2. Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud (1856—
1939)
• Oldest of eight children
• Married with 3 girls
and 3 boys
• Physician - Neurologist
• Based theory on
personal experiences
• Died of cancer of jaw &
mouth lifelong cigar
chain-smoker

3. Fundamental Assumptions of
Psychoanalytic Approach
• Unconscious factors motivate our
behaviour
• Experiences or events of first 6 yrs of
life are determinants of later
development of personality (attention is
given to those experiences )
• Unconscious motives and conflicts are
central
• Later personality problems will have its
roots on early repressed childhood
conflicts

4. BASIC CONCEPTS
I. Human Nature
II. Instincts
III. Theory of Personality
– Functional or Dynamic
– Structural or Topographical
IV. Anxiety
V. Ego Defence Mechanisms
VI. Psycho Sexual Stages

5. I. Human Nature - Determinism
• Deterministic : Our behaviour
is determined by irrational
forces, unconscious
motivations, and biological and
instinctual drives as these
evolve through key
psychosexual stages in the
first six yrs of life
• One can liberate from these –
unconscious becomes
conscious

6. II. Instincts
• Life Instincts ( Eros)
• Maintain the survival of the individual and
humankind
• Identified with libido ( Sexual energy )
• All pleasurable acts
• Death Instincts (Thanatos)
• Aggressive Drives
• Manifest themselves in one’s unconscious wish
to die or to hurt oneself or others
• These two – Powerful determinants of our
behaviour

7. III. Theory of Personality
 Structural or Topographical
 Conscious
 Preconscious
 Unconscious
 Functional or Dynamic
Id Ego
Superego

8. Structural or Topographical
Theory
• According to Freud, there are three levels of
consciousness:
– Conscious (small): This is the part of the mind that
holds what you’re aware of. You can verbalize about
your conscious experience and you can think about it
in a logical fashion.
– Preconscious (small-medium): This is ordinary
memory. So although things stored here aren’t in the
conscious, they can be readily brought into
conscious.
– Unconscious (enormous): Freud felt that this part of
the mind was not directly accessible to awareness. In
part, he saw it as a dump box for urges, feelings and
ideas that are tied to anxiety, conflict and pain. These
feelings and thoughts have not disappeared and
according to Freud, they are there, exerting influence
on our actions and our conscious awareness.

9. Structural or Topographical
Theory
• Material passes easily back and forth between the
conscious and the preconscious. Material from these two
areas can slip into the unconscious. Truly unconscious
material cant’ be made available voluntarily, according to
Freud. You need a psychoanalyst to do this!...........
• Iceberg metaphor for the mind’s layout:
– We can use the metaphor of an iceberg to help us in
understanding Freud's topographical theory.
– Only 10% of an iceberg is visible (conscious) whereas
the other 90% is beneath the water (preconscious and
unconscious).
– The Preconscious is allotted approximately 10% -15%
whereas the Unconscious is allotted an overwhelming
75%-80%.

11. Functional or Dynamic Theory
Freud argued that the human
mind and personality are made
up of three parts:
• The id ( Biological component ):
a primitive part of the personality that pursues
only pleasure and instant gratification.
• The ego ( Psychological Component ):
that part of the personality that is aware of reality
and is in contact with the outside world. It is the
part that considers the consequences of an
action and deals with the demands of the id and
superego.
• The superego (Social Component ):
contains our social conscience and through the
experience of guilt and anxiety when we do
something wrong, it guides us towards socially
acceptable behaviour.

12. Functional or Dynamic Theory
• According to Freud, the ego dwells in the
conscious mind and the id and superego
are in the area of our unconscious.
• Freud argued that our personality should
be in a state of dynamic equilibrium
(balance) and if there is too much id,
superego or a weak ego then an
individual will become unbalanced and
possibly suffer from psychological
difficulties. This is the basis of the
psychoanalytic explanation of mental
illness.

13. Functional or Dynamic Theory

14. IV. Anxiety
• It is a state of tension that motivates an individual to
do something.
• It arises out of a conflict among the id, the ego and
the superego
• Three kinds of anxiety
– Reality Anxiety – Fear of danger from the
external world , real, objective sources
of danger in the environment
– Neurotic Anxiety – Fear that the Id impulses
will overwhelm the ego and cause the
person to do something that will be punished.
– Moral Anxiety – Fear of one’s own conscience,
Fear the that person will do something
contrary to the desires of the Superego

15. Defense Mechanisms
When the ego is not in a position to control
anxiety by rational and direct methods, it
resorts to unrealistic methods – Ego defense
mechanisms
It operates on an unconscious level and they
tend to deny or distort reality
Two characteristics – a) Denying, falsifying
and distorting realty b) Operating
unconsciously

17. Defense Mechanisms
• Projection — In this mechanism, an individual puts the
blame of his own failure upon others and some
unfavourable factors of his environment. Blaming others
for his mistake .e.g. a student comes late to the class
excuses by saying that the bus or train was late or
traffic jam.
• Sublimation — It is a defence mechanism in which
unacceptable desire are redirected into socially accepted
channels. e.g. Anger –Kick boxing -- some people, poem
writing, engage in social services etc.
• Repression — Pushes threatening thoughts back into the
unconscious - Posttraumatic Stress Disorder- PTSD –
Common with veterans and victims of sexual abuse
• Rationalisation — An individual tries to justify his failure
by giving some excuses e.g. A student makes use of
rationalisation, when he tries to blame teachers for
hard question paper.
• Compensation — It is an attempt to cover ones
deficiency in one field by exhibiting his strength in
another field e.g. If a student is not good in his
studies, may show his ability in sports.

18. Defense Mechanisms
• Identification — It is a process which may
operate outside and beyond conscious
awareness. Hero worshipping by an individual is
a sort of identification where an individual
identifies himself with a popular hero or an
actor.
• Displacement — An individual does something
as a substitute for something else e.g. If a wife
gets angry with Husband and cannot say
anything to him, she beats her child.
• Withdrawal —- Some persons withdraw
themselves from the circumstances that cause
tension, frustration or pain e.g. If a person is
being humiliated or laughed at, he may shut
himself in a room and may not need any one.
• Day-dreaming —- It is a defence mechanism
which sometimes helps in making adjustment.
e.g. A young man who has been jilted in love,
dreams of becoming a bride groom and feels
satisfaction in the imaginary world.

19. Defense Mechanisms
• Denial – Simplest form of self defence eg. If a
person is diagnosed as having cancer, they will
first get shock, then start denying reality
saying perhaps that the diagnosis was not
proper
• Reaction Formation – It is the replacement in
consciousness of an anxiety producing impulse
or feeling by its oppsite eg. A person who hates
another cannot accept the painful fact of
hating and so shows extraordinary love towards
that person
• Introjection – taking in and accepting uncritically
the values and standards of others eg. If a child
is constantly called stupid, the child thinks
that it is really stupid
There is a popular saying, excess of anything is bad.
Similar is the case of Defence Mechanisms. They
should be used with in limits. They are temporary.
Therefore we have to keep a watch on our children so
that should not use defence mechanism frequently

21. Psychosexual Stages
 Oral Stage ( First year of life ):
 Sucking at the breast of the mother
satisfies the need for food and pleasure
 Oral – Incorporative behaviour ----
Pleasurable stimulation of the mouth –
absence – excessive eating, chewing,
talking, smoking, drinking (Oral fixation )
 Oral – Aggressive behaviour --- Infant
teethes, biting need – if not adequately
met – result in feelings of greediness and
acqusitiveness etc..

22. Psychosexual Stages
 Anal Stage (Age 1-3 ) :
 Toilet training starts
 One learns independence, accepts personal
power, knows to express negative feelings of rage
and aggression
 Learns first lessons of discipline
 Strict toilet training “ Anal Aggressive
Personality – Cruelty, inappropriate displays of
anger, extreme disorderliness etc..
 Too much importance to the anal activity
“Anal retentive personality – extreme orderliness,
hoarding, stubbornness and stinginess etc..

23. Psychosexual Stages
 Phallic Stage ( Age 3-6 ) :
 Child experiences unconscious incestuous desires
for the parent of the opposite sex which is
repressed because of its threatening nature –
Conflict at this period
 Oedipus complex – boy desiring mother as love
object
 Electra Complex - girl desiring father and his love
and approval
 Attitudes of the parents at this stage towards the
emerging sexuality of the child are going to affect
the sexual attitudes and feelings of the child
 Threatening or punishing --- adverse effect in adult
sexual life

24. Psychosexual Stages
 Latency Stage ( Age 6-12 ) :
 Sleeping period
 Child socializes and turns its attention
outward and forms relationship with others
 Formal sexual interests are replaced by
interests in playmates in a wide
variety of activities in school like
games and sports

25. Psychosexual Stages
 Genital Stage (Age 12-18 ) :
 Starts with puberty
 Adolescent develops interest in the opposite sex, does
sexual experimentation and assumes adult
responsibilities
 “To love and to work” – Motto
“ Since Freud wanted to resolve sexual issues during the
first six yrs of life he did not go into great detail in
discussing the crisis associated with adolescence or
adulthood or old age “

26. Therapeutic Techniques
 Lengthy therapies
 Aim – Uncovering and resolving conflicts
and unconscious impulses
 Goals – to discover relationships
between unconscious motivations and
present behaviour
 Therapy starts off --- Client’s talking
(Catharsis) --- Client gains insight into
the problem --- Working through the
unconscious material

27. T her apeutic Techniques
 Free Association
 Interpretation
 Dream Analysis
 Analysis and Interpretation
of resistance
 Analysis and Interpretation
of Transference

28. 1. Free Association
 Client reports immediately without censoring any feelings or thoughts
 Freud asked patients to relate anything which came into their mind, regardless of
how apparently unimportant or potentially embarrassing the memory threatened to
be. This technique assumed that all memories are arranged in a single associative
network, and that sooner or later the subject would stumble across the crucial
memory
 One of the ways to have access to unconscious wishes, fantacies, conflicts and
motivations
 While the free association goes on, the therapist identifies the repressed materal
that is hidden in the unconscious
 Any blockings or disruptions in free association indicate cues to anxiety arousing
materials
 No question of taking things at face value --- slip of the tongue, forgetting a familiar
name

29. 2. Interpretation
 It is the task of of the analyst to point out,
explain, and even teach the client the
meaning of the behaviour that is
manifested in free association, dreams,
resistance, and the therapeutic
relationship itself
 Analyst identifies , clarifies, and translates
the materials of the client
 Proceed from the surface to the deeper
level

30. 3. Dream Analysis
 While one is asleep – defences are lowered – repressed materials
erupt into the surface
 Manifestations – so.. unacceptable and painful – expressed in
disguised or symbolic form
 Manifest Content : what a person remembers and consciously
considers - only a partial representation ( Real dream )
 Latent Content : Hidden, symbolic and unconscious motives,
wishes and fears
 Process of converting the latent content
into manifest content – Dream work

31. Dream Analysis
 “Royal road to the unconscious”
 What is important in dreams is the infantile wish
fulfillment represented in them
 Freud assumed every dream has a meaning that can
be interpreted by decoding representations of the
unconscious material
 Dream symbol = represents some person, thing, or
activity involved in the unconscious process

32. Dream Interpretations
 Knife, umbrella, snake = Penis
 Room, table with food = Women
 Water = Birth, mother
 Children playing = masturbation
 Fire = bedwetting
 Falling = anxiety

33. 4. Analysis and
Interpretation of
Resistance
 Repressed materials are painful and unacceptable and that is
why we repressed them into the unconscious
 In free associating – One becomes aware of the painful
repressed materials – It produce intolerable anxiety and pain
 Resistance is an unconscious dynamic that one employs to
defend against the intolerable anxiety and pain
 Resistance prevents the material from coming to the conscious
and thereby reduces anxiety and pain to the individual

34. 5. Analysis and Interpretation of
Transference
 Clients project their relationship
with the significant persons in
their past life to the present
therapist
 Through this relationship , client
expresses feelings, beliefs and
desires which are buried in
his/her unconscious

35. Thank you