Psychoanalysis Flashcards
Why is Freud so heavily criticised by modern psychologists?
It is believed that his methods are not verifiable.
Hans talked about how people are (for the most part) really well-behaved in their day to day lives. But… what is the flip-side?
There is another part of life that is much darker, more aggressive…. for example, when I became jealous about my partner. There is an entire range of irrational and not constructive behaviour. Freud was interested in this side.
Hans talked about some impulses in nature, when we ___ the people we love most.
He talked about how common it is for people to attack the ones they love the most. And this is the area that Freud had an interest.
Freud believed that psychoanalysis would show us what… ?
Those darker sides of human nature, and the elements of ourselves that are not transparent.
What was Freud’s addiction that he did not give up?
His cigars… even after having cancer he did not give it up. He would not analyse his own use of tobacco, saying that ‘a cigar is just a cigar.’
What is the Freudian ‘iceberg’ metaphor for the mind?
- Conscious: ego is the very tip of the iceberg.
- Unconscious: superego is underneath the water, taking up a large amount.
- Id is right at the bottom as the impulses, instincts.
What is the superego?
The parts of us deep inside that contain our social norms, expectations, morality. The ideas that parents and society have installed in us when we were young.
What is the Id?
The unconscious part of the mind containing sex, lust and desire. It was where ‘fulfilment’ was present. Also deeply destructive impulses (toward others, and ourselves).
How do the superego and the id interact?
The superego (due to its conditioning from society) postpones the gratification that the id is desiring. Most of the time the superego was capable of putting a lid on the id, or finding acceptable ways to express the desires of the id. It is a difficult, constant process of negotiation.
What is the ‘cat’ metaphor about?
Cats are a metaphor for the id, they want to fulfil all their wishes as they happen.
What is the dynamic of the unconscious?
It is the repression of unaccepted desires, lust, aggression, pain (by the superego).
And then the return of the repressed, because it cannot be repressed indefinitely.
What were the six new ideas that Freud brought to psychology?
He introduced:
- the idea that the MIND causes mental disorders (psychogenesis/mental causation).
- the talking cure: psychotherapy, and handled mental disorders with conversation.
- methods for understanding the mind (analysing dreams, etc.).
- a theory of society, talked about culture and its discontent - the role an advancing society has in the increased prevalence of discontent.
- the role of religion in mental illness (religion gives a way of repression, and coping but it is an illusion.
- the idea of being a detective of the self, and of culture.
Psychoanalysis was an important theory in the field of psychology and psychiatry… but where else?
In the wider culture as well. Films, TV shows, magazines. Hitchcock’s ‘spellbound’.
Which famous French neurologist did Freud visit, and what did he write about?
He visited Charcot, and wrote about Hysteria.
What happened to Freud in 1938?
The Nazi’s let Freud go in Vienna, but he had to leave a lot behind.
What history/ancient cultures did he love (that he decorated his house with)? And why?
He loved Roman and Greek antiquities because he believed the psychoanalyst was the archeologist of the mind.
What is the ‘seduction hypothesis’ (aka the sexual harassment hypothesis)?
The idea that a lot of neuroses in women was the result of sexual abuse by family members or friends (fathers, uncles, etc.).
What happened after Freud published his ‘seduction hypothesis’?
In his account, all of Vienna’s physicians became upset.
After Freud’s Father died, he decided he was wrong about the ‘seduction hypothesis’, what did he come up with instead?
The Oedipus Complex, which is the idea that a young boy will at some point become in love with his Mother and wants to kill his Father. The Father prohibits this, which makes the young boy conform to the demands of society and their Father.
What happens for girls in the ‘Oedipus complex’ theory?
Apparently, it’s a bit more complicated for young girls. They want to marry their Father and kill their Mother, but it doesn’t happen and they also conform to social expectations.
What are some major questions that have plagued psychiatrists about the aetiology or development of a mental disorder?
And what was Freud’s take on it?
WHY do only some people develop PTSD (for example) after exposure to a trauma, whereas others come out of it okay. It is internal vulnerability? Or life experience?
Freud initially talked about life experiences but then abandoned that and talked about internal desire.
How did Freud believe we get access to the unconscious?
It was through psychoanalysis, or the ‘talking cure’.
Who was Joseph Breuer and ‘Anna O.’?
Joseph Breuer was a colleague of Freud’s who treated ‘Anna O.’, the pseudonym for a woman who suffered from Hysteria. At times she forgot her native German and could only speak French or English.
How did Joseph Breuer discovered the benefits of the ‘talking cure’ or ‘chimney sweeping’?
His patient ‘Anna O.’ refused to drink water. She would drink juice or wine, but not water. She eventually explained it was because her little dog drank from her water glass, which she found disgusting. But once she talked about it, it became easier to manage.
