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Sigmund Freud theory of sexuality
Sigmund Freud theory of sexuality
Sigmund Freud theory of sexuality
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Sybil Dorsett is someone who is known for having 16 different personalities. Sybil grew up in a small town in Wisconsin as an only child. She was abused verbally, as well as, physically by her mother when she was a child. Sybil mother suffered from a mental illness which was probably the reason for the abuse toward Sybil. Even though her father was never really around, Sybil grew up in a two parent household. Her parents never believed in mental illness or seeing any psychologist because of their religious beliefs. Sybil’s mother and father referred to hypnoses and therapy as the “devils work”. Hattie, who is Sybil’s mother, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia by a physician, but went untreated up until she died. Her mother mood changed …show more content…
Life and death instincts. In a sense everyone possess life instincts. Freud describes life instincts as having the need for food, water, air, and sex for survival. Freud truly believed that sexual aspect of life instinct is more important than the other two. Freud also notated that the sexual content of life instincts takes place when someone seeks pleasure by their thoughts and behaviors. For example, one might seek pleasure by stealing merchandise and having the possibility of being caught. Moreover, the second instinct is called death instincts. Death instincts occur when aggression takes over the unconscious. Death instincts are indeed seen in Freud went through something similar in his life after losing a …show more content…
The defense mechanism include: repression, denial, reaction formation, projection, regression, rationalization, displacement, and sublimation. Repression is defined as having denial of issues that exist because it may cause anxiety. Denial is similar to repression except denial refers to external and traumatic events. Reaction formation occurs when the impulse is the opposite of the id. Projections is when a person projects anger to something other than the problem. Regression refers back to another time frame, such as a place that is less traumatic. Rationalization is reanalyzing behavior to something more appropriate. Displacement is taking anger out on someone or something else rather than the actual problem at hand. Sublimation occurs when person alters pleasure seeking
Rosa Lee Cunningham is a 52-year old African American female. She is 5-foot-1-inch, 145 pounds. Rosa Lee is married however, is living separately from her husband. She has eight adult children, Bobby, Richard, Ronnie, Donna (Patty), Alvin, Eric, Donald (Ducky) and one child who name she did not disclose. She bore her eldest child at age fourteen and six different men fathered her children. At Rosa Lee’s recent hospital admission to Howard University Hospital emergency room blood test revealed she is still using heroin. Though Rosa Lee recently enrolled in a drug-treatment program it does not appear that she has any intention on ending her drug usage. When asked why she no longer uses heroin she stated she doesn’t always have the resources to support her addiction. Rosa Lee is unemployed and receiving very little in government assistance. She appears to
Professor B. Lahey agrees “...that the ego possesses a small arsenal of defense mechanisms that are unconsciously used to cope with tension” (566). The following are nine methods identified by Freud. The first is displacement, where letting out your anger to a friend when it was meant for someone else. Secondly is sublimation's, is by putting your stressful feelings into activities like schoolwork, literature, and sports. Reading or drawing always seem to make me feel better. The third one is Projections, putting their feelings of desire or emotions onto someone else. After that is reaction, by conflict motives or feelings are avoided by doing the opposite. Then after that is regression, reducing stress by hiding behind earlier patterns of behavior like stomping and throwing tantrums when a setback has been suffered. Then there is rationalization, reducing stress by thinking logically and explaining to oneself “this happened for a reason”. Another is repression, Avoiding things that would make oneself stressful without knowing it. Another one is Denial, consciously denying one's feelings or desire even when facts are shown. Lastly is intellectualization, looking at the other way around instead of facing
These three defense mechanisms allow the child to at least form an attachment bond with the caregivers, even if it is an unhealthy one. Denial is the refusal to accept the reality of things. Regression is when a child reverts to early stages of life such as thumb sucking. Dissociation is the separation of traumatizing events from memory. The use of these defense mechanisms short-term may serve as a protective barrier for the psyche and decrease the damaging effects of trauma. But long-term use will consequently lead to internal confusion and conflict (Hosier 1). Many children learn to use multiple defense mechanisms interchangeably to cope with complex trauma throughout their childhood.
In addition to Freud’s stages of development his best-known concepts are those of the id, ego, and superego (Crain, p. 268). The id personality called ‘the unconscious” is the personality that focuses on maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain through reflexes and drives such as hunger or bladder tensions (Crain, pp. 268-269). The id concept is impulsive, chaotic and unrealistic.
Freud believed that a human must go through certain stages in their lives or they will not socially develop to their full extent. He also made claims that a human is always struggling between their human, and instinctual nature. This was a very controversial topic because Freud concluded there was a lack of individuality of the human race. If Freud’s theory was the case then humans would have less of a choice in their life, and are truly slaves to their instinctual nature. While an intelligent figure of his time, I believe that Freud went in the wrong direction when approaching his theory. While humans do have a large amount of urges that he described, the person themselves can choose what to do based not solely on society, but their wants and needs as well. Had Freud been alive today I’m sure that his theory would have theorized much different things about the human nature. I think it is important to analyze the distinct cultural setting behi...
... personalities. Whilst no causes are confirmed, it is believed that a traumatic event of some description can lead to DID in adulthood. Using the mental status exam, psychologists can begin to treat a patient using either psychotherapy or hypnosis methods or even both, whilst other alternative methods can also be used if need be. The symptoms of DID can be severe but the eventual outcomes can even more so be life threatening. Today, DID is recognised as a mental illness and it is easier now to receive help than it was in the 19th century. The movie Sybil shows how the illness can be treated in a modern day context and gives viewers a valuable insight to the disorder in full. Whilst the illness can be debilitating and devastating in life for some people, it is comforting to know that some psychologists’ think that DID is on the decline[1].
Wilber plays the important role in reuniting the sixteen personalities, allow Sybil to have control over her body without long blackouts. Dr. Wilber assistance Sybil in facing the trauma from her childhood. Dr. Wilber speaks to Sybil’s through other selves as these selves acted as gatekeepers the horrifying abuse, taking parts of Sybil life and storing these memories. Dr. Wilber was successful in being able to identify Sybil main alters who held these memories through hypnosis (Schreiber, 1995). “The victim of abuse may only be able to stage a psychologically-based escape.
Department of Psychology, of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (n.d.). Sybil isabel dorsett* the most famous case of multiple personality. Retrieved from http://jackiewhiting.net/Psychology/Sybil/Sybil.htm
Sigmund Freud’s theories on the construction of the mind are simple, but fundamentally changed the field of psychology. He proposed, among other things, that the human mind is composed of three parts: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The preconscious consists of information, such as a telephone number, that is “accessible to consciousness without emotional resistance” (Schellenberg 21). In Freud’s estimation, the unconscious is the most important area of the mind. The information stored within it has “very strong resistances” to becoming conscious (Freud 32). Residing in the unconscious is the id, which “contains everything…that is present at birth… – above all, therefore, the instincts which originate from somatic organization” (14). From birth, all action is instinctual, from the id. The id recognizes and entertains no desires but its own and is impatient to have its needs met. This phase lasts until a part of the id changes “under the influence of the real external world” (14). This changed portion b...
In “The Neuro-Psychoses of Defense”, Freud introduces his study of defense mechanisms. Freud defines a defense mechanism in psychoanalysis as a “defensive mechanism developed by the ego under pressure of the superego and external reality that allows us to fight anxiety”. Some examples of Freudian defenses that are still accepted today include repression, denial, projection, displacement, and regression. Anna Freud and other psychologist’s elaborated on the concept. Defense mechanisms are an essential component in modern clinical psychology, as “no mental status or clinical formulation should be considered complete without an effort to identify a patient’s dominant defense mechanism” (3). Defense mechanisms are today grouped into Narcissistic, Anxiety, Immature, and Mature. The use of Narcissistic, Anxiety and Immature defense mechanisms are considered less healthy than Mature defenses and are often used by emotionally unstable individuals in order to cope with stress. Mature defenses ‘result in optimal
Sybil was a very important, and one of the most popular, accounts of Dissociative Identity. The book went into great detail about the suffering Sybil went through, and the lengths that her therapist took to try to validate the claim and treat her personalities, through verification with family members to visiting her childhood doctor. (Putnam). This account not only gave therapists a basis to compare their dissociative patients against, but also reopened the public’s eyes to this disorder. (Putnam 35). It was classified in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980, only six years after the books release. (Kihlstrom). Now there is some concern over the validity of this account, which only fuels the controversy more. There are still other studies of Dissociative Identity Disorder, such as The Five of Me (1977), The Three Faces of Eve (1957) and many other true case studies. The Three Faces of Eve was also a book turned into a movie that, so far, has been proven as a valid case. This case study was not as detailed as the case study on Sybil, but still is a true study of this disorder. (“Multiple Personality”)
“Psychological - or more strictly speaking, psychoanalytic -investigation shows that the deepest essence of human nature, which are similar in all men and which aim at the satisfaction of certain needs... [are] self-preservation, aggression, need for love, and the impulse to attain pleasure and avoid pain...” At its simplest form, this quote perfectly explains Sigmund Freud’s theory on human nature. Human beings, according to Freud, are in a constant state of conflict within themselves; trying to satisfy their animalistic instincts, while also maintaining a socially appropriate life. Freud termed these animalistic tendencies that we have, the Id. The Id is essentially our unconscious mind, it is the part of us that has been there since the day we were born and is what drives our life’s needs and desires. The Id simply aims to satisfy our sexual or aggressive urges immediately, without taking into account any further implications. On the other hand, Freud used the term, the Superego, to describe man’s conscience and sense of morality. It is the Superego’s job to keep the Id in check by combatting the desire to satisfy urges with the feeling of guilt or anxiety. Finally, the Ego, is the conscious representation of the constant battle between the Superego and the Id. It must work to satisfy human’s instinctual tendencies while taking into account their conscience and doing what is rational and acceptable. Freud argues that these internal process that are constantly at work in our mind are what shape humans to do the things that they do. Thus, he believes, the goal of human nature is to satisfy our basic aggressive and sexual desires while adhering to cultural and social standards.
Denial is perhaps the most primitive and maladaptive of the defense mechanisms. We engage in the forbidden behavior, but feel no anxiety because memories of that behavior are prevented from entering consciousness. We cannot recall having done anything unacceptable, so we quite honestly deny our behavior.
Throughout Freud’s time, he came up with many different theories. One of his theories was Life and Death Instincts. This theory evolved throughout his life and work. He believed that these drives were responsible for much of behavior. He eventually came to believe that these life instincts alone couldn’t explain all human behavior. Freud then determined that all instincts fall into one of 2 major classes: the life instincts or the death instincts. Life instincts deal with basic survival, reproduction, and pleasure. Death instincts are apparent after people experience a traumatic event and they often reenact the experience. In Freud’s view, self-destructive behavior is an expression of the energy that is created by the death instincts.
...nt anxiety. The operant conditioning takes place when the person emits avoidance in the presence of the neutral stimulus, since the stimulus never created the initial anxiety. by escaping the CS and getting an immediate reduction in its fear-eliciting properties, the avoidance response is maintained. Another etiology of phobias is offered by social learning theory, which state that watching parental avoidance strategies learns phobic behaviors. Cognitive theorists emphasize the role played by expectancies in potentially dangerous consequences versus neutral situations. Expectancies acts like a mediator between the two. Avoidance responding is acquired in the presence of the warning sign through cognitive process of comparing expectations for when and when not to respond. In this way an aversive outcome is maintained as a consequence of interacting with anxiety.