted from anxiety point of view rather than from the point of gratification for desire. Anxiety therefore originates due to the increased demands of instinctual impulses, which occur when desire causes a situation in which anxiety is discovered and anxiety initiated a process of repressing these desires. Other scholars who have distinct views on anxiety but still borrow from the principles set by Sigmund Freud have evaluated this theory. Although the main theories put forward by Freud seem strange and have been subject of criticisms, much of his work still remains central to the fundamental understanding of psychology and psychotherapy such as the use of free association and dream analysis amongst other phenomena in modern day psychodynamic and psychoanalytical practice. The theories by Freud greatly altered the way people understand psychology and have provide a platform for psychologists, philosophers and other professionals to explore the subject. Tillich Paul Tillich (1952) in the work ‘The Courage to Be’ examines anxiety as the ontological condition of human existence by outlining the origins, manifestations and possible resolutions through the courage to accept acceptance. He argues that anxiety results from the individual’s awareness of the possibility of non-being bearing in mind that the individual in the world exists, participates in and manifests the simple nature of being. To him, the awareness of non-being is the actual and full realization with the personality of one and that existence is not necessary. He therefore posits that anxiety is the state in which a human being is aware of the possibility of non-being and that it is the impression that events such as death and human beings having to die that produces anxiety (Tillich 1952, p.35). Tillich argues that anxiety should be looked at by asking oneself the ontological question of being-itself that is probing why there is something and nothing (Tillich 1951, p.163). From the foregoing, it is trite to say that Tillich’s ontology of anxiety argues that anxiety is pathological and in the realm of psychoanalytic thought, must refer to the possibility of non-being. Compared with Freud’s idea of anxiety, Tillich’s argument bears a similarity in the sense that both theories suggest that anxiety is a fundamental condition of existence. Alfred Adler This Austrian medical doctor and psychotherapist founded the school of thought known as individual psychology by departing from the theory of psychoanalysis as argued earlier by Freud, to form an independent school of thought known as psychotherapy and personality theory. Adler emphasized the integral role equality plays in prohibiting various forms of psychopathology and argued for the development of social interest and democratic structures for raising children in a family setting. He gave the concept of inferiority complex, which may arise due to the actual inferiority in an afflicted person that has a negative effect on the self-esteem of a person and his health. He therefore maintained that human psychology is psychodynamic in nature guided by goals and fuelled by a yet unknown creative force stressing that the fictive goals of humans are largely unconscious. Carl Jung Carl Jung an influential Swiss psychiatrist and influential thinker disagreed with Freud’s concepts of the unconscious, which he saw as incomplete and unnecessarily negative and therefore opposed the concept of the unconscious as a repository of emotions and desires that have been repressed which to him was not true. He therefore conceptualized the personal unconscious as well as proposing the existence of a second unconscious that was far deeper than the personal one, what he referred to as the collective unconscious where the archetypes resided represented in myths (Rad 2010, p.5). Karen Horney Karen Horney a German-American psychoanalyst questioned the traditional Freudian theories especially the theory of sexuality as well as the operation of the instinct orientation of psychoanalysis as well as its psychology in terms of genetics of humans in the context of development. She criticized Freud’s notion of penis envy in Freudian theory, which refers to the reaction of a girl at different stages of psychosexual development, as well as the castration anxiety in boys as was argued in the Oedipus complex (Plotnik and Kouyoumdjian 2010, p.440). Horney thought that Freud had misconstrued the jealousy assigned to women against their male counterparts, though she admitted that penis envy might at times occur in neurotic women. To explain her point, she argued that men also get jealous of their female counterparts due to their ability to carry, nurture and bear children. Horney further reanalysed the Freudian Oedipal complex of sexual elements stating that the attachment to one parent and jealousy of the other was as a result of anxiety that is due to the disturbance of the relationship between a parent and a child. Despite her disagreements with Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis, Horner reformulated the Freudian theory through the representation of a humanistic view of the individual psyche that emphasizes social and cultural difference in any society. To her, basic anxiety is the maladaptive patterns that occur when children are exposed to evil that is basic or an environment that does not meet their wants and results in the formulation of interpersonal strategies of defence by the individual to adapt to that particular environment. Positive aspects of Freudian Theory of Psychoanalysis The Freudian theory of psychoanalysis makes us aware of the two powerful forces and their demands on the human beings which he did by showing that much of our behaviour was based on biology and not that all human beings are rational. He showed the impact of the society on the actions of individuals as well as the dependence on family dynamics to dictate behaviour while also showing that certain neurotic symptoms as caused by psychological traumas such as abuse and tragedy. The idea of ego defences by Freud mitigates the discomfort that most people have with the concept of unconscious which means that there is a clear understanding that humans engage in little manipulations of reality and the memories of that reality to satisfy or suit their needs. Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis also emphasizes the widely used psychological therapy that utilizes talking as a tool in a physically and socially relaxed atmosphere. Freud contributed to psychology by making people aware that the mind operates at various levels as well as highlighting the importance of the development of the child and appreciating the sexual feelings of the child. It also helped eliminate the social taboos related to sex and gave emphasis on the symbolic meaning of objects in the experience of humans or what is referred to as phallic symbols. The theory stimulates artistic creativity and the controversy created by the theories acted as a viable starting point for research in childhood psychology. Criticism of Freudian Theory of Psychoanalysis In as much as the psychoanalytical theory by Freud holds much water in discussions about anxiety, it is subject to debate as most scholars cannot prove nor disapprove his ideas. The approach adopted by Freud was to use single case studies as the basis for his own form of self-analysis that was apparently influenced with his own relationship with his father. Therefore, the psychoanalysis remains important in theory but lacking in science, which explains why psychologists now regard it lowly in therapy. However, it remains important, as evidence has emerged that factors that are unconscious greatly influence the emergence of anxiety and some fears have symbolism attached to them The Freudian theory of psychoanalysis had apparent flaws when looked at from different angles in the study and practice of psychology. The Oedipal complex and its associated ideas of castration anxiety and penis envy ranks as the least popular among Freud’s theories as most personality theorists consider these as mere exceptions rather than rules. It is important to note that the desires and characters discussed in the oedipal complex occur in disjointed families and neighbourhoods where the correct sexual information is not offered to the children amongst other prevailing conditions. This clearly shows that Freud did not expect his readers and followers to take the concepts expounded in the Oedipus complex metaphorically but just mere explanation to qualify his theory. The theory by Oedipus is also criticized due to the emphasis it puts on sexuality whereby he argues that everything both good and bad stem from the expression or repression of the sexual drive of human beings. This has been questioned as there are other forces that may be at work, such as death instincts which Freud himself later added as another force that acts on human beings. Freudian theory also faces criticism from the concept of the unconscious in that behaviourists and existentialists amongst other psychology professionals believe that motivations and problems that can be attributed to the unconscious are fewer contrary to what Freud had in mind. They also believe that the unconscious is what we do not need or don’t want to see that is not what Freud envisaged. Conclusion The theories by Freud in terms of personality development mainly focus on how the natural psychic are dictated by the regulations of the society with an emphasis on how events in childhood can influence the behaviour that is adopted later in life. In the above discussion about the theories of anxiety, we can ask ourselves what the consequences of ego are. Before demystifying the ego, it is important to understand that there may be the element of our psychic apparatus that may no longer be able to cope with the demands and desires of the human. Feud argued that anxiety is the unpleasant inner state of humans that they try to avoid signalling that the ego may not be well and can be divided into three types namely reality anxiety, neurotic anxiety and moral anxiety. The reality anxiety as already explained occurs when the ego is overwhelmed by external threats and is the fear or real world events, which can be avoided by avoiding the external stimuli that are likely to cause it. The neurotic anxiety is the unconscious fear that humans are likely to lose control of the id’s urges that may result into punishment for the inappropriate behaviour while moral anxiety is the fear of doing something that goes against the moral code of the society and occurs when the ego feels threatened by the superego. Therefore the obvious conclusion to the theories of anxiety as espoused by Freud is that anxiety cannot be fully comprehended without taking account of the cognitive aspects and influences. With respect to anxiety, the basic aspect appears to be uncertainty over the threat and how to cope or deal with the unconscious with most theorists and scholars including the post-Freudian ones agreeing that there is a distinguishing feature of anxiety from fear and fright as the latter are external in nature. Further, anxiety though an unpleasant emotion, can motivate an individual and is inevitable forming an essential part of the human condition. Anxiety is also distressing and has got infinite sources and must be looked at by appreciating the cognitive factors that affect behaviour, experience and the human physiology. Psychoanalysis and the understanding of anxiety have therefore made tremendous contribution in the development of other psychotherapies in particular discussions and comprehension of the attachment theory, trauma and resistance of therapies on both practice and theory. Through the work of Freud on anxiety, the world is now in a better position to comprehend what goes on in the lives, minds and bodies of human beings. These include compelling children to avoid what they can tolerate of emotion and the knowledge that growing up is a process that requires handling of immense and difficult emotions. It has also enabled people know that the difficulties we meet is as a result of experiences that may have been met earlier or in the course of life. Therefore, a review of the past enshrined in psyche and present exhibited in soma can provide an insight on how we handle feelings associated with anxiety including thoughts and actions. References Erwin, E. 2002. The Freud encyclopedia: Theory, therapy, and culture. New York, NY: Routledge. Feist, J. & Feist, G. J. 2009. Freud: Psychoanalysis. In Ryan, M. (Ed.), Theories of personality. (7th ed., pp. 16-63). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Freud, S. 1936. Inhibitions, symptoms, and anxiety. 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Chicago: University of Chicago. Wolson, P. 2005. The existential dimension of psychoanalysis (EDP): Psychic survival and the fear of psychic death (nonbeing). Psychoanalytic Review, 92(5), 675-699. Read More