John Mark M.

Matibag
11 – St. John Bosco

Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism

Reflective Journal

During the discussion of psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud, I was really amaze by
his proposals especially for the theory of mental life and provinces of the human mind. Our
mental life is divided into three according to him. Our conscious is the part of our mind that we
are totally aware, the preconscious is the stage wherein we can still access some memories but
not totally vivid unlike the conscious mind and lastly the unconscious mind. Our unconscious
mind is responsible for those drives, urges and instincts that are totally beyond our awareness.
Therefore, these theories tend to highlight that we forget some memories because of the role of
unconscious mind and vice versa. Moreover, I also realize that we need to balance our provinces
of the human mind in able to achieve better harmony of oneself. The id is the impulsive side of
us and it is being operated by the pleasure principle, the ego is the region of our mind that has a
real contact to the reality governed by the presence of reality principle and lastly the superego.
The superego is the one that is responsible for our ideal aspects, idealistic morals and principles.
Therefore, the superego is governed by the moral principle. Further, the best realization that I’ve
learned is the ego should be the dominant province rather than the superego and id. If the id is
dominant it can lead to narcissism and if the superego is dominant it can lead to
psychopathological problems depending on the dominant subsystem of the superego. In order to
make these two stable, the ego must prevails.
In the other hand I do believe that these principles can truly affected me personally
because it already gives me an insight about how can I better manage myself especially for the
theory of provinces of the mind it tend to give ideas on how to fix my distorted id, superego and
ego. Further, I also understand that the notion of Sigmund Freud is truly important to maintain
self-development. I’ve also learned that psychoanalytic theory also gives me an idea about being
patient and possess the ability of perseverance. I should not always listen to my id but I should
learn how to maintain that childish part of mine in able to be better and attain self-realization.
In the end by the help of Freudian theory I can totally practice these applications towards
excellence. I can be totally aware about the existence of my id and to maintain it as much as
possible while considering my ego and superego. Therefore, in order to attain excellence I need
to satisfy the demands of my provinces of the mind but in a moderate way in order to avoid any
psychological problems such as narcissism, depression and etc. In fact by using of provinces of
my mind I can be totally aware about the signal of procrastination and laziness demanded by my
id therefore my ego should know how to fix this one. Moreover, in order to achieve excellence I
should use rational thinking governed by my ego and maintain it functional as much as I can. I
should also remember that too much usage of ego can also be harmful for myself.