Introduction
Sigmund Freud according to Kendra Cherry (2017) is an Australian neurologist and the patron of psychoanalysis which is a clinical method that treats psychopathology and is done through dialogue between the psychoanalyst and the patient. In psychoanalysis, he discovered transference and free association which is a therapeutic technique. Freud redefined sexuality to include the Oedipus complex in psychoanalytical theory. He analyzed dreams as the things we wish to fulfill in clinical analysis of the formation of symptoms and repression. He elaborated the unconscious theory and developed a psychic structure of id, ego, and the superego. He defined libido as the energy which drives mental …show more content…
The id he believed to consist of the Eros and the Thanatos. Eros which is a human instinct helps an individual survive and directs activities such as eating, respiration and eating and that is commonly referred to as life-sustaining. The energies that these life instincts create are known as the libido. Thanatos or the death instincts is the set of destructive forces that are present in one's life. When this kind of energy is directed towards other, it comes out in the form of violence and aggression. He believed that Eros was stronger than Thanatos and this is why people can survive other than self-destruct. During infancy, the ego develops from the id, and its function is to satisfy the demands of the id in a socially safe and acceptable way. The ego purposes in both the conscious and the subconscious mind using the reality principle. (Sigmund Freud, …show more content…
He investigated the patient's desires and wishes and their experiences of hate, guilt, fear, love and shame and how a patient handles their most powerful emotions. He developed the stages of childhood during which a child finds pleasure from different objects. (Sigmund Freud, 1901)
Sigmund Freud influences the culture we live in tremendous ways. He has helped us understand why people react the way they do. He has defined sexuality, and psychoanalysis remains influential in psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy and the humanities. His opinions have become a base in which we conduct and understand our lives.
Freud laid the foundation of the many forms of therapy that has been helpful over time to many people overcoming multitudes of problems. Freud has made us understand that development of personality, the id, the ego and the superego is dependent on once psychosexual development during childhood and whatever happens to a person during those five stages determine who they become in the future. Thus psychiatrists can back track one's behavior from the past decisions, situations and what they went through when growing up. Psychoanalysis is used a curative scheme to the mental