Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud: Neurologist and
Psychiatrist

Accessing the Unconscious: Censorship
Within the Mind

11/15/2008 Susan E. Bertolino 1

A: Life and Times
 Austrian physician, neurologist, and
founder of psychoanalysis.

 born in Freiberg (Czech Republic) of a
middle class merchant family, moved to
Vienna (Austria) because of Anti-Semitism

 studied at the University of Vienna, initially
Law, later Neurology, received medical
degree in 1881

 worked at the General Hospital of Vienna
in the areas of
psychiatry, dermatology, and started
specializing on nervous diseases
 became lecturer at the University of Vienna
in 1885
 was awarded a government grant to study
nervous disorders and hysteria in Paris
under Prof. Charcot, focusing on hypnosis


He developed a strong interest in
psychological roots of physiological
problems (psychosomatic, hysterical)
and subconscious reactions.
•started to do research on repressive
processes, especially sexual instincts
and repression
•established private practice in Vienna in
1886 specializing in nervous diseases
and neurological disorders paying
particular attention to patient’s own
accounts
•published his breakthrough article on
―Psychoanalysis‖ in 1896, in which he
outlines principles of psychoanalytical
practice
•published ―The Interpretation of
Dreams‖ in 1900, featuring a three year
self-experiment
•was appointed Full Professor in 1902
and worked in ―splendid isolation‖
•founded International Psychoanalytic
Association in 1910,

 became a renowned expert on
psychiatry and psychoanalysis
 wrote diligently, started applying his
theories to the interpretation of
religion, mythology, art, and literature.
Among his other works are Totem and
Taboo (1913), Ego and the Id
(1923), Future of an Illusion
(1927), Civilization and its Discontents
(1930), New Introductory Lectures on
Psychoanalysis (1933), and Moses and
Monotheism (1939).
 Developed cancer of the jaw in
1923, yet continued writing and
studying
 was forced to leave Vienna in 1938
because of the German Nazi invasion
and emigrated to England. Predicted a
blood bath in Europe
 died in London in 1939


 Why did Freud abandon the method
of hypnosis and replace it with
"free association"?
Freud discovered that only 60% of
his patients responded to
hypnosis, so he experimented with
talk therapy, encouraging his
patients to speak their thoughts
randomly while he took notes. This
tool was the foundation of
psychoanalysis.


 Freud believed that all neuroses (from
the word neurosis) was a result of
unresolved conflict in the unconscious.
He first chose hypnosis as a seemingly
foolproof method to locate the source
of the conflict. The patient would both
experience the trauma consciously
along with resolving it with the help of
the doctor. This would create
 CATHARSIS:
 A release of emotional tension, as after
an overwhelming experience, that
restores or refreshes the mind:
 A technique used to relieve tension and
anxiety by bringing repressed feelings
and fears to consciousness.

 The therapeutic result of this process–
ABREACTION: The release of repressed
emotions by acting out, as in
words, behavior, or the imagination, the
situation causing the conflict.


 Free association-a
spontaneous, logically
unconstrained and undirected
association of
ideas, emotions, and feelings.
 Freud developed this technique
when he discovered that through
the therapist’s persistence the
patient could in his waking state
recall all of the things which had
before only been made accessible
to him under hypnosis.

 Similar to brainstorming, the
patient spews out any random
thought and the analyst records
it.


 Totally inaccessible except through
hypnosis, dreams, free association
and parapraxis (the first section of
the book).
 Parapraxis:
A minor error, such as a slip of the
tongue, thought to reveal a
repressed motive. In modern
parlance, we call them Freudian
slips. (We will not be reading from
that short section in the book.)


AN IMAGE OF OUR
INITIAL TERMS:
MINDS
 Conscious: the part
of us that is aware
 Preconscious: a part
of the conscious--
includes our
memories which are
not conscious, but
attainable via
triggers.
 Unconscious: the
"part― (process) of
the mind that stores
repressed
memories.
 Repression defends
the mind: some
experiences are too
painful so they are
submerged.
However, too much
repression can cause
mental disorders.


What is "Resistance," how does it
relate to unconscious
processes, and how is it both
beneficial and harmful?
 Resistance: defined as the
unconscious defense against
awareness of repressed
experiences in order to avoid the
resulting anxiety
 Repression (related concept): a
device operating unconsciously
to make the memory of painful
or threatening events
inaccessible to the conscious
mind
 This is discussed in ―The
Censorship of Dreams‖, (Lecture
IX)


What are the two components of
dream elements and what do
they imply?
 Manifest Dream Content: What
the dream is about—the
narrative of the dream
 Latent Dream Thought: the
symbolism within the dream—
the dream’ s
representation, the meaning-
this is very difficult to
understand-people don’t
comprehend their dreams
because they don’t know what
their unconscious is revealing
to them.

Dreams are instigated by
unconscious wishes; the wish
fulfillment is the content of the
dream . (see pg.158)
 Children’s dreams are
undisguised wish fulfillments—
little difference in intent for
children versus adults, but the
process is altered. (see slide on
children’s amnesia)
 Children do not intuitively
distort or censor their dreams as
adults do. (see Lecture IX, also in
Lecture VIII on Childhood
Dreams)


 The dream work of adult
dreams, however, disguises wishes
through distortion because:
 Adults waking judgment recognizes these
wishes as ―repulsive from the ethical, aesthetic
or social point of view‖ (174)
 ―These wishes, which are censored and given
a distorted expression in dreams , are first and
foremost manifestations of an unbridled and
ruthless egoism‖ (175)
 ―The ego freed from all ethical bonds [in a
dream} finds itself at one with the demands of
sexual desire [and hatred and revenge] even
those which have long been condemned by
our aesthetic upbringing and those which
contradict the requirements of moral restraint‖
 (175)
 ―These evil wishful impulses arise from the
past‖ (250)

 Bluntly, adults cannot handle the truth
within their dreams so they forget
them, ignore them or don’t take them
seriously after they awaken (perhaps
the first few minutes in the waking
state, they feel unnerved, but it passes.)


Freud said that there had been three great
humiliations in human history: Galileo's
discovery that we were not the center of the
universe, Darwin's discovery that we were not
the crown of creation, and his own discovery
that we are not in control of our own minds.
 Modern people trace their problems to
childhood traumas or repressed emotions.
Freud discovered that emotions buried
themselves They resurface disguised in
dreaming.
 These remembered fragments of dreams can
help uncover the buried feelings.
 Many people have derived insights into
themselves from studying their dreams.
 Many now consider dreams emotionally
significant, unlike our ancestors who saw them
either as divine portents or as the side-effects
of indigestion.
 Freud argues that those wishes are the result of
repressed or frustrated instinctual desires.
 The anxiety surrounding these desires turns
some dreams into nightmares.

 We don’t remember much of our life
before the age of five, six, or eight
 However a few well-preserved recollections
mostly perceived in plastic form‖ do stand
out—screen memories
 If what we remember is what is important
why are screen memories usually
memories of commonplace or insignificant
events?
 Screen memories function like manifest
dream elements
 They are distorted by condensation and
―more especially‖ by displacement. (These
are defense mechanisms developed as the
child grows into adulthood—see Defense
Mechanisms Slide)
 They can be analyzed like a dream to
extract the latent infantile experience;
more evident in children, but distorted
through complex symbolism in adult
dreams


 We use associative techniques:
we unconsciously choose
symbols that correspond to our
unconscious conflict. (185)
 Freud calls symbols ―stable
translations-they realize…the
ideal of the ancient as well as the
popular interpretation of
dreams‖.(186)
 Freud: ―If we are acquainted with
ordinary dream symbols
and…the dreamer’s personality‖-
life circumstances, impressions
that proceed the dream, we can
interpret the dream
straightaway.


 First—Freud calls symbols
comparisons. However ―not every
with which we compare…appears
in dreams as a symbol for it.‖
(187)
 Some are obvious; some underlie
an obscure replacement for the
dreamer—the interpreter must
find what Freud calls ―the
common element‖—the
metaphor. The dreamer may not
see the relationship between the
symbol and the
interpretation, but that doesn’t
mean it ceases to exist.


 1. Male Genitals: the number 3 is seen as a ―sacred
number‖ in Freud’s view.

 Shape: umbrellas, posts, trees.

 Characteristics (penetration):
dagger, knives, spears, firearms—pistols, rifles, revolvers
(particularly suitable in shape as well)

 Function: fountains, watering cans, water-
taps, extensible pencils, hammers, hanging lamps

 Erection: balloons, planes, (Freud includes Zeppelin
airships, now obsolete).When the dreamer flies in his
dream, he is experiencing the essence of the male organ.
Women who dream this, either want to experience sex
with men or want to feel the sexual power that men
possess through their organ.
 Freud also notes that reptiles (snakes), clocks, hats and
overcoats represent male genitals, even though he
admits the symbolism is less obvious to the interpreter.

All of this can be found on pages 190 to 192 in the text.


 2. Female Genitals: objects
that enclose a hollow space
that can take something into
itself. Examples:
pits, cavities, hollows, bottles,
receptacles, trunks, cases, poc
kets, ships.
 Uterus Symbols:
stoves, cupboards, rooms, hou
ses
 Breast Symbols:
apples, peaches, most fruit—
some like figs, kiwis
symbolize genitals.
 Others (also symbolize love):
jewel-case, treasure

Sweets represent sexual enjoyment.

 Masturbation: playing
sports, games, musical
instruments—particularly piano
playing, gliding, sliding, pulling off a
branch,
 Punishment for masturbation: losing
a tooth or getting it pulled. This
represents fear of castration.
 Sexual dream images:
dancing, riding, climbing—along
with violent experiences: being run
over, threatened with
weapons, carpentry or any manual
labor.

Dream Distortion Mechanisms:
1. Condensation
2. Displacement
3. Regression
4. Symbolization (already explained)
General Defense Mechanisms—in
dream work and waking life
(determined by the unconscious)
1. Sublimation
2. Projection
3. Resistance/Repression (explained)
4. Reaction Formation
5. Intellectualization
6. Denial
(Definitions forthcoming)


According to Freud, anxiety is an unpleasant
inner state that people seek to avoid.
Freud identified three types of anxiety:

Neurotic anxiety is the unconscious worry that
we will lose control of the id's urges, resulting
in punishment for inappropriate behavior.

 Reality anxiety is fear of real-world events. The
cause of this anxiety is usually easily identified.
For example, a person might fear receiving a
dog bite when they are near a menacing dog.
The most common way of reducing this anxiety
is to avoid the threatening object.

 Moral anxiety involves a fear of violating our
own moral principles.
 Symptoms of mental illness: These are ―acts
detrimental…useless to the subject’s
life, unwelcome and bringing suffering to him.‖
(445)
 *In order to deal with these anxieties, Freud
believed that defense mechanisms help shield
the ego from the conflicts created by the
id, superego, and reality. He also believed
some patients chose to remain sick.



 A facet of ―neurotic
anxiety‖.(494-495)
 Some are the irrational fear of
certain objects:
snakes, cats, mice, spiders, thun
derstorms.
 Some are more conceptual—fear
of heights, fear of darkness, fear
of closed spaces
(claustrophobia), fear of open
spaces (agoraphobia) fear of
flying
 Freud classifies all phobias as
―anxiety hysteria‖. (497) It is a
problem with perception that can
result in physical reactions
(panic
attacks, hives, rashes, sweating,
hyperventilating.

 Rationalization: the ego rationalizes
what it cannot accept. It is similar to
intellectualism; it argues for
justification of actions—example:
some people cannot apologize because
their ego is too fragile to admit
wrongdoing.
Denial is characterized by having a
conscious awareness at some level, but
simply denies the reality of the
experience by pretending it is not
there.
 An example: a child might
intellectually know that his father has
died but he may still wait for 5
o’clock, the usual time his father came
home
 As a defense mechanism, denial
becomes more difficult to maintain as
one matures. Its use requires much
energy and the mind looks at other
possibilities of defense


 Projection is attributing your own
unacceptable impulses to someone else.
The impulses are still judged unacceptable
but they belong to someone else, not you.
 The result is that you no longer feel
threatened by ignoring an objectionable
aspect of yourself.

 Intellectualization is similar to
rationalization, but instead of making an
excuse for a problem, it turns the problem
into a thought issue instead of an
emotional one. The thoughts become
prominent, but the emotions are buried
under the research.
 An example would describe a young
woman who has been raped. Instead of
dwelling on the emotional pain, she
reviews all of the information, statistics
and outcomes she can about rape. She
learns how to deflect the possibility of
rape, and may take self-defense classes.
She may even teach this material to other
women, to victims of abuse.


 Regression involves a movement
back in developmental time to
when a person felt safe and secure.
Often, that is childhood.
 This explains why an older child
will suddenly begin again to wet the
bed or suck his thumb when the
l
new baby comes home.
 A college student, away from home
for the first time, may want to bring
her teddy bear with her.
 Conversely, that same college
student would exhibit regression by
throwing a tantrum.
 A person who has suffered a
difficult divorce or death of a
spouse may want to revisit the
home of his/her childhood – those
tender years before pain overruled
all other feelings.


 Sublimation is the driving force
behind human aggression.
 A successful football linebacker
may have a huge amount of
anger that becomes useful when
he is playing the game. That
same person could direct his
energies into a trade such as
butcher in a meat market.
 A person with a great need for
order and security may become a
business person or a scientist.
 Freud perceived a great deal of
sublimation operating in the
literary and art worlds.


 Displacement means the reassignment of some
kind of aggression to a scapegoat to relieve the
tension of the situation.
 If a man has had a grueling day at work, he may
go home and alleviate his tension by kicking
the dog, or shouting at his wife.
.Reaction formation goes a step further than
projection to the point of not even
acknowledging unwanted impulses or thoughts
and convincing yourself you are not one of
―them‖ who do engage in those patterns.
!
 One example might describe a man who is
secretly gay, but engages in many heterosexual
affairs in deliberate attempts to disguise his
homosexuality. He feels his secret is
safe, cloaked in his outrageous promiscuous
behavior.


 Condensation, along with displacement, is an
essential process in dream work and more
generally in primary-process thinking. We tend
to view it as a way of attributing, to a person or
representative object, characteristics and
properties that, from the point of view of latent
thoughts, belong to other persons or objects.
 Condensation, in, operates by bringing
intensities together. When two chains of
association intersect, it assigns to the common
link the sum of the intensities of the two
intersecting chains. This nevertheless indirectly
alters the representation because, in the
manifest content of the dream, a link will not
figure if it does not retain an intensity. By
displacing the intensities of several chains to
their common link, condensation makes it
possible to represent all of the chains by a
single link. Hence, there is an economy of
means that contributes to censorship. As a
result, when one link takes the place of several
chains, this makes it more difficult to read
through to the wish corresponding to those
chains.

 Forms a part of Freud’s libido
theory—the libido is energy
attached to specific sexual
instincts and objects.
 Neurosis develops when the
libido attaches itself to an
unhealthy object that will end up
causing a loss of psychic
energy, fixation, possible
perversion and disorders.
 Narcissism was coined by
Freud—based on the myth of
Narcissus who fell in love with
his own image in a pool of water.
He died because he could never
make any physical contact with
his beloved.


 Healthy narcissism: Self love, self-
preservation, protecting the human being against threat
to the ego and/ the body.. Eventually, the individual
must learn to love others, find separate love objects in
order to acquire mental stability.
 Pathological Narcissism: The person becomes ill, as a
result of a frustration, when he is unable to love any
object beside himself/herself. This results in what Freud
calls megalomania—the ego turns back on itself and ―this
reflexive turning back is the source of the megalomania.
(514) Such a person is incapable of loving others, and
uses them for self-gain.
 In modern parlance, we consider pathological narcissism
to be a narcissistic disorder: a pervasive pattern of
grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy _
DSM
 The narcissist is described as turning inward for
gratification rather than depending on others and as
being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal
adequacy, power, and prestige. Some call it "the God
complex.―

 Freud distinguishes egoism as the pursuit of self-
advantage. Narcissism is libidinal; the person develops a
love relationship with himself/herself as the love object.
Thus the libido directs its energy, both sexual and mental
onto the individual in question.


Fixation: failure to progress adequately through the stages of libidinal
development (the erogenous zones)—attachment to objects appropriate to early
stages. Fixated persons suffer frustrated wastes of energy because of their over-investment
in past objects.
Susan E. Bertolino 32

1. What are the three components of the
psychic system, what are their functions, and
how do they interact?
EGO - perception, thinking, motor
control to assess environment - defense
mechanisms (repression, projection, reaction
formation, patterns of behavior); directly opposed
to the Id
ID: instinctual impulses and
unconscious needs, theses drives that must be
controlled, at least postponed, otherwise
chaos, violence
SUPER EGO - command, voice of
authority - built on parental authority, culture and
socialization. If demands are not met, guilt and
shame result (Develops after the Oedipal/Electra
Complex is fulfilled in childhood.)

Often the id is seen as evil because it contains our
basest instincts and demands instant gratification.
But the superego is just as lethal—both forces are
unconscious and struggle to control the ego. When
you hear people berating themselves or using the
modal verb ―should‖, you can bet that they are
highly superego driven.


1. Earliest phases-
 Sensual sucking, thumb sucking (386)
 Anal erotism (388)
2. From the third year of life, a child’s sexual
life shows much agreement with an
adult’s
 The child finds his way from sucking to
masturbation (389)
 Her sexuality is loosely organized
around a pre-genital stage: the
sadistic-anal organization(406)
At this second phase the sexual life of
children differs from adults in the
following way:
 It lacks a firm organization under the
primacy of the genitals
 It’s polymorphously perverse
 It’s far less intense than adult’s sexual
life (405)


 Evidence of the Oedipus
complex occurring before
latency around the age of five-
direct observation of children
(412-413)

 Fifth stage of sexual
development—successfully
negotiating the Oedipus
complex during puberty (418-
419)


Auto-erotic– deriving
pleasure from self-
stimulation
Thumb sucking
Defecation
Masturbation
Sexual impulses that have
an object:
Oedipus complex—the
mother as the first love
object


Operates in the third to fourth phase of
sexual development—fourth is the latency
stage
Manifests itself in the third phase of sexual
development

Between the ages of three and five
Freud’s theory of the Oedipus complex is
based on direct observation of children.

Sophocles’ play Oedipus Tyrannus is
similar in meaning to a dream: Both are
fulfillments of ―evil‖ wishes which come
from the prehistory of our childhood


The Oedipus complex continues into the fourth
phase of sexual life, puberty.(Later Freud called this
stage, latency as full puberty did not take place.)
People who grow into healthy adults with a
―normal‖ sexuality successfully negotiate the
Oedipus complex
Detach themselves from parents. The son has
to,
Detach his libidinal wishes from his
mother to a real outside love object (girls
and later women outside the family)
Reconcile himself with his father or free
himself
from his father’s pressure

Neurotic people are people who do not
successfully negotiate the Oedipus
complex or who do so in less than an
ideal manner


Electra Complex:
•This occurs in the phallic stage
• it pertains to girls.

• Girls develop penis envy:
• they realize they do not have male genitals.
• The male organ represents power to both
girls and boys.
• the boy fears castration
• she discovers that she is already castrated
at birth
• she blames the mother for bringing her into
this world without a penis.
•Her father becomes her love-object and “her
mother becomes the object of her jealousy”
•She sees the inferiority of her gender
She chooses her father as the love object
because of his superiority.


 Perverse sexuality  Normal sexuality
 Culturally  Culturally defined—
defined— normal sexuality
stays within the
perversions bounds of that
transgress the definition
definition of
normal  The ―perversion‖ is a
Entirely exclusive prelude to or

of the sexual act temporary substitute
for the sexual act
(400)
 Can result from Results from the
the ―damming 
successful repression
back‖ of the or sublimation of
normal sexual childhood
current (384 polymorphous
perversity
 Social education
to tame and
control the sexual Social education to
instincts hasn’t 
control and center
―taken‖ or has sexuality around the
taken in socially genitals has taken
unacceptable (259, 386)
ways
 Fetishes—  Sexuality is between
attachment to love a woman and a
man—it will likely
objects that are not result in children.
appropriate for
―genital sex‖


 What’s the purpose of life (at least
as humans have shown by their
behavior)?
 To strive after happiness by
seeking pleasure and avoiding pain.
 The pleasure principle-seeking
pleasure. Three obstacles to the
pleasure principle
 Our own body
 The external world
 Our relations to other humans
 The reality principle
 because of the obstacles to pleasure
humans moderate their claims to
happiness
 A person thinks himself happy merely to
have escaped unhappiness or to have
survived his suffering.
We live by these two principles: What do you
think will happen if one takes precedence
over the other? What conflicts (externally
and within ourselves) can take place?


―When a human being has himself grown up. . . he is in
possession of greater strength, but his insight into the
perils of life
has also grown greater. . . he still remains just as helpless
and
unprotected as he was in his childhood. . . . Even
now, therefore,
he cannot do without the protection which he enjoyed as a
child …. Freud on adult relationships with parents

Later Freud writes:‖ Obscure, unfeeling and unloving
powers determine men’s fate‖.

According to Freud, the father is the child’s first
introduction to power and authority. An unresolved
Oedipal Complex will lead to a confused relationship
between father and son. We see this in Kafka’s writings.
Look at how the son and the father try to communicate in
―The Judgment‖

Freud is famous for saying that God is nothing more than
an exalted father. Later he adds that this is evidence that
young people lose their faith in their religious beliefs once
the authority of the father is torn down.


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