history of psychology - week 3

the early history of the psychoanalytic movement starts with freud’s biography

• proposed the “radical” view that the living organism is a dynamic system to which the laws of chemistry and physics apply

→ considered the starting point for freud’s dynamic psychology of the mind and its relation to the unconscious + he advised freud to abandon laboratory work

• living organism are dynamic systems – the starts of the dynamic theory of conscious and subconscious

• influenced freud to study the central nervous system of which he published several works discussing it’s organic dieases → caused him to later develop a coke addiction

• establish psychiatry as an exact science based on anatomy

• organism and brain are dynamic systems and evolutionism

freud went to paris on a fellowship to study with jean martin charcot, who turned him toward the practice of medical psychopathology and away from neurological research

freud married his fiance and settled as a private practitioner in nervous diseases

= claimed that hysterics suffer from their reminiscences (unconscious memories) → freud also claimed that tragedy was inherent in the human condition

• cure/relief from symptoms was brought when patients speak about their illnesses

→ their collaboration began to deteriorate since freud started putting more emphasis on sexuality as one of more fundamental factors within hysteria

a collection of traumatic memories, taboos and shameful feelings an individual refused to reveal because of fear of humiliation

freud writes wilhelm fliess a letter in which he describes his reasons for abandoning the “seduction thesis” (his earliest theory for hysteria)

→ he suspected that the patients complaining of sexual disturbances may have problems stemming from cultural restrictions on sexual expressions and that their sexual wishes and fantasies had been repressed = he didn’t deem their experiences as real but rather as psychological processes

stated that hysteria and obsessional neurosis are caused by repressed memories of infantile sexual abuse, the root of all neurosis (premature introduction of sexuality into the experience of the child)

freud began to theorize that the unconscious mind had determining effects on hysterical symptoms

• this would alter the theory of neurosis and the therapeutic procedures involved

in the late 1890s freud started working on his magnum opum (book of dreams) whilst his relationship with fliess faltered due to scientific differences

• “dreams are never meaningless but the fulfilment of a wish” (intellectual activities)

→ process of censorship causes a distortion of the dream content whilst forgetting of dreams serves the purpose of resistance

freud began to produce a series of volumes that applied his method to other domains:

• psychopathology of everyday life: explaining common unintentional occurences by applying the same psychological processes that determine the unconscious

→ cross between psychiatry and cultural studies

common belief

→ started out with freud’s first followers which would hold weekly gatherings to discuss his psychologies

• many members were medical doctors in which most were more interested in cultural applications of psychoanalysis than the therapeutic possibilities

= the ideas and practices of early followers differed from freud in a number of aspects which would end up causing friction → his first expansion of psychoanalysis lacked a model development of the human mind, he made up for this lack by publishing an exposition on the etiology of anxiety neurosis, neurasthesia and psychoneurosis

• his aim was to explain the origin of sexual aberrations

= in the development of dynamics of the mind a distinct pattern is followed. each stage represents a progression into sexual maturity.

1. oral phase (first year) > the child struggles with the conflict between protection and neglect.

2. anal stage (1-2 years) > conflict between retention and letting go.

3. phallic stage (3-6 years) > conflict between gratification and guilt.

↳ the last two stages (latency phase and genital phase) characterize the development of the ego towards maturity.

⇒ early attempts to confirm the theory were successful but very biased or fraudulent and neglected female development (phallocentrism)

he unconscious struggle/conflict in the mind of the patience

the reproduction of conflict in terms of new symptom produced or triggered by the treatment itself

→ within psychotherapy it can also be described as the feelings of a person unconsciously being transferred onto the therapist

founding of the IPA marks the beginning of a new phase in psychoanalysis

• as the number of psychoanalysist followers grew their informal contact was no longer possible and instead a training process was necessary to safeguard the psychoanalytic knowledge and to allow it to remain pure

1. the ipa refused and ostracised dissident (in opposition to official policy) followers

2. the question whether or not non-medical analysts were allowed to analyse patients was raised

the 2nd wave of freud’s theoretical papers appeared and is seen as the final development of psychoanalysis

• beyond the pleasure principle: introduces the pleasure principle and reality principle as two important brain mechanisms and the unconscious and conscious were replayed by the id-ego-super ego

freud explained how anxiety is caused by a psychological conflict between the drive and the super ego and how this anxiety may lead to further inhibition of mental functions

claimed seperation anxiety takes place at a developmental phase before the oedipus complex could develop → got him excluded from freud’s inner circle since he thought it was ridiculous

developed an approach known as ‘ego psychology’, this became very influential within psychoanalysis and remains a dominant school. this group built upon the understanding of the synthetic function of the ego as a mediator in psychic functioning. ⇒ distinction between autonomous ego functions (memory and intellect) and synthetic functions (results of compromised formation)

were dissatisfied with freud’s one-sided emphasis on male sexuality and regarded females as castrated males. they began to propound “neo-analytic” schools that explored questions on female sexuality and development.

a group represented by melanie klein and her followers presents the “object-relations theory”, the emphasis was put on the development of the subject in relation to others within the environment. the objects in the theory, refers to both real and internalized images of others. object relationships are formed during early interactions with primary caregivers.

the last group whose ideas and works have gained influence consist of followers who’ve taken psychoanalytic interpretations into the domain of medicine proper.

these theorists sought to establish a link between somatic and unconscious psychological processes.

from a political point of view, a group of left winged analysts were attracted by the liberating capacity of psychoanalytic doctrine which was transferred to the domain of politics in which they tried to combine marxism with freudianism.

was offered by jacques lacan (giles deleuze and felix gauttari) > lacan integrates psychoanalysis with semiotics and hegelian philosophy (emphasizes the unconscious workings of linguistic processes), deleuze & gauttari have tried to match psychoanalysis with postmodern theory.

theory: the dynamic theory of mind

method: exploring the unconscious

= focuses on abnormal behavior and what to do about it

→ includes: philosophy of the nature of humanity, theory of personality and procedure for psychotherapy

slips (lapis linguae), mistakes, forgetting something → all have meaning

neglect of female development

therapist’s feelings toward a patient (emotional entanglement

• id: set of uncoordinated instinctual desires → eros = sexual force and thanatos = dreadful push towards death, were later added

• ego: realisation one must manipulate the world in different manners to satisfy own desires → uses defense mechanisms for keeping unacceptable drives in the unconsciousness

• super ego: makes a person feel guilty when an id impulse is permitted to express itself

relations with others within the environment, emphasis is put on the development of the subject in relationship to others within the environment

connection between somatic and unconscious psychological processes

founder of psychoanalytic child psychology and emphasized the importance of the ego and its development

→ because jung was not jewish like freud, in those times it gave a credibility to psychoanalysis

jung believed sexuality is not the only part of the unconscious, this is made of many different things and drives

• individual unconscious: first layer (similar to freud)

• collective unconscious: second layer (inborn)