Freud Outline

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I. THE PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS:
1. Nature of humans; structure of the personality:
a. Freud’s theory stated that the structure of the personality is based off three systems, the id, the ego and the superego.
b. The id is present at birth and revolves around pleasure seeking, instinct and the reduction or elimination of pain. In the id phase there is no conscious awareness only unconscious behavior.
c. The ego acts as the reality principle, its goal is to find ways to logically and realistically appease the id.
d. The superego structure is where society’s standards fall. This also includes parental beliefs and values, as well as cultural standards.
2. Nature of humans; function of the personality:
a. Freud theorized that children go through psychosexual stages of development based on the pleasure principle and biological drives.
b. The oral stage of Freud’s psychosexual stages occurs from birth to about eighteen months. The focus of this stage is oral gratification. The anal stage begins around eighteen months and continues through about three years of age. This is when the child starts to potty train and learn how to control their bowel movements. The phallic stage occurs from age three to five or six, the genitals become the pleasure source during this stage. Around twelve, about when puberty begins, the genital stage begins where self pleasure shifts to focus on the opposite sex as a source of pleasure. (Sharf, 2012, pp.34-37)
c. Freud also believed the personality functioned within two drives, the self-preservation drive (“breathing, eating, drinking, and excreting”) and species-preservation drive (“sexuality”) (Sharf, 2012, pp.33).
d. Freud believed in three levels of consciousness: the conscious, preconscious and...

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...hen working with unconscious materials. Freud sought to “increase awareness of sexual and aggressive drives (id processes)” and help “individuals achieve greater control of themselves in their interaction with others (ego processes)” (Sharf, 2012, pp.47). The Blacky Test is an instrument derived from Freud’s drive theory. (Sharf, 2012, pp. 47-48)
12. Strengths and weaknesses:
a.
13. Multicultural concerns:
a. Freud’s psychoanalysis can be viewed as insensitive towards other cultures in today’s world. The Oedipal and Electra complexes are vulnerable in situations of a single caretaker, multiple caretakers or in a situation of role reversal within the parents. A client’s language could also be a factor to take into consideration, misinterpretations, transferences and a variety of resistance issues could occur when there is a barrier in communication due to language.

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