Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development

Biography Notable Facts: -He was born May 6 th, He was born in Freiberg in Moravia. -He discovered that he had cancer of the mouth in He was Jewish. -During the war he escaped to England with his wife and children. -He passed away from cancer in 1939.

Biography Education: -He graduated from medical school of the university of Vienna in He studied under Jean Martin Charcot in Paris. -He decided to specialize in neurology. -He was always ahead of his class.

Biography Work: -He worked with hysterical patients in Vienna. -He made ideas for treatment of mental Illness. -His most important writing’s were: The Interpretation of dreams, three essays on the theory of sexuality, Totem and Taboo, Introductory lectures on psychoanalysis, The Ego and the Id, and civilization and its Discontents.

Analysis of his patients’ histories convinced Freud that personality forms during life’s 1 st few years. Children pass through a series of psychosexual stages, during which the ID’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct pleasure-sensitive areas of body~erogenous zones.

Theory Freud advanced a theory of personality development that centered on the effects of the sexual pleasure drive on the individual psyche. At particular points in the developmental process, he claimed a single body part is particularly sensitive to sexual, erotic stimulation. There are five stages to his theory which include: -The oral stage -The anal stage -The phallic stage -The latency period -The genital stage

Each stage presents you with a unique challenge, and if you successfully overcome that challenge, you acquire a fully mature personality. But if you somehow fail to overcome a challenge of one of the stages you become stuck or fixated there. This is where a lot of your personal uniqueness comes from, your “stuckness” or fixation at a particular stage of personality development.

The oral stage Starts from birth until 18 months The focus of pleasure is the mouth. i.e.: Sucking and teething When the child is being nursed it gives him the psychological pleasure of being cared for, mothered and held. Later they are likely to retain a life long desire to bite things, such as: chewing on the ends of pencils or pens, gum and biting nails. *Fixation = excessive enjoyment of food, gum, smoking, chewing

Explanation During the first year of life, the mouth is site of sexual and aggressive gratification. An infants life centers on his mouth. One of the first objects out there that provides and infant with oral satisfaction is his mother’s breast. The mother’s breast is a main source of connection and satisfaction.

If the infant fails to wean, or is weaned harshly or incompletely, he will become fixated at the oral stage. He will develop an oral character in which he will feel dominated by feelings of dependency and hopelessness. As we successfully overcome the challenge of weaning and gaining control over our ability to satisfy our oral desires, we move to the next stage of development. Explanation

The anal stage Begins at 18 months The child’s natural focus of pleasure is the anus and bodily functions. When the child begins to toilet training. This stage lasts between one and two years of age. *Fixation = stinginess, extreme neatness, rigid or compulsive behavior; coping with demands for control “Anal Retentive”

Explanation Freud emphasized the control over defecating as the pleasure center from 18 months to 3 years old. The central conflict for toddlers is control. Kids in this stage want the ability to poop whenever they want and wherever they want. But the reality is that, they have to hold it in.

Some of your adult characteristics may be the consequence of how your parents handled your toilet training. Your creativity and productivity are indicators of how well you’ve successfully navigated the anal stage. If your messy, sloppy or careless, it speaks of an expulsive rebellion against parental control. If your withholding, obstinate, and obsessed with neatness, you’ve learned control in reaction to your toilet training experience. Maturity and success in the anal stage result in your ability to control yourself.

Phallic Stage- (3 – 6 yrs.) The third stage of psychosexual development, in which the genital organs become the focus of pleasure-seeking behavior. Exploration of own bodies. Forbidden by adults. Romantic feelings for opposite sex parent. Masturbation is also common during this period. *Fixation=guilt feelings; coping with incestuous sexual feelings

Oedipal Complex OCCURS DURING PHALLIC STAGE Process that occurs during the Phallic Stage in which a boy wishes to possess his mother sexually and feels hostility towards his father.

Electra Complex OCCURS DURING PHALLIC STAGE Process that occurs during the Phallic Stage in which a girl wishes to possess her father sexually and feels hostility toward her mother. Penis envy

Kids eventually cope with the threatening feelings by repressing them & by identifying with (trying to become like) the rival parent. Through this identification process, children’s superegos gain strength as they incorporate many of their parents’ values.

Latency Stage (6 to puberty) Stage of psychosexual development that extends from about age 6 until the onset of puberty and is characterized by low levels of sexual interest;Dormant sexual feelings *NO FIXATION!

Genital Stage (Puberty on) Stage of psychosexual development that begins at puberty and usually leads to normal adult sexual development; Maturation of sexual interests *Fixation=inability to progress to unselfish/romantic love