Outline of psychoanalysis

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Abriss der Psychoanalyse is the name of a treatise by Sigmund Freud that was written in 1938 and first published posthumously in 1940 in the International Journal for Psychoanalysis and Imago .

structure

Freud divides the text into three main sections: The Nature of the Psychic (I), The Practical Task (II) and Theoretical Gain (III).

content

I 1. The psychic apparatus

The brain and consciousness are two endpoints of our knowledge that we lack connection. That it includes everything inherited, v. a. the instincts derived from body organization (inherited past). This I did from the time developed, namely from a cortical layer of the brain with the organs for receiving stimuli, and is with the reality deal (memory, flight, accommodation, activity, so even experienced present). The super-ego is formed in the ego through the long period of childhood (past inherited from others).

I 2. Instinct theory

The goal of it is the satisfaction of needs (not the self-preservation of the ego ). Its powers are called instincts and are the cause of all activity. Every time you leave a state, an effort arises to restore it. They can change their destination (shift) or replace one another. Freud opts for two basic instincts, eros and the instinct of destruction , to which all others can be traced. Opposites like self and species preservation, ego and object love still fall within eros . Their mixtures determine the colorfulness of life. Withholding aggression by the superego , i.e. H. their fixation in the ego is self-destructive. The energy of eros is called libido . In primary narcissism it is still stored up in the ego , which then occupies objects with it. What is important is the mobility of the libido , i. For fixation on certain objects. The libido has somatic sources ( erogenous zones ).

I 3. The development of the sexual function

Based on the phenomena of homosexuality , perversions and early maturity, psychoanalysis came to the conclusion that sexuality begins soon after birth, is not limited to the genitals and is used to gain pleasure, not necessarily for reproduction. Sexual development runs in two stages with a climax in the fifth year of life and recurrence at puberty, interrupted by a latency period that characterizes humans and must have been important for the development of the species. The early sexual period is largely forgotten by "infantile amnesia". This is where the theory of the neuroses and analytical technique come in. The development goes through the oral , the sadistic-anal and the phallic phase . In trying to understand sexuality, the child believes in the cloister theory , since the female genitals i. Ggs. To the male is not recognized. So the boy develops the Oedipus phase as trauma through the threat of castration due to manipulation of the penis and the sight of female penislessness, the girl disappointment in the lack of penis. With the genital phase, puberty is fully organized: some libido cathexes are retained, some are included in the sexual function, others are repressed or sublimated. Disturbances have to be seen from the point of view of the developmental history and the distribution of the libido (e.g. when fixations remain in states of earlier phases).

I 4. Psychological qualities

The second fundamental assumption of psychoanalysis is that somatic processes make up what is actually psychic, since they are more complete than their only partially existing conscious parallel processes. The unconscious is therefore what is actually psychic, as the philosopher Theodor Lipps proclaimed before psychoanalysis, and psychology is now a natural science like any other. The gaps in the ranks of the conscious are translated by obvious conclusions from the unconscious. The psychic processes have three qualities: conscious, preconscious (capable of consciousness), unconscious. When trying to make the unconscious conscious in the analysis, a second fixation to the original unconscious arises in this conscious reconstruction. One can judge the resistance by the efforts until both coincide. In psychotic states, the transition often happens spontaneously. Resistance is obviously a condition of normality. He slacks off in his sleep. The opposite happens when forgetting or joking, and when neurotic disorders develop. The process of becoming aware occurs “in the outermost cortical layer of the self” and is linked to external and body perceptions (perceptions and sensations). In humans, inner processes in the ego , imagination and thought processes can also become aware of language. This requires a "reality check" to prevent "hallucinations". The I is vorbewusst that it unconsciously, this also includes content from the I were displaced. The real secret of the psychic, what makes id and ego in itself, is unfortunately unknown. It is assumed that energies are at work in the psychic (as in other natural sciences) that are mobile or rather bound ( cathexis / overcathexis , i.e. synthesis of various processes). The operations in it are called primary process , which in the I secondary process .

I 5. Explanation of the dream interpretation

The latent dream content is created by the collapse of it , what is the dream work in the dream distortion to the manifest content that we remember. For dream formation it is irrelevant whether the cause came from the id or the ego . With the birth of a sleeper train originated, where the the paralysis of motility It imposed inhibitions are unnecessary. The time shown by the fact that the dream memory is far more comprehensive than the waking memory, especially for impressions from early childhood and archaic, inherited content. The result of the dream work is a compromise between unconscious processing of preconscious thought processes and secondary processing by the ego .

Between manifest and latent dreamcontent occur condensations and shifts on, closes resulting in Freud that in unconscious There the energy is freely movable and v. a. it depends on the discharge. The rules of logic do not apply, opposites coexist or are treated as identical. The interpretation succeeds only through the association of the dreamer. The I makes to the claim of the dream-work, it is a wish-fulfillment to give and to receive the sleep state, eg. B. Starvation dream, comfort dream, sexual dream. So a dream is wish fulfillment, even if it starts with unfinished business or is frightening for the self. Fear dreams have mostly experienced the slightest distortion by the ego . Is the claim of it too large, you wake up. The same unconscious mechanisms allow us to understand neuroses and psychoses.

II 6. The psychoanalytic technique

The therapist concludes a contract with the ego of the neurotic to be treated (a psychotic is unable to do this). This should not only communicate pleasant things, but also everything embarrassing or seemingly insignificant, and in return receives discretion and the analyst's interpretive experience. The therapeutic goal is, on the one hand, knowledge of the id (through associations, dreams and failures). Furthermore, the patient transfers the parenting role to the analyst in therapy , which is informative and often motivating, and also makes it easier for the therapist to make corrections to the superego . However, the patient's reaction to his transmission can also change, which is why he must be informed about it. Ultimately, the most complex process is overcoming the resistance, the therapist fighting against a need for illness and suffering.

II 7. A sample of psychoanalytic work

The neuroses are not caused by specific predispositions (such as pathogens) or tasks. Neurotic traits can also be demonstrated in every normal. The cause is quantitative dysharmonics between disposition, drives and experiences. The instinctual demands from within and excitement from the outside world only have a traumatic effect up to the age of six. The ego defends itself with repressions, whereby the symptoms of the neuroses are always substitute gratifications or shifts in sexual striving or compromises from both. Crucial influences are sexual abuse by adults, seduction by older children, observation of adult sexuality and, more universally, the Oedipus complex. In boys, despite the defiance of the father and dependence on the mother, later on the woman, in girls it leads to mother identification.

III 8. The psychic apparatus and the external world

Freud emphasizes again that psychoanalysis, like any natural science, leads to insights which are not immediately visible, but which expand our knowledge of the true processes. Difficulties in making decisions and discrepancies between different analysts in individual cases he attributes to the novelty of the method, but also to the personality of the analyst. Freud repeats his remarks on the psychic apparatus and adds the ego-splitting as an alternative process to repression . In retrospect, for example, psychotics tell an uninvolved observer who saw the disease pass by, that even dreams in delusional states give completely delusional interpretations. Freud explains fetishism with denied castration fear (which can also be conscious at the same time).

III 9. The inner world

Freud supplements his representation again with the superego , in which from the end of the first childhood episode a piece of the outside world is absorbed into the ego through identification . The severity of this conscience corresponds to the strength of the defense. Contrary to the clear presentation and interaction are safe superego and it is possible.

literature

  • Sigmund Freud: Outline of Psychoanalysis . Published by Hans-Martin Lohmann. Reclam, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-15-018689-3 .
  • Sigmund Freud: Abriß der Psychoanalyse , online edition of the collected works , Volume 17, pp. 63-138, on freud-online.de