Psychoanalysis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaPsychoanalysis

is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early

20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav Jung, Wilhelm Reich and later by neo-Freudians such as Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan and Jacques Lacan. The basic tenets of psychoanalysis include the following: 1. human behavior, experience and cognition are largely determined by innate and irrational drives; 2. those drives are largely unconscious; 3. attempts to bring those drives into awareness meet psychological resistance in the form of defence mechanisms; 4. beside the inherited constitution of personality, one's development is determined by events in early childhood; 5. conflicts between conscious view of reality and unconscious (repressed) material can result in mental disturbances such as neurosis, neurotic traits, anxiety, depression etc.; 6. the liberation from the effects of the unconscious material is achieved through bringing this material into the consciousness (via e.g. skilled guidance).[1] Under the broad umbrella of psychoanalysis there are at least 22 theoretical orientations regarding human mental development. The various approaches in treatment called "psychoanalysis" vary as much as the theories do. The term also refers to a method of studying child development. Freudian psychoanalysis refers to a specific type of treatment in which the "analysand" (analytic patient) verbalizes thoughts, including free associations, fantasies, and dreams, from which the analyst induces the unconscious conflicts causing the patient's symptoms and character problems, and interprets them for the patient to create insight for resolution of the problems. The specifics of the analyst's interventions typically include confronting and clarifying the patient's pathological defenses, wishes and guilt. Through the analysis of conflicts, including those contributing to resistance and those involving transference onto the analyst of distorted reactions, psychoanalytic treatment can hypothesize how patients unconsciously are their own worst enemies: how unconscious, symbolic reactions that have been stimulated by experience are causing symptoms. The theory has been criticised on numerous fronts including the view that it represents pseudo-science, but is still used by numerous psychologists today.

[edit]History [edit]1890s

The idea of psychoanalysis came into full prominence under Sigmund Freud. Before Freud, there were other theories concerning psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud formulated his own theory of psychoanalysis in Vienna in the 1890s. Freud was a neurologist interested in finding an effective treatment for patients with neurotic or hysterical symptoms. Freud had become aware of the existence of mental processes that were not conscious as a result of his neurological consulting job at the Children's Hospital, where he noticed that many aphasic children had no apparent organic cause for their symptoms. He then wrote a monograph about this subject.[2] In the late 1880s, Freud obtained a grant to study with Jean-Martin Charcot, the famed neurologist and syphilologist, at the Salptrire in Paris. Charcot had become interested in patients who had symptoms that mimicked general paresis (neuropsychiatric disorder affecting the brain and central nervous system, caused by syphilis infection). Freud's first theory to explain hysterical symptoms was presented in Studies in Hysteria (1895), co-authored with Josef Breuer.[3] He contended that at the root of hysterical symptoms were repressed memories of distressing occurrences, almost always having direct or indirect sexual associations. Around the same time he attempted to develop a neuro-physiological theory of unconscious mental mechanisms, which he soon gave up. It remained unpublished in his lifetime.[4] In 1896 Freud published his so-called seduction theory which proposed that the precondition for hysterical symptoms was sexual excitation in infancy, and he claimed to have uncovered repressed memories of incidents of sexual abuse for all his current patients.[5] However by 1898 he had privately acknowledged to his friend and colleague Wilhelm Fliess that he no longer believed in his theory, though he did not state this publicly until 1906.[6] Though in 1896 he had reported that his patients "had no feeling of remembering the [infantile sexual] scenes", and assured him "emphatically of their unbelief",[7] in later accounts he claimed that they had told him that they had been sexually abused in infancy. This became the received historical account until challenged by several Freud scholars in the latter part of the 20th century who argued that he had imposed his preconceived notions on his patients.[8][9][10] However, building on his claims that the patients reported infantile sexual abuse experiences, Freud subsequently contended that his clinical findings in the mid-1890s provided evidence of the occurrence of unconscious fantasies, supposedly to cover up memories of infantile masturbation.[11] Only much later did he claim the same findings as evidence for Oedipal desires.[12] By 1900, Freud had conjectured that dreams had symbolic significance, and generally were specific to the dreamer. Freud formulated his second psychological theory which postulates that the unconscious has or is a "primary process" consisting of symbolic and condensed thoughts, and a "secondary process" of logical, conscious thoughts. This theory was published in his 1900 book, The Interpretation of Dreams.[13] Chapter VII

was a re-working of the earlier "Project" and Freud outlined his "Topographic Theory." In this theory, which was mostly later supplanted by the Structural Theory, unacceptable sexual wishes were repressed into the "System Unconscious," unconscious due to society's condemnation of premarital sexual activity, and this repression created anxiety.
[edit]19001940s

International Psychoanalytic Congress. Photograph, 1911. Freud and Jung in the center

This "topographic theory" is still popular in much of Europe, although it has been superseded in much of North America.[14] In 1905, Freud published Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality[15] in which he laid out his discovery of so-called psychosexual phases: oral (ages 02), anal (24), phallic-oedipal (today called 1st genital) (36), latency (6-puberty), and mature genital (puberty-onward). His early formulation included the idea that because of societal restrictions, sexual wishes were repressed into an unconscious state, and that the energy of these unconscious wishes could be turned into anxiety or physical symptoms. Therefore the early treatment techniques, including hypnotism and abreaction, were designed to make the unconscious conscious in order to relieve the pressure and the apparently resulting symptoms. In On Narcissism (1915)[16] Freud turned his attention to the subject of narcissism. Still utilizing an energic system, Freud conceptualized the question of energy directed at the self versus energy directed at others, called cathexis. By 1917, In "Mourning and Melancholia," he suggested that certain depressions were caused by turning guilt-ridden anger on the self.[17] In 1919 in "A Child is Being Beaten" he began to address the problems of self-destructive behavior (moral masochism) and frank sexual masochism.[18] Based on his experience with depressed and self-destructive patients, and pondering the carnage of World War I, Freud became dissatisfied with considering only oral and sexual motivations for behavior. By 1920, Freud addressed the power of identification (with the leader and with other members) in groups as a motivation for behavior (Group Psychology and Analysis of the Ego).[19] In that same year (1920) Freud suggested his "dual drive" theory of sexuality and aggression in Beyond the Pleasure Principle, to try to begin to explain human destructiveness.[20]

In 1923, he presented his new "structural theory" of an id, ego, and superego in a book entitled, The Ego and the Id.[21] Therein, he revised the whole theory of mental functioning, now considering that repression was only one of many defense mechanisms, and that it occurred to reduce anxiety. Note that repression, for Freud, is both a cause of anxiety and a response to anxiety. In 1926, in Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety, Freud laid out how intrapsychic conflict among drive and superego (wishes and guilt) caused anxiety, and how that anxiety could lead to an inhibition of mental functions, such as intellect and speech. [22] Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety was written in response to Otto Rank, who, in 1924, published Das Trauma der Geburt (translated into English in 1929 as The Trauma of Birth), exploring how art, myth, religion, philosophy and therapy were illuminated by separation anxiety in the "phase before the development of the Oedipus complex" (p. 216). But there was no such phase in Freuds theories. The Oedipus complex, Freud explained tirelessly, was the nucleus of the neurosis and the foundational source of all art, myth, religion, philosophy, therapyindeed of all human culture and civilization. It was the first time that anyone in the inner circle had dared to suggest that the Oedipus complex might not be the only factor contributing to intrapsychic development. By 1936, the "Principle of Multiple Function" was clarified by Robert Waelder.[23] He widened the formulation that psychological symptoms were caused by and relieved conflict simultaneously. Moreover, symptoms (such as phobias and compulsions) each represented elements of some drive wish (sexual and/or aggressive), superego (guilt), anxiety, reality, and defenses. Also in 1936, Anna Freud, Sigmund's famous daughter, published her seminal book, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense, outlining numerous ways the mind could shut upsetting things out of consciousness.[24]
[edit]1940s2000s

Following the death of Freud, a new group of psychoanalysts began to explore the function of the ego. Led by Heinz Hartmann, Kris, Rappaport and Lowenstein, the group built upon understandings of the synthetic function of the ego as a mediator in psychic functioning. Hartmann in particular distinguished between autonomous ego functions (such as memory and intellect which could be secondarily affected by conflict) and synthetic functions which were a result of compromise formation. These "Ego Psychologists" of the '50s paved a way to focus analytic work by attending to the defenses (mediated by the ego) before exploring the deeper roots to the unconscious conflicts. In addition there was burgeoning interest in child psychoanalysis. Although criticized since its inception, psychoanalysis has been used as a research tool into childhood development,[25] and is still used to treat certain mental disturbances.[26] In the 1960s, Freud's early thoughts on the childhood development of female sexuality were challenged; this challenge led to the development of a variety of understandings of female sexual development, many of which modified the timing and normality of several of Freud's theories (which had been gleaned from the treatment of women with mental disturbances). Several researchers[27] followed Karen Horney's studies of societal pressures that influence the development of women. Most contemporary North American psychoanalysts employ theories that, while based on those of Sigmund Freud, include many modifications of theory and practice developed since his death in 1939.

In the first decade of the 21st century there are approximately 35 training institutes for psychoanalysis in the United States accredited by the American Psychoanalytic Association[28][29] which is a component organization of the International Psychoanalytical Association, and there are over 3,000 graduated psychoanalysts practicing in the United States. The International Psychoanalytical Association accredits psychoanalytic training centers throughout the rest of the world, including countries such as Serbia, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and many others, as well as about six institutes directly in the U.S. Freud published a paper entitled The History of the Psychoanalytic Movement in 1914, German original being first published in the Jahrbuch der Psychoanalyse.
[edit]Theories

The predominant psychoanalytic theories can be grouped into several theoretical "schools." Although these theoretical "schools" differ, most of them continue to stress the strong influence of unconscious elements affecting people's mental lives. There has also been considerable work done on consolidating elements of conflicting theory (cf. the work of Theodore Dorpat, B. Killingmo, and S. Akhtar). As in all fields of healthcare, there are some persistent conflicts regarding specific causes of some syndromes, and disputes regarding the best treatment techniques. In the 21st century, psychoanalytic ideas are embedded in Western culture, especially in fields such as childcare,education, literary criticism, cultural studies, and mental health, particularly psychotherapy. Though there is a mainstream of evolved analytic ideas, there are groups who follow the precepts of one or more of the later theoreticians. Psychoanalytic ideas also play roles in some types of literary analysis such as Archetypal literary criticism.
[edit]Topographic

theory

Topographic theory was first described by Freud in The Interpretation of Dreams (1900)[30][31] The theory posits that the mental apparatus can be divided in to the systems Conscious, Pre-conscious and Unconscious. These systems are not anatomical structures of the brain but, rather, mental processes. Although Freud retained this theory throughout his life he largely replaced it with the Structural theory. The Topographic theory remains as one of the metapsychological points of view for describing how the mind functions in classical psychoanalytic theory.
[edit]Structural

theory

Structural theory divides the psyche into the id, the ego, and the super-ego. The id is present at birth as the repository of basic instincts, which Freud called "Triebe" ("drives"): unorganised and unconscious, it operates merely on the 'pleasure principle', without realism or foresight. The ego develops slowly and gradually, being concerned with mediating between the urgings of the id and the realities of the external world; it thus operates on the 'reality principle'. The super-ego is held to be the part of the ego in which self-observation, self-criticism

and other reflective and judgemental faculties develop. The ego and the super-ego are both partly conscious and partly unconscious.
[edit]Ego

psychology

Ego psychology was initially suggested by Freud in Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety (1926). The theory was refined by Hartmann, Loewenstein, and Kris in a series of papers and books from 1939 through the late 1960s. Leo Bellak was a later contributor. This series of constructs, paralleling some of the later developments of cognitive theory, includes the notions of autonomous ego functions: mental functions not dependent, at least in origin, on intrapsychic conflict. Such functions include: sensory perception, motor control, symbolic thought, logical thought, speech, abstraction, integration (synthesis), orientation, concentration, judgment about danger, reality testing, adaptive ability, executive decision-making, hygiene, and self-preservation. Freud noted that inhibition is one method that the mind may utilize to interfere with any of these functions in order to avoid painful emotions. Hartmann (1950s) pointed out that there may be delays or deficits in such functions. Frosch (1964) described differences in those people who demonstrated damage to their relationship to reality, but who seemed able to test it. Deficits in the capacity to organize thought are sometimes referred to as blocking or loose associations (Bleuler), and are characteristic of the schizophrenias. Deficits in abstraction ability and self-preservation also suggest psychosis in adults. Deficits in orientation and sensorium are often indicative of a medical illness affecting the brain (and therefore, autonomous ego functions). Deficits in certain ego functions are routinely found in severely sexually or physically abused children, where powerful effects generated throughout childhood seem to have eroded some functional development. Ego strengths, later described by Kernberg (1975), include the capacities to control oral, sexual, and destructive impulses; to tolerate painful affects without falling apart; and to prevent the eruption into consciousness of bizarre symbolic fantasy. Synthetic functions, in contrast to autonomous functions, arise from the development of the ego and serve the purpose of managing conflictual processes. Defenses are synthetic functions that protect the conscious mind from awareness of forbidden impulses and thoughts. One purpose of ego psychology has been to emphasize that some mental functions can be considered to be basic, rather than derivatives of wishes, affects, or defenses. However, autonomous ego functions can be secondarily affected because of unconscious conflict. For example, a patient may have an hysterical amnesia (memory being an autonomous function) because of intrapsychic conflict (wishing not to remember because it is too painful). Taken together, the above theories present a group of metapsychological assumptions. Therefore, the inclusive group of the different classical theories provides a cross-sectional view of human mentation. There are six "points of view", five described by Freud and a sixth added by Hartmann. Unconscious processes can therefore be evaluated from each of these six points of view. The "points of view" are: 1. Topographic 2. Dynamic (the theory of conflict) 3. Economic (the theory of energy flow) 4. Structural 5. Genetic (propositions

concerning origin and development of psychological functions) and 6. Adaptational (psychological phenomena as it relates to the external world).[32]
[edit]Modern conflict theory

A variation of ego psychology, termed "modern conflict theory", is more broadly an update and revision of structural theory (Freud, 1923, 1926); it does away with some of structural theory's more arcane features, such as where repressed thoughts are stored. Modern conflict theory looks at how emotional symptoms and character traits are complex solutions to mental conflict.[33] It dispenses with the concepts of a fixed id, ego and superego, and instead posits conscious and unconscious conflict among wishes (dependent, controlling, sexual, and aggressive), guilt and shame, emotions (especially anxiety and depressive affect), and defensive operations that shut off from consciousness some aspect of the others. Moreover, healthy functioning (adaptive) is also determined, to a great extent, by resolutions of conflict. A major objective of modern conflict-theory psychoanalysis is to change the balance of conflict in a patient by making aspects of the less adaptive solutions (also called "compromise formations") conscious so that they can be rethought, and more adaptive solutions found. Current theoreticians following Brenner's many suggestions (see especially Brenner's 1982 book, The Mind in Conflict) include Sandor Abend, MD (Abend, Porder, & Willick, (1983), Borderline Patients: Clinical Perspectives), Jacob Arlow (Arlow and Brenner (1964), Psychoanalytic Concepts and the Structural Theory), and Jerome Blackman (2003), 101 Defenses: How the Mind Shields Itself).
[edit]Object relations theory

Object relations theory attempts to explain vicissitudes of human relationships through a study of how internal representations of self and others are structured. The clinical symptoms that suggest object relations problems (typically developmental delays throughout life) include disturbances in an individual's capacity to feel warmth, empathy, trust, sense of security, identity stability, consistent emotional closeness, and stability in relationships with significant others. (It is not suggested that one should trust everyone, for example.) Concepts regarding internal representations (also sometimes termed, "introjects," "self and object representations," or "internalizations of self and other") although often attributed to Melanie Klein, were actually first mentioned by Sigmund Freud in his early concepts of drive theory (Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, 1905). Freud's 1917 paper "Mourning and Melancholia", for example, hypothesized that unresolved grief was caused by the survivor's internalized image of the deceased becoming fused with that of the survivor, and then the survivor shifting unacceptable anger toward the deceased onto the now complex self image. Vamik Volkan, in "Linking Objects and Linking Phenomena", expanded on Freud's thoughts on this, describing the syndromes of "Established pathological mourning" vs. "reactive depression" based on similar dynamics. Melanie Klein's hypotheses regarding internalizations during the first year of life, leading to paranoid and depressive positions, were later challenged by Rene Spitz (e.g., The First Year of Life, 1965), who divided the

first year of life into a coenesthetic phase of the first six months, and then a diacritic phase for the second six months. Margaret Mahler (Mahler, Fine, and Bergman, "The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant", 1975) and her group, first in New York, then in Philadelphia, described distinct phases and subphases of child development leading to "separation-individuation" during the first three years of life, stressing the importance of constancy of parental figures, in the face of the child's destructive aggression, to the child's internalizations, stability of affect management, and ability to develop healthy autonomy. Later developers of the theory of self and object constancy as it affects adult psychiatric problems such as psychosis and borderline states have been John Frosch, Otto Kernberg, Salman Akhtar and Sheldon Bach. Peter Blos described (in a book called On Adolescence, 1960) how similar separation-individuation struggles occur during adolescence, of course with a different outcome from the first three years of life: the teen usually, eventually, leaves the parents' house (this varies with the culture). During adolescence, Erik Erikson (1950 1960s) described the "identity crisis," that involves identity-diffusion anxiety. In order for an adult to be able to experience "Warm-ETHICS" (warmth, empathy, trust, holding environment (Winnicott), identity, closeness, and stability) in relationships (see Blackman, 101 Defenses: How the Mind Shields Itself, 2001), the teenager must resolve the problems with identity and redevelop self and object constancy.
[edit]Self psychology

Self psychology emphasizes the development of a stable and integrated sense of self through empathic contacts with other humans, primary significant others conceived of as "selfobjects." Selfobjects meet the developing self's needs for mirroring, idealization, and twinship, and thereby strengthen the developing self. The process of treatment proceeds through "transmuting internalizations" in which the patient gradually internalizes the selfobject functions provided by the therapist. Self psychology was proposed originally by Heinz Kohut, and has been further developed by Arnold Goldberg, Frank Lachmann, Paul and Anna Ornstein, Marian Tolpin, and others.
[edit]Jacques Lacan/Lacanian psychoanalysis

Lacanian psychoanalysis, which integrates psychoanalysis with semiotics and Hegelian philosophy, is especially popular in France and parts of Latin America. Lacanian psychoanalysis is a departure from the traditional British and American psychoanalysis, which is predominantly Ego psychology. Jacques Lacan frequently used the phrase "retourner Freud" ("return to Freud") in his seminars and writings, as he claimed that his theories were an extension of Freud's own, contrary to those of Anna Freud, the Ego Psychology, object relations and "self" theories and also claims the necessity of reading Freud's complete works, not only a part of them. Lacan's concepts concern the "mirror stage", the "Real", the "Imaginary" and the "Symbolic", and the claim that "the unconscious is structured as a language". [34] Though a major influence on psychoanalysis in France and parts of Latin America, Lacan and his ideas have had little to no impact on psychoanalysis or psychotherapy in the English-speaking world, where his ideas are

most widely used to analyze texts in literary theory.[35] Due to his unorthodox methods and theories, Lacan was expelled by theInternational Psychoanalytic Association,[36] and many of Lacan's psychoanalytic concepts have been described as nonsensical, inconsistent or pseudoscientific.[37][38][39]
[edit]Interpersonal psychoanalysis

Interpersonal psychoanalysis accents the nuances of interpersonal interactions, particularly how individuals protect themselves from anxiety by establishing collusive interactions with others, and the relevance of actual experiences with other persons developmentally (e.g. family and peers) as well as in the present. This is contrasted with the primacy of intrapsychic forces, as in classical psychoanalysis. Interpersonal theory was first introduced by Harry Stack Sullivan, MD, and developed further by Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, Clara Thompson, Erich Fromm, and others who contributed to the founding of the William Alanson White Institute and Interpersonal Psychoanalysis in general.
[edit]Culturalist psychoanalysts

Main article: Culturalist psychoanalysts Some psychoanalysts have been labeled culturalist, because of the prominence they attributed culture in the genesis of behavior.[40] Among others, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan, have been called culturalist psychoanalysts.[40] They were famously in conflict with orthodox psychoanalysts.[41]
[edit]Relational psychoanalysis

Relational psychoanalysis combines interpersonal psychoanalysis with object-relations theory and with intersubjective theory as critical for mental health, was introduced byStephen Mitchell.[42] Relational psychoanalysis emphasizes how the individual's personality is shaped by both real and imagined relationships with others, and how these relationship patterns are re-enacted in the interactions between analyst and patient. In New York, key proponents of relational psychoanalysis include Lew Aron, Jessica Benjamin, and Adrienne Harris. Fonagy and Target, in London, have propounded their view of the necessity of helping certain detached, isolated patients, develop the capacity for "mentalization" associated with thinking about relationships and themselves. Arietta Slade, Susan Coates, and Daniel Schechter in New York have additionally contributed to the application of relational psychoanalysis to treatment of the adult patient-as-parent, the clinical tudy of mentalization in parent-infant relationships, and the intergenerational transmission of attachment and trauma.
[edit]Interpersonal-relational psychoanalysis

The term interpersonal-relational psychoanalysis is often used as a professional identification. Psychoanalysts under this broader umbrella debate about what precisely are the differences between the two schools, without any current clear consensus.
[edit]Intersubjective psychoanalysis

The term "intersubjectivity" was introduced in psychoanalysis by George E. Atwood and Robert Stolorow (1984). Intersubjective approaches emphasize how both personality development and the therapeutic process are influenced by the interrelationship between the patient's subjective perspective and that of others. The authors of the interpersonal-relational and intersubjective approaches: Otto Rank, Heinz Kohut, Stephen A. Mitchell, Jessica Benjamin, Bernard Brandchaft, J. Fosshage, Donna M.Orange, Arnold "Arnie" Mindell, Thomas Ogden, Owen Renik, Irwin Z. Hoffman, Harold Searles, Colwyn Trewarthen, Edgar A. Levenson, Jay R. Greenberg, Edward R. Ritvo, Beatrice Beebe, Frank M. Lachmann, Herbert Rosenfeld and Daniel Stern.
[edit]Modern psychoanalysis

"Modern psychoanalysis" is a term coined by Hyman Spotnitz and his colleagues to describe a body of theoretical and clinical approaches that aim to extend Freud's theories so as to make them applicable to the full spectrum of emotional disorders and broaden the potential for treatment to pathologies thought to be untreatable by classical methods. Interventions based on this approach are primarily intended to provide an emotional-maturational communication to the patient, rather than to promote intellectual insight. These interventions, beyond insight directed aims, are used to resolve resistances that are presented in the clinical setting. This school of psychoanalysis has fostered training opportunities for students in the United States and from countries worldwide. Its journal Modern Psychoanalysis has been published since 1976.
[edit]Psychopathology [edit]Adult

(mental disturbances)

patients

The various psychoses involve deficits in the autonomous ego functions (see above) of integration (organization) of thought, in abstraction ability, in relationship to reality and in reality testing. In depressions with psychotic features, the self-preservation function may also be damaged (sometimes by overwhelming depressive affect). Because of the integrative deficits (often causing what general psychiatrists call "loose associations," "blocking," "flight of ideas," "verbigeration," and "thought withdrawal"), the development of self and object representations is also impaired. Clinically, therefore, psychotic individuals manifest limitations in warmth, empathy, trust, identity, closeness and/or stability in relationships (due to problems with self-object fusion anxiety) as well. In patients whose autonomous ego functions are more intact, but who still show problems with object relations, the diagnosis often falls into the category known as "borderline." Borderline patients also show deficits, often in controlling impulses, affects, or fantasies but their ability to test reality remains more or less intact. Adults who do not experience guilt and shame, and who indulge in criminal behavior, are usually diagnosed as psychopaths, or, using DSM-IV-TR, antisocial personality disorder. Panic, phobias, conversions, obsessions, compulsions and depressions (analysts call these "neurotic symptoms") are not usually caused by deficits in functions. Instead, they are caused by intrapsychic conflicts.

The conflicts are generally among sexual and hostile-aggressive wishes, guilt and shame, and reality factors. The conflicts may be conscious or unconscious, but create anxiety, depressive affect, and anger. Finally, the various elements are managed by defensive operations essentially shut-off brain mechanisms that make people unaware of that element of conflict. "Repression" is the term given to the mechanism that shuts thoughts out of consciousness. "Isolation of affect" is the term used for the mechanism that shuts sensations out of consciousness. Neurotic symptoms may occur with or without deficits in ego functions, object relations, and ego strengths. Therefore, it is not uncommon to encounter obsessive-compulsive schizophrenics, panic patients who also suffer with borderline personality disorder, etc. This section above is partial to ego psychoanalytic theory "autonomous ego functions." As the "autonomous ego functions" theory is only a theory, it may yet be proven incorrect.
[edit]Childhood

origins

Freudian theories point out that adult problems can be traced to unresolved conflicts from certain phases of childhood and adolescence. Freud, based on the data gathered from his patients early in his career, suspected that neurotic disturbances occurred when children were sexually abused in childhood (the so-called seduction theory). Later, Freud came to believe that, although child abuse occurs, not all neurotic symptoms were associated with this. He realized that neurotic people often had unconscious conflicts that involved incestuous fantasies deriving from different stages of development. He found the stage from about three to six years of age (preschool years, today called the "first genital stage") to be filled with fantasies of having romantic relationships with both parents. Although arguments were generated in early 20th-century Vienna about whether adult seduction of children was the basis of neurotic illness, there is virtually no argument about this problem in the 21st century. Many psychoanalysts who work with children have studied the actual effects of child abuse, which include ego and object relations deficits and severe neurotic conflicts. Much research has been done on these types of trauma in childhood, and the adult sequelae of those. On the other hand, many adults with symptom neuroses and character pathology have no history of childhood sexual or physical abuse. In studying the childhood factors that start neurotic symptom development, Freud found a constellation of factors that, for literary reasons, he termed the Oedipus complex (based on the play by Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, where the protagonist unwittingly kills his father Laius and marries his mother Jocasta). The shorthand term, "oedipal" later explicated by Joseph Sandler in "On the Concept Superego" (1960) and modified by Charles Brenner in "The Mind in Conflict" (1982) refers to the powerful attachments that children make to their parents in the preschool years. These attachments involve fantasies of sexual relationships with either (or both) parent, and, therefore, competitive fantasies toward either (or both) parents. Humberto Nagera (1975) has been particularly helpful in clarifying many of the complexities of the child through these years.

The terms "positive" and "negative" oedipal conflicts have been attached to the heterosexual and homosexual aspects, respectively. Both seem to occur in development of most children. Eventually, the developing child's concessions to reality (that they will neither marry one parent nor eliminate the other) lead to identifications with parental values. These identifications generally create a new set of mental operations regarding values and guilt, subsumed under the term "superego." Besides superego development, children "resolve" their preschool oedipal conflicts through channeling wishes into something their parents approve of ("sublimation") and the development, during the school-age years ("latency") of age-appropriate obsessive-compulsive defensive maneuvers (rules, repetitive games).
[edit]Treatment

Using the various analytic and psychological techniques to assess mental problems, some believe that there are particular constellations of problems that are especially suited for analytic treatment (see below) whereas other problems might respond better to medicines and other interpersonal interventions. To be treated with psychoanalysis, whatever the presenting problem, the person requesting help must demonstrate a desire to start an analysis. The person wishing to start an analysis must have some capacity for speech and communication. As well, they need to be able to have or develop trust and insight within the psychoanalytic session. Potential patients must undergo a preliminary stage of treatment to assess their amenability to psychoanalysis at that time, and also to enable the analyst to form a working psychological model which the analyst will use to direct the treatment. Psychoanalysts mainly work with neurosis and hysteria in particular; however, adapted forms of psychoanalysis are used in working with schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis or mental disorder. Finally, if a prospective patient is severely suicidal a longer preliminary stage may be employed, sometimes with sessions which have a twenty minute break in the middle. There are numerous modifications in technique under the heading of psychoanalysis due to the individualistic nature of personality in both analyst and patient. The most common problems treatable with psychoanalysis include: phobias, conversions, compulsions, obsessions, anxiety, attacks, depressions, sexual dysfunctions, a wide variety of relationship problems (such as dating and marital strife), and a wide variety of character problems (for example, painful shyness, meanness, obnoxiousness, workaholism, hyperseductiveness, hyperemotionality, hyperfastidiousness). The fact that many of such patients also demonstrate deficits above makes diagnosis and treatment selection difficult. Analytical organizations such as the International Psychoanalytic Association,[43] The American Psychoanalytic Association,[44] and the European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy,[45] have established procedures and models for the indication and practice of psychoanalytical therapy for trainees in analysis. The match between the analyst and the patient can be viewed as another contributing factor for the indication and contraindication for psychoanalytic treatment. The analyst decides whether the patient is suitable for

psychoanalysis. This decision made by the analyst, besides made on the usual indications and pathology, is also based to a certain degree by the "fit" between analyst and patient. A person's suitability for analysis at any particular time is based on their desire to know something about where their illness has come from. Someone who is not suitable for analysis expresses no desire to know more about the root causes of their illness. An evaluation may include one or more other analysts' independent opinions and will include discussion of the patient's financial situation and insurances.
[edit]Techniques

The basic method of psychoanalysis is interpretation of the patient's unconscious conflicts that are interfering with current-day functioning conflicts that are causing painful symptoms such as phobias, anxiety, depression, and compulsions. Strachey (1936) stressed that figuring out ways the patient distorted perceptions about the analyst led to understanding what may have been forgotten (also see Freud's paper "Repeating, Remembering, and Working Through"). In particular, unconscious hostile feelings toward the analyst could be found in symbolic, negative reactions to what Robert Langs later called the "frame" of the therapy the setup that included times of the sessions, payment of fees, and necessity of talking. In patients who made mistakes, forgot, or showed other peculiarities regarding time, fees, and talking, the analyst can usually find various unconscious "resistances" to the flow of thoughts (sometimes called free association).

Freud's patients would lie on this couch during psychoanalysis

When the patient reclines on a couch with the analyst out of view, the patient tends to remember more, experience more resistance and transference, and be able to reorganize thoughts after the development of insight through the interpretive work of the analyst. Although fantasy life can be understood through the examination of dreams, masturbation fantasies (cf. Marcus, I. and Francis, J. (1975), Masturbation from Infancy to Senescence) are also important. The analyst is interested in how the patient reacts to and avoids such fantasies (cf. Paul Gray (1994), The Ego and the Analysis of Defense).[46] Various memories of early life are generally distorted Freud called them "screen memories" and in any case, very early experiences (before age two) can not be remembered (See the child studies of Eleanor Galenson on "evocative memory").

[edit]Variations in technique

There is what is known among psychoanalysts as "classical technique," although Freud throughout his writings deviated from this considerably, depending on the problems of any given patient. Classical technique was summarized by Allan Compton, MD, as comprising instructions (telling the patient to try to say what's on their mind, including interferences); exploration (asking questions); and clarification (rephrasing and summarizing what the patient has been describing). As well, the analyst can also use confrontation to bringing an aspect of functioning, usually a defense, to the patient's attention. The analyst then uses a variety of interpretation methods, such as dynamic interpretation (explaining how being too nice guards against guilt, e.g. defense vs. affect); genetic interpretation (explaining how a past event is influencing the present); resistance interpretation (showing the patient how they are avoiding their problems); transference interpretation (showing the patient ways old conflicts arise in current relationships, including that with the analyst); or dream interpretation (obtaining the patient's thoughts about their dreams and connecting this with their current problems). Analysts can also use reconstruction to estimate what may have happened in the past that created some current issue. These techniques are primarily based on conflict theory (see above). As object relations theory evolved, supplemented by the work of Bowlby, Ainsworth, and Beebe, techniques with patients who had more severe problems with basic trust (Erikson, 1950) and a history of maternal deprivation (see the works of Augusta Alpert) led to new techniques with adults. These have sometimes been called interpersonal, intersubjective (cf. Stolorow), relational, or corrective object relations techniques. These techniques include expressing an empathic attunement to the patient or warmth; exposing a bit of the analyst's personal life or attitudes to the patient; allowing the patient autonomy in the form of disagreement with the analyst (cf. I.H. Paul, Letters to Simon.); and explaining the motivations of others which the patient misperceives. Ego psychological concepts of deficit in functioning led to refinements in supportive therapy. These techniques are particularly applicable to psychotic and near-psychotic (cf., Eric Marcus, "Psychosis and Near-psychosis") patients. These supportive therapy techniques include discussions of reality; encouragement to stay alive (including hospitalization); psychotropic medicines to relieve overwhelming depressive affect or overwhelming fantasies (hallucinations and delusions); and advice about the meanings of things (to counter abstraction failures). The notion of the "silent analyst" has been criticized. Actually, the analyst listens using Arlow's approach as set out in "The Genesis of Interpretation"), using active intervention to interpret resistances, defenses creating pathology, and fantasies. Silence is not a technique of psychoanalysis (also see the studies and opinion papers of Owen Renik, MD). "Analytic Neutrality" is a concept that does not mean the analyst is silent. It refers to the analyst's position of not taking sides in the internal struggles of the patient. For example, if a patient feels guilty, the analyst might explore what the patient has been doing or thinking that causes the guilt, but not reassure the patient not to feel guilty. The analyst might also explore the identifications with parents and others that led to the guilt.

Interpersonal-Relational psychoanalysts emphasize the notion that it is impossible to be neutral. Sullivan introduced the term "participant-observer" to indicate the analyst inevitably interacts with the analysand, and suggested the detailed inquiry as an alternative to interpretation. The detailed inquiry involves noting where the analysand is leaving out important elements of an account and noting when the story is obfuscated, and asking careful questions to open up the dialogue.
[edit]Group

therapy and play therapy

Although single-client sessions remain the norm, psychoanalytic theory has been used to develop other types of psychological treatment. Psychoanalytic group therapy was pioneered by Trigant Burrow, Joseph Pratt, Paul F. Schilder, Samuel R. Slavson, Harry Stack Sullivan, and Wolfe. Child-centered counseling for parents was instituted early in analytic history by Freud, and was later further what by Irwin Marcus, Edith Schulhofer, and Gilbert Kliman. Psychoanalytically based couples therapy has been promulgated and explicated by Fred Sander, MD. Techniques and tools developed in the first decade of the 21st century have made psychoanalysis available to patients who were not treatable by earlier techniques. This meant that the analytic situation was modified so that it would be more suitable and more likely to be helpful for these patients. M.N. Eagle (2007) believes that psychoanalysis cannot be a self-contained discipline but instead must be open to influence from and integration with findings and theory from other disciplines.[47] Psychoanalytic constructs have been adapted for use with children with treatments such as play therapy, art therapy, and storytelling. Throughout her career, from the 1920s through the 1970s, Anna Freud adapted psychoanalysis for children through play. This is still used today for children, especially those who are preadolescent (see Leon Hoffman, New York Psychoanalytic Institute Center for Children). Using toys and games, children are able to demonstrate, symbolically, their fears, fantasies, and defenses; although not identical, this technique, in children, is analogous to the aim of free association in adults. Psychoanalytic play therapy allows the child and analyst to understand children's conflicts, particularly defenses such as disobedience and withdrawal, that have been guarding against various unpleasant feelings and hostile wishes. In art therapy, the counselor may have a child draw a portrait and then tell a story about the portrait. The counselor watches for recurring themesregardless of whether it is with art or toys.
[edit]Cultural

variations

Psychoanalysis can be adapted to different cultures, as long as the therapist or counseling understands the client's culture. For example, Tori and Blimes found that defense mechanisms were valid in a normative sample of 2,624 Thais. The use of certain defense mechanisms was related to cultural values. For example Thais value calmness and collectiveness (because of Buddhist beliefs), so they were low on regressive emotionality. Psychoanalysis also applies because Freud used techniques that allowed him to get the subjective perceptions of his patients. He takes an objective approach by not facing his clients during his talk therapy sessions. He met with his patients wherever they were, such as when he used free association where clients would say

whatever came to mind without self-censorship. His treatments had little to no structure for most cultures, especially Asian cultures. Therefore, it is more likely that Freudian constructs will be used in structured therapy (Thompson, et al., 2004). In addition, Corey postulates that it will be necessary for a therapist to help clients develop a cultural identity as well as an ego identity.
[edit]Parallels

with Buddhism

Just like psychoanalysis, Buddhist practices access the unconscious in order to bring changes in the conscious. The Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhist technique of bare attention mindfulness meditation has received much regard in helping therapists achieve optimal attention. Bare attention emphasizes the maintenance of a non-judgmental attitude and the reception of incoming information without personal comment. This is similar to the technique of "evenly-hovering attention" Freud advocated to therapists. His method of evenly-hovering attention enables therapists to pay impartial and close attention to their patients stories without being distracted by their own reactions or judgments.[48] In Buddhism, meditation takes two distinct forms concentration and insight. These two forms are close to Ignacio Matte-Blancos divisions of the unconscious into the asymmetrical and symmetrical. Concentration reveals specific and isolated objects (asymmetrical thinking) while insight practice serves to transcend this objectified or reified (symmetrical thinking). In other words, while concentration reveals a concretized and physical view of self and reality, insight practice serves to change the concrete and physical into the less tangible and the transcendental. In both techniques, distinctions and differentiations dissolve: in Buddhism, the familiar and the non-familiar are merged together while in psychoanalysis, the asymmetrical is made symmetrical in the depths of the unconscious.[49]
[edit]Cost

and length of treatment

The cost to the patient of psychoanalytic treatment ranges widely from place to place and between practitioners. Low-fee analysis is often available in a psychoanalytic training clinic and graduate schools. Otherwise, the fee set by each analyst varies with the analyst's training and experience. Since, in most locations in the United States, unlike in Ontario and Germany, classical analysis (which usually requires sessions three to five times per week) is not covered by health insurance, many analysts may negotiate their fees with patients whom they feel they can help, but who have financial difficulties. The modifications of analysis, which include dynamic therapy, brief therapies, and certain types of group therapy (cf. Slavson, S. R., A Textbook in Analytic Group Therapy), are carried out on a less frequent basis usually once, twice, or three times a week and usually the patient sits facing the therapist. Many studies have also been done on briefer "dynamic" treatments; these are more expedient to measure, and shed light on the therapeutic process to some extent. Brief Relational Therapy (BRT), Brief Psychodynamic Therapy (BPT), and Time-Limited Dynamic Therapy (TLDP) limit treatment to 2030 sessions. On average, classical analysis may last 5.7 years, but for phobias and depressions uncomplicated by ego deficits or object

relations deficits, analysis may run for a shorter period of time. Longer analyses are indicated for those with more serious disturbances in object relations, more symptoms, and more ingrained character pathology (such as obnoxiousness, severe passivity, or heinous procrastination).
[edit]Training

and research

Psychoanalytic training in the United States, in most locations, involves personal analytic treatment for the trainee, conducted confidentially, with no report to the Education Committee of the Analytic Training Institute; approximately 600 hours of class instruction, with a standard curriculum, over a four-year period. Classes are often a few hours per week, or for a full day or two every other weekend during the academic year; this varies with the institute; and supervision once per week, with a senior analyst, on each analytic treatment case the trainee has. The minimum number of cases varies between institutes, often two to four cases. Male and female cases are required. Supervision must go on for at least a few years on one or more cases. Supervision is done in the supervisor's office, where the trainee presents material from the analytic work that week, examines the unconscious conflicts with the supervisor, and learns, discusses, and is advised about technique. Many psychoanalytic training centers in the United States have been accredited by special committees of the American Psychoanalytic Association[50] or the International Psychoanalytical Association. Because of theoretical differences, other independent institutes arose, usually founded by psychologists, who until 1987 were not permitted access to psychoanalytic training institutes of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Currently there are between 75 and 100 independent institutes in the United States. As well, other institutes are affiliated to other organizations such as the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, and the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. At most psychoanalytic institutes in the United States, qualifications for entry include a terminal degree in a mental health field, such as Ph.D., Psy.D., M.S.W., or M.D. A few institutes restrict applicants to those already holding an M.D. or Ph.D., and most institutes in Southern California confer a Ph.D. orPsy.D. in psychoanalysis upon graduation, which involves completion of the necessary requirements for the state boards that confer that doctoral degree.The first training institute in America to educate non-medical psychoanalysts was The National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis., (1978) in New York City. It was founded by the analyst Theodor Reik. Some psychoanalytic training has been set up as a post-doctoral fellowship in university settings, such as at Duke University, Yale University, New York University, Adelphi University, and Columbia University. Other psychoanalytic institutes may not be directly associated with universities, but the faculty at those institutes usually hold contemporaneous faculty positions with psychology Ph.D. programs and/or with medical school psychiatry residency programs. The International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) is the world's primary accrediting and regulatory body for psychoanalysis. Their mission is to assure the continued vigour and development of psychoanalysis for the benefit of psychoanalytic patients. It works in partnership with its 70 constituent organizations in 33 countries to

support 11,500 members. In the US, there are 77 psychoanalytical organizations, institutes associations in the United States, which are spread across the states of America. The American Psychoanalytic Association (APSaA) has 38 affiliated societies, which have 10 or more active members who practice in a given geographical area. The aims of the APSaA and other psychoanalytical organizations are: provide ongoing educational opportunities for its members, stimulate the development and research of psychoanalysis, provide training and organize conferences. There are eight affiliated study groups in the USA (two of them are in Latin America). A study group is the first level of integration of a psychoanalytical body within the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA), followed by a provisional society and finally a member society. The Division of Psychoanalysis (39) of the American Psychological Association (APA) was established in the early 1980s by several psychologists. Until the establishment of the Division of Psychoanalysis, psychologists who had trained in independent institutes had no national organization. The Division of Psychoanalysis now has approximately 4,000 members and approximately 30 local chapters in the United States. The Division of Psychoanalysis holds two annual meetings or conferences and offers continuing education in theory, research and clinical technique, as do their affiliated local chapters. The European Psychoanalytical Federation (EPF) is the organization which consolidates all European psychoanalytic societies. This organization is affiliated with the IPA. In 2002 there were approximately 3,900 individual members in 22 countries, speaking 18 different languages. There are also 25 psychoanalytic societies.
[edit]Psychoanalysis

in Britain

The London Psychoanalytical Society was founded by Ernest Jones on 30 October 1913. With the expansion of psychoanalysis in the United Kingdom the Society was renamed the British Psychoanalytical Society in 1919. Soon after, the Institute of Psychoanalysis was established to administer the Societys activities. These include: the training of psychoanalysts, the development of the theory and practice of psychoanalysis, the provision of treatment through The London Clinic of Psychoanalysis, the publication of books in The New Library of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Ideas. The Institute of Psychoanalysis also publishes The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, maintains a library, furthers research, and holds public lectures. The society has a Code of Ethics and an Ethical Committee. The society, the institute and the clinic are all located at Byron House. The society is a component of the International Psychoanalytical Association, a body with members on all five continents that safeguards professional and ethical practice. The society is a member of the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC); the BPC publishes a register of British psychoanalysts and psychoanalytical psychotherapists. All members of the British Psychoanalytical Society are required to undertake continuing professional development. Through its work and the work of its individual members the British Psychoanalytical Society has made an unrivalled contribution the understanding and treatment of mental illness. Members of the Society have

included Michael Balint, Wilfred Bion, John Bowlby, Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Joseph Sandler, and Donald Winnicott. The Institute of Psychoanalysis is the foremost publisher of psychoanalytic literature. The 24-volume Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freudwas conceived, translated, and produced under the direction of the British Psychoanalytical Society. The Society, in conjunction with Random House, will soon publish a new, revised and expanded Standard Edition. With [The New Library of Psychoanalysis] the Institute continues to publish the books of leading theorists and practitioners. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis is published by the Institute of Psychoanalysis. Now in its 84th year, it has one of the largest circulation of any psychoanalytic journal.
[edit]Research

Over a hundred years of case reports and studies in the journal Modern Psychoanalysis, the Psychoanalytic Quarterly, the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and theJournal of the American Psychoanalytic Association have analyzed efficacy of analysis in cases of neurosis and character or personality problems. Psychoanalysis modified by object relations techniques has been shown to be effective in many cases of ingrained problems of intimacy and relationship (cf. the many books of Otto Kernberg). As a therapeutic treatment, psychoanalytic techniques may be useful in a one-session consultation.[51] Psychoanalytic treatment, in other situations, may run from about a year to many years, depending on the severity and complexity of the pathology. Psychoanalytic theory has, from its inception, been the subject of criticism and controversy. Freud remarked on this early in his career, when other physicians in Vienna ostracized him for his findings that hysterical conversion symptoms were not limited to women. Challenges to analytic theory began with Otto Rank and Alfred Adler (turn of the 20th century), continued with behaviorists (e.g. Wolpe) into the 1940s and '50s, and have persisted. Criticisms come from those who object to the notion that there are mechanisms, thoughts or feelings in the mind that could be unconscious. Criticisms also have been leveled against the discovery of "infantile sexuality" (the recognition that children between ages two and six imagine things about procreation). Criticisms of theory have led to variations in analytic theories, such as the work of Ronald Fairbairn,Michael Balint, and John Bowlby. In the past 30 years or so, the criticisms have centered on the issue of empirical verification,[52] in spite of many empirical, prospective research studies that have been empirically validated (e.g., See the studies of Barbara Milrod, at Cornell University Medical School, et al. [citation needed]). Recently in scientific literature we can find research supporting many Freud's ideas, e.g. unconsciousness, repression etc.[53][54] Psychoanalysis has been used as a research tool into childhood development (cf. the journal The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child), and has developed into a flexible, effective treatment for certain mental disturbances.[26] In the 1960s, Freud's early (1905) thoughts on the childhood development of female

sexuality were challenged; this challenge led to major research in the 1970s and 80s, and then to a reformulation of female sexual development that corrected some of Freud's concepts.[55] Also see the various works of Eleanor Galenson, Nancy Chodorow, Karen Horney, Francoise Dolto, Melanie Klein, Selma Fraiberg, and others. Most recently, psychoanalytic researchers who have integrated attachment theory into their work, including Alicia Lieberman, Susan Coates, and Daniel Schechter have explored the role of parental traumatization in the development of young children's mental representations of self and others. [56] Several meta-analysis have shown psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy to be effective, with outcomes comparable or greater than other kinds of psychotherapy orantidepressant drugs.[57] Empirical research has shown also that "proper", long-term psychoanalysis, when patient lies on a coach and meets with analyst at least three times a week, is also effective.[58] A 2005 review of randomized controlled trials found that "psychoanalytic therapy is (1) more effective than no treatment or treatment as usual, and (2) more effective than shorter forms of psychodynamic therapy".[59] Empirical research on the efficacy of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy has also become prominent among psychoanalytic researchers. Research on psychodynamic treatment of some populations shows mixed results. Research by analysts such as Bertram Karon and colleagues at Michigan State Universityhad suggested that when trained properly, psychodynamic therapists can be effective with schizophrenic patients. More recent research casts doubt on these claims. The Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team[60] (PORT) report argues in its Recommendation 22[61] against the use of psychodynamic therapy in cases of schizophrenia, noting that more trials are necessary to verify its effectiveness. However, the PORT recommendation is based on the opinions of clinicians rather than on empirical data, and empirical data exist that contradict this recommendation. [62] A review of current medical literature in The Cochrane Library,[63] (which is available online) reached the conclusion that no data exist that demonstrate that psychodynamic psychotherapy is effective in treating schizophrenia. Dr. Hyman Spotnitz and the practitioners of his theory known as Modern Psychoanalysis, a specific sub-specialty, still report (2007) much success in using their enhanced version of psychoanalytic technique in the treatment of schizophrenia. Further data also suggest that psychoanalysis is not effective (and possibly even detrimental) in the treatment of sex offenders.[64] Experiences of psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists and research into infant and child development have led to new insights. Theories have been further developed and the results of empirical research are now more integrated in the psychoanalytic theory.[65] There are different forms of psychoanalysis and psychotherapies in which psychoanalytic thinking is practiced. Besides classical psychoanalysis there is for example psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Other examples of well known therapies which also use insights of psychoanalysis are Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT), and Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP).[65] There is also a continuing influence of psychoanalytic thinking in different settings in the mental health care.[66] To give an example: in the psychotherapeutic training in the

Netherlands, psychoanalytic and system therapeutic theories, drafts, and techniques are combined and integrated. Other psychoanalytic schools include the Kleinian, Lacanian, and Winnicottian schools.
[edit]Criticism

The theoretical foundations of psychoanalysis lay in the same philosophical currents that lead to interpretive phenomenology rather than in those that lead to scientificpositivism, making the theory largely incompatible with scientific approaches to the study of the mind.[67][68][69][70][71] Early critics of psychoanalysis believed that its theories were based too little on quantitative and experimental research, and too much on the clinical case study method. Some even accused Freud of fabrication, most famously in the case of Anna O. (Borch-Jacobsen 1996). An increasing amount of empirical research from academicpsychologists and psychiatrists has begun to address this criticism. A survey of scientific research suggested that while personality traits corresponding to Freud's oral, anal, Oedipal, and genital phases can be observed, they do not necessarily manifest as stages in the development of children. These studies also have not confirmed that such traits in adults result from childhood experiences (Fisher & Greenberg, 1977, p. 399). However, these stages should not be viewed as crucial to modern psychoanalysis. What is crucial to modern psychoanalytic theory and practice is the power of the unconscious and the transference phenomenon. Numerous studies have shown that its efficacy is related to the quality of the therapist, rather than the psychoanalytic school or technique or training,[72] while a French 2004 report from INSERM (study removed by decision of the French Health Minister Douste-Blazy), says instead, that psychoanalysis therapy is far less effective than other psychotherapies (among which cognitive behavioral therapy). The idea of "unconscious" is contested because human behavior can be observed while human mental activity has to be inferred. However, the unconscious is now a popular topic of study in the fields of experimental and social psychology (e.g., implicit attitude measures, fMRI, and PET scans, and other indirect tests). The idea of unconscious, and the transference phenomenon, have been widely researched and, it is claimed, validated in the fields of cognitive psychology and social psychology (Westen & Gabbard 2002), though a Freudian interpretation of unconscious mental activity is not held by the majority of cognitive psychologists. Recent developments in neuroscience have resulted in one side arguing that it has provided a biological basis for unconscious emotional processing in line with psychoanalytic theory i.e., neuropsychoanalysis (Westen & Gabbard 2002), while the other side argues that such findings make psychoanalytic theory obsolete and irrelevant. Both Freud and psychoanalysis have been criticized in very extreme terms.[73] Exchanges between critics and defenders of psychoanalysis have often been so heated that they have come to be characterized as the Freud Wars. Karl Popper argued that psychoanalysis is a pseudoscience because its claims are not testable and cannot be refuted; that is, they are not falsifiable.[74] Karl Kraus, an Austrian satirist, was the subject of a book

written by noted libertarian author Thomas Szasz. The book Anti-Freud: Karl Kraus's Criticism of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry, originally published under the name Karl Kraus and the Soul Doctors, portrayed Kraus as a harsh critic of Sigmund Freud and of psychoanalysis in general. Other commentators, such as Edward Timms, author of Karl Kraus Apocalyptic Satirist, have argued that Kraus respected Freud, though with reservations about the application of some of his theories, and that his views were far less blackand-white than Szasz suggests. Grnbaum argues that psychoanalytic based theories are falsifiable, but that the causal claims of psychoanalysis are unsupported by the available clinical evidence. A prominent academic inpositive psychology wrote that 'Thirty years ago, the cognitive revolution in psychology overthrew both Freud and the behaviorists, at least in academia. ... [T]hinking ... is not just a [result] of emotion or behavior. ... [E]motion is always generated by cognition, not the other way around.'[75] Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze claimed that the institution of psychoanalysis has become a center of power and that its confessional techniques resemble the Christian tradition.[76] Jacques Lacan criticized the emphasis of some American and British psychoanalytical traditions on what he has viewed as the suggestion of imaginary "causes" for symptoms, and recommended the return to Freud.[77] Together with Gilles Deleuze, Flix Guattari criticised the Oedipal structure.[78] Luce Irigaray criticised psychoanalysis, employing Jacques Derrida's concept of phallogocentrism to describe the exclusion of the woman from Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalytical theories.[79] Shlomo Kalo explains that Materialism that flourished in the 19th Century severely harmed religion and rejected whatever called spiritual. The institution of the confession priest in particular was badly damaged. The empty void that this institution left behind was swiftly occupied by the newborn psychoanalysis. In his writings Kalo claims that psychoanalysis basic approach is erroneous. It represents the mainline wrong assumptions that happiness is unreachable and that the natural desire of a human being is to exploit his fellow men for his own pleasure and benefit.[80] Freud's psychoanalysis was criticized by his wife, Martha. Ren Laforgue reported Martha Freud saying, "I must admit that if I did not realize how seriously my husband takes his treatments, I should think that psychoanalysis is a form of pornography." To Martha there was something vulgar about psychoanalysis, and she dissociated herself from it. According to Marie Bonaparte, Martha was upset with her husband's work and his treatment of sexuality.[81] Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, in their 1972 work Anti-dipus, take the cases of Grard Mendel, Bela Grunberger and Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel, prominent members of the most respected associations (IPa), to suggest that, traditionally, psychoanalysis enthusiastically embraces a police state: [82] E. Fuller Torrey, writing in Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists (1986), stated that psychoanalytic theories have no more scientific basis than the theories of traditional native healers, "witchdoctors" or modern "cult" alternatives such as est.[83] Frank Cioffi, author of Freud and the Question of Pseudoscience, cites false claims of a sound

scientific verification of the theory and its elements as the strongest basis for classifying the work of Freud and his school as pseudoscience.[84] Among philosophers, Karl Popperargued that Freud's theory of the unconscious was not falsifiable and therefore not scientific.[74] Popper did not object to the idea that some mental processes could be unconscious but to investigations of the mind that were not falsifiable. In other words, if it were possible to connect every conceivable experimental outcome with Freud's theory of the unconscious mind, then no experiment could refute the theory. Noam Chomsky has also criticized psychoanalysis for lacking a scientific basis.[85] The philosopher Paul Ricoeur argued that psychoanalysis can be considered a type of textual interpretation or hermeneutics. Like cultural critics and literary scholars, Ricoeur contended, psychoanalysts spend their time interpreting the nuances of language. He classified psychoanalysis as a hermeneutics of suspicion. By this he meant that psychoanalysis searches for deception in language, and thereby destabilizes our usual reliance on clear, obvious meanings. Jacques Derrida incorporated aspects of psychoanalytic theory into his theory of deconstruction in order to question what he called the 'metaphysics of presence'. Derrida also turns some of these ideas against Freud, to reveal tensions and contradictions in his work. For example, although Freud defines religion and metaphysics as displacements of the identification with the father in the resolution of the Oedipal complex, Derrida insists in The Postcard: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond that the prominence of the father in Freud's own analysis is itself indebted to the prominence given to the father in Western metaphysics and theology since Plato. Some post-colonialists[86] argue that psychoanalysis imposes a white, European model of human development on those without European heritage, hence they will argue Freud's theories are a form or instrument of intellectual imperialism.

Sigmund Freud - Chronology

Childhood, School Years 1856 - 6 May: Sigismund Freud is born (to change his name to Sigmund at 22). According to custom, he is also given a Jewish name: Schlomo. His birthplace is Freiberg (nowadays Pribor) in Moravia (the Czech Republic). His father Jacob is 41 and has two children from a previous marriage: Emmanuel and Philippe. Sigismund's mother is 21 and this is her first born.

1859 - The economic crisis ruins Jacob's business. The family settles in Vienna, in Leopoldstadt, the Jewish neighborhood (February 1860). 1865 - Sigmund is admitted to the Gymnasium (secondary school) a year ahead his time. 1870 - He receives Ludwig Borne complete works; reading these books will influence him The birth house of Sigmund Freud - Zamecnicka Ulice, 117. greatly.
Click the picture to enlarge.

1872 - He returns to Freiberg to spend his holidays. 1873 - He receives a summa cum laudae award on graduation from secondary school. He is congratulated on his style in German. He is already able to read in several languages. Under his colleague's Heinrich Braun influence, he plans to study law but finally decides in favor of medical school, after having attended a lecture on Goethe's essay On Nature. Start his studies at Vienna University. 1874 - While at university, he discovers anti-Jewish prejudices and declares his place is "with the opposition". Attends Brentano's lectures. 1875 - Travels to Manchester, Britain, to see Philippe and his niece Pauline. 1876 - His first personal research in Trieste, on sexual glands of anguilas. Joins Brucke's laboratory. 1877 - Publishes the result of his anatomical research on the central nervous system of a specific larva. 1878 - His research in Brucke's laboratory bring him to a step's distance from the discovery of the neuron (called as such by Waldeyer in 1891). Becomes a friend of Breuer, his 14 years senior, who provides him moral and material support. 1879 - Attends Meynert's courses in psychiatry. His sole interest is the neurological aspect of issues under debate. 1880 - A year of military service. Breuer provides treatment to Bertha Pappenheim (Anna O.). Freud translates 4 essays by Stuart Mills. He is not willing to dedicate himself to medical practice but rather to research or teaching. .

1881 - A delayed award of a doctor's degree in medicine. 1882 - Given the material difficulties he is undergoing, Freud cannot dedicate himself to a career in research. He meets Martha Bernays (of family of Jewish intellectuals) and intends to get married with her. In November, Breuer talks to him about the Anna O. case, which had been interrupted in June. 1883 - Joins Meynert's service in the Psychiatric Hospital. 1884 - Discovers the analgesic properties of cocaine. Carl Koller is the one publishing a successful study in that respect. Freud himself uses cocaine as a tonic but prescribes it to his friend Fleischl who was morphine addicted, thereby aggravating his situation. He is criticized in medical circles. He starts treating "nervous" disorders by means of electrotherapy and applies W. Erb's method. He at the same time devised a method for coloring neurologic preparations (for the microscope) and publishes an article in that respect as well as a monograph on coke. 1885 - Hold a temporary position in a private clinic where hypnosis is used. He destroys all his documents in April. He is appointed Privatdozent, then is awarded a grant for a study tour and chooses to go to Paris, to visit Charcot at the Salpetriere Hospital. He is able to observe the manifestations of hysteria and the effects of hypnosis and suggestion here. Charcot leaves him with special impression. Freud volunteers to translate his lectures.

Sigmund Freud - Biography

Sigmund Freud's Childhood

by Jean Chiriac "My life is interesting only if is related to psychoanalysis", Freud said, giving thus us to understand that the events of his biography are not

interesting in a biographer's view, but just his activity on the realm of psychoanalysis. But a different reading of this assertion suggests us something else: the fact that applying Freud's method to the study of the biographical events could bring forward another biography, which less cares about the biographical "truth", but particularly cares about the meaning and significance of the biographical events in the light of Freud's discoveries, among which we should first of all mentionOedipus complex . With Octave Mannoni's words: "The confessions Freud made about his youth are like a derived product of his discovery." (O. Mannoni, "Freud", Du Seuil, 1968) Sigmund Freud was born in Freiberg, in Moravia, on 6th of May 1856. People from here were Czechs, but Jewish people were talking German and were mostly assimilated to the Austro-Hungarian ruling class. His father, Jacob Freud, was a textile dealer. He married for the first time when he was seventeen and had two children: Emmanuel and Philipp. After he became a widower, he remarried in 1851 or 1852 with a certain Rebecca, about whom we don't know if she died young or she was repudiated, and for the third time with a Amalia Freud and Sigmund young woman of twenty, Amalia Nathansohn in 1874 (1835 - 1930), whose first child will be Sigmund. He will be succeeded by Julius, who died at eighteen months, Anna, Rosa, Mitzi, Dolfi, Paula and Alexander. Sigmund Freud inherited from his father the sense of humor, the skepticism before life incertitude, the habit of exemplifying by a Jewish anecdote when he wanted to bring out some moral feature, his liberalism and free thought. From his mother he would have taken "the sentimentalism", an ambiguous word in German, which would mean that Freud was capable of intense emotional feelings. Freud enjoyed the unrestrained love of his mother, Amalia, who called him "my golden Sigi". This unconditional love will make Freud notice: "When you were incontestably the favorite child of your mother, you keep during your lifetime this victor feeling, you keep feeling sure of success, which in reality seldom doesn't fulfill". From the age of eight also comes another remembrance less pleasant that will play an important role in the later victory dream, which the dreamer himself will interpret. The remembrance under discussion put him in a position of humiliating inferiority before his parents. What's this about: he would have been scolded by his father because he intentionally had urinated

in his parents' bedroom and apostrophized by these words: "There will come nothing of this boy!". When he narrates this happening, Freud states precisely that this phrase should have deeply afflicted him "in my dreams the scene often repeated, always accompanied by an enumeration of my works and successes, as if I intended to say: <<You see, nevertheless I became somebody! >>." Another grievous remembrance: his father took him for a walk and narrated an unpleasant event with a passerby who had apostrophized him: "You, Jew - get down from the sidewalk!" Freud was extremely disappointed when he found out his father hadn't reacted upon the insult of that stranger. "To this scene, which annoyed me - he writes - I opposed another one, more consonant with my feelings, the scene when Hamilcar Barcas asks his son to swear, before the sanctuary, that he'll take his vengeance on the Romans." Hannibal becomes a hero to Freud's view and he reappears under the form of the dreams about Rome in his associations from "The Interpretation of Dreams"(1900), from which we also took out this details. Later on, he presented this happening in the same book, as a resentment motive, which was constantly present. He extracts from this the sources of the feelings that made him identify himself with Hannibal: "Hannibal and Rome - Freud writes at this opportunity - symbolized the opposition between the Jewish tenacity and the organizing spirit of the Catholic Church". Moreover: "the wish to go to Rome became at the delirious level the veil and symbol of many other ardent wishes, which need for their achievement persevering and steadfast hard work... and their fulfillment seems to be as less favored by destiny as was Hannibal's lifetime wish to enter Rome". When he was four years old, as his father met with a business failure, Freud and his family settled down in Vienna, a noisy and cosmopolitan metropolis, which will sensitively stand in contrast with the lawns and mountains from Moravia, to which Freud will forever feel attached. "Under deep sediments, it continue to live inside myself the happy child from Freiberg... who has received from this air and this earth his first unforgettable impressions", Freud remarked and he will even state precisely: "I 've never felt within my depth in this city [Vienna]. I believe nowadays that I've always regretted the marvelous forests of my childhood, and one of my remembrances evokes me the fact that I used to run as if I wanted to get off from my father, when I was scarcely able to walk..."

Sigmund Freud - Life and Work | Biography

Freud and the "Cocaine Episode"

by Jean Chiriac See also: > Freud about his Scientific Interest in Cocaine More Freud's biographical resources > Freud's Chronology > Freud's Childhood > Freud's Pictures There is a certain interest in the cocaine episode in Freud's life. The explanation lies in that cocaine belongs to the group of prohibited substances today and sensation mongers imagine Freud's association with cocaine might reveal outrageous private secrets! Freud's personality continues to exert it's fascination to this day, and even to a greater extent than his very work, but public interest is not so much determined by a justifiable desire to know as mostly by the hope to discover a few sensational elements in the master's biography. People imagine that the presence of a cocaine episode in Freud's life could be an indication of a drug addicted Freud. On the other hand, the need to demolish great personalities with a decisive influence on western culture seems to be irresistible. Hence the careful pursuit for biographical details that might prove an active support to this odd need. Freud's relationship with cocaine nevertheless does not satisfy either spicy biographical details mongers or slanderers. The following is an outline of this aspect. * The truth is that Freud was a cocaine user indeed. Only that cocaine was not prohibited during his time, but prescribed and used as an euphoric. The harmful side of the substance had not been discovered yet. The fact that famous beverages such Coca-Cola contained coke extract is quite telling! Cocaine addiction and its harmful effects were only discovered later. Freud therefore used cocaine as a stimulus, something to help him manage his depression, achieve a state of well being, and relax under tense circumstances. Cocaine also had medical advantages for Freud. He started his research in this

field concerning the impact of cocaine on medicine, on minor surgery to be more precise. This is what he himself tells us about his endeavor: "In 1884, a side but deep interest" - Freud mentioned in his biography - "made me have the Merck company supply me with an alkaloid quite little known at the time, to study its physiological effects. While engrossed in this research, the opportunity for me then occurred to make a trip to see my fiance, whom I had not seen for almost two years. I then quickly completed my investigation on cocaine and, in the short text I published, I included the notice that other uses of the substance will soon be revealed too. At the same time, I made an insistent recommendation to my friend L. Konigstein, an eye doctor, to check on the extent to which the anesthetic qualities of cocaine might also be used with sore eyes. On my return, I found that it was not him but another friend of mine, Carl Koller (now in New York), who, after hearing me talking about cocaine, had in fact made the decisive experiments on animals' eyes and had presented his findings at the Ophthalmology Congress in Heidelberg. That is why Koller has been rightfully considered as the discoverer of cocaine-based local anesthesia, which has become so important in minor surgery..." A Vienna magazine had indeed published Freud's technical article "On Cocaine" in 1884. The detail of Koller's becoming so reputed in the field is concerned with the following circumstance: Freud had run into a colleague of his who was complaining of intestinal pain and had recommended him a 5% cocaine solution which caused the "patient" a feeling of numbness in his tongue and lips. Koller had witnessed the event and Freud was certain it was then that Koller had found about the anesthetic qualities of the drug. The fact that Freud had so closely missed scientific celebrity with the publication of his findings about cocaine cannot shroud a tragic event he does not mention in his biography. His research of cocaine effects was also due to a personal reason. He hoped cocaine might help his friend von FleischlMarxow, who had become a morphine addict, as result of attempts to soothe the pains inflicted on him by an infection. Nevertheless, his friend's cocaine prescriptions proved fatal. "If only it had soothed his pain", Freud would exclaim in 1885. On the contrary, Fleischl-Marxow died a slow, painful death and the alleged remedy had done nothing but increase his suffering. He had become a cocaine addict, in the same way he had been a morphine addict, and ended in using very large quantities thereof. *Translation by Mihaela Cristea.

Sigmund Freud - Life and Work | Biography

Sigmund Freud about his Scientific Interest in Cocaine A side interest, though it was a deep one, had led me in 1884 to obtain from Merck some of what was then the little-known alkaloid cocaine and to study its physiological action. While I was in the middle of this work, an opportunity arose for making a journey to visit my fiance, from whom I had been parted for two years. I hastily wound up my investigation of cocaine and contented myself in my monograph on the subject with prophesying that further uses for it would soon be found. I suggested, however, to my friend Knigstein, the ophthalmologist, that he should investigate the question of how far the anaesthetizing properties of cocaine were applicable in diseases of the eye. When I returned from my holiday I found that not he, but another of my friends, Carl Koller (now in New York), whom I had also spoken to about cocaine, had made the decisive experiments upon animals' eyes and had demonstrated them at the Ophthalmological Congress at Heidelberg. Koller is therefore rightly regarded as the discoverer of local anaesthesia by cocaine, which has become so important in minor surgery; but I bore my fiance no grudge for the interruption.(From An Autobiographical Study) *** The alkaloid of the coca plant which was described by Niemann received little attention for medical purposes at the time. My work included botanical and historical notes on the coca plant based on statements in the literature; it confirmed by experiments on normal subjects the remarkable stimulating effects of cocaine and its action in preventing hunger, thirst and sleep; and it endeavoured to lay down indications for the therapeutic use of the drug. Among these indications the reference to the possible employment of cocaine during withdrawal of morphine became of importance later. The expectation voiced at the end of the work that the property of cocaine for producing local anaesthesia would find further applications was soon afterwards fulfilled by K. Koller's experiments in anaesthetizing the cornea. (From Scientific Writings of Dr. Sigm. Freud, 1877-1897).

Sigmund Freud - Life and Work | Self Analysis

Sigmund Freud's Self-Analysis

by Jean Chiriac Freud's self-analysis started in the mid 1890's to reach its climaxes in 1895 and 1900. In certain authors' opinion, it was continued up to his death in 1939. Nevertheless, we have to set a clear boundary between the time of Freud's discovery of the Oedipus complex and other essential contents of psychoanalysis and routine self-analysis he performed to check his unconscious psychic life. The first phase is full of unexpected aspects and inventiveness - the productive, creative stage. The second becomes an obligation derived from his profession as a psychoanalyst. Freud's discoveries during his first stage of self-analysis are known to have been included in two of his main books: "The Interpretation of Dreams" and "The Psychopathology of Everyday Life". "The Interpretation of Dreams" provides plenty of Freud's dreams in his own interpretation, among which the famous dream of Irma's injection, which he considers a key issue in understanding the mysteries of dream life. It opens Chapter II ("The Method Of Interpreting Dreams: An Analysis Of A Specimen Dream") and provides material for an analysis covering several pages ahead. Just as Freud himself maintained, the analysis of the dream is not complete but it was here that Freud for the first time asserted that dreams are the disguised fulfilment of unconscious wishes. The explanation of the dream is quite simple: it tries to hide Freud's lack of satisfaction with the treatment given to a patient of his, Irma, and throw the guilt of partial failure upon others, exonerate Freud of other professional errors.

Dream interpretation also provides a dream psychology and many other issues. The volume is extremely inventive and rich in information, and, in its author's view, it is his most important work. "The Psychopathology of Everyday Life", offers Freud room to focus on the analysis of faulty and symptomatic actions, the important thing to emphasize here being that this volume represents Freud's transfer from the clinical to normal life - it proves neurotic features are present not only in sickness but also in health. The difference does not lie in quality but in quantity. Repression is greater with the sick and the free libido is sensibly diminished. Therefore, it is for the first time in the history of psychopathology that Freud overrules the difference between pathology and health. That makes it possible to apply psychoanalysis to so-called normal life... => Next page 2

[ Sigmund Freud's Self-analysis - continued from page 1]

Discovery of the Oedipus Complex

The discovery of Oedipus' complex is indicated in a historic letter Freud wrote to Fliess, his friend and confidante. I have found, in my own case too, [the phenomenon of] being in love with my mother and jealous of my father, and I now consider it a universal event in early childhood, even if not so early as in children who have been made hysterical. Freud adds a few more important details to his confession: If this is so, we can understand the gripping power of Oedipus Rex, in spite of all the objections that reason raises against the presupposition of fate; and we can understand why the later drama of fate was bound to fail so miserably. The Greek legend touches upon an urge "which everyone recognizes because he senses its existence within himself. Everyone in the audience was once a budding Oedipus in fantasy and each recoils in horror from the dream fulfillment here transplanted into reality, with the full quantity of

repression which separates his infantile state from his present one." Together with these remarks, essential for psychoanalytic practice and theory, the buds of applied psychoanalysis also emerge. Freud links the Oedipus complex to Hamlet. Fleetingly the thought passed through my head that the same thing might be at the bottom of Hamlet as well. I am not thinking of Shakespeare's conscious intention, but believe, rather, that a real event stimulated the poet to his representation, in that his unconscious understood the unconscious of his hero. (1) In its monograph of Freud's biography, Peter Gay asserts that "The method Freud used in his self-analysis was that of free association and the material he mainly relied upon was that his own dreams provided". But he didn't stop there: "[Freud] also made a collection of his memories, of speaking or spelling mistakes, slips concerning verse and patients' names and he allowed these clues to lead him from one idea to the other, through the "usual roundabouts" of free association." (2) One of the most beautiful examples of self-analysis can be found in his letter to Romain Rolland, entitled "A Disturbance of Memory on the Acropolis". The disturbance occurred as follows: In the summer of 1904, after prolonged hesitation, Freud suddenly traveled to Athens in the company of his brother Alexander. Once up on the Acropolis, instead of the expected admiration, he was enveloped by a strange feeling of doubt. He was surprised that something he had been learning about at school really exists. He felt divided in two: one person who empirically realized his actual presence on the Acropolis and the other that found it hard to believe, as if denying the reality of the fact. In the mentioned text, Freud tries to elucidate this feeling of strangeness, of unreality. He then showed that the trip to Athens was the object of wish mingled with guilt. That was a desire because, from his early childhood even, he had had dreams of traveling expressing his wish to evade the family atmosphere, the narrow-mindedness and poverty of living conditions he had known in his youth. On the other hand, there was also guilt, as for Freud going to Athens meant getting farther than his own father, who was too poor to travel, to uneducated to be interested in these places. To climb the Acropolis in Freud's mind was to definitely surpass his father, something the son was

clearly forbidden to. Let us resort to Freud's own words: But here we come upon the solution of the little problem of why it was that already at Trieste we interfered with our enjoyment of the voyage to Athens. It must be that a sense of guilt was attached to the satisfaction in having gone such a long way: there was something about it that was wrong, that from earliest times had been forbidden. It was something to do with a child's criticism of his father, with the undervaluation which took the place of the overvaluation of earlier childhood. It seems as though the essence of success was to have got further than one's father, and as though to excel one's father was still something forbidden. ("A Disturbance of Memory on the Acropolis".) Fliess' friendship certainly provided Freud the dialectic relationship that psychoanalytic dialogue (or rather monologue) allows. Fliess was the "idealized other", the one who supposedly knew and understood (even appreciated) the analyst's efforts. In fact, self-analysis is of course only possible by projection. In his letter of November 14th 1897, Freud wrote: "Self-analysis is impossible in fact. I can only analyze myself by means of what I learn from the outside (as if I were another). Were things different, no disease would have been possible otherwise but through projection".

The Difference between Self-analysis and Introspection

The practice of introspection has its origins in St. Augustus' Confessions. It is thus defined as an analysis of our mind's contents that are directly accessible and ethical in character as it launches a debate on the relationship between moral man, which he longs to be, and immoral man, which he is by birth. Augustin does not understand dreams and thinks it is God who is responsible for their emergence. There is no trace here of any knowledge of the unconscious mind, of the way it works works. This is the field of Christian psychology which only assumes a horizontal dimension of analysis. Self-analysis does not deal with known things any more. Having known facts as a starting point, the self-analyser goes deep into the world of his unconscious life and leaves aside the ethic criterion for a while. Conscious psychic manifestations are connected to their unconscious roots and can be explained through the latter. In this self-analysis God vanishes and with him the guilt of the self-

analyser. Moreover, the investigation of unconscious needs resorting to the special investigation methods psychoanalysis has introduced: free associations, dream-analysis, work with slips and symbols, etc. In short we may say that whereas introspection does nothing else but (re)integrate us into the level of our social values, psychoanalytic selfanalysis offers us the opportunity of a radical change in our inner and outer being from the perspective of a reevaluation of these social values . Notes: 1. October 15, 1897, Masson, J.M. (1985) (Ed.) "The complete letters of Sigmund Freud to Wilhelm Fliess", 1887-1904. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2. Translation by M. Cristea.
*Translation by Mihaela Cristea

Sigmund Freud - Freudians

The Secret Committee

The history of psychoanalysis was marked out by numerous baffling breaks. Since the very moment Freud started being surrounded by collaborators, disagreements also began. Many of his ardent supporters later objected to psychoanalytical theories he had established and they even set up their own schools - as in the cases of Alfred Adler (individual psychology) and C. G. Jung (analytical psychology). Adler and Stekel, the first shifts from Freudian line, as well as his guess that C.G. Jung would also make the decisive step towards a break, convinced Ernest Jonesto suggest the creation of a group of trustworthy and loyal psychoanalysts around Freud, as a sort of "Old Guard". The suggestion was made in Vienna, during a talk with Ferenczi, in 1912. In a letter dated July 30th the same year, Jones revealed his intention to Freud, and the latter agreed with it. In addition to Jones and Ferenczi, "The Committee" of loyal supporters also admitted Rank, Sachs and Abraham as

members. On Freud's suggestion, Eitingon became the sixth member, in 1919. The group was dissolved 20 years after its creation.

Made up of Freud's most loyal supporters, the committee consisted of six members (from left to right): Rank, who was to make his own shift later on, Abraham, Eitingon, Jones, Ferenczi and Sachs (click the figures)

Sigmund Freud - Dissidents

Freudian Dissidents

C.G. Jung Alfred Adler Georg Groddeck Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Stekel Fritz Wittels

The history of the psychoanalysis is strewn with debates concerning the theory and the clinical practice. More often than differently, these quarrels are also wars of being able and competitions personal. It is there probably the

batch of many similar movements where abound the strong personalities and the original ideas. As a whole, the analytical movement could compose rather well with diversity. However, certain individuals worked out from the points of view theoretical or clinical at such point far away from the central designs of the Freudian psychoanalysis which they felt the need to break with the movement or were excluded from it. We approach here the dissidents who surround Freud, those which led it to create the secret committee dedicated to the backup of the psychoanalysis. AROPA

Stages of Development or Psychosexual Development

Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development
David B. Stevenson '96, Brown University

Freud advanced a theory of personality development that centered on the effects of the sexual pleasure drive on the individual psyche. At particular points in the developmental process, he claimed, a single body part is particularly sensitive to sexual, erotic stimulation. These erogenous zones are the mouth, the anus, and the genital region. The child's libidocenters on behavior affecting the primary erogenous zone of his age; he cannot focus on the primary erogenous zone of the next stage without resolving the developmental conflict of the immediate one. A child at a given stage of development has certain needs and demands, such as the need of the infant to nurse. Frustration occurs when these needs are not met; Overindulgence stems from such an ample meeting of these needs that the child is reluctant to progress beyond the stage. Both frustration and overindulgence lock some amount of the child's libido permanently into the stage in which they occur; both result in a fixation. If a child progresses normally through the stages, resolving each conflict and moving on, then little libido remains invested in each stage of development. But if he fixates at a particular stage, the method of obtaining satisfaction which characterized the stage will dominate and affect his adult personality.

The Oral Stage

The oral stage begins at birth, when the oral cavity is the primary focus of libidal energy. The child, of course, preoccupies himself with nursing, with the pleasure of sucking and accepting things into the mouth. The oral characterwho is frustrated at this stage, whose mother refused to nurse him on demand or who truncated nursing sessions early, is characterized by pessimism, envy, suspicion and sarcasm. The overindulged oral character, whose nursing urges were always and often excessively satisfied, is optimistic, gullible, and is full of admiration for others around him. The stage culminates in the primary conflict of weaning, which both deprives the child of the sensory pleasures of nursing and of the psychological pleasure of being cared for, mothered, and held. The stage lasts approximately one and one-half years.

The Anal Stage

At one and one-half years, the child enters the anal stage. With the advent of toilet training comes the child's obsession with the erogenous zone of the anus and with the retention or expulsion of the feces. This represents a classic conflict between the id, which derives pleasure from expulsion of bodily wastes, and the ego and superego, which represent the practical and societal pressures to control the bodily functions. The child meets the conflict between the parent's demands and the child's desires and physical capabilities in one of two ways: Either he puts up a fight or he simply refuses to go. The child who wants to fight takes pleasure in excreting maliciously, perhaps just before or just after being placed on the toilet. If the parents are too lenient and the child manages to derive pleasure and success from this expulsion, it will result in the formation of an anal expulsive character. This character is generally messy, disorganized, reckless, careless, and defiant. Conversely, a child may opt to retain feces, thereby spiting his parents while enjoying the pleasurable pressure of the built-up feces on his intestine. If this tactic succeeds and the child is overindulged, he will develop into an anal retentive character. This character is neat, precise, orderly, careful, stingy, withholding, obstinate, meticulous, and passive-aggressive. The resolution of the anal stage, proper toilet training, permanently affects the individual propensities to possession and attitudes towards authority. This stage lasts from one and one-half to two years.

The Phallic Stage

The phallic stage is the setting for the greatest, most crucial sexual conflict in Freud's model of development. In this stage, the child's erogenous zone is the genital region. As the child becomes more interested in his genitals, and in the genitals of others, conflict arises. The conflict, labeled the Oedipus complex (The Electra complex in women), involves the child's unconscious desire to possess the opposite-sexed parent and to eliminate the same-sexed one. In the young male, the Oedipus conflict stems from his natural love for his mother, a love which becomes sexual as his libidal energy transfers from the anal region to his genitals. Unfortunately for the boy, his father stands in the way of this love.

The boy therefore feels aggression and envy towards this rival, his father, and also feels fear that the father will strike back at him. As the boy has noticed that women, his mother in particular, have no penises, he is struck by a great fear that his father will remove his penis, too. The anxiety is aggravated by the threats and discipline he incurs when caught masturbating by his parents. This castration anxiety outstrips his desire for his mother, so he represses the desire. Moreover, although the boy sees that though he cannot posses his mother, because his father does, he can posses her vicariously by identifying with his father and becoming as much like him as possible: this identification indoctrinates the boy into his appropriate sexual role in life. A lasting trace of the Oedipal conflict is the superego, the voice of the father within the boy. By thus resolving his incestuous conundrum, the boy passes into the latency period, a period of libidal dormancy. On the Electra complex, Freud was more vague. The complex has its roots in the little girl's discovery that she, along with her mother and all other women, lack the penis which her father and other men posses. Her love for her father then becomes both erotic and envious, as she yearns for a penis of her own. She comes to blame her mother for her perceived castration, and is struck by penis envy, the apparent counterpart to the boy's castration anxiety. The resolution of the Electra complex is far less clear-cut than the resolution of the Oedipus complex is in males; Freud stated that the resolution comes much later and is never truly complete. Just as the boy learned his sexual role by identifying with his father, so the girl learns her role by identifying with her mother in an attempt to posses her father vicariously. At the eventual resolution of the conflict, the girl passes into the latency period, though Freud implies that she always remains slightly fixated at the phallic stage. Fixation at the phallic stage develops a phallic character, who is reckless, resolute, self-assured, and narcissistic-excessively vain and proud. The failure to resolve the conflict can also cause a person to be afraid or incapable of close love; Freud also postulated that fixation could be a root cause of homosexuality.

Latency Period
The resolution of the phallic stage leads to the latency period, which is not a psychosexual stage of development, but a period in which the sexual drive lies dormant. Freud saw latency as a period of unparalleled repression of sexual desires and erogenous impulses. During the latency period, children pour this repressed libidal energy into asexual pursuits such as school, athletics, and same-sex friendships. But soon puberty strikes, and the genitals once again become a central focus of libidal energy.

The Genital Stage

In the genital stage, as the child's energy once again focuses on his genitals, interest turns to heterosexual relationships. The less energy the child has left invested in unresolved psychosexual developments, the greater his capacity will be to develop normal relationships with the opposite sex. If, however, he remains fixated, particularly on the phallic stage, his development will be troubled as he struggles with further repression and defenses.

NOTES
The Libido, or Psychic Energy, in Freud
David B. Stevenson '96, Brown University Freud conceived of the mind as having only a fixed amount of psychic energy, or libido. Though the word libido has since acquired overt sexual implications, in Freud's theory it stood for all psychic energy. This energy fueled the thought processes, perception, imagination, memory, and sexual urges. In Freud's theory, the mind, like the universe, could neither create nor destroy energy, but merely transfer it from one form or function to another. Because scope of the mind's capabilities was thus limited by the amount of psychic energy freely available, any process or function of the mind which consumed excess energy debilitated the ability of the mind to function normally. Repression, he held, demanded significant amounts of energy to maintain; even then, a repressed thought might come perilously close to becoming conscious, only to be redirected or defended against by a defense mechanism. As well, a fixation on a past psychosexual stage of development could permanently sap this libidal energy, causing, in the extreme cases, neuroses or worse. The dynamic interaction between the id, ego and superego, with each contending for as much libidal energy as possible, illustrates the importance of the functions of the mind. A man who invests most of his libidal energy into the cravings of his id

will act and live much differently than the man whose guilt-inspiring superego consumes most of his libidal energy. This constantly changing balance and interaction between the various functions of the mind, in Freud's theory, determines personality.

Introduction to Sigmund Freuds Theory on Dreams By Kevin | Published April 20, 2005 Freud maintained the notion that the dream fundamentally acts as the guardian of sleep. When we go to bed, the curtains are drawn, the lights are turned off and in effect we are attempting to disconnect from our reality by extinguishing all external stimuli. During the night, the mind protects the sleeper from being disturbed by reacting to further external stimuli (noise, temperature, light, the need to urinate, numb arm/leg, pain, etc) as well as all internal stimuli (emotions, fears, dissatisfaction, desires, previous days activity) by manufacturing dreams. Freuds work was solely concerned with internal stimuli. Essentially, for a person to continue to sleep undisturbed strong negative emotions, forbidden thoughts and unconscious desires have to be disguised or censored in some form or another. Otherwise, confronted by these, the dreamer would become distressed and they would eventually wake up. Therefore the dream, if understood correctly, could lead to a greater understanding of the dreamers subconscious. Freud believed the dream to be composed of two parts. The manifest and the latent content. The manifest content can be thought of as what a person would remember as soon as they wake what they would consciously describe to someone else when recalling the dream. Freud suggested that the manifest content possessed no meaning whatsoever because it was a disguised representation of the true thought underlying the dream. On the other hand, the latent content holds the true meaning of the dream the forbidden thoughts and the unconscious desires. These appear in the manifest content but will be disguised and unrecognisable. Although in rare cases the manifest and latent content can be indistinguishable (Freud referred to these as Infantile dreams). The process by which the latent content is transformed into the manifest content is known as the dream work. The dream work can disguise and distort the latent thoughts in the following four ways: 1: Condensation: Two or more latent thoughts are combined to make up one manifest dream image or situation. 2: Displacement: Instead of directing the emotion or desire toward the intended person or object it is transferred onto a meaningless / unrelated object in the manifest dream.

3: Symbolism: Where complex or vague concepts are converted into a dream image. For this, the mind may use the image of a similar sounding (more recognisable) word instead or use a similar looking less intrusive object. According to Freud, dream symbols are for the most part sexual in meaning thus many dreams (but not all) have a sexual correlation. For example, Freud suggested that objects such as tree-trunks, ties, all weapons, sticks, balloons, rockets and other elongated objects were all symbols for the male organ/an erection. Where boxes, cases, chests, cupboards, ovens, suitcases and other hollow objects represented the female genitalia. A room usually signified a woman but so could the whole house, a door or the whole dream landscape. The simple act of walking up a staircase, steps or ladders could also signify a sexual act. Freud also had a fascination with symbols of castration, which he believed were represented in a dream by baldness, teeth falling out and the cutting of hair. In addition, the genitals could also be represented by another part of the body. For example, the male organ could be represented by a hand, the female organ represented by a mouth or an eye. This could therefore explain the reason why the causes of wet dreams are usually never the result of a normal sexual act within a dream. The following is an extract from a dream I had on 16th January 2003: I am walking through a building where I reach two large doors. I push them with all my force and they open onto playing fields. On the grass is an extremely large bookcase full of encyclopaedias. I stand still and watch two women, both of which are bare breasted. They are standing on top of the bookcase attempting to thread a balloon over some telephone wires. One of them calls out to me: Thread the balloon for me while I put some clothes on. I agree although it was more difficult than I envisaged. Therefore when she returns she orders me to start again. Instead of attempting it again I run around a running track, although I become tired extremely quickly. I hear the woman call out: You need to speed it up! I reply: This is the pace I always run at. Which was a blatant lie. Instead of completing a second lap of the running track, I decide to run in a straight line toward my house. The reason for which appears to be due to the size of the womens breasts, which were overwhelmingly threatening. I am now in my house 4: Secondary Revision: This is the final stage of the dream work. According to Freud, this is where the dream loses the appearance of absurdity and incoherence. In essence, secondary revision can be thought of as the ways in which the dream work covers up the contradiction and attempts to reorganise the dream into a pattern in sync with the dreamers experience of everyday life. Freud used the method of free association to discover the underlying meaning behind the dream (latent content). A patient would describe a dream as accurately as possible (manifest content). The patient would then be told to focus on a specific element of the dream and form as many associations as they could. Essentially, allowing the patient to let their mind wander. This would continue until all manifest content associations (which had previously been unknown to

the interpreter) had been discovered. This essentially means that the interpreter is moving in the opposite direction unravelling the dream work until the latent content is revealed. Freud insisted that dreams are a form of fulfilling suppressed wishes. If a wish (likely to be sexual in origin) goes unsatisfied during the dreamers normal day, the mind reacts to this internal stimuli by transforming it into a visual fantasy allowing the dreamer to satisfy his or her desire. The result of which is a peaceful nights sleep

Psychoanalysis > Dream Interpretation

Dream Interpretation and Psychoanalysis

By Jean Chiriac In the first pages of his work New Introductory Lectures On Psychoanalysis, dated December 6th 1932, Sigmund Freud clearly asserts that the theory of dreams "occupies a special place in the history of psychoanalysis and marks a turning-point; it was with it that analysis took the step from being a psychotherapeutic procedure to being a depth-psychology" . The theory of dreams is the most characteristic and singular aspect of psychoanalytic science, "something to which there is no counterpart in the rest of our knowledge, a stretch of new country, which has been reclaimed from popular beliefs and mysticism." Dream analysis, in psychoanalysis, provides the possibility to decipher the mystery of neurotic disorders, specifically hysteria, and secondly, it opens the road towards unconscious. Freud's phrase: "The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious" has become famous. (1) The first great dream interpreted by Freud that leads him to his great discoveries were materialized in 1895. It is the famous dream of Irma's injection, which Freud almost thoroughly analyzed and

published in his grandiose work The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). Dream was approached in a manner, which was to become specific for the practitioners of psychoanalysis: by means of the dreamer's associations. Dream analysis (details are provided in the quoted book) reveals Freud's feelings of guilt towards Irma, one of his young patients, whose treatment had not yielded the expected results. Freud defends himself from these negative feelings in his dream, blaming his very patient who, apparently, were not a submissive and compliant patient, or dr. Otto, one of his colleagues, guilty of a careless medical intervention (an injection with an infected syringe). Interested in studying the dream interpretation theory and method at Freudand Psychoanalysis? Check out theDREAM INTERPRETATION PACK our discounted offer that helps you start your dream study right now. -> Learn more... After analyzing his dream, most coherent as it proved, Freud justly declared that dreams "are not meaningless, they are not absurd; they do not imply that one portion of our store of ideas is asleep while another portion is beginning to wake. On the contrary, they are psychical phenomena of complete validity - fulfilments of wishes [our emphasis J.C.]" Dreams therefore require integration into the range of intelligible waking mental acts; "they are constructed by a highly complicated activity of the mind". (op. cit., chapter "A Dream is the Fulfilment of a Wish".) This assertion in fact expresses a great opening towards the activity of abysmal psyche, and mostly the belief in psychic determinism, in the idea that all psychic deeds have their own meaning and connect to day activities, even in a somewhat less visible manner. Contrary to the general opinion of his time's scientific world, Freud thinks dreams are a coherent psychic activity, that can be analyzed in depth. Nevertheless, the comprehensive definition of the dream includes other discoveries too, the true sign of Freudian approach original character: "a dream is a (disguised) fulfilment of a (suppressed or repressed) wish". (op. cit., chapter Distortion in Dreams.) This definition emphasizes two key aspects of the theory of dreams:

1. Dreams are a disguised fulfilment of a wish, and 2. This is repressed wish. We can therefore conclude that disguise is caused by repression. That is the reason why all dream researchers before Freud were not able to discover these facts: they only analyzed the manifest content of the dream, that is its outer shape at wakening time, its faade, not caring aboutlatent thoughts giving rise to its becoming, thoughts we reach by means of the method of associations devised by Freud. Freud goes even further to analyze the nature of distortion by the dream, partially the work of dream-censorship and partly of dreamwork, a complex process by means of which latent thoughts are turned into dreams as such. Freud's analysis includes dreamwork, and the end of his book also provides us his opinions concerning the psychology of the dream process: primary and secondary processes, repression, unconscious, etc. That is why The Interpretation of Dreams represents the major work on dreams and unconscious life, not equaled so far! It remains an essential stage in the study of psychoanalysis!In spite of the importance of dream-analysis for the discovery of abysmal psyche functioning as well as for therapy as such, this crucial field of psychoanalysis has no more concerned psychoanalysts after Freud's research. The same work quoted at the beginning of the present article records Freud's own bitter remark: "In the earlier volumes [of Internationale Zeitschrift fr (rztliche) Psychoanalyse (2)] you will find a recurrent sectional heading 'On Dream-Interpretation', containing numerous contributions on various points in the theory of dreams. But the further you go the rarer do these contributions become, and finally the sectional heading disappears completely." In spite of this constant lack of concern for dream theory, lack of regard nowadays materialized in schematic, abstract approach of dream in psychoanalytic therapy, the importance of this area of research is crucial. That is why we have to give it the place it deserves. Notes: 1. "it is the securest foundation of psychoanalysis and the field in which every worker must acquire his convictions and seek his training. If I am asked how one can become a psychoanalyst, I reply: <<By studying one's own dreams>>." (New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis.) 2. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis.

Copyright 2002-2011, AROPA. All rights reserved.

Id, Ego, Superego

Freud's Structural and Topographical Models of Personality

Sigmund Freud's Theory is quite complex and although his writings on psychosexual development set the groundwork for how our personalities developed, it was only one of five parts to his overall theory of personality. He also believed that different driving forces develop during these stages which play an important role in how we interact with the world.

Structural Model (id, ego, superego)

According to Freud, we are born with our Id. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and therefore the child cries. When the child needs to be changed, the id cries. When the child is uncomfortable, in pain, too hot, too cold, or just wants attention, the id speaks up until his or her needs are met. The id doesn't care about reality, about the needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction. If you think about it, babies are not real considerate of their parents' wishes. They have no care for time, whether their parents are sleeping, relaxing, eating dinner, or bathing. When the id wants something, nothing else is important. Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop. Freud called this part the Ego. The ego is based on the reality principle. The ego understands that other people have needs and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run. Its the ego's job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. By the age of five, or the end of the phallic stage of development, the Superego develops. The Superego is the moral part of us and develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on us by our caregivers. Many equate the superego with the conscience as it dictates our belief of right and wrong. In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation. Not an easy job by any means, but if the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over the person's life. If the superego becomes to strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgmental and unbending in his or her interactions with the world. You'll learn how the ego maintains control as you continue to read.

Topographical Model
Freud believed that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level. He believed that most of what drives us is buried in our unconscious. If you remember the Oedipus and Electra Complex, they were both pushed down into the unconscious, out of our awareness due to the extreme anxiety they caused. While buried there, however, they continue to impact us dramatically according to Freud. The role of the unconscious is only one part of the model. Freud also believed that everything we are aware of is stored in our conscious. Our conscious makes up a very small part of who we are. In other words, at any given time, we are only aware of a very small part of what makes up our personality; most of what we are is buried and inaccessible. The final part is the preconscious or subconscious. This is the part of us that we can access if prompted, but is not in our active conscious. Its right below the surface, but still buried somewhat unless we search for it. Information such as our telephone number, some childhood memories, or the name of your best childhood friend is stored in the preconscious. Because the unconscious is so large, and because we are only aware of the very small conscious at any given time, this theory has been likened to an iceberg, where the vast majority is buried beneath the water's surface. The water, by the way, would represent everything that we are not aware of, have not experienced, and that has not been integrated into our personalities, referred to as the nonconscious.

Defense Mechanisms

an introduction to the defenses ... The id, the ego, and the superego -- this is the model that Freud used to describe the components of human personality. The ego, tempered by the superego, is that conscious part that acts as

mediator between the instinctual drives of the unconscious id and the social environment. According to Freud, the ego has developed what he calls defense mechanisms, to cover for the wild demands of the id, which would rarely be socially acceptable. All of the defenses can be described as a combination of denial or repression with different ways of rationalization. When we rationalize, we are distorting the facts to make the event or our own impulses less threatening; that is, diluting the anxiety to a manageable level. We often come to believe our own distortions, or excuses, or even lies.

repression
This is the cornerstone of Freuds theory. The unconscious purpose of repression operates in a person who is not able to recall a threatening situation or may completely forget that an abusive person ever was a part of his/her life. To repress a particular event or person is also called motivated forgetting. Phobias can be examples of repression because the person has an unreasonable fear but may have no idea how it originated.

denial
Denial is characterized by having a conscious awareness at some level, but simply denies the reality of the experience by pretending it is not there. An example: a person who faints at a horrible real-life occurrence, such as the death of a loved one. Or, that same person might intellectually know that a person has died but refuses to accept it while she may still

wait for 5 oclock, the usual time her husband came home from work. On a lighter note, a student may refuse to pick up her final grade from a difficult class because she knows it is not an acceptable grade. She simply denies the reality of the grade. As a defense mechanism, denial becomes more difficult to maintain as one matures. Its use requires much energy and the mind looks at other possibilities of defense.

rationalization
This defense simply involves making excuses to defend the behavior, or defend how you might feel about it. If a woman has been rejected from a man she might admire, she can rationalize that he is no good, anyway. If the car that you had been wanting is no longer available, you might rationalize, or talk yourself into the fact that you really didnt like it that much anyway. Another example: saying, Well, everybody else does it when perhaps, referring to a behavior like parking in noparking zones, or cheating on your tax reports.

projection
Projection is attributing your own unacceptable impulses to someone else. The impulses are still judged unacceptable but they belong to someone else, not you. At that point you are free to criticize that person for having such terrible impulses. The final result is that you no longer feel threatened and you can maintain your self-esteem by ignoring an objectionable aspect of yourself.

reaction formation
This defense goes a step further than projection to the point of not even acknowledging unwanted impulses or thoughts and convincing yourself you are not one of them who do engage in those patterns. For instance, because a person totally rejects the idea of war, he may become a pacifist. Because he is afraid of war, he is changing his hatred of war into exactly the opposite a love for peace. Freud called this going overboard. Imagine, Freud going overboard! One example might describe a man who is secretly gay, but engages in many heterosexual affairs in deliberate attempts to disguise his homosexuality. He feels his secret is safe, cloaked in his outrageous promiscuous behavior.

intellectualization
This defense is similar to rationalization, but instead of making an excuse for a problem, it turns the problem into a thought issue instead of an emotional one. The thoughts become prominent, but the emotions are buried under the research. An example would describe a young woman who has been raped. Instead of dwelling on the emotional pain, she reviews all of the information, statistics and outcomes she can about rape. She learns how to deflect the possibility of rape, and may take selfdefense classes. She may even teach this material to other women, to victims of abuse

regressio n

Regression involves a movement back in developmental time to when a person felt safe and secure. Often, that is childhood. This explaisn why an older child will suddenly begin again to wet the bed or suck his thumb when the new baby comes home. Or, why a college student, away from home for the first time, will want to bring her teddy bear with her. Conversely, that same college student would exhibit regression by throwing a tantrum. A person who has suffered a difficult divorce or death of a spouse may want to revisit the home of his/her childhood those tender years before pain overruled all other feelings.

displacement
Displacement means the reassignment of some kind of aggression to a scapegoat to relieve the tension of the situation. If a man has had a grueling day at work, he may go home and alleviate his tension by kicking the dog, or shouting at his wife. The dog and the wife are safe substitutions for his release. Or, a woman may be attracted to her supervisor at work, but because she cannot satisfy that impulse, instead, she can safely relate sexually with her own husband.

sublimatio n
Sublimation is the driving force behind human aggression. A successful football linebacker may have a huge amount of anger that becomes useful when he is playing the game. That same

person could direct his energies into a trade such as butcher in a meat market. A person with a great need for order and security may become a business person or a scientist. Freud perceived a great deal of sublimation operating in the literary and art worlds.

The Unconscious: Then and Now A Look at Freud

The seventeen-year-old medical student whose first original piece of research dealt with finding the obscure testes of the eel ultimately became known as the Father of Psychoanalysis. His name is Sigmund Freud.

Freud was only four years old when Gustav Fechner founded the science of psychology. Fechner proved that the mind could be studied and, more importantly, measured. Psychology made its debut into the scientific arena. It was to become Freuds passion. In the book, A Primer of Freudian Psychology, 1954, author Hall cites from a letter Freud wrote to his friend Wilhelm Fliess: a man like me cannot live without a hobbyhorse, a consuming passion in Schillers words a tyrant. I have found my tyrant, and in his service I know no limits. My tyrant is psychology (front leaf).

Freuds numerous writings span the early 1890s to the late 1930s. His ideas prompted many, many more theories and writings of those who studied his theories. A complete review of his work and those he influenced would be endless. Even before I ever heard the name of Freud, and after becoming only casually familiar with psychoanalysis, his hypothesis of the defense mechanisms has remained my chief curiosity. This paper briefly outlines my understanding of Freuds theory of the unconscious and a partial list of the defense mechanisms. To bring old but enduring views to the present, I have included a look at an article from Texas A & M University, published in Deviant Behavior, 24 (Thompson, Harred, & Burks 2003). Freuds principal interest was scientific research, and medicine was the vehicle to his dream of being a scientist. Calvin S. Hall (A Primer of Freudian Psychology, 1954) outlines Freuds journey to the discipline of psychology. When he began to practice medicine, he specialized in the treatment of nervous disorders. In the course of events, he considered a colleagues idea of hypnosis but decided that it did not dig deep enough to expose the real, underlying problems of the patient. From another colleague, he learned about a form of therapy that involved free association of words. This, to Freud, made much more sense and his own theories began to take shape as he as he reached deeper into the minds of his patients, into that unconscious place where he reasoned, the answers must lie (p. 14-15). Freud identified the components of human personality into three separate parts. He called them the id, the ego, and the superego. A triangular model shows the relationship of the parts to one another. The ego and the superego at the top involve our perceptions and they are the conscious members of the triangle. The conscious mind holds the material of which we can be aware at any given point in time, the thoughts and feelings and memories that can be articulated. The ego is that conscious part of the human mind that acts as the mediator between the instinctual needs and drives of the id and the social environment, tempered by the

superego. The superego actually is comprised of two subparts known as the conscience and the ego-ideal, or that which encompasses the ideal moral code. The largest component of the model is the id, the unconscious. This is the source of all of a persons motivational forces, the instinctual demands and drives that need to be immediately satisfied. It operates on what Freud called the pleasure principle. In his own work, Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920) Freud describes the impressions he gathered under the hypothesis of this principle so obvious that they can scarcely be overlooked. And also, the id is the most obscure and inaccessible region of the mind. (p.4) He explains that through the reality principle, the ego deals with the demands of the id. His view sets up the conflict -how the conscious mind interacts with the unconscious mind. The fourth chapter in Freuds work, The Ego and the Id (1923) is entitled The Two Classes of Instincts. He wrote that the sexual instincts or Eros, is by far the more accessible to study. It comprises not merely the uninhibited sexual instinct . . . but also the self-preservative instinct. And the second class of instincts, which we came to recognize sadism as its representative we put forward the hypothesis of a death instinct (Primer p. 38). Simply put, instincts that can be recognized as either embracing love or death would naturally require huge effort to minimize their demands to acceptable levels of society. Those instincts that have to do with love of life or Eros are energized by libido, the term Freud used to denote all of the life instincts. The death instincts include destructiveness and aggression (Hall, p.58). As the ego, that conscious part of the mind, deals with the demands of the unconscious id, pressured by the constraints of the superego, there erupts anxiety from which the ego must protect itself. This anxiety is a generalized feeling of fear and apprehension and is centrally significant to Freuds theory. The ego has developed what are very commonly known as defense mechanisms that discharge or, at least, mitigate the anxiety. The execution of these mechanisms results in acceptable, sociable

behavior. Whether or not people endorse Freuds ideas, most are acquainted with concepts such as the Freudian slip, and many practice such defenses as denial and projection, even if those terms are not identified as such. It is the defense mechanisms that occupy a significant place in human society even if they are not attributed to Freuds original theories. Using the defenses beyond what is a useful degree characterizes pathology or mental illness; precisely what prompted Freuds interest in the study of the mind. The Defense Mechanisms The ego uses defense mechanisms to protect itself against the overwhelming anxiety of trying to meet the demands of the id. The ego unconsciously changes the ids raw instinctual impulses to more socially acceptable forms that govern acceptable behavior. Following are listed some of the more recognized defenses. Repression This is the cornerstone of Freuds theory. The unconscious purpose of repression operates in a person who is not able to recall a threatening situation or may completely forget that an abusive person ever was a part of his/her life. To repress a particular event or person is also called motivated forgetting. Phobias can be examples of repression because the person has an unreasonable fear but may have no idea how it originated. Denial Denial is characterized by having a conscious awareness at some level, but simply denies the reality of the experience by pretending it is not there. An example might be of a person who would faint at a horrible real-life occurrence, such as the death of a loved one. Or, that same person might intellectually know that a person has died but refuses to accept it while she may still wait for 5 oclock, the usual time her husband came home from work. On a lighter note, a student may refuse to pick up her final grade from a difficult class because she knows it is not an acceptable grade. She simply denies the reality of the grade. As a defense mechanism, denial becomes more difficult to maintain as one matures. Its use requires much energy and the mind looks at other possibilities of

defense. Rationalization This defense simply involves making excuses to defend the behavior, or defend how you might feel about it. If a woman has been rejected from a man she might have a crush on, she can rationalize that he is no good, anyway. If the car that you had been wanting is no longer available, you might rationalize, or talk yourself into the fact that you really didnt like it that much anyway. Another example: saying, Well, everybody else does it when perhaps, referring to a behavior like parking in no-parking zones, or cheating on your tax reports. Projection Projection is taking your own unacceptable impulses and attributing them to someone else. The impulses are still judged unacceptable but they belong to someone else, not you. At that point you are free to criticize that person for having such terrible impulses. The final result is that you no longer feel threatened and you can maintain your self-esteem by ignoring an objectionable aspect of yourself. Reaction Formation This defense goes a step further than projection to the point of not even acknowledging unwanted impulses or thoughts and convincing yourself you are not one of them who do engage in those patterns. For instance, because a person totally rejects the idea of war, he may become a pacifist. Because he is afraid of war, he is changing his hatred of war into exactly the opposite a love for peace. Freud called this going overboard. One example might be of a man who is secretly gay, but engages in many heterosexual affairs in an attempt to disguise his homosexuality. He feels his secret is safe, cloaked in his outrageous promiscuous behavior. Intellectualization This defense is similar to rationalization, but instead of making an excuse for a problem, it turns the problem into a thought issue

instead of an emotional one. The thoughts become prominent, but the emotions are buried under the research. An example would be of a young woman who has been raped and instead of dwelling on the emotional pain, she reviews all of the information, statistics and outcomes she can about rape. She learns how to deflect the possibility of rape, and may take self-defense classes. She may even teach this material to other women, to victims of abuse. Regression Regression involves a movement back in developmental time to when a person felt safe and secure. This could explain why an older child will suddenly begin again to wet the bed or suck his thumb when the new baby comes home. Or, why a college student, away from home for the first time, will want to bring her teddy bear with her. Conversely, that same college student would exhibit regression by throwing a tantrum. A person who has suffered a difficult divorce or death of a spouse may want to revisit the home of his/her childhood those tender years before pain overruled all other feelings. Displacement Displacement means to reassign some kind of aggression to a scapegoat to relieve the tension of the situation. If a man has had a grueling day at work, he may go home and alleviate his tension by kicking the dog, or shouting at his wife. The dog and the wife are safe substitutions for his release. Or, for another kind of example, a woman may be attracted to her supervisor at work, but because she cannot satisfy that impulse, instead, she can safely relate sexually with her own husband. Sublimation Sublimation is the driving force behind human aggression. A successful football linebacker may have a huge amount of anger that becomes useful when he is playing the game. That same person could direct his energies into a trade such as butcher in a meat market. A person with a great need for order and security may become a businessperson or a scientist. Freud perceived a great deal of sublimation operating in the literary and art worlds.

All of the defenses, then, can be described as a combination of denial or repression with different ways of rationalization. When we rationalize, we are distorting the facts to make the event or our own impulses less threatening; that is, diluting the anxiety to a manageable level. We often come to believe our own distortions, or excuses, or even lies. At Texas A&M, Thompson, Harred, and Burks (2003) revisited a study that was done more than a decade prior by Thompson and Harred (1992). They researched how topless dancers managed the stigma of their occupation. They found during both studies that the dancers used, among other devices, many of the defense mechanisms as described and identified by Freud to manage inconsistencies in thought and behavior (p. 551). The dancers consider what they do for a living simply a job. Or, at least they say that is what they consider. They resent the people who condemn them for the way they have chosen to earn a living. One woman who was interviewed for the Thompson, et al study said: Most people think were just a bunch of wild girls who sleep around and do drugs. Were not like that. At least, Im not (p. 553). Denial, as a defense mechanism, would be a simple explanation for her comment At least, Im not. Freud began to unlock the key to the unconscious with word associations. He later supported his original theory with dream analysis. Imagine a word association exchange: Drugs: girls who sleep around. Girls who sleep around: topless dancers. The connections do not necessarily follow. It is a form of denial or projection to place undue judgments on what you believe or choose to believe, as attributed from someone else. Another interviewee, like the one above, conceded that while some of their group members may be other than American societys definition of acceptable, that they themselves are not typical group members (p. 553). Many of the dancers who are not like that offer valid reasons for performing the job that they do. One is a mother of

three who did not finish high school. She refuses to ask for charity via public assistance. Her job allows her to support her children without the financial assistance of another person. The flexible schedule makes her necessarily available for her children. Another dancer supported her ill mother; others paid for college, a new car (p. 564). The women who work as dancers see it as a way of financial support and the men who frequent the establishments where the women dance provide the cash for services or entertainment. The gentlemens clubs referred to in the Thompson et al study cater to wealthy, local businessmen. One of the clubs previously used in the study was moved to a less desirable, less affluent location, therefore, no longer considered a gentlemans club (557). Simply what these types of clubs are called may refer to a Freudian concept, perhaps reaction formation. What kinds of men patronize such establishments? Gentlemen? Available in many clubs are special rooms where a gentleman can get anything he [is] willing to pay for. These men are regarded as VIPs, or very important persons. The level of importance surely draws a parallel between the willingness to spend extra amounts of money. Conveniently located outside of these special rooms is an ATM machine, just in case the gentleman was not fully prepared for his special day (p. 558). Freuds theory of the pleasure principle the principle by which the id exists all of the impulses that would satisfy the id are only those that are relevant to pleasure. The id demands satisfaction, which may in turn, cause a high level of anxiety that the ego seeks to lessen through the defense mechanisms. The clubs are dark, posh places that envelop a gentlemans fantasies -- that stuff the id houses. The men are called gentlemen, their status affirmed over loudspeakers by the DJs. Cavorting, smiling, mostly naked women seem to be available to satisfy every whim. Alcohol is readily offered (p. 559). How do the dancers describe their clientele? If they reveal

their true opinions, the dancers would not benefit financially from their patrons.. The interviewers of Thompsons study reported that the dancers referred to their customers as perverts, horny bastards, and frustrated married guys (p. 565). As long as the dancers can distance themselves emotionally away from the men by seeing them as objects rather than men, they can justify their own positions. Interestingly, one of the dancers who had spoken with an interviewer about her personal life and her opinions, did not immediately recognize him when she provocatively danced near him. When she did recognize him, she covered herself and seemed embarrassed. The dancers also wanted to get dressed for the interview (p. 566). There was a conscious separation of the job and the person. Another way the dancers achieved this separation was by using pseudonyms. As one dancer recanted after she insisted that there was nothing wrong with what she did: Who am I kiddin? That was Angel talkin. Hell, Im a mother. I shouldnt even be in a place like this (p. 566). Another dancer who differentiated between her dancer persona and her real persona laughingly denied schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder (p. 566). It is in this setting that the women who perform as topless dancers must reconcile what they do with how they think about what they do. They can deflect the general judgment of society by, at least in part, admitting their own role in the grand scheme of things. One defense known as projection is illustrated by a comment of an employee. She may be reversing her own impulses and projecting them onto the other dancers. She said: I dont like any of the girls in here and they dont like me. Were all in this for the money, and the more one of us makes, the less there is for the rest. Plus, look around at these girls. Most of em are nothin but whores. They come in here, dance naked, give guys hand jobs and blowjobs, and then strut around as if theres nothin wrong with that. I just dont do that stuff. Im not that kind of girl.

Sure I show my tits, but I come in here, dance, make my money and go home (p. 561). This particular woman denied to her general circle of acquaintances that she was a dancer (p. 561). She sets herself apart from the population of dancers because she cannot otherwise deal with the anxiety associated with her occupation. She could be utilizing different defense mechanisms denial or reaction formation. Certainly what these women do is dance. The fact that they do it while naked is where the controversy and the dissonance refer. But perhaps by calling it dance, or referring to it as art or an artful expression, can be characterized as another defense mechanism known as sublimation. Freud says that sublimation is the driving force behind human aggression. The women who work in the topless dancing industry refer to each other as girls. Usually that term implies condescension while exercising prejudices such as sexism or racism. It is used in the patriarchal system of society to refer to its less-empowered members. But it might also be used in the defense mechanism regression. As girls, the dancers may be going back to a time when they still felt safe and secure, such as childhood, or even babyhood. Also, if they infantilize themselves and each other, it would follow that they cannot be held wholly accountable for what they do. One of the dancers, 23, was a former Miss America contestant. She said it was very easy to imagine being two different people, and said that she had a borderline personality disorder, which probably helped her with her job. While getting counseling, she said I guess if the counseling ever works Ill have to quit dancing (p. 567). The world is full of inconsistencies and contradictions. Freud attributes this to the conflict between the ego and the id, between the reality principle and the pleasure principle. He said the id was full of demands that pertained to sex and aggression. Whether this

dancer was familiar with Freuds theories or not, she did express that her job was like any other job, or anything in life for that matter its all about sex (p. 564). Another dancer agrees: What possible harm could come from that? (p. 567).

References Freud, Sigmund (1923). The ego and the id. Strachey, James. (Ed. Trans.). The standard Edition. 1960. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Freud, Sigmund (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. Strachey, James. (Ed. Trans.). The standard edition. 1961. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Hall, Calvin S. (1954). A primer of Freudian psychology. 1999. New York: Meridian. Thompson, William E., Harred, Jack L., & Burks, Barbara E. (2003). Managing the stigma of topless dancing: a decade later. Deviant Behavior, 24, 551-570.

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1. Introduction to Psychology and Research Methods

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How to Learn Psychology

We all use the principles of psychology everyday and probably dont even realize it. When we spank our child for doing something wrong, we are utilizing the learning principle of punishment. When we get nervous right before we have to give that big speech, we are activating our autonomic nervous system. When we talk to ourselves in our heads, telling ourselves to "calm down," "work harder," or "give up," we are utilizing cognitive approaches to change our behaviors and emotions. This text is designed to give you a general idea of what psychology is, how information is developed, what we have learned about ourselves, and how psychology is applied to help improve peoples lives. The chapters are organized so that you can get a better idea of how psychology works; from basic theories and principles, through research, understanding and explaining results, to the actual application of psychological techniques. This text is not designed to make you a psychologist. It is written in a general format so that you can gain a better idea of all of the major concepts in psychology. If you were to major in psychology as an undergraduate, each chapter would be a separate course. And, to get your doctorate, which is required to be called a psychologist in most states, you would take an additional five to seven years further studying the concepts in this text. You will learn a lot, however, and hopefully you will increase not only your knowledge base, but also your interest in the principles of psychology. This website

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provides a great deal of information about the applications of psychology in a selfhelp format, as do many other very helpful and professional sites. Read onlearnand improve your understanding of your greatest assetthe human mind. What is Psychology Psychology is the study of cognitions, emotions, and behavior. Psychologists are involved in a variety of tasks. Many spend their careers designing and performing research to better understand how people behave in specific situations, how and why we think the way we do, and how emotions develop and what impact they have on our interactions with others. These are the research psychologists who often work in research organizations or universities. Industrial-organizational psychologists work with businesses and organizations to help them become more productive, effective, and efficient, and to assist them in working with their employees and their customers. Practitioners, typically counseling and clinical psychologists, work with individuals, couples, families, and small groups to help them feel less depressed, less anxious, become more productive or motivated, and overcome issues which prevent them from living up to their potential. The study of psychology has five basic goals: 1. Describe The first goal is to observe behavior and describe, often in minute detail, what was observed as objectively as possible 2. Explain While descriptions come from observable data, psychologists must go beyond what is obvious and explain their observations. In other words, why did the subject do what he or she did? 3. Predict Once we know what happens, and why it happens, we can begin to speculate what will happen in the future. Theres an old saying, which very often

holds true: "the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior." 4. Control Once we know what happens, why it happens and what is likely to happen in the future, we can excerpt control over it. In other words, if we know you choose abusive partners because your father was abusive, we can assume you will choose another abusive partner, and can therefore intervene to change this negative behavior. 5. Improve Not only do psychologists attempt to control behavior, they want to do so in a positive manner, they want to improve a persons life, not make it worse. This is not always the case, but it should always be the intention.

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Idealism vs Realism Behind these two isms lie the source of much conflict in the world today. Is it better to aim high, and not reach, or to aim at average and reach it? Is it better to be good or fair? Is it better to be optimistic or pessimistic? There are several branches in each of these categories, and no one side can be proven to be right in all branches. But what exactly is idealism and realism, and why do they matter? The definitions of the two words should be obvious, but for clarity sake, they are given here. Idealism, according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, means "The act or practice of envisioning things in an ideal form." In simpler language, it means to aim for perfection. On the surface, it sounds nice, but all this ignores the basic human trait, the one shared across cultures, languages, and races: imperfection. To be human is to be errant. Thus, the dreams of idealists often get dashed and projects they attempt often end either in failure or at least "less than they could have been." On the other hand, realism means "the inclination towards literal truth and pragmatism" (ibid). It also means to accept life the way it is, and favour the practical method of dealing with it. This too seems to be a good trait on the outside, but it has some flaws. To only aim for average cuts short the potential of humanity. Just because humanity isn't perfect does not mean it cannot reach excellent every now and then. There are significant contrasting plus sides to both. To be an idealist is to reach for the stars. However, idealists often become lost in their dreams, and forget the real world around them; and as a result can acquire an out-of-touch aura about them. Realists on the other hand are more grounded in reality (hence the name), and as a result are often better prepared to deal with it. However, as they focus too much on reality, they often aim lower than can be reached, only aiming for what can be reached with assurance, and as a result often miss out on the few times humanity does reach excellence. How does this apply to our world? Several ways! You have the old optimist-pessimist, is-the-glass-half-full-or-half-empty argument that rather nicely sums this whole thing up. However, most of the attention often gets focused on the studies that show how optimists live longer than pessimists. I have never heard a study as of yet that shows how pessimists are likely safer from robbery, murder, and other crimes, as a result of extra precautions taken. Plus, this whole thing is really only one branch of the issue. Also tied together in this debate is the whole issue of whether it is better to be "good," as defined in the Christian, caring sense, or to be fair. Justice versus grace: what is the answer? Ideally, all people have the potential to be good inside of them, and so we should never give up on a person

by sentencing them to death for a heinous crime. However, realistically, there are some people that will never change, and sometimes mercy is violated and thrown in the face of the giver. What then is the correct solution? Two schools of political thought have emerged in the last few centuries that have differing solutions to this problem. The conservative belief is in justice, fairness, and equality in all matters of life. Break the law, and you should have to compensate the person that you injure. The all-important virtue of conservatives is fairness. In all things, justice must prevail, or else the society is flawed. All people should always get what they deserve, and all people should always be treated the same way. As all people through action expose that which is within, then all people should be judged by their actions, and be treated accordingly. The liberal belief, in contrast, is in goodness, mercy--and equality, but not in the conservative sense. For liberals, all people are intelligent, and therefore don't act a certain way without a reason. It is then up to us as members of society to discover that reason and work to heal the criminal's wounds, in order to help them to become a productive member of society again. The all-important virtue of liberals is understanding, leading to goodness. All people should be treated 'fairly,' in the sense that if they had a bad childhood or because of circumstances beyond their control receive poverty wages, they should be compensated, so that all people may enjoy life equally. Both sides do have a legitimate point. It is always important to be just and fair. Failing to be fair leads to favouritism, and when favouritism is introduced into the political arena, you get corruption, and surely I don't need to explain why that is bad for a political system, especially a democracy. Being fair means that people will get what they work for; the hardest working person will end up the richest, and the homeless guy down the street who failed all his math tests in high school will end up the poorest. Everyone gets precisely what they deserve. Just as important is to be good every once in a while. Not everyone who is at the bottom of the heap is there by their own actions, but often they are there due to someone else's negligence. A second point is that all people are fallible--it is human nature to make mistakes. Someone who goes through thirty years of perfect driving shouldn't lose their license for an accidental driving infraction. Every now and then, someone comes up in a court of law who is a good person who just made one bad mistake. To facilitate good, we must understand people. It is the liberal belief, the optimist's belief that all people are rational; but things happen along the way--a run-in with the wrong crowd, inexperienced parents--and they end up on the wrong side of the law. (Breaking the law is obviously not rational.) Therefore, the belief also includes that all people are fixable. Neither of these does well standing alone. The system that completely operates on justice and justice alone will end up punishing people who, if left alone, would have continued to contribute to society until they had died of old age. A completely just system will nail good people who make a mistake. And based on the accepted premise that all humans are imperfect, all humans will eventually fall short of the law. Can you punish an entire society by its own laws? At the same time, understanding why someone shot his neighbour dead doesn't make it right, nor is it just to the deceased. Also, sometimes a smart-alec will take advantage of someone trying to help them and tell them lies, tell them what they want to hear, so that they can be "understood" in such a manner as will facilitate their own escape back into the world, where they will repeat their past crimes. There are some, regardless of how they got there, who cannot be helped. Obviously, a balance between conservatism and liberalism is necessary.

Of all the justice vs. goodness debates, none can be bigger than the one God must deal with. That said, God being God, He certainly has it perfect, answering to the calls of justice from Satan while still being merciful to mankind. God is neither conservative or liberal. For God, the correct balance between justice and grace is not a question, but a foregone conclusion, for God doesn't change. Humans, being inferior in several respects, seem only to be able to grasp one of these concepts at a time, and so we split up into respective parties when it comes to politics, and have heated debates and arguments whenever an election approaches. Currently, our political system works. Legislative houses are generally split somewhere near the 50-50 line between liberals and conservatives; each acts as a check on the other. Often, this leads to stalemate, and little progress is actually accomplished; other times, the control of the majority passes from one to the other every few years, and a weaving, but neutral path is followed. This works--a fine line, a balance between justice and goodness is established. That said, the system is never perfect--only God is perfect--but it is generally good enough to allow for civility to flourish, for ethics to be followed, and for hope to be found among the lower classes. The liberal ideal, that of fixing all broken people, of a perfect society where all people are equal in riches and workload, and where people get exactly what they deserve because they all deserve well, may not be possible (admittedly, it is probably impossible), but just because there is little chance of success does not mean you shouldn't try. Failure is not a foregone conclusion! Many people in ages past have found it better to expend yourself heroically in a worthwhile but impossible cause. That said, the realism conservatives bring is a necessary temper to dreams. Being familiar with present situations is important to knowing how to properly navigate through them. Knowing the way of the world is important to survival, and necessary to have any form of success. Which do you prefer? Back to Writings Index