About Freud. Lucie Johnson4-26-04

How to access the unconscious? From hypnosis To free association To the study of dreams To the observation of everyday life To play therapy

Studies in Hysteria: the Emergence of Method With Breuer(1842-1925), studied Anna O., aka Bertha Pappenheim Phenomena observed: spontaneous trances, pathogenic ideas, catharsis, transference, hysterical pregnancy, the importance of repressed traumatic events

Who is Anna O.? Did Breuer cure Anna? (Bertha Pappenheim) What is your theory as to why Anna O. became sick in the first place? How do you think she got well? (given that Breuer ran away from her psudo-pregnancy)

From hypnosis to free association Freud was not a good hypnotist, hence got patients to relax instead. Induced free association by putting his hand on the patient’s forehead. Theorized that, since the patient would remember what happened, the cure would be more stable than a hypnotic cure.

The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). Dreams are universal -hence the unconscious is universal. Dreams, in their LATENT CONTENT (as opposed to manifest content) reflect the workings of unconscious motivation.

Organization of the Personality In everyone then, there exists a primitive, instinctual layer of thought: the ID, which seeks to satisfy itself (pleasure principle). The ID then encounters a limiting REALITY, and the EGO develops. The EGO encounters a limiting SOCIAL REALITY, and the SUPEREGO develops.

There is always conflict Health is a balance between the ID and the SUPEREGO. The superego can be too weak or too stringent.

Freud and the theory of recapitulation The id, for Freud, reflected a more primitive way of thinking. Primitive societies function more according to the id. The superego builds civilization. The child reflects this species development in his/her own development.

Stages of Development Oral Anal Phallic (Oedipus and Electra conflicts) Latency Genital

Childhood Seduction Were Freud’s patients in fact abused? Were their memories real? Current controversy: About Jeffrey Masson’s work Jeffrey Masson himself

What do you think? Is Jeffrey Masson right? Did Freud cave in to pressures when letting go of the seduction theory?

Death and life In the later part of his career, Freud also emphasized the notion of LIFE instinct or EROS (in which he subsumed the LIBIDO -lit: I want- issuing from the ID) He also developed the concept of DEATH instinct or THANATOS, a deep destructive tendency. In final analysis, he said, life is a detour toward death.

The End