Sigmund Freud Case

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud developed the talking approach and every approach to psychotherapy can be traced back to him in some fashion. Freud believed that human being's strong sexual instincts greatly influence us and that human behaviors are brought about by irrational, unconscious forces. Freud believed that the human personality consists of the id, ego, and superego. He felt that the interactions and conflicts between these components of the personality result in conditions such as anxiety. He placed a strong emphasis on early psychosexual development (the instinctual libido) and felt that adult personality problems were the result of early childhood conflicts. According to a video titled, Psychology 101:Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development, Freud believed that the person passes through stages of development which focus on a particular part of the body: the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, latency and the genital stage. If trauma exists during one of the early stages, he believed that a particular adult issue could develop.

The oral stage consists of the infant and toddler focus on the mouth. Very young infants are entirely id driven. They do things instinctually and Freud felt that when babies are weaned from their mothers, the baby learns a sense of delayed gratification. If parents are too indulgent during this stage, he felt that the baby may have trouble becoming responsible and capable on his own. However, those that are interrupted in this stage may end up with an oral fixation such as smoking.

The anal stage involves children from the ages of 2-4 and focuses on the key experience of toilet training and also deals with delayed gratification. At this time, the ego is developing and needs to grow properly. If parents are too demanding, the children could grow up being very obsessed with order, or "anal-retentive". If parents are not demanding enough, the child could grow up being anal expulsive, or just messy and disorganized.

The phallic stage involves the ages from 3-6 in which kids become aware of their own bodies and understand the differences in gender. During this time, the Oedipus complex develops as boys become jealous of their father for the relationship with their mother. Girls develop the Elektra complex which involves jealousy of the mother due to their own desires for their fathers. Freud