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NORTH CENTRAL MINDANAO COLLEGE
Maranding, Lala, Lanao del Norte

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GEC. ELECT 1: Gender and Society
1st Semester of A.Y. 2020-2021

Topic
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DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES AND OTHER RELEVANT THEORIES:

FRUED PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

Rationale

This module discusses about Psychoanalytic theory. Psychoanalysis was founded by

Sigmund Freud. Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and
motivations, thus gaining "insight". The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and
experiences, i.e. make the unconscious conscious.

Intended Learning Outcomes

ILO 1 : Summarize Freud’s theories of human personality and psychosexual stages of development as
well as common criticisms of his theories
ILO 2: Describe the Frued’s Model of the Mind.
ILO 3: Identify the Frued’s Defense mechanisms and the psychoanalytic perspective

Activity/Activities

Lecture, Online Quiz

Discussion

What is Psychoanalysis? A Definition and History of Psychoanalytic Theory

 Psychoanalysis is a type of therapy that aims to release pent-up or repressed

emotions and memories in or to lead the client to catharsis, or healing
(McLeod, 2014). In other words, the goal of psychoanalysis is to bring what
exists at the unconscious or subconscious level up to consciousness.

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 This goal is accomplished through talking to another person about the big
questions in life, the things that matter, and diving into the complexities that
lie beneath the simple-seeming surface.

The Founder of Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud and His Concepts

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It’s very likely you’ve heard of the influential but controversial founder of
psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud.

Freud was born in Austria and spent most of his childhood and adult life in
Vienna (Sigmund Freud Biography, 2017). He entered medical school and
trained to become a neurologist, earning a medical degree in 1881.

Soon after his graduation, he set up a private practice and began treating
patients with psychological disorders.

His attention was captured by a colleague’s intriguing experience with a

patient; the colleague was Dr. Josef Breuer and his patient was the famous
“Anna O.,” who suffered from physical symptoms with no apparent physical
cause.

Dr. Breuer found that her symptoms abated when he helped her recover
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memories of traumatic experiences  that she had repressed, or hidden from

her conscious mind.

This case sparked Freud’s interest in the unconscious mind and spurred the
development of some of his most influential ideas.

Models of the Mind

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Perhaps the most impactful idea put forth by Freud was his model of the human mind. His
model divides the mind into three layers, or regions:

1. Conscious: This is where our current thoughts, feelings, and focus live;

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2. Preconscious (sometimes called the subconscious): This is the home of everything

we can recall or retrieve from our memory;

3. Unconscious: At the deepest level of our minds resides a repository of the

processes that drive our behavior, including primitive and instinctual desires
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(McLeod, 2013).

Later, Freud posited a more structured model of the mind, one that can coexist with his
original ideas about consciousness and unconsciousness .

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In this model, there are three metaphorical parts to the mind:

1. Id: The id operates at an unconscious level and focuses solely on instinctual drives
and desires. Two biological instincts make up the id, according to Freud: eros, or
the instinct to survive that drives us to engage in life-sustaining activities, and
thanatos, or the death instinct that drives destructive, aggressive, and violent
behavior.

2. Ego: The ego acts as both a conduit for and a check on the id, working to meet the
id’s needs in a socially appropriate way. It is the most tied to reality and begins to
develop in infancy;

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3. Superego: The superego is the portion of the mind in which morality and higher
principles reside, encouraging us to act in socially and morally acceptable ways
(McLeod, 2013).

The image above offers a context of this “iceberg” model wherein much of our mind
exists in the realm of the unconscious impulses and drives.

If you’ve ever read the book “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, then you have
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enjoyed the allegory of Freud’s mind as personified by Jack as the Id, Piggy as the ego,
and Ralph as the superego.

Defense Mechanisms

Freud believed these three parts of the mind are in constant conflict because each part has
a different primary goal. Sometimes, when the conflict is too much for a person to
handle, his or her ego may engage in one or many defense mechanisms to protect the
individual.

These defense mechanisms include:

 Repression: The ego pushes disturbing or threatening thoughts out of one’s

consciousness;

 Denial: The ego blocks upsetting or overwhelming experiences from awareness,

causing the individual to refuse to acknowledge or believe what is happening;

 Projection: The ego attempts to solve discomfort by attributing the individual’s

unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and motives to another person;

 Displacement: The individual satisfies an impulse by acting on a substitute object

or person in a socially unacceptable way (e.g., releasing frustration directed toward
your boss on your spouse instead);

Regression: As a defense mechanism, the individual moves backward in


development in order to cope with stress  (e.g., an overwhelmed adult acting like a
child);

 Sublimation: Similar to displacement, this defense mechanism involves satisfying

an impulse by acting on a substitute but in a socially acceptable way (e.g.,
channeling energy into work or a constructive hobby) (McLeod, 2013).

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The 5 Psychosexual Stages of Development

Finally, one of the most enduring concepts associated with Freud is his
psychosexual stages. Freud proposed that children develop in five distinct
stages, each focused on a different source of pleasure:

1. First Stage: Oral—the child seeks pleasure from the mouth (e.g., sucking);
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2. Second Stage: Anal—the child seeks pleasure from the anus (e.g., withholding and
expelling feces);

3. Third Stage: Phallic—the child seeks pleasure from the penis or clitoris (e.g.,
masturbation);

4. Fourth Stage: Latent—the child has little or no sexual motivation;

5. Fifth Stage: Genital—the child seeks pleasure from the penis or vagina (e.g.,
sexual intercourse; McLeod, 2013).

Freud hypothesized that an individual must successfully complete each stage

to become a psychologically healthy adult with a fully formed ego and
superego. Otherwise, individuals may become stuck or “fixated” in a
particular stage, causing emotional and behavioral problems in adulthood
(McLeod, 2013).

The Approach: Psychoanalytic Perspective

In the psychoanalytic approach, the focus is on the unconscious mind rather

than the conscious mind. It is built on the foundational idea that your
behavior is determined by experiences from your past that are lodged in your
unconscious mind.

While the focus on sex has lessened over the decades since psychoanalysis
was founded, psychology and talk therapy still place a big emphasis on one’s
early childhood experiences (Psychoanalytic Perspective, n.d.).

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 Methods and Techniques

A psychoanalyst can use many different techniques, but there are four basic
components that comprise modern psychoanalysis:

1. Interpretation;
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2. Transference analysis;

3. Technical neutrality

4. Countertransference analysis

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 Interpretation

Interpretation is the verbal communication between analysts and clients in

which analysts discuss their hypotheses of their clients’ unconscious
conflicts.

Generally, analysts will help clients see the defensive mechanisms they are
using and the context of the defensive mechanisms, or the impulsive
relationship against which the mechanism was developed, and finally the

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client’s motivation for this mechanism (Kernberg, 2016).

There are three classifications of interpretation:

1. Clarification, in which the analyst attempts to clarify what is going on in the

patient’s consciousness;
2. Confrontation, which is bringing nonverbal aspects of the client’s behavior into his
or her awareness;
3. Interpretation proper, which refers to the analyst’s proposed hypothesis of the
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unconscious meaning that relates all the aspects of the client’s communication with
one another (Kernberg, 2016).

Transference Analysis

Transference is the term for the unconscious repetition in the “here and
now” of conflicts from the client’s past. Transference analysis refers to “the
systematic analysis of the transference implications of the patient’s total
verbal and nonverbal manifestations in the hours as well as the c patient’s
direct and implicit communicative efforts to influence the analyst in a
certain direction” (Kernberg, 2016).

This analysis of the patient’s transference is an essential component of

psychoanalysis and is the main driver of change in treatment.

In transference analysis, the analyst takes note of all communication, both

verbal and nonverbal, the client engages in and puts together a theory on
what led to the defensive mechanisms he or she displays. That theory forms
the basis for any attempts to change the behavior or character of the client.

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Technical Neutrality

Another vital piece of psychoanalysis is what is known as technical

neutrality, or the commitment of the analyst to remain neutral and avoid
taking sides in the client’s internal conflicts; the analyst strives to remain at
an equal distance from the client’s id, ego, and superego, and from the
client’s external reality.
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Additionally, technical neutrality demands that the analyst refrains from

imposing his or her value systems upon the client (Kernberg, 2016).

Technical neutrality is sometimes considered indifference or disinterest in

the client, but that is not the goal; rather, analysts aim to serve as a mirror
for their clients, reflecting clients’ own characteristics, assumptions, and
behaviors back at them to aid in their understanding of themselves.

Countertransference Analysis

This final key component of psychoanalysis is the analysis of

countertransference, the analyst’s reactions to clients and the material they
present in sessions. According to Kernberg:

“contemporary view of countertransference is that of a complex formation

codetermined by the analyst’s reaction to the patient’s transference, to the
reality of the patient’s life, to the reality of the analyst’s life, and to specific
transference dispositions activated in the analyst as a reaction to the patient
and his/her material” (2016).

Countertransference analysis can be generally understood as the analyst’s

attempts to analyze their own reactions to the client, whatever form they
take.

To engage in psychoanalytic treatment, the analyst must see the client

objectively and understand the transference happening in the client and in
their own experience.

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Exercise
Guided Questions:
GEC ELECT. 1 COURSE MODULE

1. Why is Freud's psychoanalytic theory important?

2. What is the goal of psychoanalysis?

3. What are the disadvantages of psychoanalytic theory?

Assessment
IDENTIFICATION TEST:

_____________1. The part of the mind that is the tip of the iceberg that contains all the material a person is
aware of at any one time, including perceptions, memories, thoughts, fantasies, and feelings.
_____________2. Is just below the surface of awareness which contains material that can be retrieved easily
with conscious effort.
_____________3. This includes all the repressed memories, passions, and unacceptable urges lying deep below
the surface. The memories and emotions associated with trauma are often "placed" in the unconscious because it
is too painful for the individual to deal with them.
_____________4. Mental health theory of personality structure, levels of awareness, anxiety, the role of defense
mechanisms, and the stages of psychosexual development.
_____________5. The energy associated with the life instincts is called
_____________6. The aspect of personality that is responsible for appropriate interaction with the environment
is the
_____________7. The character type described as having modified socially unacceptable impulses into socially
acceptable ones by finding satisfying careers and performing creatively is the?
_____________8. The character type described as reacting to castration anxiety by behaving recklessly,
resolutely, and in a self-assured manner is the?
____________9. The character type described as exceptionally stingy, orderly, and obstinate is the?
___________10. The stage during which the superego develops as an outgrowth of the resolution of the Oedipus
complex during which the values of parents and their attitudes toward society are internalized is called the

Resources
 Anxiety and Ego-Defense Mechanisms. (n.d.). Anxiety and Ego-Defense Mechanisms. Retrieved
November 28, 2013, from http://homepages.rpi.edu/~verwyc/defmech.htm
 Wilson, K. (n.d.). Introduction to Sigmund Freud's theory of Dreams. Insomnium. Retrieved from
http://dreams.insomnium.co.uk/dream-theory/introduction-freud-theory-on-dreams

Prepared By

LOID JAY B. KADILE, LPT

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CED Faculty
GEC ELECT. 1 COURSE MODULE

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