This presentation is the first part of psychoanalysis chapter in the textbook of theories of psychotherapy and counselling. It covers the Freud's Drive Theory.

1. T K
Psychoanalysis

2. Freud’s Drive Theory
Drives and Instincts
• Self preservative drives (including breathing, eating, drinking, and
excreting)
• Species preservative drives (sexuality)
• Sexual drives -> psychic energy (libido)
• libido later came to be associated with all life instincts and
included the general goal of seeking to gain pleasure and avoid
pain.
• Often con
fl
ict arises between the life instincts— eros—and the
death instincts—thanatos

3. Levels of Consciousness
• Three levels of consciousness: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious.
• The conscious includes sensations and experiences that the person is aware of at any point in
time.
• Examples include awareness of being warm or cold and awareness of this book or of a pencil.
• The preconscious includes memories of events and experiences that can easily be retrieved with
little e
ff
ort. Preconscious forms a bridge from the conscious mind to the much larger
unconscious
• Examples might include a previous examination taken, a phone call to a friend, or a favorite
dessert that was eaten yesterday.
• unconscious, which is the container for memories and emotions that are threatening to the
conscious mind and must be pushed away. Also included are needs and motivations of which
individuals are unaware. Although unconscious motivations are out of awareness, they may still
be exhibited in an indi- vidual’s thoughts or behaviors.
• Examples include hostile or sexual feelings toward a parent and forgotten childhood trauma
or abuse.

4. Structure of Personality
• The structure of personality: the id, the ego, and the superego.
• Brie
fl
y, the id represents unchecked biological forces, the
superego is the voice of social conscience, and the ego is the
rational thinking that mediates between the two and deals with
reality. These are not three separate systems; they function
together as a whole.
• Id - pleasure principle
• Ego - reality principle
• Superego - morality principle

5. Structure of Personality
• Cathexis and AntiCathexis
• Driving forces (Id) - impulsive, self-indulgent, or destructive
• Restraining forces (Ego and Superego) - unrealistically high moral or perfectionistic
standards (superego) for themselves and thus develop a sense of incompetence or
failure.
• Primary process and secondary process
• Fantasying
• Realistic Thinking
• Ego ideal and Conscience
• Parents approve of
• Parents disapprove of

6. Anxiety
• Anxiety : develops out of this con
fl
ict among id, ego, and superego. When the ego
senses anxiety, it is a sign that danger is imminent and something must be done
• three types of anxiety: reality, neurotic, and moral.
• Reality: the fear is from the external world, and the anxiety is appropriate to the
situation.
• Neurotic anxiety: occurs when individuals are afraid that they will not be able to
control their feelings or instincts (id) and will do something for which they will
be punished by parents or other authority
fi
gures.
• Moral Anxiety: When people are afraid they will violate parental or societal
standards (superego), moral anxiety is experienced.
• neurotic and moral anxieties are threats within the individual.
• In order for the ego to cope with anxiety, defense mechanisms are necessary.

7. Defence Mechanisms
• Ego defense mechanisms deny or distort reality while operating
on an unconscious level.
• Infrequent use - adaptive value in reducing stress.
• Frequent use - becomes pathological, and individuals develop a
style of avoiding reality.

11. Psychosexual Stages of Development
• the development of personality and the formation of the id, ego,
and superego, as well as ego defense mechanisms, depend on
the course of psychosexual development in the
fi
rst 5 years of
life.
• The psychosexual oral, anal, and phallic stages occur before
the age of 5 or 6; then there is a relatively calm period for 6 years
(the latency period), followed by the genital stage in
adolescence, which starts at the beginning of puberty.

12. Oral Stage
• Birth - 18 months
• Source of pleasure - mouth, focuses on eating and sucking and involves the lips, mouth, and
throat.
• Dependency on the mother for grati
fi
cation—and therefore the relationship with the mother—
is extremely signi
fi
cant.
• The functions of eating and holding can be related to the development of later character
traits referred to as oral incorporation, which might include the acquiring of knowledge or
things.
• The functions of biting and spitting can be related to oral aggressive characteristics that
might include sarcasm, cynicism, or argumentativeness.
• On one hand, if, during the oral stage, a child learns to depend too often on the mother, the
child may
fi
xate at this stage and become too dependent in adult life.
• On the other hand, if the child experiences anxiety through inattentive or irregular feeding,
the child may feel insecure not only at this early stage but also in adult life.

13. Anal Stage
• 18 months - 3 years
• the anal area becomes the main source of pleasure.
• Exploration of bodily processes such as touching and playing with feces is important.
• If adults respond with disgust toward these activities - develop a low sense of self-
esteem.
• During this period, the child develops bowel control, and con
fl
icts around toilet
training with parents can develop into personality characteristics in later life
• an over-concern with cleanliness and orderliness (anal retentive)
• disorderliness and destructiveness (anal expulsive).
• Not only do children establish control over their own bodies, but also they are
attempting to achieve control over others.

14. Phallic Stage
• 3 - 5/6 years
• the source of sexual grati
fi
cation shifts to the genital area, stroking and manipulation of the penis or clitoris
produces sensual pleasure.
• The concept of castration anxiety comes from the boy’s fear that his penis may be cut o
ff
or removed.
Particularly during the Victorian era, when masturbation was believed to be destructive, parental attempts to
stop masturbation may have led the boy to fear the loss of his penis. If he had observed a nude girl, he might
have believed that she had already lost her penis.
• The concept of penis envy refers to girls who wondered why they lacked penises and thought that perhaps
they had done something wrong to lose their penises.
• Freud believed that later personality problems could be attributed to castration anxiety or penis envy.
• The sexual desire for the parent can lead to the development of the Oedipus complex in boys or the Electra
complex in girls
• Oedipus complex refers to the boy’s sexual love for his mother and hostility for his father. In this traumatic
event, the child eventually learns to identify with the same-sex parent and change from sexual to
nonsexual love for the other-sex parent, eventually developing an erotic preference for the other sex. In
this way, sexual feelings for the other-sex parent are sublimated. Di
ffi
culties in this stage of development
may result in later sexual identity problems a
ff
ecting relationships with the same or other sex.

15. Latency Stage
• 6 - 12 years
• Resolved oedipus complex
• the latency period is not a psychosexual stage of development
because at this point sexual energy (as well as oral and anal
impulses) is channeled elsewhere.
• This force (libido) is repressed, and children apply their energy to
school, friends, sports, and hobbies.
• Although the sexual instinct is latent, the repressed memories
from previous stages are intact and will in
fl
uence later personal
development.

16. Genital Stage
• 12 (Early Adolescence) - throughout life
• Freud concerned himself with childhood development rather than
adult development.
• The focus of sexual energy is toward members of the other sex
rather than toward self-pleasure (masturbation).
• In contrast to the genital stage, which focuses on others as the
sexual object, the three earlier stages (oral, anal, and phallic)
focus on self-love.

17. References
• Sharf, R S. (2012) Theories of Psychotherapy and Counselling
Concepts and Cases, 5th Edition. Cengage Learning