Evaluation of The Psychoanalytic Approach Essay -- Papers Psychology F

Evaluation of The Psychoanalytic Approach Sigmund Freud the founder of psychoanalysis (1896-1939) worked on many ideas and cases that were to do with the mind and the body. Freud spent most of his life in Vienna where he expressed and distinguished the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality and repression. Freud identified psychosexual stages, which are: - Oral stage – (approx 0-2 years) During the first year of life the libido is gratified through stimulation of the mucous membrane of the mouth (breast feeding, sucking behaviour). The child will enjoy sucking and biting. Freud suggested that if a child is weaned too early or too late they can have a fixation by using sucking sensations. Freud though did not give any indication when the correct time is to wean a child in order to overcome these fixations. He did though suggest that the fixations could be apparent in later life in the form of pen sucking or biting of the nail and smoking, as they are all types of oral stimulation/activities. Freud also said that too little stimulation in this early age could lead to the child in adult life having uncaring, self-centred attitude. And the other way with too much stimulation can lead to self controlled, gullible and unrealistic goals. These are both long lasting affects in later life if this stage is not correctly overcome. Anal stage – (approx 2-4 years) Pleasure is focused on the passing or excreaton of faces. On this stage Freud said that if parents were too pushy and strict with toilet training then the child may become anally retentive – resulting in excessive tiredness and cleanliness and very self contr... ...success, it has very much failed in the eyes of most of today's critics. Carl Jung (1875-1961) did not agree with Freud in the distinction between manifest and latent content as to Jung dreams had no deliberate disguised meaning but directly reflected the minds current state. A major difference therefore was that where Freud emphasised the dark and destructive nature of the unconscious Jung was influenced on the positive and constructive nature of these influences. Sigmund Freud has had a huge impact on psychoanalytic techniques and most of them are still used today i.e. dream analysis and the talking technique. Without Freud’s ideas and findings maybe the world of psychoanalysis would not be where it is today as many theorists have used Freud techniques’ as a base for their own modifications and contributions.