The ego attempts to resolve discomfort by attributing our unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and motives to another person. The ego blocks upsetting or overwhelming experiences from awareness, leading us to refuse to acknowledge or believe what is happening. The ego prevents disturbing memories or threatening thoughts from entering consciousness altogether, pushing them into our unconscious. Sometimes, when psychological conflict threatens psychological functioning, the ego mobilizes an array of defense mechanisms to prevent psychological disintegration (Burgo, 2012). Defense mechanismsįreud believed these three components of the mind are in constant conflict because each has a different goal. The image offers a context of this “iceberg” model of the mind, which depicts the greatest psychological influence as the realm of the unconscious. The superego is the term Freud gives to “conscience” where morality and higher principles reside, encouraging us to act in socially and morally acceptable ways (Pick, 2015). It is oriented to navigating reality and begins to develop in infancy. The ego ensures our needs are met in a socially appropriate way. The ego acts as a filter for the id that works as both a conduit for and check on our unconscious drives. The id operates at an unconscious level as the motor of our two main instinctual drives: Eros, or the survival instinct that drives us to engage in life-sustaining activities, and Thanatos, or the death instinct that drives destructive, aggressive, and violent behavior. In this model, there are three components to the mind: Later, Freud proposed a more structured model of the mind that better depicted his original ideas about conscious and unconscious processes (Gaztambide, 2021). The home of everything we can recall or retrieve from our memoryĪt the deepest level of our minds resides a repository of the processes that drive our behavior, including biologically determined instinctual desires (Pick, 2015). Preconscious (sometimes called the subconscious).Housing our current thoughts, feelings, and perceptual focus Perhaps Freud’s greatest impact on the world was his model of the human mind, which divides the mind into three layers, or regions. You can read more about the clinical origins of psychoanalysis in the original text Studies on Hysteria (Breuer & Freud, 1895/2001). This case sparked Freud’s interest in the unconscious mind and spurred the development of some of his most influential ideas. Breuer found that her symptoms abated when he helped her recover memories of traumatic experiences that she had repressed from conscious awareness. Josef Breuer’s intriguing experience with a patient, “Anna O.,” who experienced a range of physical symptoms with no apparent physical cause (Breuer & Freud, 1895/2001) drew his attention.ĭr. Soon after his graduation, he set up in private practice and began treating patients with psychological disorders. He entered medical school and trained as a neurologist, earning a medical degree in 1881. The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, was born in Austria and spent most of his childhood and adult life in Vienna (Gay, 2006). Freudian theory: Sigmund Freud & psychoanalysis Many controversies abound between these different approaches today, although all can be classified as an approach to psychoanalysis.Ī common thread between them is their focus on the transference and countertransference dynamics between the analyst and analysand as the vehicle of psychological transformation and healing (Pick, 2015). These include the object relations school associated with Klein and Winnicott, Jung’s analytic psychology, and Lacanian psychoanalysis (Gaztambide, 2021). Today, there are several psychoanalytic schools that adhere to different models of the mind and clinical approaches. Psychoanalysis is a talking therapy that aims to treat a range of mental health issues by investigating the relationship between the unconscious and conscious elements of psychological experience using clinical techniques like free association and dream interpretation (Pick, 2015).Ĭontemporary psychoanalysis has evolved a great deal from its roots in the classical Freudian approach, which developed in Vienna during the late 19th century. What Is Psychoanalysis? A Definition and History of Psychoanalytic Theory
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