Introduction
Personality structures
Sigmund Freud has been one of the famous theorists in the study of psychology. Freud has been vibrant in his attempt to explain the personality concept of human beings. Freud asserts that there exist three different structures of personality to include the Id, the Ego and the Super Ego structures. The Id is the source of instincts and impulses; it always seeks an immediate unconscious satisfaction of the individual biological needs. It is also the unconscious structure which is a major source of the psychic energy. The Ego represents the mental structure which adapts to the reality and encourages negotiations with conflicts between the Id and the super ego structures. This is the conscious part of the human brain and always associated with better reasoning capability. The Super ego represents the society and its restrictive boundaries on morals and norms; it causes the feeling of guilt and an Ego deal.
Development stages
Freud identifies five distinct stages of psychosexual development. The First stage is the Oral stage that runs from the time of birth to 18 months; this is the early stage which is centered on nursing and feeding. The mouth at this stage is considered as a pleasure object to the infants.
The anal stage. This forms the second stage in psychosexual development and is the period running from the 18th month to Three years. At this stage, gratification derives from retention and elimination of fecal matter, there is sensual pleasure in bowel movements and parents emphasize on toilet training. The third stage of development is the phallic stage lasting from 3 to 6years. Gratification is centered on the manipulation of genitals. At this point boys fall in love with the mothers while feeling threatened by the father, girls love their fathers but feel threatened by the mothers through Oedipal and Electra complexes respectively. The fourth stage lasts from 6to 12 years and is known as the Latency stage whereby sexual drives seemingly reduce and the infants associate making friendships with others of the same sex. This is a stage of social interaction. The fifth stage is the genital stage lasting from 12 to 18 years and in this stage the sexual interest is awakened and gratification is centered on sexual attachment with individuals of the opposite sex under normal development.
Defense mechanisms
Defense mechanisms refer to the varied ways through which we protect ourselves from whatever things that we don’t want to deal with or think about. These mechanisms are: Denial, this is the refusal of reality or act acceptance and acting as if the painful event or though does not exist. Regression refers to the reversion of an earlier development stage in the verge of unacceptable thoughts or impulses. Acting out, this is another defense mechanism through which an individual performs an extreme behavior in the line of expressing the feelings one has. Rationalization is another form of defense whereby one puts something into a different way for the perception or behaviors aimed at changing reality.
A life example of defense mechanism through regression would be: An adolescent who is fearful of growing sexual impulses and anger might become clingy and start exhibiting earlier childhood habits such as bed wetting. Adults may also display regression by refusing to leave their beds when under great influence of stress.
Criticism of Freud’s Theory
Freud’s theory has been criticized since several problems have been realized to have accompanied the theoretical writings. There exists no evidence of Freud’s work since he didn’t keep notes but the information can only be gathered from his patients. The validity of the theory is in question owing to the fact that Freud used his memory which does not give proper qualitative data as it causes methodological difficulties. Though Freud focused mostly on the rational acts, he majorly focused on the irrational side of human nature in his work. There is therefore a wider debate on the use of psychoanalysis as a treatment to mental illness. However, the wider application of Freud’s theories are pegged on the fact that it gives proper understanding of human development and mental processes, most applications have been made in the line of mental treatments.
Conclusion
The psychoanalytic theory has been instrumental in understanding the human behavior and mental processes. The psychoanalytical theory by Freud has led to enormous advance in the mental health treatments; the debate on its effectiveness is still on. There is also no basis of proper human behavior explanation since he only focused on the unconscious structure ignoring the social world of interaction.
