Freud and Psychoanalysis - Case Study Example

Freud and Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud is one of the most famous s in psychiatric history.His ideas regarding the mind and how it works were revolutionary for his time and have provided scientists and therapists with significant insights regarding how to treat their patients. Psychoanalytic theory provides an understandable framework within which the various interactions and processes of thought take place, giving us a map of sorts to try to understand what makes us what we are. Working from a historical framework of theories and ideas, Freud developed his psychoanalytic theory from an intuitive sense of the workings of the subconscious mind studied and demonstrated within a scientific arena. Introduction No matter what level of education an individual might have, it is likely he or she is familiar with the name of Sigmund Freud. Freud’s name is now synonymous with the theory of psychoanalysis. It is a science he essentially invented near the beginning of the 19th century. Sigmund Freud began his career as a medical doctor. He worked in Vienna with mental patients and it is because of this work that he is today considered one of the founding fathers of modern day psychology. It was while working with these patients that Freud developed the psychoanalytic theory. Clearly, Freud’s original training was not in the field that he started. He originally worked as a neurologist, but the common method of treating patients was to use hypnosis, something Freud wasn’t very good at but which forced him to take a more imaginative approach to treating the mind that would revolutionize the way people thought about thought (Robbins, 1999). Although Freud was obviously not the first individual to study how the mind worked and he would obviously not be the last, Freud is given credit for making the first major break-through in treating the mind as an entity existing at least partially separate from the body. He identified that there were at least three different levels of thought and realized that these levels interacted and intertwined. Putting these pieces together led to his development of psychotherapy. Freud classified three major components as comprising an individual’s psyche. These were the id, the ego and the superego. This intuitive leap from biological function to mental processes did not occur by accident. To fully understand Freud’s theories, his theoretical model of the human mind and how these ideas translate into his theories regarding human culture, it is necessary to understand how these ideas developed as well as how Freud expressed them to the world. Foundational Concepts Because of his origins in the medical field, it is not surprising to discover Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was strongly rooted in the medical fields of 19th century biology and physics. Among the most prominent thinkers of the day was Hermann von Helmholtz, recognized as “a master and leader in mathematics, and in biology, and in physics” (Koenigsberger, 1906, p. iii). Helmholtz provided a great many ideas regarding how the world worked, at least one of which fed very naturally and strongly into Freud’s thought. Helmholtz’s dynamic theory of energy suggests that “energy cannot be destroyed but can only be transformed into other states. Drawing upon this notion of undestroyable energy, Freud formulated a dynamic psychology, one of whose key points is that whenever a psychic drive or urge is suppressed, repressed or driven below (or out of) consciousness, its energy inevitably appears elsewhere” (Landow, 1988). This idea is reflected in Freud’s work Civilization and its Discontents (1930), particularly as he discusses the aggressive energy associated with the super-ego. “According to one view, that energy merely carries on the punitive energy of the external authority and keeps it alive in the mind; while, according to another view, it consists, on the contrary, of one’s own aggressive energy which has not been used and which one now directs against that inhibiting authority” (Freud, 1930: 85). Building upon this idea, Freud also highlights this concept of energy transfer as a key contributor to the development of guilt: “When an instinctual trend undergoes repression, its libidinal elements are turned into symptoms, and its aggressive components into a sense of guilt” (Freud, 1930: 86). Working under this theory, Freud suggests that guilt is a form of aggressive energy created by thwarted desire which must discover an alternate outlet because it cannot simply be destroyed by its controlling force. The concept of the controlling force existing within the same sphere that also generated the inappropriate desire as well as the element capable of feeling guilt thus contributed to Freud’s model of the human mind. However, there were other elements that contributed as well. Prior to the turn of the last century, psychiatrists generally did not consider dreams or other manifestations of the unconscious mind as important elements of an individual’s psyche. Many doctors held to a belief that dreams were created through some sort of outside, supernatural influence capable of transmitting messages during the sleep state. While some considered this external element to be spiritually based – as in God or the Devil – others considered it to be manifestations of gases or other materials trapped within the body as a result of eating improper foods too close to bedtime. There were several doctors and scientists who were already focusing on dreams as potentially having a greater significance on the waking mind of the individual, such as Von Schubert and Albert Scherner (Ewen, 2003, p. 8), but it was Freud’s findings that significantly and forever altered these perceptions of the dream state. Freud’s Concepts of the Mind By with the dream state, Freud hypothesized that the individual’s own mind created the images and experiences found in the dreams he or she experienced as a means of providing clues to a deeper awareness. While truly radical for his time, this is an idea that is today taken for granted by psychiatrists, scientists and laymen alike. “Freud’s theory on dreams became as significant to modern therapy, as the theory of relativity was to physics. He was the first person to demonstrate that dreams came from within you, it was not some spirit coming from the outside. But, dreams were created by the person himself” (Reynolds, 1999). Rather than meaningless images sent from the cheese one had for dinner, Freud insisted that dreams are the primary bridge connecting the conscious to the unconscious mind. Understood from this perspective, dreams were revealed to be representations of an individual’s unfulfilled conscious aspirations which remained unfulfilled in actuality. Freud claimed that the dream itself was “made up of images called the manifest content, or those seemingly random images that disguised the true message of the dream” (Reynolds, 1999). He called this true message of the dream the latent content. In order to discover the latent substance of dreams, Freud theorized that the manifest content must be scrutinized through a known technique termed association. Essentially, the recognized practice of association can be characterized as informed ‘brainstorming.’ In practice, the patient is asked to recall an image remembered from within the dream and then describe it as fully as possible using ideas and words available to them. One of the most important elements of this practice is to complete this description without concern as to how disturbing or peculiar the images might seem to the conscious mind. “He believed that traumatic dreams such as getting in a car accident could re-occur in order to help a person overcome something bad that happened in their life” (Reynolds, 1999). What perhaps assisted Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis and dream therapy gain in reputation was the success discovered in using this theory following World War II and the treatment of soldiers who had experienced traumatic physical, emotional and psychological injuries. “Probably 90 percent of our thinking is outside of our awareness. Freud was the first person to really study the way the person’s mind works unconsciously” (Reynolds, 1999). It has been established that the concept of the unconscious mind existed well before Freud began his work on the psychoanalytic theory and that the concept of hypnosis had been around for at least a century prior. However, Freud’s understanding of the effects of hypnosis in the treatment of the mind, as well as why these effects manifested themselves, ultimately led to his development of the psychoanalytic process and the concepts that comprise it. To place his theory in very basic terms, Freud suggested that the human mind was essentially made up of three primary elements, which he called the Id, the Ego and the Super-ego. The id is identified as the essentially biological element of the human mind in which basic impulses and instinctual desires are conceived. “Just picture the hungry infant, screaming itself blue. It doesn’t ‘know’ what it wants in any adult sense; it just knows that it wants it and it wants it now” (Boeree, 2006). The conscious mind is most closely associated with the ego. This is the socializing element of the human mind. It functions to help individuals navigate through the outer world by forcing the otherwise inappropriate impulses and desires of the id into more socially acceptable bounds. This element of the mind is itself ruled over by the super-ego, which is what most people consider as their conscience. It is in this area of the mind that judgments are made determining whether the individual’s decision to act or not to act on a specific impulse, including the methods by which that action was pursued, was a good or bad decision. It is also this area of the mind that dispenses punishment whenever the rules are broken. It does this in the form of guilt. “Put more idiomatically: The Id says, ‘I want it now!!’; The Ego says, ‘No wait, please. Accept this substitute’ (sublimation); and the Superego judges either ‘Well done!’ or ‘You shouldnt have done that. Now you will have to suffer guilt.’” (Landow, 1988). With the idea of the preconscious mind, Freud suggested the possibility that the conscious and unconscious mind were linked in very sophisticated ways, in which each element had the ability to affect the other in a process that was ultimately geared toward individual protection and defense against traumatic events. It is this conflict between doing what the individual wants to do, doing what he or she needs to do and doing what he or she feels is right and moral that leads to the development of individual defense mechanisms (Gay, 1989). Freud’s Defense Mechanisms Freud suggested that the human mind has developed numerous different types of defense mechanisms designed to be used to meet differing situations depending on the issues the individual is dealing with and the types of anxiety that might be caused. Repression is generally considered to be the foundation mechanism for all other defense mechanisms. It occurs as a means of completely blocking out unacceptable impulses from the individual’s conscious state. According to Gay (1989), repression is the foundation from which all other defense mechanisms function; the goal of every defense mechanism is to repress, or push threatening impulses out of awareness. This mechanism makes it possible for a child who has experienced early abuse to completely block out all memory of the abuse, or even that the abuser was a part of their life. One of the problems with repression, though, is that a person may develop a phobia associated with this repressed memory bringing related fears into the open without any memory of the originating cause for that fear (Clark, 2004). Repression itself is an unconscious reaction to a traumatic event or threatening feelings (Just, 2008). From repression, there are a host of other recognized forms of defense mechanisms. Denial is a somewhat similar defense mechanism to that of repression in that the mind actively works to ignore a given situation, perceived threatening impulse or other unpleasant idea. However, in the case of denial, there is still some conscious understanding of the cause of anxiety. “As a defense mechanism, denial becomes more difficult to maintain as one matures. Its use requires much energy and the mind looks at other possibilities of defense” (Clark, 2004). Rationalization “simply involves making excuses to defend the behavior, or defend how you might feel about it” (Clark, 2004). The process of displacement enables the individual to transfer their negative feelings about an event or person to a less threatening target. This is done as a means of relieving the tension without dealing with the issue. The process of suppression involves the individual consciously not thinking about an event because they realize thinking about it will bring up sad or unpleasant feelings (Just, 2008). Projection is another form of unconscious defense mechanism. This one allows the individual to transfer any unacceptable personal traits onto others. Reaction formation involves converting an individual’s unacceptable wishes into more acceptable behaviors. “This defense goes a step further than projection to the point of not even acknowledging unwanted impulses or thoughts and convincing yourself you are not one of ‘them’ who do engage in those patterns” (Clark, 2004). Sublimation has been identified since the days of Freud as the driving force behind most human aggression. This unconscious mechanism involves redirecting a threatening or forbidden hidden desire into a more socially acceptable behavior. “This is similar to displacement but operates on an unconscious level” (Just, 2008). Freud’s Theories Expanded Freud’s theories have been expanded in many different ways since he first published them. One of the more interesting ways in which this has been done is in the transfer of the concepts to a wider social sphere. In much the same way that the individual is seen to develop first an ego then a super-ego from the natural state of the id, Freud discovered a similar process occurring at the social level. Beginning from the level of the id as the social unit comes to recognize itself, the next phase of the social unit is to discover and judge whether or not its doing a good job as a unit as determined by the community members’ standards. “It can be asserted that the community, too, evolves a super-ego under whose influence cultural development proceeds” (Freud, 1930, p. 88). This social super-ego, Freud says, is based on the various ideas and reputations of the great leaders within the community who have distinguished themselves through their “great force of mind” or other strongest form of expression. Far from being recognized as sage ones during their lifetimes, Freud suggests most, if not all, of the great leaders of the past were not recognized as such while they were alive and often experienced torturous deaths as they stood in support of their cause. However, these heroes are then later defined as honored men who had the courage to stand strong in their sense of ethics and morale. “The cultural super-ego has developed its ideals and set up its demands. Among the latter, those which deal with the relations of human beings to one another are comprised under the heading of ethics” (Freud, 1930, p. 89). Having established this strong relationship, in which the individual’s development is seen to closely mirror the development of a civilization, Freud asks the question whether a rigid control by the cultural super-ego might lead to some of the societal neuroses which would be comparable to those experienced by individuals. Conclusion Freud’s development of the psycho-analytic theory leads him to conclusions that have long-reaching effects not only on psychology, but also many other fields outside of the strict realm of psychiatry. Literary works began to take on new depth of character, or new modes of communication, such as Gertrude Stein’s free association exploration novel with the simple Freudian title “Id.” Literary criticism also took on new flavor as not only the characters, but the authors were examined for their mental state at the time of writing or for true to life motivations for actions taken. Film was equally affected as the viewing public demanded a more realistic, full-bodied and full-minded character regardless of the film genre. Another field significantly affected by Freud’s theories was that of philosophy. As more and more understanding emerged regarding the ideas Freud brought forward, such as transference, libido and repression, as well as the involvement of dreams in revealing what this inner mind was thinking, philosophy began to take a closer look at such theories as Marxism and feminist ideas. Even the world of advertising was overhauled with the widespread acceptance of Freud’s ideas as commercials began to take on more subconscious imagery as a means of selling a product by appealing to a deeper level of being. With his observations regarding the true nature of religion, Freud managed to offset the balance of theology enough to spur new debate and discussion in that field. Finally, by making connections between the neuroses of individuals and the similarities between the individual mind and the community structure, he was able to suggest new directions for sociology. References Boeree, C. George. (2006). “Sigmund Freud.” Personality Theories. Shippensburg: Shippensburg University. Clark, Patricia. (2004). “An Introduction to the Defenses.” Back to School – The Psych Major. Michigan: East Michigan University. Ewen, Robert B. (2003). An Introduction to Theories of Personality. London: Psychology Press. Freud, Sigmund. (1930). Civilization and its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton. Gay, Peter. (1989). The Freud Reader. New York: W.W. Norton. Just, Helen. (2008). Freud: Defense Mechanisms. Austin: St. Edwards University. Koenigsberger, Leo. (1906). Hermann von Helmholtz. Madison: Clarendon Press. Landow, George P. (1988). “Freud and Freudianism.” Intermedia. Providence: Brown University. Reynolds, Cynthia. (November 2, 1999). “The Dream According to Freud.” Science Today. Robbins, Brent Dean. (1999). “Sigmund Freud.” Mythos and Logos. Philadelphia: Point Park University. Read More