Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalytic theory is based on the tripartite structure of the mind, namely: self, ego, superego.

The self is the reservoir of psychic energy, the ego represents consciousness and perception, and the superego is the moral instance of the individual.

The theory of mind is descriptive in this presentation, but we know that the ego mediates between the self and the superego so that the self, through its instinctual demands, does not come into conflict with the superego.

Psychoanalytic theory also concerns the psychological treatment of neuroses.

This treatment, called psychoanalytic, is focused on the analysis of the unconscious - that part of the mind that is not directly accessible to the ego's consciousness but with the help of psychoanalytic techniques.

Of these techniques, the most important is the interpretation of dreams.

The analysis of the unconscious may go back to the first years of the individual's life, according to the theory that claims that the causes of the appearance of neuroses are located in our early period of life.

It is about the repression.

Psychoanalytic theory holds that the repression - that is, the prevention of instinctual demands from manifesting themselves freely - is the main cause of neurosis.

Psychoanalysis holds that repression applies especially to the sexual instinct. Therefore, the individual's sexual life is especially analyzed, although in its primary phases it is not associated with the genitals but with autoeroticism.

Later on, the Oedipal complex comes into existence and the analysis should connect with it.

The analysis of the unconscious, as mentioned above, uses the interpretation of dreams just because they express in a distorted way a desire of the dreamer that has not been fulfilled in waken life and led to the appearance of neurotic sumptoms.

Some of the most important concepts and theories of psychoanalysis are listed here by themes. You may click each keyword to be taken to quotes about them collected from the works of Sigmund Freud.

Topics

2. Resistance and censorship

3. Trauma, fixation, regression, sublimation

4. Projection, ambivalence, identification

5. Oedipus complex

6. Transference and the compulsion to repeat

7. Defence mechanisms

Methapsychology

8. Instincts

9. Sexuality: libido, libidinal (psychosexual) stages of development, the castration complex (boys and girls)

10. Pleasure principle and reality principle