Analyzing the Components of the Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality
Psychoanalytic theories cover the concept of the unconscious and the influence it has to behaviors and personality. Sigmund Freud, a neurologist was a specialist who dealt with nerve disorders. He focused his studies on the hidden instinctive behavior important in human psyche. During his day-to-day activities, he tackled problems from people who came to him for assistance including private personal lives, anxieties and personal problems. He found out that personality is highly controlled by forces, which came unnoticed. He therefore argued that individual personality consist of large portion of unawareness and unconsciousness (Hodzic et al., 2010).
In his study, he found that experiences such as feeling and thoughtful events are not erased in one’s mind but rather stored in unconscious mode where they can be recalled later in life.
He discovered strong forces in human personality and explained the hardships involved in managing those forces and thereby assisted people in understanding themselves. He believed character structuring of people is very important during childhood. Treatment during infancy and childhood is crucial and determines the kind of life led by that person. The same incident might haunt a child who suffers a scaring trauma many years later in his/her adulthood. Research has shown that neglected and abused children pose high chances of developing posttraumatic stress disorder. The thoughtful event that happens to their life in childhood affects their behaviors and reaction towards other things in life. Preconscious, being thoughts that are easy to remember appears between conscious and unconscious. These include memories of events that occurred in the later days as well as simple facts (Hodzic et al., 2010). This theorist therefore developed structural concept including unconscious personality and reality personality.
People who face challenges such as frustrations and conflicts tend to develop some defense mechanism in order to unconsciously protect themselves from the undesirable circumstances. He discovered that some examples of defense mechanism which includes: displacement, rationalization, sublimation, depression, reaction formation, regression, projection and denial. Developing defense mechanism assist in reducing the influence of the disturbing thoughts through believing that nothing has gone wrong thereby avoiding stress and confusion. Although defense mechanisms come with many advantages, people are encouraged to solve it realistically just as any other problem as well. It is through his studies that we understand human life and believes towards life (Hodzic et al., 2010). These theories help many people in understanding and interpreting the various conflicts in human life. He laid the foundation to researchers who might come later.
Carl Jung, a Swiss Psychiatrist, was the founder of the analytical psychology. He was the first person in analyzing dreams, and was famous as a beginner of dream analysis. He studied symbols and human psyche processes in unconsciousness and dreams. He explained the existence of all aspects of psychological types, pointed out characteristics that identifies them and predicted their behaviors. His studies indicated that human beings are free as they may believe but their freedom is dependent to their behaviors. Depending on one’s stimuli to the environment, the behaviors follow certain specified patterns that determine their initial reaction. As part of his findings, he presented an entire system that predicts human behaviors in relation to the most developed psychic sphere in the series of the psychological functions (Sponias, 2010). He integrated the unconscious part and the conscious part of the human being while retaining their autonomy.
Carl acted as Freud’s correspondence where they collaborated for a period of six years. He viewed human nature in a more positive manner compared to Freud. He also differed with Freud’s understanding of personal unconscious. He suggested archetypes consist of collective unconscious and inherited universal ideas. To understand archetype, he carried out an exhaustive research and discovered that the same theme keeps on re-appearing. He researched on the following areas: visions, paintings, dreams, folk stories, myths and relations. He revealed that many different cultures, poses identical symbols, beliefs, religious and myths dreams although they are separated by era This study have assisted people know various cultures and relations between different people. He has provided a direction to new researches through distinguishing personal unconscious.
Alfred Adler, a medical doctor from Australia and a psychotherapist was another Psychoanalytic Theorist. He founded school of individual psychology. According to him, he felt that people urge to conquer feelings of inferiority is the driving powers that they pose to fight those feelings. In his study, he discovered that every person is a social being with specific unique personality. He found out that Social urges inspires people in their life. He felt that children choice of the lifestyle is highly depended on how they are treated by their parents. Children grow to imitate their parent behaviors (Hodzic et al., 2010). Adults who were abused by their parents tend to abuse their children thinking that children must be abused.
He collaborated with Freud and found the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, which was a psychoanalytic movement. He broke away from the psychoanalysis and formed his independent school of personality theory and psychotherapy. He made this move after Freud declared his ideas as controversial. Adler accentuated on significance of equality in the society to prevent various methods of psychopathology and supported social interests’ and democracy development in families especially in raising their children. He talked on inferiority complex, which brings one’s self esteem and its adverse effects on one’s health. According to him, the will of power focused on ones creativity to change for good. He also disagreed with holism; he viewed it as a holistic other than reductive, which brings out human psychology (Weiten, 2008). His arguments favored feminism claiming that self-motivation in men is associated with masculinity while in women it is associated with femininity. He sees feminism as a vital aspect in human psychology understanding. He also felt that inferiority and superiority styles forms the basis of supernatural compensation, which leads to mental problems.
Freud, Jung and Adler are usually viewed as psychology founding fathers who emphasized on psychodynamics and unconscious. Adler was a practical man who believed that ordinary people should use practical in view of psychology. In his approach to personality, he expressed his feelings on human personality as teleological meaning of one’s conscious and self-esteem converts ones inferiority or superiority complex. Upon disregarding of corrective measures, this leads to inferiority, which in turn brings the danger of developing aggressiveness, egocentrism and owner hungry (Weiten, 2008). Adler and Freud contrasted on some issues on human psychology. Adler argued that human psychology is naturally psychodynamic while Freud with his metapsychology emphasized on instinctual requirements and that human psychology is driven by certain goals and achieved by creative force which to him, is unknown. However, both of them feel that instincts and goals are unconscious.
The finding of Curl Jung came to answer questions which were left hanging by the others as his study was based on all aspects that influence and control human behaviors (Sponias, 2010). He understood feelings behind human sexual desires considered as motivational drive by Freud. Just like Adler who was Freud’s student, Carl Jung disregarded Freud’s theories where he invested his unique treatment methods. The psychology of Carl Jung appeared more complicated than that of both Freud and Adler. His comments and findings are applicable to both Freud and Adler since he handled all varying psychological types (Sponias, 2010). He established an interrelation between Freud and Adler. He said that Freud’s psychotherapy is enough for some people and not to some others.
References
Hodzic, D., Nelson, S., Josh, D., Davison, J., Paul, B., & Holli, S. (2010). Chapter 14:Sec.2: Psychoanalytic Theories. Retrieved from: http://wfpsychology2010.wikispaces.com/Group+6+-+Psychoanalytic+Theories
Sponias, C. (2010). The Difference Between Freud and Jung´s Theories. Retrieved from: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/247432_difference-between-freud-and-jungs-theories
Weiten, W. (2008). Psychology: themes and variations. London, UK: Cengage Learning.
