Mesa, Kyla V.

Competency Appraisal 1

BSPSYC-3D

Case Study 1
According to Freudian Theory, the type of personality that Hank exhibited is Id
personality trait because Id is unconscious physical region that lies at the core of our personality
that strives for a constant pleasure to reduce tension. Moreover, the id is the impulsive part of our
psyche which responds directly and immediately to basic urges, needs, and desires. Based on
Hank personality he is verbally insensitive, he doesn’t care if he offends someone, he that feels
he just saying the truth and his alienated comment hinder him from having a friend when he was
a child. In addition he tend to quite sarcastic, berating other people and doesn’t care if he talking
so loud. Furthermore, Id remains infantile throughout a person’s life and does not change with
time or experience. Like, how Hank lives his life, he satisfies his oral needs by overeating and
smoking cigarettes. Hank fixated stage is the Infantile period where the mouth is the one of the
erogenous stimulation under that is oral phase where the mouth is the first organ to provide
pleasure to infants, at first it use for nourishment but eventually it is use to satisfy their oral
needs . For example according to Hank’s mother Hank always been loud as a baby, he cries
loudly that his mother rush to make a bottle of milk or give a cookie to be quiet, his mother
couldn’t understand why he was hungry when he already finish eating recently. Also he has an
annoying habit of chewing his fingernails as well as having something in his mouth either food
or cigarettes whenever he feels nervous. Along with that he can’t stop himself to give sarcastic
remarks to the people around him. According to Freud, a fixation would happen when the next
step of a person’s development causes the ego to feel threatened by the surroundings. Hank
shows signs of having an orally fixated because he uses it whenever he feels nervous, stress or
tensions. I think Hank develop this kind of fixation because when he was young he though when
he was good at computers he would be able to answer people’s questions about computers and he
could form close relationship with other but it failed, that’s why he doesn’t know how to
communicate with others and doesn’t know how he can calm himself when he feels nervous and
stress. Also, no one wants to be with him because of how he speaks to others and how he treats
others as well as he is a chain smoker.

According to Freudian theory Hank’s eating and argumentative behaviours is being

internally motivated because he thinks that his previous girlfriends left him because his fat. He
always think that whenever he say something to others he was just telling the truth and he though
when they finish talking it’s okay to them even he say hurtful words . He doesn’t care if he hurt
someone’s feeling as long that he gives his comment about other’s life, products and services.
His unkind comments, loud-mouthed, sarcastic and insensitive character alienated his from
others, that’s why he develop his fixation in oral needs he needs to always have something in his
mouth either food or cigarettes or he needs to have sarcastic remarks to others. Internally
motivated is means that we are motivated to accomplish our goal comes within; it is results of
our own feelings, thoughts, values and goals that we set in life. That’s why I can say that Hank
eating and argumentative behaviour is cause of himself because he always thought that he can
say whatever he wanted to say without thinking of others feeling. Motivation is willingness to do
something or how a person behave in a particular situations. In addition, according to Freudian
Theory it is unconscious psychological forces such as hidden desires and motives that shape the
individual’s behavior.

In Hank’s case he uses fixation, regression, intellectualization, rationalization and

sublimation as a defense mechanism. The first Freudian defense mechanism that Hank shown is
the fixation, it is a situation where a person remains too comfortable in a psychological stage.
Hank became fixated with chewing fingernails, excessive eating, smoking cigarettes and
sarcastic remarks to people when he feels nervous. Second is regression it is returning back to
the early stage of development, Hank begin having excessive eating when he was a baby he
always crying whenever he wants a bottle of milk or a cookie. Third is intellectualization it is a
way of considering something in a strictly intellectual and unemotional manner, when Hank
experience chest pain then a trip in the emergency room and found out that he had a heart
condition. Along with that he considered seeing a therapist to help him lose weight to improve
his health. Lastly is rationalization it is the reinterpreting the behavior to make it more rational
and acceptable, when Sally broke with him he rationalize that Sally broke up with him because
of his weight problems and telling himself that Sally is a shallow person, that she only see past
his appearance and not the value of his personality.

The example of regression in this case when Hank was a baby he cries whenever he
needs a bottle of milk or cookie from her mother. When he is verbally insensitive, he doesn’t
care how hurtful words he say to others. When he finish a pint of ice cream and lit a cigarette to
reduce the tension he experiences, when he wanted to be appreciated by his coworkers and when
he wishing to have a woman to fall inlove with him to be not lonely anymore and help him to
lose weight. It IS evident that he is lack of communication with others and doesn’t know how he
can control his tension, stress and nervous.

Hank’s weight problems is seen as a behavioural problems because he use it as to release

his tension, nervous and stress, this becomes one of his fixation in oral phase is oral needs where
he excessive eat something to relieve what he have feel. This fixation became the cause of his
weight problems and affects his personality as well as how he presents himself to others.

Therapeutic techniques that a Freudian therapist will use in this case study is free
association because the purpose of this technique is to required patients to verbalize every though
that comes to their mind, to tell what is on their unconscious to the present conscious idea and
associate it to perform a certain response no matter when it will leads. The state of consciousness
that the therapy focuses is the unconscious because it contains all the drives, urges and instinct
that beyond an individual awareness. This fits on Hank's case because he is not aware what his
problem is and how his urges affect his life. The healing and improvement that occur during
Freudian therapy in Hank case is when he know how he can communicate effectively, overcome
his fixation in overeating and smoking cigarettes, manage his tension, stress and nervous and
know how words can hurt someone. This therapy will be effective if the patient is willingly to
help himself to become a better person.