Psychoanalysis is a method of investigating the human mind and its processes, which elevates the mind beyond its biological and physiological relationships. Therefore, it takes as its object the mental processes (emotions, feelings, impulses and thoughts) that determine individuals.
The history of psychoanalysis is related to the figure of its precursor, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Throughout his studies, Freud elaborated an entire psychoanalytic theory that formed the basis for a new science, endowed with its own methods for investigating the processes of the human mind.
Freud revolutionized the way of understanding the human being. It opposed the tradition of modernity, where there was the appeal of reason as a faculty fully free and aware of its choices and actions.
The Unconscious and Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis brings the idea of the unconscious as the most significant part of mental processes, influencing the entire way of life of subjects.
For Freud, the unconscious is made up of desires and drives, which, repressed, can generate harmful effects on the subject's psychic health (neurosis).
He developed analysis as a method of curing these neuroses. Through speech, in a relationship between the analysand (subject who undergoes analysis) and the analyst (psychoanalyst) the origin of problems of a psychic order is sought.
Freud claimed that giving voice to the unconscious was the most effective way to overcome traumas and cure disorders in mental processes.
Id, Ego and Superego
The subject in Freud is composed of two unconscious parts, id and superego, and a conscious one, the ego.
O id represents the place of the drives. Drives are organic impulses and unconscious desires, aimed at the individual's immediate pleasure and satisfaction. It is related to sexual pleasure, the libido.
O ego,"I", is consciousness. It develops after the id, it performs a kind of mediation between the id's drives and its adequacy to reality. It is up to the ego to find a balance between the id and the third part of the mind, the superego.
O Super ego it is the other unconscious part related to the censorship of the impulses carried out by society through morals, the education received by the parents and the teachings of how to act or behave. This structure creates a representation of the "ideal self", the superego ("super self") imposes its repressions on the id.
Childhood in Freudian Theory
The drive for pleasure is present in individuals from an early age, and throughout childhood it changes.
Freud found three phases of the formation of sexuality, called:
- oral phase: pleasure through the mouth, breast milk, bottle, pacifier and objects;
- anal phase: pleasure from the anus, feces, excretions, masses and gelatinous products, getting dirty, etc.;
- phallic phase or genital: pleasure is established in Organs genitals and areas that stimulate them.
During this period, the so-called Oedipus complex develops. The subject, as in the Greek tragedy of Oedipus, wants to kill the father and take his place with the mother.
Within this process, the id develops incestuous desires about the father or mother, generating a conflict with the other father or mother figure.
According to Freud, regardless of how the Oedipus complex is overcome, this period will guide the entire psychic development of the subject.
It is absolutely normal and inevitable for the child to make the parents the object of the first loving choice. However, the libido does not remain fixed on this first object: later it will only take it as a model, passing from it to strangers, at the time of the definitive choice.
During the development of the superego (approximately from age six to early adolescence), the individual sets aside genital pleasure and adapts to society. It's called the latency period. The repressions of the superego shape the individual and guide his actions.
With adolescence, genital pleasure regains its relevance, but submitted to the repressions of the superego. The ego finds itself amidst the pressures of society, the id's pursuit of pleasure and the superego's repression.
The search for balance between these forces is what makes the period of adolescence so conflicted and unstable. After adolescence, the conflict between these forces remains, but in a more balanced way.
Psychoanalysis and Mental Disorders
Freudian psychoanalysis is based on the relationship of the "conscious self" and the "unconscious self". The different types of mental disorders stem from issues related to the unconscious, having some kind of manifestation.
In a balanced mind, the ego represses the impulses of the id while imposing limits on the power of the superego. The imbalance of this function is the origin of the main mental disorders. Among them, neurosis and psychosis.
On the relationship of the "conscious self" with the unconscious forces that act on it, Freud stated:
The ego is not the master in its own house.
THE neurosis it is a way the unconscious finds to deal with trauma and conflict. From the impossibility of dealing with these events, the mind produces observable effects that influence, to a greater or lesser degree, the lives of individuals.
THE psychosis, in turn, it is distinguished from neurosis by the individual's inability to perceive what is real and what is not.
Thus, psychoanalysis seeks to trigger, through speech, the causes of these traumas and unconscious conflicts through interpretation.
For Freud, the unconscious will never become conscious, but some points can be interpreted through the techniques of psychoanalysis. For example: the interpretation of dreams and the free association of words.
Freud's Legacy
Over the years, the revolution generated by Freudian thought has influenced all areas of the human sciences. This led the authors to develop their ideas, taking Freud's thought sometimes as a basis, sometimes as a target for challenges and improvements.
By comparison, Freud is to psychoanalysis what Socrates is to philosophy.
I don't want to arouse convictions, what I want is to stimulate thinking and overthrow prejudices. (Freud, 1917)
Other important authors in the development of psychoanalysis:
- Carl Jung
- Karl Abraham
- Wilhelm Reich
- Anna Freud
- Melanie Klein
- Margaret Mahler
- Heinz Kohut
- Donald Winnicott
- Jacques Lacan
- Wilfred Bion
Bibliographic references
Invitation to Philosophy - Marilena Chauí
Introduction to Freudian Metapsychology - Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza
The Seven Schools of Psychoanalysis - Sergio Pedro Pisandelli