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2023/10/24

Freud


Freud and Personality Part One


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Freud's work had a profound impact on modern understanding of the mind, sexuality, and morality, but it was also controversial. His approach has been criticized for its assumptions about gender and its emphasis on the role of mothers in personality development. Despite these criticisms, Freud's work remains highly influential in clinical psychotherapy and psychoanalytic theory.

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Freud's concept of the mind (Gould,& Howson 2021):

  • ID
    • The primitive, instinctual part of the mind that seeks immediate gratification of needs and desires. It is present at birth and is the source of our libido and aggressive drives.
  • Ego
    • The rational part of the mind mediates between the demands of the id and the constraints of reality and the superego It is responsible for planning, decision-making, and problem-solving.
  • Superego
    • The moralistic part of the mind internalizes society's values and standards of behavior. It acts as a conscience and strives for perfection.


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Development of the Ego and Superego  (Gould,& Howson 2021):

  • Infancy
    • The id is dominant during infancy, as the infant focuses on meeting its basic needs for food, water, and shelter
  • Early childhood -ages one to three
    • The ego begins to develop as we interact with others, typically the mother. We learn that we can not always have what we need to be met immediately and must delay gratification
  • Middle childhood- ages three to five
    • Our superego develops as we internalize society's values and standards of behavior. We learn what is right and wrong and feel guilty when we behave in a way that violates the superego's standards.

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2023/10/23

SIGMUND FREUD

Lecture Three

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In December of 1908, the Viennese physician Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) received an intriguing invitation from the American psychologist G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924), inviting him to visit Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and deliver a series of lectures describing his novel views about abnormal psychology. The invitation was intriguing partly because it came from one of the senior and most influential figures in American psychology. ( Freud, 1925)

 

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  • In Freud's third lecture, he corrects his previous statement that the first idea a patient produces is always the repressed thought. He explains that the patient's resistance to revealing the repressed thought often leads to the production of surrogate ideas, which are related to the repressed thought in some way but are not identical to it.
  • Freud compares the surrogate idea to witticism, which is an indirect expression of a thought that would be considered unacceptable or dangerous to express directly. He also compares the surrogate idea to an ore, which must be refined in order to reveal its valuable content.

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  • In this lecture, Freud emphasizes the importance of dreams in psychoanalysis. He argues that dreams are the royal road to the unconscious and that anyone who wants to understand the psychoses must first understand dreams.
  • In this lecture, Freud notes that dreams are often dismissed as meaningless or unimportant. However, he argues that this is a mistake. Dreams are actually quite meaningful, but their meaning is often disguised. The disguise is the result of the work of the censor, a part of the mind that prevents our repressed thoughts and feelings from reaching consciousness
  • Freud then goes on to explain how to interpret dreams. The key to dream interpretation is to free associate from each element of the dream. Free association is a technique in which the dreamer is free to associate with each element of the dream. Free association is a technique in which the dreamer says whatever comes to mind, without judgement or censorship. By free-associating from each element of the dream, the dreamer can uncover the latent dream thoughts. By free-associating from each element of the dream, the dreamer can uncover latent dream thoughts, which are the unconscious thoughts and feelings that underlie the dream.

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Freud also discusses the process of dream work, which is the process by which the latent dream thoughts are disguised into the manifest dream. Two main mechanisms of dream work are:

  1. Condensation
    1. Combining multiple thoughts and feelings into a single dream element.
  2. Displacement          

    Shifting the emphasis away from the most important aspects of the dream and onto less important facts.

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Freud states that dream work is similar to the process of symptom formation. In both cases, the unconscious is trying to disguise its contents from the conscious mind. However, by understanding dream work, we can gain access to the unconscious and learn more about our repressed thoughts and feelings.


  • Freud discusses some of the other important insights that psychoanalysis has gained from the study of dreams:
  • Early childhood experiences
    • Help shape our adult personalities. Our childhood selves continue to exist within us, even though we may have repressed many of our childhood desires and impulses.
  • Symbolism in dreams.
    • The unconscious often uses symbols to represent sexual and other repressed material. This symbolism can be both individual and universal, and Freud suggests that it may be the same symbolism that is used in myths and legends.
  • Anxiety dreams.
    • Complex and require interpretation.
    • can be a way for the ego to relieve itself of repressed wishes that have become too strong.
    • They contradict the idea that dreams are wish fulfillment.
  • Everyday mental phenomena.
    • Slips of the tongue and bungling of acts
    • The above are not simply accidents, but they have meaning and can be used to uncover repressed thoughts and feelings.

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The psychoanalytic technique is a powerful tool for uncovering repressed thoughts and feelings. It is based on the following principles:

  • Free association
    • The patient is encouraged to say whatever comes to mind, without judgment or censorship
  • Dream Interpretation
    • Symbolic expressions of unconscious desires and conflicts
  • Analysis of slips of the tongue and other everyday mental phenomena
    • Can also be used to uncover repressed material
  • Transference
    • The patient's relationship with the therapist can be used to explore the patient's unconscious conflicts.

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  • Freud also states in this lecture that psychoanalysis is not only a therapeutic tool but also a valuable research tool in which we can learn more about the normal and abnormal mind.

Freud cautions that many people are resistant to the idea of the unconscious mind and that this resistance is strongest in people who are struggling to repress unconscious thoughts and feelings.






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Freud, S. (1925). The origin and development of psychoanalysis. An Outline of Psychoanalysis., 21–70. https://doi.org/10.1037/11350-001

2023/10/22

Freud

 LECTURE TWO


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Sigmund Freud, a Viennese physician, was invited by G. Stanley Hall, a senior and influential American psychologist, to visit Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and deliver a series of lectures on his novel views about abnormal psychology. The invitation was significant because it came from a leading figure in American psychology and because Clark University was a prestigious institution. The lecture series was part of a conference to celebrate the university's 20th anniversary, which was expected to attract the best American professors and students of psychology and psychiatry.

 

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  • In Freud's second lecture he discusses the development of his own theory of hysteria, which was influenced by the work of Charcot and Janet. He begins by noting that Charcot had shown that physical trauma could cause hysterical symptoms, and Janet had proposed a theory of hysteria based on the idea of mental dissociation.
  • Freud disagrees with Janet's view that hysteria is a form of degenerative alteration of the nervous system. He argues that hysteria is caused by repressed memories of traumatic experiences. He also argues that hypnosis is not necessary for the treatment of hysteria and that patients can be cured by helping them to recall and process their repressed memories.
  • Freud concludes by discussing his own technique for uncovering repressed memories, which he called the "talking cure." This technique involved having patients talk about their symptoms and their life experiences in a state of deep concentration. Freud believed that this process would help patients to bring their repressed memories to the surface and to overcome their symptoms.

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  • Freud provides an example of repression from his own practice. He treated a young woman who had developed hysterical symptoms after her sister died. The woman has forgotten a scene from her sister's deathbed, in which she had fantasized about marrying her brother-in-law. Freud was able to help the woman remember this scene and process her feelings about it, which led to the resolution of her symptoms.
  • Freud uses an analogy to explain his take on the process of repression in more detail. He imagines a rowdy individual who is disrupting his lecture. The audience members eject the rowdy individual from the hall, but they then post guards at the door to prevent him from returning. This is analogous to the way that the mind represses unwanted thoughts and feelings. 
  • Freud states that repression can sometimes have negative consequences. Fo example, if a repressed thought or feeling is very intense, it can manifest itself in the form of physical symptoms or psychological problems. However, Freud also believes that repression can be a useful defense mechanism, as it can help to protect the mind from overwhelming emotions.

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Freud believes that psychoanalysis can help people to cure their neuroses by helping them to bring their repressed desires to the surface and to process them In a healthy way. Freud compares this process to the role of a mediator who can help two parties to resolve a conflict.

In Freud's example of the rowdy individual disrupting the lecture, the audience members as as the ego, which is the part of the mind that is responsible for consciousness and reality testing. The rowdy individual represents the repressed desire, which is trying to force its way into consciousness. Freud is the mediator, who helps the ego to come to terms with the repressed desire in a way that is acceptable to both sides.


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References

 

Freud, S. (1925). The origin and development of psychoanalysis. An Outline of Psychoanalysis., 21–70. https://doi.org/10.1037/11350-001

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Sigmund Freud


    LECTURE ONE


Sigmund Freud, a Viennese physician, was invited by G. Stanley Hall, a senior and


influential American psychologist, to visit Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and deliver a series of lectures on his novel views about abnormal psychology. The invitation was significant because it came from a leading figure in American psychology and because Clark University was a prestigious institution. The lecture series was part of a conference to celebrate the university's 20th anniversary, which was expected to attract the best American professors and students of psychology and psychiatry.

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  • Sigmund Freud was lecturing on the history of psychoanalysis to an audience of non-medical professionals. He begins by stating that he is not the creator of psychoanalysis, but rather that he was inspired by the work of Dr. Joseph Breuer.
  • Freud then proceeds to give a brief case study of one of Breuer's patients who was a young woman who was suffering from a variety of physical and mental symptoms, including paralysis, blindness, and loss of speech. Breuer hypothesized that the patient's symptoms were not due to a physical illness, but to hysteria which is a mental disorder characterized by a variety of physical symptoms that have an organic basis.


  • Freud then proceeds to give a brief case study of one of Breuer's patients, a young woman who was suffering from a variety of physical and mental symptoms, including paralysis, blindness, and loss of speech. Breuer hypothesized that the patient's symptoms were not due to a physical illness, but instead to hysteria, a mental disorder characterized by various physical symptoms that have no organic basis.
  • Breur developed a new method of treating hysteria, which he called psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis involves having the patient talk about her symptoms and her life experiences in order to bring unconscious conflicts and emotions to the surface. Breuer/s patient eventually recovered from her symptoms after undergoing psychoanalysis.
  • Freud was impressed by Breuer's success in treating this patient, and he began to develop his own theories and techniques of psychoanalysis. Freud eventually became the most famous and influential psychoanalyst in history.

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The patient, who was given the pseudonym Anna O, suffered from a variety of physical and mental symptoms. Dr. Breuer hypothesized that her symptoms were caused by repressed memories of traumatic events in her life.

Over time, Anna O. was able to recall and process many of her repressed memories, and her symptoms began to disappear. One example, Anna was able to cure her symptom of being unable to drink water by remembering a time when she had seen her dog drink from a glass and became disgusted.

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  • Freud continues discussing the role of repressed memories and emotions in the development of hysteria. One of Anna O's repressed memories that she remembered was a time when she saw a snake near her sick father's bed.


Freud compares hysterical symptoms to memory symbols, such as the monuments in London that commemorate historical events. He argues that hysterics, like the people who would stand all day in from of these monuments, are fixated on the past and unable to live in the present.

Freud then discusses the two factors that contribute to the development of hysteria:

  1. repressed emotions
    1. When people suppress their emotions, these emotions become converted into physical symptoms and Freud calls this "hysterical conversion."
  2. abnormal bodily innervations.

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  • Breuer also discovered that it was possible to cure these symptoms by having the patients recall these experiences under hypnosis.
  • In Freud's lecture, he states that these findings can be explained by the existence of unconscious mental states. These states are separate from conscious awareness and can continue to influence the mind and body even if the person is not aware of them.

  • In this lecture, Freud criticizes Breuer's concept of hypnoidal states as being too narrow. Freud argued that the unconscious mental states can have a variety of causes, including childhood experiences, repressed emotions, and conflicts.
  • Freud concludes this first lecture by stating that psychoanalysis is still in its early stages of development and that it has the potential to provide a comprehensive explanation of the causes and treatment of hysteria.

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References

 Freud, S. (1925). The origin and development of psychoanalysis. An Outline of Psychoanalysis., 21–70. https://doi.org/10.1037/11350-001


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