Individual psychology

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The term individual psychology was used by Sigmund Freud in his 1939 book " The Man Moses and the Monotheistic Religion ". There the term is used to indicate certain peculiarities in Jewish religious history. Freud explains it using mass psychology . The term " individual psychology " in this context means the study of individual, isolated commissioned person regardless of the findings of mass psychology.

The meaning of the term in Freud's work

For the author of the book “Der Mann Moses”, the question arises whether analogous correspondences can be established in the psychology of the individual for the particularities of the historical Jewish tradition discussed therein, namely the phenomenon of latency . The question arose for Freud because the findings of mass psychology represented a relatively new field for him. The individual psychological confirmation of the mentioned phenomena of latency represented for him further proof of the validity of his theory of religion and should thus help it to gain greater credibility. From the beginning of his psychological investigations, Freud had dealt with individual case studies . Such early writings presented his case studies on hysteria. Only in the course of the years was he able to further reinforce his psychoanalytic theory by evaluating these cases of neurotic disorders and to extend it to social and universal historical facts and thus generalize it. In the special case of latency, Freud followed the opposite path by asking relevant questions in the field of individual psychology based on social-psychological facts.

On the method of proof of analogy

Not only initiated by questions of the development of mental disorders, but also by dealing with mental structures , Freud dealt with formative influences from education, society and culture. Parallels were found between the individual life story and the universal human history . These analogies were also conspicuous for Ernst Häckel (1834–1919) and were expressed in his theory of phylogeny . These views were also taken up by Stanley Hall (1844–1924). He formulated the basic psychogenetic law based on Häckels and Darwin's teachings. Freud also used this method. He had increasingly dealt with the early history of mankind, for example in his book Totem and Tabu . Already Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961), in his 1916 publication “La Structure de l'Inconscient” ( The Structure of the Unconscientious ), separated the collective psyche as the older part of mental functions from the personal unconscious as the newer part. Since the contents of the collective psyche can also be conscious, overcoming the unconscious participation mystique is the task of every individuation .

Differentiation from the concept of individual psychology

Confusion with the concept of individual psychology is obvious. For this, however, reference must be made to the relevant literature. The term “individual psychology” is based on a shortening of the term for this branch of psychology. It was originally called “Comparative Individual Psychology and Psychotherapy” and by that did not mean a restriction to the investigation of the individual, taken in isolation.

Critique of Orthodox Psychoanalysis

The psychoanalysis represented by Freud not only opened the view to culturally specific psychological factors of individual development, but also pointed out the importance of early childhood laws in socialization. Freud called the factors determined by familial group relationships infantile sexuality . The early mother-child dyad and the later oedipal constellation were of particular importance to Freud . However, orthodox psychoanalysis regards psychopathological phenomena as intra- psychological conflicts . According to a strict Freudian view, these conflicts only refer to inter- psychological abnormalities in family sociology , but are not to be equated with them or even to be regarded as causal in the sense of a one-line causality . The psychoanalytically oriented family therapy has therefore only received suggestions from those theorists who have put interpersonal events back into the center of attention. The case of Daniel Paul Schreber was important here and gave rise to different interpretations. Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari criticized the one-sided familialism , as it was represented in their opinion by Freud, without sufficiently appreciating the social aspects. Indeed, industrialization and capitalism shaped the history of psychiatry in the 19th century, and in particular institutional psychiatry .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Freud, Sigmund : The man Moses and the monotheistic religion . (1939) Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2010; ISBN 978-3-15-018721-0 ; Page 92 * 16 (number of pages * number of lines)
  2. ^ Freud, Sigmund : Studies on Hysteria. Early writings on the theory of neuroses . In: Collected Works, Volume I, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt / M 3 1953, ISBN 3100227034
  3. ↑ Freud, Sigmund : Totem and Tabu. Some similarities in the soul life of savages and neurotics (1912/1913). Collected works in individual volumes, Volume IX, S. Fischer-Verlag, 3rd edition, 1952
  4. ↑ Carl Gustav Jung : Two writings on analytical psychology . Collected Works. Walter-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1995, paperback, special edition, volume 7, ISBN 3-530-40082-3 ; (a) S. 275 ff., § 442 ff.
  5. ↑ Brunner, Reinhard (ed.) U. a .: Dictionary of Individual Psychology . Ernst Reinhard Munich 1985, ISBN 3-497-01100-2 ; Wb.-Lemma “Individual Psychology”: page 216
  6. ↑ Rom, Paul : Alfred Adler and the scientific knowledge of human nature . Waldemar Kramer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1966; Page 63
  7. ↑ Dieter H. Frießem (Ed.): Critical keywords for social psychiatry . Wilhelm Fink, Munich, 1979, ISBN 3-7705-1689-3 ; P. 303 to district “Family Therapy”.
  8. ↑ Gilles Deleuze , Félix Guattari : Anti-Oedipus . Capitalism and schizophrenia. Vol. I, Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt, 1977, stw 224, ISBN 978-3-518-27824-6 ; P. 16 on head. "Desired production and social production".