Evaluate the Extent to Which Freud's Theory of Psychosexual Development Can Help Us to Understand a Client's Presenting Issue?

Freud’s theory of personality examined the interplay between the primitive, instinctual urges—the ‘id’; the practical and rational ‘ego’; and the morally attuned ‘superego’; ‘object relations’ refer to the "object" of an instinct”, which is “the agent through which the instinctual aim is achieved”—most often a person and, according to Freud, most often the mother (Ainsworth 1969, p. 1). The psychosexual development theory that Freud launched reduces our behaviour to mechanistic responses to an instinctive need for pleasure fueled by the ‘libido’ and barriers or distortions to the gratification of the libido at various delineated stages of development were responsible for later problems in life (Kail & Zolner 2012, p. 5). Erik Erikson later added depth to the approach by including more humanistic elements to Freud’s stages and including more periods of development (p.

Psychoanalytic theories describe development as primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion. Psychoanalytic theorists emphasize that behavior is merely a surface characteristic and that true understanding of development requires analyzing the symbolic meanings of behavior and the deep inner workings of the mind. They also stress that the experiences children have with their parents earlier on in life shape development. The psychoanalytic theory highlighted by Sigmund Freud who was born in 1856 and died in 1939. As he listened to and examine his parents he was influenced they were the result of experiences early in life. He thought that as children grow up, their focus of pleasure and sexual impulses shifts from the mouth to the anus and eventually to the genitals. As a result, we go through five stages of psychosexual development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. The oral stage is when the infant’s pleasure centers on the mouth, the anal stage is when

. Freud’s commitment to the theory of “Psycho-Sexual” development of the person stems from his own childhood memories. He was born into a family that lived in a small space, with his half-brothers that look like adults and a father that looked like a grandfather. At a very young age he would record his dreams that exposed his fantasies. I believe he was confused about sex growing up that he is confused about his feelings about sex. His commitment to his theory was to decipher what was appropriate for the different stages of life. In order for Freud to make his feelings seem “normal”, he opened up peoples’ minds about the thought of a person and their sexual accumulation.

It is at puberty that the sexual nature of girls becomes feminine, that is, passive or receptive. Puberty for girls is marked by a fresh wave of repression in which it is precisely clitoral sexuality that is affected, thus overtaking the heretofore-active nature of a little girl's sexuality, and replacing it with a passive non-clitoral leading sexual zone focused on the vaginal orifice. The clitoris retains a role in sexual excitement but its task is in transmitting the excitation to the adjacent female sexual parts and is not the primary sexual zone as experienced in boys.

When a toddler is expelling the bowels, for example, while wearing diapers, this would be characterized as “anal expulsion”, but when the toddler starting the potting training process this is called the “anal retention”. Third, the phallic phase, whereas young boys encounter an Oedipus phase, much like the Oedipus complex, they fear the father and castration and has sexual fantasies about the mother. For a young girl she would enter the Electra phase, where she could acquire penis envy, which often can cause one to turn away from sexual life all together. After the phallic phase there is a pause of latency in the sexual development, though finally in the Genital phase sexual functions are organized and coordination of sexual urges involving pleasure is completed. “These investigations led him to conclude that childhood fears and experiences, often sexual in nature, accounted for neuroses-hysteria, anxiety, depression, often obsessions and so on” (Freud). Freud also claims that if there is an error that occurred in the sexual development it can result in homosexuality or sexual perversions in a person. Freud continues to explain that the child would get the appropriate gender-related behaviors enforced though indentifying with a same-sex parent, which would need to take place naturally.

This research paper will compare and contrast two of the most influencial psychologists who helped shape the way we understand the development of the human mind; Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. The paper will focus on the similarities and differences between Freud’s Psycho-sexual theory, and Erikson’s psychosocial theory. Freud was one of the very first influencial psychologists who changed the way we study humans. Erikson recognized Freud’s contributions, and although he felt Freud misjudged some important dimensions of human development, he was still influenced by Freud, which caused some similarities in their theories.

Freud was a renowned and respected theorist who is recognized for his development of personality theories, in fact, many other philosophers followed his beliefs to include Carl Jung. The “ Stages of Psychosexual Development are, like other stage theories, completed in a predetermined sequence and can result in either successful completion or a healthy personality or can result in failure, leading to an unhealthy personality” (Heffner, 2014). The stages of Freud’s theory of Psychosexual Development are the Oral Stage (Birth to 18 months), Anal stage (18 months to three years), Phallic Stage (ages three to six), Latency Stage (age six to puberty), and the Genital Stage (puberty on) (Heffner, 2014).

For us to understand Freud’s perspective, we must look at the structural model and psychosexual stages that he believed to be the driving forces that influences the human behaviour. Freud believed that we have a multilateral mental mechanism that consists of the Id, the Ego, and the Superego. The Id is based on the pleasure principle supplying strength for the development of mental life. The Ego is on the reality principle. It gains control over the primitive demands of the Id while taking in consideration the reality of the situation. The Superego behaves as a moral judge, when the Ego gratifies or tends to gratify the primitive

The main aim of this essay is to demonstrate an understanding of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development and how this theory may help us to explain and identify adult neurotic behaviour. I shall be evaluating the pros and cons of psychosexual theory and the extent to which it helps us to understand a client’s presenting issue. I shall also define and consider the relationship between the Id, Ego and Superego and the way in which these constructs of our psyche are in many ways representative of earlier experiences and of those early

The oral stage is associated with the mouth area as the infant gains pleasure from sucking, swallowing, biting and chewing. The psychological theme to the oral stage is dependency as a baby can do little for itself. Too much or too little fulfilment can result in Oral Fixation. This fixation will be carried onto later life, where this type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink, over eat and bite their nails. The anal stage is associated with the anal cavity and sphincter muscles of the bowel, which are now the main sources of pleasure. The child learns to control anal stimulation. Anal fixation can result in obsession with cleanliness and perfection. On the opposite side they may become disorganised and/or untidy. The phallic stage is associated with the genital area where this becomes the primary area pleasure. The child at this stage becomes aware of the sex differences; both boys and girls experience emotional feelings in relation to the opposite sex parent. The latency stage is the

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), was an influential Austrian psychologist and the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud went on to produce several theories, such as his theory on psychosexual development, which will be the focus of this assignment. Using the case study of a six-year-old patient, I will discuss the key principles of Freud’s theory on psychosexual development. Including, comprehensive definitions of the concepts used, and the stages of Freud’s psychosexual development. Lastly using Freud’s theory, I will explain how the patient’s current behaviour, could impact her behaviour in adulthood.

The Oedipus complex is when the boy is in love with his mother and fears castration if his father finds out about his fantasies. In the Electra complex the girl is in love with her father and desires to have a penis as a genital organ.

Nonetheless, the idea of penis envy becomes extremely important when examining Freud’s view on women for several reasons. Freud based the majority of his work on female sexual and personality development around penis envy, and Freud held the view that considered penis envy as natural and universal in all women (Slipp 16). According to Freud, the realization by the little girl that they had no penis was the defining moment in the realization of a female’s sexual identity. In The Feminist Legacy of Karen Horney, Marcia Westkott comments: “In sum, the Freudian concept of penis envy explains all one needs to understand of female behavior” (53). Freud

Latency, the fourth stage of psychosexual development, begins around age six and ends around age eleven. The traumas that occur in the phallic stage cause the sexual urges to be suppressed and channeled into focusing on education and play. The fifth and final stage of psychosexual development is known as the genital phase that starts around age twelve and continues on. During the final stage puberty causes the sexual urges to return and adolescents must learn to how to conduct them in an acceptable manner. If a

More specifically, Freud traces the roots of all adult behaviors back to childhood impulses and showed how conflicts related to the development of sexuality in childhood subsequently results in psychopathology or neuroses. (Good & Beitman)