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Get Help Now!Psychoanalytic Theories of Freud, Jung, and Adler
Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, and Sigmund Freud were the pioneers and early founders of psychology, in addition to being influential thinkers. Carl Jung developed the theory that the human psyche comprises of a religious nature that is very profound. He believed that there is a strong connection between the unconscious and conscious mind. The two must be integrated into the human psychology for one to become a whole being in a process he named individuation. He believed that culture and society are integral parts of the human life, and the human psyche cannot function fully without them (Indick, 2004).
Alfred Adler perceived that neurosis, a psychological element, depicts inferiority in humans. Individuals suffering from such symptoms lose touch with reality while trying to overcome the feelings. In addition, Adler believed that one could detect an individual who developed neurosis in childhood. This can be by observing the behavior and telling the age at which development ceased in the individual.
Sigmund Freud had a sexual perspective on the human psyche. His theory categorized the human mind into three parts, which are the ego, superego, and the id. He believed that conflict occurs among the three parts of the brain that shape personality, and treatment should be offered in order to avoid neurosis. In addition, Freud perceived that human life has two main conflicting drives, which are the death drive and the life drive. The life drive avoids life-threatening and uncomfortable incidences thus enabling human beings to survive. The death drive, on the other hand, works hand in hand with the tendency toward too much pleasure, which Freud believed to cause death.
The theories of the three psychologists differed and agreed to some degree. Jung and Freud’s theories differed in that Jung had a stronger belief in dreams than Adler and Freud. He believed that dreams reveal additional themes such as a drive towards individuation, creativity, and archetypical material other than sexuality and aggression. Jung’s theory used amplification in interpreting dreams, which involves focusing on several symbols in the dream and using various associations to interpret a particular symbol. Additionally, he encouraged active imagination where the dreamer relives the dream and allows it to unfold in the conscious mind. Freud used a different approach in dream interpretation in that he allowed the dreamer to create a chain of association from the dream symbol. Freud applied free association other than amplification. The amplification process involves exploration of various feelings associated with dream images, cultural interpretations of the images, and probable meanings of the archetypes. For example, the mandala represents the archetype of self. However, all of them believed that dreams have a part to play in individuation with Adler believing that dreams dictate a person’s lifestyle. They also agreed that childhood influences personal characteristics (Davis, 1997).
One would agree with the belief that childhood experiences and exposure play a significant role in shaping an individual’s personality. One would also agree that incorporating both the conscious and unconscious mind is essential in shaping human individuality. One would disagree with the theory that sexual libido is the only fundamental motivator of individuation as Freud believed. In addition, one would also disagree that the unconscious mind is very negative and limited and does not contribute to the creativity of the human psyche.
Stages of Psychosexual Development
Freud put forward that psychological development in childhood occurs in five psychosexual stages. Every stage is a presentation of the fixation of sexual instincts or libido in different body parts. During physical growth and development, various body areas develop pleasure or erogenous zones, which facilitate pleasure and tension in the body respectively. He perceived that tension in the body arises from libido, which in turn leads to pleasure when released. The five stages are discussed below (Davis, 1997).
Oral Stage
This is the stage from birth to the age of 18 months, where the baby concentrates on oral pleasures. The amount of delight the child obtains contributes to Oral Personality, where one is actively involved in oral activities. Such activities include biting fingers, sucking thumbs, over feeding, drinking and smoking. The personality characteristics associated with such people include naivety, gullibility, dependence upon others, and being followers.
Anal Stage
This stage is between 18 months and 3 years of age, and the source of pleasure for such individuals is retaining or removing fecal matter. The child learns to respond to stimuli by controlling bowel movement and anal arousal. Anal-retentive individuals normally develop personality characteristics such as perfectionism, and obsession with control and cleanliness. On the other hand, anal-repulsive individuals become messy and disorganized.
Phallic Stage
This is the stage between three to six years of development, and pleasure points shift to the genital areas. During this stage, girls develop closer relationship with their fathers while boys become close with their mothers. Thus, same sex rivalry and insecurity ensues in the family. However, the feelings resolve once the children start identifying with their same sex parents, and healthy sexual development resumes. Sexual overindulgence or avoidance and sexual identity confusion may result if a fixation at this stage occurs.
Latency Stage
This is the stage between six years and puberty, where there is libido repression. Children develop same sex associations and form non-sexual playgroups. Sexual thoughts and desire are not projected at this stage.
Genital Stage
This is the final stage and occurs from puberty through to adulthood where sexual desires are reactivated through hormonal changes. Individuals derive pleasure from the genitals and develop an attraction to the opposite sex.
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms
Freud proposed various defense mechanisms that enable one’s ego to cope with life’s problems and conflicts. These mechanisms help one to neutralize undesirable feelings such as anxiety with good feelings that uplift an individual’s mood. They are normally non-voluntary since most occur naturally in response to negative stimuli. They include repression, displacement and denial (McLeod, 2008).
Repression
In this mechanism, the ego uses the unconscious mind to counter negative emotions such as anxiety and prevents them from developing to conscious feelings. The ego represses thoughts that could result in guilt from the superego. For example, an individual who suffered child abuse tries to forget the trauma he or she experienced.
Displacement
This mechanism involves redirecting negative feelings such as anger on a powerless or harmless substitute. Examples include hitting the dog if annoyed by another person such as the boss; slamming the door instead of hitting a person, or substituting undesirable sexual feelings with a fetish.
Denial
In this mechanism, one refuses to accept the situation as it is by trying to block awareness of the reality. This mainly occurs when the situation is too disturbing or difficult to accept the truth, and one does not want to come to terms with it. For example, one may refuse to accept the diagnosis results of a terminal illness, or the demise of a close friend or family member (McLeod, 2008).
Conclusion
Although the three philosophers disagreed on certain aspects in their theories, there was some degree of commonality on particular issues in modern psychology. Freud’s theory emphasized on sexual motivation and vividly elaborated the five stages of psychosexual development in human growth. In addition, he devised various defense mechanisms that the human ego uses to counter negative emotions and life problems. However, Adler and Jung thought that life did not only revolve around sexual motivation, but on other issues that affect the human psyche as a whole.
References
Davis, D. A. (1997). Oedipus Redivivus Freud, Jung and Psychoanalysis. Haverford College. Retrieved on 1 September 2013 from http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/jungfreu.html
Indick, W. (2004). Movies and the Mind: Theories of the Great Psychoanalysts Applied to Film. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
McLeod, S. (2008). Defense Mechanisms. Simply Psychology.com. Retrieved on 1 September 2013 from http://www.simplypsychology.org/defense-mechanisms.html
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