Psychoanalytic Theory Of Personality Development Case Study

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As previously stated, Freud established the psychoanalytic theory of personality development. This is his view on how the personality of a person develops into what they essentially are and how they behave. The aspects of this theory indicate that one’s behavior and personality develops from the id, ego, superego, the conscious-unconscious continuum, defense mechanisms, psychosexual development, and other psychological constructs (Nystul, 2016), and it’s important to go over these critical concepts to understand human development. Freud believed the personality was structured into three braches of the id, ego, and superego. The id supplies the energy to the ego and superego and is driven by pleasure of sexual of aggressive manner. The ego is
The superego is the opposites of the ego in terms of it being associated with morals, determining what’s right and wrong, and principles. This is the branch that pushes the personality to strive for perfection. When these 3 braches fight for the “light” or “energy” inside a person it causes endopsychic issues that can cause anxiety or other issues. My client Max is suffering from an anxiety disorder which, through further analysis, could determine if the conflicts of these three aspects could be causing his anxiety. To deal with these conflicts defense mechanisms can be used to cope. Freud claimed that defense mechanisms developed unconsciously whenever the ego is under attack by an endopsyhic conflict (Nysul, 2016). It is argued by Mathew Hugh Erdelvi that Freud's position—that defense mechanisms, including repression which takes a conscious thought and pushes it to the unconscious, could be conscious or unconscious— is the viable position when faced with the argument that they are strictly unconscious processes (Erdelvi, 2001). Defense mechanisms can range from projection, reaction formation, fixation, regression, and repression. Projection is placing one’s thoughts or feeling on another individual, especially feelings of aggression or being

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