Primary process

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Pleasure principle and emotional instances

In some psychoanalytic literature, primary process is used to describe all processes in the unconscious mental life that proceed according to the pleasure principle . Freud , who introduced the concept in the last chapter of The Interpretation of Dreams , speaks of the primary process throughout his work .

In contrast, secondary processes determine the relationship between the preconscious and the conscious. Early childhood is completely filled with primary processes; later these processes are mainly to be found in dreams , imaginations and daydreams . The mental energy ( libido ) flows freely from one idea to another in the primary processes; in the secondary processes, censorships are effective, which work in the form of defense processes in accordance with the reality principle . The primary processes largely coincide with the pleasure principle .

Characteristics

Materialized, non-formalized logic

Neglect of opposition and contradiction by the primary process. Dream elements are "nodes" for multiple "circles of ideas"

The characteristics of the primary process are: condensation (compression) and shifting of the thought content, timelessness, elimination of the exclusive logic , in favor of an all-connecting logic that knows no contradictions (Fig. 2). The principle of contradiction does not apply to the primary processes in an exclusive, but in a connecting sense of “both-and-also” ( paradoxical logic according to Erich Fromm ). The mental energy (libido), which evidently unfolds through contradictions and opposites, is based on so-called original motifs. In the classic case of early childhood development, these are characterized by the fact that a separation between subject and object has not yet taken place. The satisfaction of basic biological needs such as Food intake, for example, depends on the almost unconditional closeness to caregivers, whose understanding - neither too strict nor too pampered - is required especially in this still unstable stage of development and is crucial for the development of stable psychological instances. The completed development of these instances corresponds to the three-instance model (Fig. "Pleasure principle and mental instances"). Affective relationship patterns and experienced action schemes are recorded in the instances as well as in the mental representation of the reference person themselves ( imago ). A similar differentiation in the sense of psychological development is also the formation of one's own body scheme and thus the separation between an inner and outer world a. is based on the experience of devotion and separation of the caregivers (illustrations). The contrast between physical and psychological needs is essential for the psychosomatic field of tension. This is particularly important in the case of food intake, where a distinction must be made between physical (e.g. food intake) and mental (human affection and closeness) needs ( Fig. ). In the case of dream work or imagination, the examination of the ego with the influences of the environment is challenged in a similar way.

Ontogeny and Universal History

The primary process is characteristic of the individual human ontogeny as the earliest child development phase. In this sense, according to the basic psychogenetic law, it is astonishing that the characteristics of the primary process have also been confirmed by linguistic research. Here Freud already pointed out the contradiction of original words. In the oldest languages ​​there are so-called original words that contain contradicting meanings, e.g. B. ancient Greek λὁγος (logos) = empty talk, chatter - appreciation, reason. In this respect, the technique of dream work is also expressed in language development and in the general history of language . Recently, the opposition words of Jürgen Habermas have also been referred to, which "still retained the genetically older peculiarity of an association of logically incompatible, namely contrary, meaning". Habermas suspects that these opposition words also hold onto the original situations of behavior and attitude ambivalence. It can be seen as a contribution of psychoanalysis to linguistic research that the clearly defined meaning of a word takes shape last, i.e. H. In psychoanalytical terms, it is a late result of the secondary process . In the early stages of individual human as well as genealogical collective ontogenesis, on the other hand, primary process-like processes are at work that have an extensional character , in extreme cases the symbolic equation or neglect of opposition and contradiction. Language is undoubtedly closely related to the specifically human ability to form symbols .

A well-known example

A well-known example is the forgetting of the personal name "Signorelli" , which Freud observed in himself and portrayed in the way of self-analysis . He was referring to Luca Signorelli (1441–1523), the master of Orvieto . Freud described this forgetting in detail in his treatise on the psychopathology of everyday life . This describes the mechanism of displacement and the special form of forgetting in this case as a result of repression for understandable motives .

The concrete background was as follows: During a conversation Freud stubbornly came up with the wrong substitute names Botticelli and Boltraffio instead of the correct name “Signorelli” . In his own analysis he related this to various resigned and z. Partly definitive communications and messages that he had received regarding several of his patients and that were about life and death. He had received one of these reports of the suicide of one of his patients in Trafoi . The Turkish relative of a sick person had also replied: “Lord, what is there to say? I know that if he could have been saved, you would have saved him. ”Freud was also familiar with an anecdote about the Turks' attitudes towards sexuality: You know, Lord, if that is no longer possible, life has no value. Freud's mistake can be reconstructed graphically using the illustrations . In addition, the shift from Signor to Herr, which corresponds to a translation from Italian, as well as the fact that both wrongly remembered substitute names are those of Italian painters are essential. Freud was also aware that the Master of Orvieto "had created the great frescoes of the last things". With this, the essential references are named, which mark the path within the subsystems of consciousness (preconscious, unconscious) for the repression in a concrete case with Sigmund Freud.

With regard to the mechanism of forgetting or repression, it is essential that Freud starts from a motive that distinguishes simple forgetting from repression. But the shift in thought content or individual elements (word fragments) can also be demonstrated using this example. Mario Erdheim did this - in addition to Freud's self-analysis ( Fig. ) - in a clear form ( Fig. ): The preconscious element “elli” from the name “Signorelli” is unchanged in the name “Botticelli”. It is attributed to unconscious mechanisms that the element “Signor” (from “Signorelli”) is initially shifted to “Herr” and then to “Trafoi” or “traffio”. This “Herr” element has also been moved to “Bo” (based on the association “Her” zegowina and “Bo” snien).

Erdheim identifies the “performance” of the preconscious system as a secondary process (without displacement), that of the unconscious system as a primary process (with displacement). Erdheim describes the products elaborated through primary and secondary processes, which have again become contents of consciousness, as phantasms . Such a phantasm is the persistent production of the substitute names Botticelli and Botraffio in Freud's case.

Enantiodromy

The union of opposites of a purely conceptual or ontological nature in the dyad shown in the above figure “Neglect” was called enantiodromy by CG Jung . This term goes back to Heraclitus . According to Jung, a basic principle of psychodynamics , similar to that of physics, can be recognized in the process of balancing out opposites . Here, too, energy - similar to physics - is only obtained by balancing the opposites between high and low or hot and cold, etc.

Concretism

Jung did not use the term primary process, but instead described similar phenomena with terms such as concretism and participation mystique . In this context, Jung refers to the work of Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (1857–1939), who coined the term prelogic for the logical peculiarities of archaic thinking .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Sigmund Freud : The Interpretation of Dreams . (1900) (online at Gutenberg) , the following page references based on the paperback edition of the Fischer library, Aug. 1966; (a) for the definition of the primary process: Chap. VII. "On the psychology of dream processes", p. 489; (b) on some characteristics of primary processes: Chap. VI. "Die Traumarbeit", p. 234 ff .; (c) for original words: chap. VI. The dream work, p. 265 f.
  2. ↑ a b primary processes . In: Wilhelm Karl Arnold u. a. (Ed.): Lexicon of Psychology . Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-86047-508-8 ; Sp. 1680.
  3. ↑ Primary processes . In: Uwe Henrik Peters : Dictionary of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology . Urban & Schwarzenberg, Munich 1984, p. 424. 6th edition, Elsevier-Verlag, Munich 2007, books.google.de
  4. ^ Sigmund Freud: Fragment of a hysteria analysis . (1905 e [1901]) GW Vol. V, p. 161 ff. (P. 226, note 2, p. 245, 252, 259); Study edition vol. VI, p. 83 ff. (P. 137 note 1, p. 151, 158, 164)
  5. ↑ Erich Fromm : The art of loving . (1956) Ullstein Frankfurt 1984, Book No. 35258; P. 85 ff.
  6. ↑ a b Thure von Uexküll : Basic questions of psychosomatic medicine. Rowohlt Taschenbuch, Reinbek near Hamburg 1963; (a) Re. “Primordial motifs and subject-object split”: Chap. 9. The Motifs and Their History, pp. 108–110; (b) to the head. "Original motifs and instances": Chap. 11. The different areas of motivation and their interference, pp. 114, 116 (footnote 16)
  7. ↑ Sven Olaf Hoffmann , G. Hochapfel: Neuroses, psychotherapeutic and psychosomatic medicine. [1999], Neurotic Disorders and Psychosomatic Medicine. Compact textbook, Schattauer, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-7945-1960-4 , pp. 16, 36.
  8. ↑ Hilde Bruch : Psychiatric Quarterly. 35, 1961, p. 458
  9. ↑ a b Wolfgang Loch : On the theory, technology and therapy of psychoanalysis . S. Fischer Conditio humana (ed. Von Thure von Uexküll & Ilse Grubrich-Simitis 1972, ISBN 3-10-844801-3 ; (a) on Stw. "Various aspects of early structure formation: imago, affective action scheme and primary process": p . 30 f., 34, 67, 72, 84 f., 109 f., 137 f., 161, 167, 213, 255 (b) on Stw. "Psychoanalytic contribution to linguistic research: role of the primary process": p. 59 .
  10. ↑ K. Abel: The contradiction of the original words . 1884.
  11. ↑ Jürgen Habermas : The universality claim of hermeneutics (1970). In: On the logic of the social sciences. (Suhrkamp Taschenbuch, Wissenschaft 517). Frankfurt 1982, p. 352.
  12. ^ Arnold Gehlen : Urmensch und Spätkultur . Frankfurt 1964.
  13. ↑ a b Sigmund Freud: On the psychopathology of everyday life . (1904) Collected Works, Volume IV, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1953; the following page references from: paperback edition of the Fischer-Bücherei, Nov. 1954, (a) on stw. “Gesamtbilderung” of pp. 13-18; (b) Re. “Shift”: p. 13, Re. “Motif”: pp. 17–18.
  14. ↑ Mario Erdheim : The social production of unconsciousness. An introduction to the ethno-psychoanalytical process. (Suhrkamp pocket book science 456). Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-518-28065-1 , p. 212 ff.
  15. ↑ Jolande Jacobi : The psychology of CG Jung . An introduction to the complete works. With a foreword by CG Jung. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt 1987, ISBN 3-596-26365-4 , p. 58.
  16. ^ Carl Gustav Jung : Definitions . In: Collected Works. Walter-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1995, special edition, Volume 6, “Psychological Types”, ISBN 3-530-40081-5 , §§ 766–769, p. 479 ff.
  17. ^ Karl-Heinz Hillmann : Dictionary of Sociology (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 410). 4th, revised and expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-41004-4 , p. 489 to lexicon lemma: “Lévi-Bruhl” (spelling “Lévi” there with i!).