Psychoanalysis

I

Introduction

Psychoanalysis, theoretical system of psychology based on the work of Sigmund Freud on the basis of which psychoanalytic psychotherapy is practised.

Psychoanalysis may be defined as human nature interpreted in terms of conflict. The mind is understood as an expression of conflicting forces—some conscious, the majority unconscious. Psychoanalysts are practitioners of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and place emphasis on the importance of unconscious forces in the way the mind works. Psychoanalytic theory of human mental functioning can be understood as follows.

II

Unconscious

Freud noted that, while some experiences are directly accessible in people’s conscious minds, other experiences have to be thought about or remembered—he called this the “preconscious”. Furthermore, he recognized inaccessible experiences that people cannot directly think about or remember as the “unconscious”. He postulated that experiences in the unconscious were actively kept there by a process called repression.

Unconscious experiences are not regarded as subject to the same logic that is characteristic of conscious experience. Unconscious ideas, images, thoughts, and feelings can be condensed or dramatized in the form of abstract concepts and imagery. Certain objects may be represented symbolically by images of other objects, although the resemblance between the symbol and the original object may be vague or far-fetched. The laws of logic, indispensable for conscious thinking, do not apply to these unconscious mental productions.

Recognition of these modes of operation in unconscious mental processes made possible the understanding of such previously incomprehensible psychological phenomena as dreaming. Through analysis of unconscious processes, Freud saw dreams as serving to protect people against disturbing impulses arising from within and related to early life experiences. Thus, unacceptable impulses and thoughts, called the latent dream content, are transformed into a conscious, although no longer immediately comprehensible, experience called the manifest dream.

Often the relationship between the original experience and the unconscious symbolic representation can seem obscure. These relationships can be investigated.

III

Conflict

Conflict arises in the conscious mind when one set of beliefs impacts adversely on another area of beliefs, causing emotional suffering felt as disappointment, anger, or frustration. Psychoanalysis is concerned with the unconscious aspects of mental conflict. The “pleasure principle” is fundamental to psychoanalytic theory. It holds that human beings have a tendency to seek pleasure and avoid pain. This principle is said to dominate in early life, bringing the developing individual into conflict with his or her external world. Conflicts occurring in the earlier developmental stages are no less significant as a formative influence, because these problems represent the earliest prototypes of such basic human situations as dependency on others and relationship to authority. Also basic in moulding the personality of the individual is the behaviour of the parents towards the child during these stages of development. However, the fact that the child reacts, not only to objective reality, but also to fantasy distortions of reality, greatly complicates even the best-intentioned educational efforts.

These conflicts are thought to be retained in the unconscious, and these early life experiences can be investigated.

IV

Triebe: Drives or Instincts

Psychoanalytic theory holds that human thoughts, feelings, and impulses are not random—but instead are linked in a system of causally related phenomena behind which lies some reason or meaning. Many of these events are unconscious but can be investigated in order to understand the relationship between past and present events.

Freud’s original concept held that the conflict in early life arises as a result of innate drives or instincts (in German, Triebe). A drive is a state of motivation, produced by excitation of the central nervous system, occurring in response to stimuli, or to deprivation of something perceived as necessary—such as food. Freud described as libidinal drive that drive which serves the species by directing individuals to reproduce. This now receives some biological support. He also described aggressive drives that he felt would serve to protect the species. Biological evidence for this drive is weak—most support for it coming from psychologists.