Freud- Classical Psychoanalysis
Freud the man, the times
The Unconscious
 Psychic determinism refers to lawful cause and effect which
includes psychological factors as potential causes. Having studied
as a neurologist, he was stymied by neurological symptoms that
appeared to have no physical cause. Freud had studied with
Charcot in Paris, seeing him induce psychiatric symptoms with
hypnosis. He also saw Breuer using hypnosis to get a patient to
reveal earlier memories, only to be relieved of symptoms after
coming out of the trance. The case study of “Anna O.” indicated
catharsis could be important in therapy. Freud recognized that
unconscious forces affect conscious behavior. He was the first to
suggest that early trauma (Sexual trauma, particularly) could
produce a change in the brain connections, resulting in anxiety in
later life. We actually have confirmed this postulate with modern
scans that reveal brain tissue changes in response to abuse. Freud
started a new science of human behavior, less dependent on
neurological causes of behavior, more focused on psychological
causes underlying irrational behavior.
 Levels of Consciousness- this iceberg model of consciousness
showed how much of who we are is hidden from us within the
unconscious, to drive behavior unknowingly.
o Conscious level is all the things of which we are aware at
this moment in time. We identify with these things.
o Preconscious level is material that can be brought into
consciousness at will- memories, information.
o Unconscious level is filled with information not readily
accessible. It is all the mental processes hidden from the
self, because it material would cause anxiety. It is actively
repressed at some point & resists becoming conscious.
 Effects of Unconscious motivation
o Physical symptoms were the basis for Freud’s first
exploration of the unconscious. They still represent
manifestations of unconscious material.
 Conversion hysteria was the term used to describe
physical/neurological symptoms of paralysis, mutism,
deafness, blindness, tics, numbness that occur in
people with no history of trauma, illness, fever, etc.
 Glove anesthesia is one form of conversion
disorder- where physical sensation is lost
simply in the hand, not the lower arm, even
though there is no physical condition of damage
that could numb only that part of the hand/arm.
But people think of the hand as a unit, and the
arm as a separate unit. They unconsciously fear
what their hand could do, so they dismantle it.
o Hypnosis requires putting the subject into a suggestible state
(trance) and the therapist makes suggestions which
influence conscious behavior or recall. Post hypnotic
suggestion can be used to help patient stop smoking,
manage anxiety, asthma, skin diseases (warts), nausea,
eating disorders, even reducing need for pain meds after
surgery or during dental work. Hypnosis does seem to
harness the power of the unconscious for therapeutic
purposes. Hypnosis is understood to be a division of
consciousness, so that one part acts out a suggestion, but the
other part will not recall the suggestion (Hilgard’s
neodissociation theory) Other theorists believe that
hypnosis is a function of expectations and patients’ desires
to please and cooperate with the therapist. So patients, and
even people with multiple personality disorder, are really
playing a role based on what they believe another conscious
state includes. Subjects often recall what they think they are
supposed to have done or thought, and these recalls aren’t
very accurate.
o Psychosis is an extreme mental disorder, wherein patients
lose contact with reality, experience hallucinations, and
delusions. Freud saw this as the underlying irrationality of
the unconscious revealed.
o Dreams were called the “royal road to the unconscious.” He
believed that during waking hours our consciousness
restrains the unconscious. But during sleep the unconscious
breaks through in the form of dreams. Because this material
is threatening and risks waking us, it comes in a disguised
form, using symbols to represent issues & internal conflicts.
Freud said this represents fulfillments of repressed wishes.
 Manifest content is the actual dream content, the
narrative events & people seen.
 Latent content is the dream symbols.
 Dream interpretation is the process of
inferring unconscious wishes disguised by the
symbols. To get to the emotional meaning of a
dream the therapist must follow dreamer’s
associations and patterns.
 Dream work is the coding process that
produces the dream. Dreams represent much
emotional material, expressing what is
repressed in waking life.
o Psychopathology of everyday life
 Freudian slips (parapraxes) are seen in
misstatements, slips of tongue, particularly as the
unconscious tells the truth which the conscious, polite
person would not reveal. They are also seen in
forgetting important dates, mishearing of other
people, losing objects, errors of action. (Stieglitz
writing letters to both his wife, Georgia O’Keefe, and
mistress, and putting the wrong letter in the wrong
envelope.) Freud would say these are not random
events, but motivated by unconscious desires.
o Humor is useful in expressing unconscious conflicts, but
offering pleasure through released tension. We particularly
like jokes that express what we believe but repress- bigotry,
issues with women/men.
 Condensation is the way dreams or jokes merge
images. Chaplin said humor combines the rational
with the irrational, the important with the
unimportant, and the absurd with the serious.
o Projective tests are methods that allow the unconscious to
slip into conscious expression, where it can be analyzed.
 Origin and Nature of the Unconscious
o Repression of conflicting, disturbing material creates the
unconscious. Freud’s hedonic hypothesis suggests that we
seek pleasure and avoid pain, so we repress hedonic
impulses for pleasure when they would cause us to violate
moral restrictions, causing us pain or rejection.
Structures of the Personality
 Id is the primitive source of biological drives, mostly unconscious.
Motivational. Motor of the car.
o Pleasure principle drives the id, desiring instant gratification.
o Psychic energy- libido is the source of psychic energy, which was
originally instinct. All our culture has derived from this sexual
energy being transformed into higher callings. Repression ties up
this energy, making it unavailable for achievements. Psychic
energy comes in 2 forms: life (eros) and death (thanatos.)
o Eros (The life instinct) motivates life-sustaining behaviors, sexual
energy & love.
o Thanatos (The death instinct) drives us toward death, the ultimate
release from the tension of living. Motivates aggression, war,
suicide.
o Basic instincts drive behavior even as we are civilized.
 Source – all psychic energy derives from biological
processes. Energy is transformed and invested in different
areas of life. In infancy, this is physical in growing and
developing self-control. In latency, this is cognitive. In the
genital stage, this becomes sexualized or sublimated into
achievement.
 Pressure – has to do with how much drive an instinct has. It
is greater when the drive is not satisfied, less when there is
an outlet. Think hunger drive.
 Aim – is homeostasis. We experience tension when we
move away from our comfort level, our steady state.
Instincts drive us to reduce tension & feel pleasure.
Sublimation reduces tension through indirect expressions of
libido- creativity, altruism.
 Object – is the thing, person that is desired in order to
satisfy the instinct. (object for the infant is the breast. Object
of sexual drive is a partner)
 Cathexis is investment of psychic energy into an
object. This can be a particular type of partner, sexual
fetish object. There is some plasticity in the object.
o Primary process is the inflexible instinct that drives the id. It is
not rational, or concerned with others’ needs, but very demanding.
If it can’t get what it wants, it may hallucinate for wish fulfillment.
This is not restricted to psychotics; we all daydream.
 Ego is the rational, coping part of the personality, the most conscious.
Planning & coping functions. The steering wheel.
o Reality principle is the principle that the ego operates from. It
understands reality and adapts to the demands of the real world. It
can delay gratification, & plan for the future.
o Secondary process encompasses these abilities to plan, delay
gratification, work within reality to access goals. It allows us to
find enjoyment in the world without being too hampered by
anxiety or rigidity. A weak ego can break down under frustration,
conflict or stress. A strong ego defends against worldly demands.
 Superego is made up of the rules/ ideals of society that become
internalized. Much is unconscious, but not all. The oughts, shoulds. The
rules of the road.
o Conscience is the common term for the superego- the part of
personality that generates guilt when we act opposed to the rules
we have internalized. It also generates an ego ideal to drive our
further development. Unfortunately, it can become rigid, if it
doesn’t develop as we age. It is formed at a young age, so it may
generate unreasonable guilt if not adapted to adulthood. Mature
ethics are generated by the ego in the context of current reality.
Intrapsychic conflict occurs as the id’s drives conflict with the demands of
the superego, and the ego tries to balance all this. If the ego can’t repress
unconscious material, it may erupt in self-defeating or dangerous ways.
 Energy hypothesis has to do with how we use our limited psychic
energy. Some defenses, such as repression, require psychic energy,
which is then not available for creative endeavors.
 Anxiety comes in a variety of forms which show the ego is at risk of
not balancing the demands of id & superego, or keeping unconscious
material repressed.
o Neurotic anxiety represents id impulses possibly breaking
through into open expression.
o Moral anxiety is fear of one’s superego & irrational guilt.
o Reality anxiety is a response to a real threat in the world.
 Defense mechanisms are devices used by the ego to repress id
impulses into the unconscious. Actual repression uses energy, so
defense mechanisms disguise the impulse, the object, aim, or source.
Total repression is not necessary, so psychic energy is freed up.
Anxiety is prevented, even though the impulse may sneak by. These
impulses vary in maturity. The most primitive were developed in
infancy: denial and distortion of reality. These are used by psychotics.
Less pathological, but still immature are projection, dissociation,
acting out. More mature defenses are intellectualization, isolation,
repression, reaction formation, displacement & rationalization. The
most mature and adaptive are sublimation and suppression, altruism,
and humor. Healthier people use more mature defenses. People in
therapy will show shifts to more mature defenses as they better
understand their motivations & adapt better to reality.
o Denial is a refusal to recognize some difficult aspect of reality
or the self. Immature defense. In adulthood it means distorting
reality so much that no change is possible.
o Reaction formation- unacceptable impulse is repressed and the
opposite developed in exaggerated form. (Jerry Lee Lewis and
cousin Jimmy Swaggart) It may contribute to homophobia.
I hate sister (unconscious) -> I love sister (conscious)
o Projection- unacceptable impulse is projected onto another
person. Greedy people accusing others of greed. Contributes to
scapegoating and prejudice. (black males in US thought to be
criminals, Jews in Nazi Germany thought to be ruining country)
I want to steal (unconscious) -> That person is stealing
(conscious)
o Displacement- distorts the object of the drive, doesn’t repress
the drive itself. Dad gets mad at work, is nice to boss, but
comes home and yells at mom or kids. Kids kick the dog. This
is particularly suspected if the reaction is out of proportion to
the offense committed by spouse or sibling. Also suspected if
aggression is used in a variety of situations. Sexuality or
dependency can also be displaced.
I want to hurt Dad (unconscious) -> I want to hurt my brother
(conscious)
o Identification- borrowing/ merging one’s identity with another
person. Normal in developing gender roles to identify with
same sex parent to learn behaviors/ attitudes. Has been seen in
victims who come to identify with persecutors: Identification
with the aggressor- Patty Hearst, Stockholm Syndrome.
o Isolation- thoughts related to a painful, unpleasant event are
disassociated over time and no longer come to mind, along with
emotions associated. No longer think about lost spouse, so no
painful feelings have to be dealt with.
o Rationalization- giving false, but plausible reasons for an
action to disguise the real motives. Abuse disguised as
discipline. “This is for your own good.” Considered a mature
defense mechanism, since the act is not repressed, just the
reason. Passive-aggressive behavior.
o Intellectualization – excessive explanation for an impulse,
sour grapes attitude. Adaptive in some ways, but distorts the
grief of a loss and doesn’t allow the sufferer honest grief
process. Cynicism that keeps person from making active
decisions to change a problem in his/her life.
 Sublimation – the healthiest defense mechanism, as the unacceptable
impulse is shifted to a socially acceptable object. The impulse energy
is discharged, reducing tension. Sexual impulses may be sublimated
into art or altruism, aggressive impulses into athletics.
o Creativity is a particularly interesting sublimation, as their
flights of fancy are said to be active accessing of the
unconscious material. They have a mature ego, but can regress
to childhood fantasy at will, without degenerating into
psychosis. Psychotic people access unconscious material, but
can’t easily return to ego-controlled function. Creative pursuits
release the pressure of unconscious conflict safely. It is
interesting that when some artists, comedians deal with their
demons, their art suffers. (Tiger’s golf game suffering in
response to his engagement. No more sublimated sexual
impulses!)
 Empirical studies of defenses
o Terror management theory says that people make active
defensive efforts to maintain positive self-images or keep a
cultural worldview in coping with anxiety about death. Such
things as holding a belief that “I am a valuable participant in a
meaningful universe” stave off debilitating fears about death.
After 9/11 people returned to church & patriotic meetings to
hold together against existential fears. Repressors who actively
repress uncomfortable stimuli and emotions also have fewer
childhood memories of adverse events than non-repressors.
Personality development- Freud was the first to describe how childhood
experiences affect adult personality. We must adapt to restrictions on our id
impulses through all sorts of relationships in life, but a mature adult finds
strategies to gain as much gratification as possible within social constraints.
He believed different erogenous zones were central at different ages due to
physical changes associated with different ages. He named the different
developmental stage by that erogenous zone. The ego develops as it must
find new strategies to cope with frustrations of socialization. Psychic
traumas such as sexual abuse can overwhelm the ego & impair personality
development. If such events repress normal impulses, they can result in
fixation, which stops development of the personality. Traumatic stress can
be dissociated from the rest of the personality in the form of PTSD or
multiple personality disorder.
 Oral stage is all about feeding, sucking and is focused on the mouth.
What is learned is that needs are satisfied through loved objects in the
world. Mother’s presence is associated with satisfaction of hunger,
then mother becomes a separate object, so differentiation of mom
from self can occur.
o Oral erotic phase is the first phase, where the baby passively
accepts food, reality, swallowing what is good, or spitting out
what is bad.
o Oral sadism is the second phase, involves taking a more active
role- biting.
o Oral character is the personality type that occurs if there is
fixation in the first stage. Traits include passivity, optimism, &
dependency. (Due to reaction formation, this person could be
pessimistic instead of optimistic, and depressed.)
 Anal stage is about bowel control and the expression of self-will so it
is focused on the anus. Pleasure derives from control of bowel
movements and the social demands for self-control. Fixation at this
stage results in lifelong issues of control, & holding on and letting go
emotionally.
o Anal retentive phase occurs first when the toddler can control
himself.
o Anal expulsive phase occurs next as the toddler learns where
and when to let go.
o Anal character is expressed with 3 traits: orderliness,
parsimony, & obstinacy. Fixation is often related to money as
symbolic feces: hoarding it or spending it is emotionally
charged.
 Phallic stage is about wish fulfillment with the opposite sex parent
and frustration of sexual drives by masturbation. Focus is on genitals.
Desire for pleasure is expressed through masturbation/ fantasy. Males
and females follow diverse paths through this stage.
o Oedipus conflict (male) is a representation of a boy’s desire to
kill his father and become his mother’s sexual partner.
 Castration anxiety occurs as the boy realizes that if his
father knew what he wished, he would punish him
accordingly- with castration. This fear is repressed
(although it may come out as unreasonable fear of
disease) and the boy shifts his identification to his father.
This results in healthy gender role development &
conscience development. In Freud’s world morality is
motivated by castration anxiety.
o Electra conflict (female) happens as girls realize they must
have already been castrated, they see the clitoris as inferior.
 Penis envy is what girls experience as they struggle with
their desire for the father. The girl shifts her focus from
mother to father, feeling the mother was not powerful
enough to protect her from castration. Because girls will
have no castration anxiety, they will never experience the
strong superego males develop. (Current experimental
research shows women to have greater shame & guilt,
more empathy for other people’s feelings & actually
score higher on ego development than men.) Three
outcomes are possible: (Consider the times)
 Sexual inhibition/ neurosis
 Masculinity complex (women who strive for
achievements exclusive to men)
 Normal femininity (passivity, masochism &
childbirth)
o Incest: abandonment of the Seduction hypothesis. Freud’s
first theory was based on hysteric patients’ tales of seduction by
significant male figures. He believed that father’s sexual
behavior with his daughter was responsible for later symptoms,
such as hysteria. (Something we accept today.) But Freud was
rejected by the academic community when he presented that
theory, so he went back to the drawing board and postulated
that these were merely fantasies women expressed of their
unconscious id sexual drives. Even today analysis will focus on
what the abusive memory means to the patient, rather than the
abuse as a fact.
o Fixation at this point results in problems in superego
formation, sex role identity, & sexuality: inhibitions,
promiscuity, or homosexuality. (Today we believe sexual
orientation has more to do with prenatal hormonal exposure.)
 Latency occurs during the early school years, as sexual drives go
underground to promote cognitive development.
 Genital stage begins at puberty as the developing person learns the
capability of getting sexual satisfaction with a partner. (In contrast to
the phallic stage which is auto-erotic.)
o Genital character is the ideal of full development. It occurs if
fixations have been avoided or resolved through therapy. It is
expressed through satisfying sexuality, caring about the
satisfaction of the partner, non-narcissistic, and id instincts are
available for successful work.
Psychoanalytic treatment is designed to discover unconscious conflicts, to
bring repressed drives into the open and consciously deal with them.
 Techniques
o Free association asks the patient to say whatever comes into
his/her mind, without censor. Unconscious material surfaces.
o Catharsis is when buried feelings emerge from the
unconscious. Deep feelings accompany recall of forgotten
memories, repression is overcome, and personality freed.
o Insight occurs when the client understands his/her true motives,
the unconscious conflicts being repressed. Patients must “work
through” unconscious conflicts over again in varying situations
to develop full awareness and freedom from neurosis.
o Transference occurs as the patient develops a relationship with
the therapist based on unconscious projections from early years.
The patient may fall in love with the therapist, or accuse the
therapist of being just like the father/ mother. It allows
unconscious material to come to light in the therapy office,
where they can be resolved.
o Countertransference is not therapeutic- as the therapist
experiences strong feelings toward the client- positive or
negative. This represents the therapist’s unresolved issues and
interferes with therapy.
 Recovered Memory Controversy occurred in response to a
particular therapy associated with psychoanalysis. Recovered memory
therapy operated under the assumption that certain symptoms
(depression, promiscuity, eating disorders) were evidence of traumatic
sexual experiences in childhood. There was assumed to be repression
of the memory, so therapists would try to get clients to search their
memories for sexual abuse, even leading to trials of parents when
there was no other evidence. These “memories: became rather bizarre:
Satanic or cult ritual abuse, sacrifice of newborns, secret childbirth
(even in the face of no physical evidence of childbirth.) Eventually
this was exposed as faulty, unethical therapy. One of the reasons it
was seen as not true memories was the quality of the memory,
compared to true recovered memories unearthed without coercion.
o False memory syndrome is when memories of trauma are
induced by suggestion from a therapist. With true victims,
memories for trauma become intrusive, rarely repressed out of
all consciousness. Sexual trauma is different from other
disasters, however, since the perpetrator is insisting on secrecy,
even using threats to prevent revelation. But people are
notoriously suggestible, particularly by an authority figure
(therapist) who has built a trusting relationship. Elizabeth
Loftus showed how even adults can have suggested memories
instilled- the lost in the mall study. Chronic abuse and threat
can impair neural connections involved in memory
consolidation, however.
Psychoanalysis as a scientific theory – the problem with psychoanalysis as
a scientific theory is that the concepts aren’t testable. It is impossible to set
up experiments to eliminate or confirm his concepts. The personality types
can vary to the extremes within a stage. Projective tests have low reliability
although there are some correlations within diagnoses.
 Silverman’s experiments relied on subliminal psychodynamic
activation, which is presentation of stimuli so briefly they are not
consciously identifiable. Subliminal messages could be flashed that
were conflict-arousing (“I am losing Mommy”, in which case,
schizophrenics showed increases in psychotic symptoms. This
confirmed Freud’s belief that schizophrenics are conflicted at the oral
stage about loss of mother. When “Mommy and I are one” was
flashed, psychotic symptoms reduced. With women with eating
disorders, arousal of abandonment conflict led to increased eating.
These effects were not seen if the stimulus was presented at a
conscious awareness level.
 Unconscious cognition – not all material in the unconscious came
there by way of repression, in spite of what Freud said. We can do
physical activities that are well-learned without conscious awareness.
We can learn things that have been exposed to us at unconscious
levels without even knowing we have learned them. Under anesthesia,
patients can be influenced by auditory suggestions. One experiment
showed reduction of need for pain meds following surgery, when the
tapes played suggesting there would be little pain.
 Unconscious influences and the body – many things Freud
suggested have been found to be valid today. One thing was traumatic
memory loss. People exposed to combat stress show lowered activity
in the hippocampus, which consolidates memory. Was it psychic
protection, as Freud suggested, or simply neural overload? Stress
causes increases in stress hormones, like glucocorticoid, which also
interferes with neural messages in the hippocampus. The brain
processes different effects of trauma. The hippocampus may not
process the verbal memory, but the amygdale can process the
emotions and bodily memory. So unconscious processes do influence
behavior, but we are still not sure exactly how and through what
channels.