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The Freud Page Welcome to the Freud Page.  On here you will find information about Freud's Theory of Psychosexual Development, you will find a link to a summary of the case of Little Hans, and anything else that I can think of that might be worthwhile. Freud's Theory Freud studied and practiced as a neurologist, so he was initially, a man of science.  Freud was sponsored to go and spend time with Jean Martin Charcot, who was the director of a mental hospital in Paris.  Charcot demonstrated to Freud that, under hypnosis, people could develop paralysis of an arm or a leg without any physical evidence of damage.  Freud knew that the paralysis shown did not folow the paths of nerves in the body, and Freud tried out hypnosis, but abondoned it, as not everyone could be hypnotised.  Later on, he developed "free association" where people would speak about whatever they were thinking about.  One of the most important things to realise about Freud's Theory is that he was the first psychologist to talk about the Unconscious Mind.  The term unconscious does not refer to the state of unconsciousness, where people are unaware because they are asleep.  Freud said that the Unconscious Mind is where all of the developmental changes happen, and because it happens there, we have no Conscious awareness of what is happening.  He also was the first to use the term "Psychoanalysis". The First Stage.  This happens right from the beginning of life, when the baby is born.  The first part of the Personality to develop is the "Id".  This is responsible for obtaining all that the baby requires to survive: food, warmth and affection.  It operates on the "Pleasure Principle" and demands immediate satisfaction of its' needs.  The way that the baby acquires the food necessary for life, is through the mouth.  The First Stage is also called the "Oral Stage", as the mouth has a lot of nerve cells and is more developed than some other areas of the body, and Freud would have known this because of his neurological background.  You can also tell that the mouth is important because if you give a small child anything to hold, it often ends up in the mouth. The Second Stage.  This happens around the time of "potty-training".  The child develops the ability to control the anal sphincter.  Now because he has to deal with reality, the Second Part of the Personality develops, "Ego".  This operates on the "Reality Principle" and realises that some needs can only be satisfied in the appropriate place at the appropriate time.  This stage is often called the Anal Stage due to the supposed pleasure children get from filling a nappy, or not.  Colloquially, if potty training did not go well for some of you then Freud would say that you could be "Anally Retentive" or Anally Expulsive".  So, the retentive among you would have derived pleasure from "holding it in" so would have become rather uptight and possibly very neat and tidy.  Those who would have derived pleasure from "letting go" would have developed into quite laid back people who were "a bit messy". The Third Stage.  This happens around the time that the child develops a "conscience" realising that other people have needs, just like they do, and the "Superego" develops, which is the third part of the personality.  The three parts of the personality interact in our Unconscious Mind.  The Id tries to get what it wants right away, the Ego tries to prevent that happening, and the Superego will punish the Ego, making him feel anxious, if he gives in to the Id too easily.  Another way to think of this is that a wrestling match takes place between a "sex-starved gorilla (Id) and a nervous bank clerk (Ego) and the referee is your aged aunt who never married (Superego), and this takes place in a deep, dark, cellar".  The second important thing that happens around this time is that the child will discover the pleasures of self-stimulation, and will also believe that the child will be able to give his/her father a child.  This is the time that little boys and girls play "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." The third thing to happen here is that the child will go through the Oedipus Complex.  This is for boys, and is the most detailed of the Complexes, and the girls go through the Electra Complex. The Oedipus Complex.   This is named after a Greek tragedy.  The story is that the King of Thebes banished his son.  The son grew up and became a King of another land and fought against the King of Thebes (his father) killed him in battle, and as the victor took the dead man's wife (his mother) as his own.  This lead to all sorts of tragic occurances, the story goes.  For the son, he develops an Unconscious desire to have his mother and get his father out of the way.  This can have severe consequences as the child may believe that his father may want him dead, in revenge.  The other fear, of course, is that his father will castrate him and thus render him unable to possess his mother.  The child continues in this state of Unconscious tension until he learns to bring the Oedipus Complex to an end.  The child achieves this by taking on some of his father's characteristics, thus making him immune to attack from the father as, unconsciously, he belives that attacking the son, who acts like the father, will be like attacking himself. The Electra Complex. Freud did not spend as much time talking about the Electra Complex as the Oedipus Complex, mainly because Freud lived in a very andro-centric society and women and girls would have been very second class citizens.  Girls eventually realise that they are not the same as their brothers.  They develop the unconscious hatred of their mothers for bringing them into the world "in this shape", and also have the unconscious desire to possess their father.  So while boys may develop "castration anxiety" girls may develop "penis envy" and she continues on a complex path to the end of this stage. This stage ends with the repression of the previous stages, the child may not be consciously aware of what has happened, but the impulses are still there and can influence later behaviour.  The Fourth Stage.  From the end of the previous stage, at around the age of Six or so, the child passes into the fourth stage, called the Latency Stage.  Nothing much happens as most of what has been going on has been repressed and the child has absolutely no recollection of what has occurred previously.  In some books this is referred to as "infantile amnesia." The Fifth, and final, Stage.  When puberty starts there is a re-awakening of sexual desire.  This drive energy is once again focused on the genitals, but this time with an adult expression of sexuality.  Although the term "genital" is often used as the name of this stage, it assumes that gratification during this stage must be sexual.  Freud emphasised the importance of secondary process thinking as a form of symbolic gratification in this stage.  Thus, forming loving relationships or assuming the responsibilities of adult life may all be seen as  symbolic ways of satisfying the drive energy at this stage.  There is something that you should know about Freudian analysis, and analysists, they are really big on symbolism.  I knew somebody, that when he was in the "Freud zone" and saw you playing with your pen, he would say that you are exhibiting the desire to masturbate.  However, Freud said "Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." Click here to go to a page that contains a summary of the Case of Little Hans and his equinophobia.

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