1. Why did freud turn to pschyology to treat his patients?

Sigmund Freud was born in 1856, before the advent of telephones, radios,
automobiles, airplanes, and a host of other material and cultural changes that had
taken place by the time of his death in 1939. Freud saw the entirety of the first
World War–a war that destroyed the empire whose capital city was his home for
more than seventy years–and the beginning of the next. He began his career as an
ambitious but isolated neurologist; by the end of it, he described himself, not
inaccurately, as someone who had had as great an impact on humanity's conception
of itself as had Copernicus and Darwin.

Freud's most obvious impact was to change the way society thought about and dealt
with mental illness. Before psychoanalysis, which Freud invented, mental illness was
almost universally considered 'organic'; that is, it was thought to come from some
kind of deterioration or disease of the brain. Research on treating mental illness was
primarily concerned–at least theoretically–with discovering exactly which kinds of
changes in the brain led to insanity. Many diseases did not manifest obvious signs of
physical difference between healthy and diseased brains, but it was assumed that
this was simply because the techniques for finding the differences were not yet
sufficient.

The conviction that physical diseases of the brain caused mental illness meant that
psychological causes–the kinds that Freud would insist on studying–were ignored. It
also meant that people drew a sharp dividing line between the "insane" and the
"sane." Insane people were those with physical diseases of the brain. Sane people
were those without diseased brains.

Freud changed all of this. Despite his background in physicalism (learned during his
stay in Ernst Brücke's laboratory), his theories explicitly rejected the purely organic
explanations of his predecessors. One of Freud's biggest influences during his early
days as a neurologist was Jean-Martin Charcot, the famous French psychiatrist.
Charcot claimed that hysteria had primarily organic causes, and that it had a regular,
comprehensible pattern of symptoms. Freud agreed with Charcot on the latter point,
but he disagreed entirely on the former. In essence, Freud claimed that neurotic
people had working hardware, but faulty software. Earlier psychiatrists like Charcot,
in contrast, had claimed that the problems were entirely in the hardware. As
psychoanalysis became increasingly popular, psychology and psychiatry turned away
from the search for organic causes and toward the search for inner psychic conflicts
and early childhood traumas. As a consequence, the line between sane and insane
was blurred: everyone, according to Freud, had an Oedipal crisis, and everyone could
potentially become mentally ill.

Psychoanalysis has had an enormous impact on the practice of psychiatry,

particularly within the United States, but today it is regarded by most sources–
medical, academic, governmental, and others–as almost entirely incorrect in its
conception of the mind. This judgment is based on the crucial test of psychoanalysis:
whether or not it really helps patients with behavioral or psychological problems.
The consensus is that is does not. Psychoanalysis in its many varieties appears to
have little or no efficacy in treating mental illness. In contrast, psychopharmacology
and cognitive- behavioral therapies (therapies that simply try to change what the
patient thinks and does rather than analyzing the causes of the behavior), while far
from perfect, do appear to help.

If this is true–and we have a great deal of evidence that it is–why is Freud still so
important? Why do we generally speak of him as a great figure in Western thought,
instead of as a strange and misguided figure of turn-of-the- century Europe?

or
There are at least two reasons. The first is purely practical: psychoanalysis has
enormous historical significance. Mental illness affects an large proportion of the
population, either directly or indirectly, so any curative scheme as widely accepted
as was Freud's is important to our history in general. The second, more important,
reason is that Freud gave people a new way of thinking about why they acted the
way they did. He created a whole new way of interpreting behaviors: one could now
claim that a person had motives, desires, and beliefs–all buried in the unconscious–
which they knew nothing about but which nonetheless directly controlled and
motivated their conscious thought and behavior. This hypothesis, derived from but
independent of Freud's psychiatric work, was the truly radical part of his system of
thought.

 Freud has been influential in two related, but distinct ways. He

simultaneously developed a theory of the human mind and human behavior,
and a clinical technique for helping unhappy (i.e. neurotic) people. Many
people claim to have been influenced by one but not the other.

 Perhaps the most significant contribution Freud has made to modern thought
is his conception of the unconscious. During the 19th century the dominant
trend in Western thought was positivism, the claim that people could
accumulate real knowledge about themselves and their world, and exercise
rational control over both. Freud, however, suggested that these claims were
in fact delusions; that we are not entirely aware of what we even think, and
often act for reasons that have nothing to do with our conscious thoughts.
The concept of the unconscious was groundbreaking in that he proposed that
awareness existed in layers and there were thoughts occurring "below the
surface." Dreams, called the "royal road to the unconscious" provided the
best examples of our unconscious life, and in The Interpretation of Dreams
Freud both developed the argument that the unconscious exists, and
developed a method for gaining access to it.

 The Preconscious was described as a layer between conscious and
unconscious thought - that which we could access with a little effort. (The
term "subconscious" while popularly used, is not actually part of
psychoanalytical terminology.) Although there are still many adherents to a
purely positivist and rationalist view, most people, including many who reject
other elements of Freud's work, accept the claim that part of the mind is
unconscious, and that people often act for reasons of which they are not
conscious.

 Crucial to the operation of the unconscious is "repression." According to
Freud, people often experience thoughts and feelings that are so painful that
people cannot bear them. Such thoughts and feelings - and associated
memories - could not, Freud argued, be banished from the mind, but could
be banished from consciousness. Thus they come to constitute the
unconscious. Although Freud later attempted to find patterns of repression
among his patients in order to derive a general model of the mind, he also
observed that individual patients repress different things. Moreover, Freud
observed that the process of repression is itself a non-conscious act (in other
words, it did not occur through people willing away certain thoughts or
feelings). Freud supposed that what people repressed was in part determined
by their unconscious. In other words, the unconscious was for Freud both a
cause and effect of repression.



 Freud sought to explain how the unconscious operates by proposing that it
has a particular structure. He proposed that the unconscious was divided into
three parts: Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id (Latin, = "it" = es in the original
German) represented primary process thinking - our most primitive need
gratification type thoughts. The Superego represented our conscience and
counteracted the Id with moral and ethical thoughts. The Ego stands in
between both to balance our primitive needs and our moral/ethical beliefs. A
healthy ego provides the ability to adapt to reality and interact with the
outside world in a way that accommodates both Id and Superego. The
general claim that the mind is not a monolithic or homogeneous thing
continues to have an enormous influence on people outside of psychology.
Many, however, have questioned or rejected the specific claim that the mind
is divided into these three components.

 Freud was especially concerned with the dynamic relationship between these
three parts of the mind. Freud argued that the dynamic is driven by innate
drives. But he also argued that the dynamic changes in the context of
changing social relationships. Some have criticized Freud for giving too much
 importance to one or the other of these factors; similarly, many of Freud's
followers have focused on one or the other.

 Freud developed the concept of overdetermination to account for the
multiple determining causes in the interpretation of dreams rather than rely
on a simple model of one-to-one correspondence between causes and
effects.

 Freud believed that humans were driven by two instinctive drives, libidinal
energy/Eros and the death instinct/thanatos. Freud's description of
Eros/Libido included all creative, life-producing instincts. The Death Instinct
represented an instinctive drive to return to a state of calm, or non-existence
and was based on his studies of protozoa. (See: Beyond the Pleasure
Principle). Many have challenged the scientific basis for this claim.

 Freud also believed that the libido developed in individuals by changing its
object. He argued that humans are born "polymorphously perverse,"
meaning that any number of objects could be a source of pleasure. He
further argued that as humans developed they fixated on different, and
specific, objects - first oral (exemplified by an infant's pleasure in nursing),
then anal (exemplified by a toddler's pleasure in controlling his or her
bowels), then phallic. Freud argued that children then passed through a stage
where they fixated on the parent of the opposite sex. Freud sought to anchor
this pattern of development in the dynamics of the mind. Each stage is a
progression into adult sexual maturity, characterized by a strong ego and the
ability to delay need gratification. (see Three Essays on the Theory of
Sexuality.)

 Freud's model of psycho-sexual development has been criticized from
different perspectives. Some have attacked Freud's claim that infants are
sexual beings (and, implicitly, Freud's expanded notion of sexuality). Others
have accepted Freud's expanded notion of sexuality, but have argued that
this pattern of development is not universal, nor necessary for the
development of a healthy adult. Instead, they have emphasized the social
and environmental sources of patterns of development. Moreover, they call
attention to social dynamics Freud de-emphasized or ignored (such as class
relations).

 Freud hoped to prove that his model, based primarily on observations of
middle-class Viennese, was universally valid. He thus turned to ancient
mythology and contemporary ethnography for comparative material. Freud
used the Greek tragedy by Sophocles Oedipus Rex to point out how much we
(specifically, young boys) desire incest, and must repress that desire. The
Oedipus conflict was described as a state of psychosexual development and
 awareness. He also turned to anthropological studies of totemism and argued
that totemism reflected a ritualized enactment of an tribal Oedipal conflict
(see Totemism and Taboo). Although many scholars today are intrigued by
Freud's attempts to re-analyze cultural material, most have rejected his
specific interpretations as forced.


 Freud hoped that his research would provide a solid scientific basis for his
therapeutic technique. The goal of Freudian therapy, or psychoanalysis, was
to bring to consciousness repressed thoughts and feelings, in order to allow
the patient to develop a stronger ego. Classically, the bringing of unconscious
thoughts and feelings to consciousness is brought about by encouraging the
patient to talk in "free-association" and to talk about dreams. Another
important element of psychoanalysis is a relative lack of direct involvement
on the part of the analyst, which is meant to encourage the patient to project
thoughts and feelings onto the analyst. Through this process, called
"transference," the patient can reenact and resolve repressed conflicts,
especially childhood conflicts with (or about) parents.

 A lesser known interest of Freud's was neurology. He was an early researcher
on the topic of cerebral palsy, then known as "cerebral paralysis". He
published several medical papers on the topic. He also showed that the
disease existed far before other researchers in his day began to notice and
study it. He also suggested that William Little, the man who first identified
cerebral palsy, was wrong about lack of oxygen during the birth process being
a cause. Instead, he suggested that complications in birth were only a
symptom of the problem. It was not until the 1980s when his speculations
were confirmed by more modern research.

 Freudian theory and practice have been challenged by empirical findings over
the years. Some people continue to train in, and practice, traditional Freudian
psychoanalysis, but most psychiatrists today reject the large majority of
Freud's work as unsupported by evidence and best used for inspiration or
historical study, if at all. Although Freud developed his method for the
treatment of neuroses, some people today seek out psychoanalysis not as a
cure for an illness, but as part of a process of self-discovery.

 Freudian Psychoanalysis, Psychology, and Psychiatry
 Freud trained as a medical doctor, and consistently claimed that his research
methods and conclusions were scientific. Nevertheless, his research and
practice were condemned by many of his peers. Moreover, both critics and
followers of Freud have observed that his basic claim, that many of our
conscious thoughts and actions are motivated by unconscious fears and
desires, implicitly challenges universal and objective claims about the world
 (proponents of science conclude that this invalidates Freudian theory;
proponents of Freud conclude that this invalidates science). Psychoanalysis
today maintains the same ambivalent relationship with medicine and
academia that Freud experienced during his life.

Clinical psychologists, who seek to treat mental illness, relate to Freudian

psychoanalysis in different ways. Some clinical psychologists have modified this
approach and have developed a variety of "psychodynamic" models and therapies.
Other clinical psychologists reject Freud's model of the mind, but have adapted
elements of his therapeutic method, especially his reliance on patients' talking as a
form of therapy. Experimental psychologists generally reject Freud's methods and
theories. Like Freud, Psychiatrists train as medical doctors, but - like most medical
doctors in Freud's time - most reject his theory of the mind, and generally rely more
on drugs than talk in their treatments.

Freud's psychological theories are hotly disputed today and many leading academic
and research psychiatrists regard him as a charlatan. Although Freud was long
regarded as a genius, psychiatry and psychology have long since been recast as
scientific disciplines, and psychiatric disorders are generally considered diseases of
the brain whose etiology is principally genetic. Freud's lessening influence in
psychiatry is thus largely due to the repudiation of his theories and the adoption of
many of the basic scientific principles of Freud's principal opponent in the field of
psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin. In his book "The Freudian Fraud", research psychiatrist E.
Fuller-Torrey provides an account of the political and social forces which combined
to raise Freud to the status of a divinity to those who needed a theoretical
foundation for their political and social views. Many of the diseases which used to be
treated with Freudian and related forms of therapy (such as schizophrenia) have
been unequivocally demonstrated to be impervious to such treatments.
Freud's notion that the child's relationship to the parent is responsible for
everything from psychiatric diseases to criminal behavior has also been
thoroughly discredited and the influence of such theories is today regarded
as a relic of a permissive age in which "blame-the-parent" was the accepted
dogma. For many decades genetic and biological causes of psychiatric
disorders were dismissed without scientific investigation in favor of
environmental (parental and social) influences. Today even the most extreme
Freudian environmentalists would not deny the great influence of genetic
and biological factors. The American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual" (the latest edition of which is the DSM-IV), the official
standard for diagnosing psychological disorders in the USA, reflects the
universal adoption of the neo-Kraepelinian scientific-biological approach to
psychiatric disorders, with its emphasis on diagnostic precision and the
 search for biological and genetic etiologies - largely ignored during the earlier
Freud-dominated decades of the twentieth century.

 Criticism of Freud
 A paper by Lydiard H. Horton, read in 1915 at a joint meeting of the American
Psychological Association and the New York Academy of Sciences, called
Freud's dream theory "dangerously inaccurate" and noted that "rank
confabulations...appear to hold water, psychoanalytically".

 Anthony Grayling, Reader in Philosophy at the University of London, and a
Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, writing in The Guardian in 2002, said
"Philosophies that capture the imagination never wholly fade....But as to
Freud's claims upon truth, the judgment of time seems to be running against
him."

BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Definition of the Biological Perspective
Charles Darwin first proposed the idea that genetics and evolution both
contribute to many human qualities including personality. Biology is defined as
the study of life while psychology examines the human mind and its processes,
especially those affecting behavior. Biological perspective links biology and
psychology by focusing on the analysis of human behavior based on biological
and physical evidence.

The Biological Perspective seeks to determine the psychological aspects of

human behavior looking at evidence from genetic and neurological studies as
well as studies of the immune system. Also known as biopsychology, it has
played a major role in psychology from the beginning.

Technology for studying the nervous system and brain has grown
tremendously advanced with access to tools such as PET and MRI scans making
the biological perspective in psychology increasingly important. The biological
perspective is relevant to psychology through three areas of investigation.

1. Comparative method:
by studying different animal species, their behavior under similar stimuli can
be compared to human data enhancing the understanding of human
behaviors.
2. Physiology:

investigates how the nervous system and hormones work

determines how the brain functions
determines how changes in structure and function of these systems may affect
behavior
3. Inheritance:

investigates which traits are inherited by offspring from their parents

investigates the mechanism of inheritance of traits in animals
At the foundation of biological perspective is the theory that physiological
changes directly affect an individual's behavior. It is thought by many
supporters of this perspective that behavioral changes occur at the genetic
level and are the direct result of evolutionary changes brought about by
adaptations in some organisms that give them a survival advantage. Many
biopsychologists have concentrated on abnormal behavior and have tried to
explain it in physiological terms. For example they believe that schizophrenia is
affected by levels of dopamine (a neurotransmitter).

Basic Assumptions of Biological Perspective

Behavior is determined by biology.
There is a genetic basis to all behaviors.
Most behavior has an adaptive or evolutionary function.
Behaviors have their origins in specific locations of the brain.
In order to understand human behavior, it is necessary to include animal
studies.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Biological Perspective
Strengths:

By understanding the physiological basis of behavior, it is possible to treat

behavior disorders with chemotherapy (drug intervention), or psychosurgery
(more sophisticated versions of the lobotomy using MRI scans)
Using evolutionary theory allows the development of rational explanations for
otherwise unexplainable behaviors.
Weaknesses:

It does not leave room for the effect of environmental influences and life
experiences on behavior.
It weakly explains altruism.
It is reductionistic as it only looks at one cause – the physiological cause– of
behavior or mental disorders, thus, simplifying the disease.

HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE