SIGMUND FREUD’S PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES: THE ANAL STAGE

OVERVIEW:

The Anal Stage (typically occurring between the ages of 1 to 3 years old) revolves around a child's
interactions with their bowel movements and the process of toilet training. According to Freud, in this
stage, children find pleasure in regulating and expelling their feces. It can be further divided into two
phases:

 Anal Expulsive Phase: During this phase, children take delight in the act of bowel movements
and may exhibit behaviors associated with being untidy and lacking control.

 Anal Retentive Phase: In this phase, children derive satisfaction from withholding their feces
and may demonstrate behaviors linked to being excessively tidy and controlling.

 Freud believed that conflicts and experiences during the anal stage had the potential to leave a
lasting impact on an individual's personality. For instance: If a child's toilet training experience is
excessively strict or harsh, they may develop an anal-retentive personality characterized by an
inclination towards excessive orderliness, organization, and control. Conversely, if toilet training
is overly lenient or permissive, leading to a lack of control, the child may develop an anal-
expulsive personality marked by tendencies towards messiness, impulsiveness, and defiance.

LOOPHOLE:

Limited Scope of Anal Stage

Regarding the anal stage, Freud's prioritization of toilet training as a crucial event has faced scrutiny.
Critics contend that attributing such importance to toilet training as a factor in shaping personality traits
simplifies the complex array of influences that contribute to an individual's behavior and development
(Schwartz, 2001).

Counter-Argument: Exploring Broader Themes

Although Freud's focus on toilet training may seem oversimplified, it underscores the importance of
early interactions between caregivers and children in shaping an individual's perception of authority and
control. The emphasis on the anal stage can be seen as a symbol for delving into more extensive
concepts like independence, discipline, and personal boundaries, which maintain relevance in
influencing development throughout one's life (Waska, 2013).
Implication:
The implication of Freud's emphasis on early caregiver-child interactions, symbolized by the anal stage,
is that these interactions play a foundational role in shaping an individual's understanding of authority,
self-control, and personal boundaries. It suggests that experiences during this stage of development
have a lasting impact on an individual's psychological makeup and can influence their behaviors and
attitudes throughout their life. This perspective highlights the enduring significance of early life
experiences in the formation of personality and behavior patterns.

(In simpler terms, what Freud is saying is that when we're very young, the way our parents or caregivers
treat us when it comes to things like toilet training can affect how we see authority, control, and setting
limits. These early experiences stick with us and can shape how we act and think as we grow up. So, it's
kind of like the way we're raised as kids can have a big impact on how we behave and what we believe
about ourselves as adults.)

Example:
If a child experiences overly strict and punitive toilet training during the anal stage, they may develop a
heightened sensitivity to authority figures and a tendency to be overly rigid or controlling in their own
behavior as they grow older. Conversely, if toilet training is approached with a more balanced and
nurturing style, the child may develop a healthier sense of autonomy and cooperation with authority
figures.

These early experiences can set the stage for how individuals perceive and interact with authority,
control impulses, and establish personal boundaries in various contexts throughout their lives. For
instance, an individual who had a positive experience during the anal stage might be more adaptable
and cooperative in work settings, while someone with unresolved issues from this stage may struggle
with authority figures and exhibit control-related challenges in their adult relationships and behavior.

(In simpler terms, think of it like this: How you were toilet-trained as a kid can affect how you deal with
rules and authority as you grow up. If you had strict and harsh toilet training, you might become very
sensitive to people telling you what to do and you might want to control everything yourself. But if your
toilet training was done in a gentle and balanced way, you might be more comfortable following rules
and cooperating with others.

These early experiences can shape how you handle authority, control your impulses, and set personal
boundaries as you become an adult. For example, if you had a good experience during toilet training,
you might be easy to work with and adapt to different situations. On the other hand, if you had a tough
time during that stage, you might struggle with authority figures and have a hard time with self-control
in your relationships and behavior as an adult.)
Genital in Freud's Psychosexual Stages
* Final stage of development
* Begins with the onset puberty, where the time in life when a person becomes sexually mature.
1. Precocious puberty - begins abnormally early.
2. Delayed puberty - begins abnormally late.
It typically occurs between ages 8-13 for girls & 9-14 for boys.
* during genital period, the person seeks ways of satisfying sexual impulses in dyadic relationships, and
aggressive impulses through competition, physically demanding exercise, and argumentation.
* The individual develops a strong sexual interest in the opposite sex, seeks out pleasure through sexual
contact with others.
* The libido become active once again.
* The superego and ego have become more developed. Allows individual to think more realistic ways of
thinking and establish an assortment of social relations apart from the family. Capable of the two signs
of maturation, work and love.

* Lead o sexual dysfunction, difficulties forming healthy relationships, or other emotional problems , if
individuals unresolved conflicts of issues during this stage.
* Sexual instinct through heterosexual intercourse.
* Fixation and conflict may prevent this with the consequence that sexual perversions may develop.
* Person gaining sexual pleasure primarily from kissing and oral sex, rather than sexual intercourse.
* Settling down in a loving one to one relationship with another.

Conflicts - Child's unconscious desire to posses the opposite sexed parent and to eliminate the same
sexed one
- so as early as soon as possible adult or parent must educate or enlighten their chiltabout it, to
avoid misunderstanding and leads to conflicts.
Treatment for fixation
* Allowing the person consciously deal with the problem.
* Therapy - psychoanalytic therapy
Allows unconscious feelings from their past into conscious awareness.
Freudian psychoanalysis, The Phallic Stage
- third stage of psychosexual development *spanning the ages of three to six years, wherein the
infant's libido (desire) centers upon their genitalia as the erogenous zone. When children become aware
of their bodies, the bodies of other children, and the bodies of their parents, they gratify physical
curiosity by undressing and exploring each other and their genitals, the center of the phallic stage, in the
course of which they learn the physical differences between the male and female sexes and their
associated social roles, experiences which alter the psychologic dynamics of the parent and child
relationship.

The phallic stage of development is primarily focused on identifying with the same-sex parent. Freud
suggested that fixations at this point could lead to adult personalities that are overly vain, exhibitionistic,
and sexually aggressive. At this stage, boys may develop what Freud referred to as an Oedipus complex.

A major developmental achievement of this stage is the resolution of the Oedipus complex. During this
stage, the male child experiences the Oedipus Complex, which involves love for the mother, hostility
towards the father, and the consequent fear of punishment or castration by the father.

IMPORTANCE
The phallic stage, in which the libido focuses on the genitalia, represents the culmination of infantile
sexuality. Although it typically occurs between the ages of 3 to 5 years old, it sets the stage for adult
sexuality.

CONTROVERSIES
Phallic stage is controversial, in that he, among other things, postulates that the only existing genital is
the phallus; in other words, everyone is supposedly a male at this stage: “…for both sexes, only one
genital, namely the male one,...

IMPLICATIONS:
An unresolved fixation in the phallic stage could lead to egoism, low self esteem, flirtatious and
promiscuous females, shyness, worthlessness and men that treat women with contempt.