Ch 11 - Jeff Standen

Psychic conflict
In psychoanalytic theory, every individual experiences
conflict between the different parts of the psyche. The root
cause of this is that society can only exist if our unconscious
sexual and aggressive impulses are kept in check. As a
result, we are torn between our desires to gratify our
impulses, and our wish to live in a peaceful, ordered society
(Freud, 1930). This creates conflict between the pleasure
principle and the reality principle within the individual
psyche. The Id demands instant gratification for its erotic
and aggressive desires, regardless of whether they are
socially acceptable or even possible; the Ego tries to police
these desires into acceptable and realistic channels; and the
Superego seeks to impose moralistic rules to block many of
the Id's desires altogether.
Ego defences In its struggle to referee the psychological civil
war going on in our heads, the Ego uses a number of
defence mechanisms. Among these defences are:
• Displacement Redirecting repressed desires and impulses
on to a relatively safe target. For example, if we are
angry with the boss, we take it out on the dog.
• Sublimation Transforming aggressive and sexual desires
into some socially acceptable expression - for example,
artists and musicians expressing these desires in their
work.
• Projection Attributing your own unacceptable impulses
to someone else. For example, a person who cannot
acknowledge hating their brother accuses their brother of
hating them.
• Denial An extreme form of self-protection which denies
what has happened - for example, a terminal cancer
patient refusing to accept they are dying.
• Repression This is the most important defence
mechanism in Freud's theory. The Ego censors Id
impulses and refuses to allow them access to conscious
awareness. The Ego also uses repression to protect itself
from threatening or traumatic experiences from the
outside world. Traumas (from the Greek trauma meaning
wound) may include experiences we all share, like the
first realisation in childhood that we are not the centre of
our mother's life. For some people, they may also
include extremely painful experiences such as child
abuse.
Without defences the Id would run amok, the Ego would
be destroyed and society would be ripped apart. However,
we pay a price for our defences.
Psychological disorder
It is repression in particular that leads to a range of
psychological disorders which Freud called neuroses -
anxiety disorders, panic attacks, hysteria, phobias and
obsessive and compulsive behaviour. Repression pushes
things out of conscious awareness - it does not make them
go away. Repressed memories of traumatic experiences
continue to haunt us, producing neurotic symptoms (Freud
& Breuer, 1895). Repression of sexual and aggressive
impulses can result in similar symptoms. These traumas and
impulses often originate in childhood. Repression keeps
them frozen in their childish state so we cannot grow out of
them. We remain haunted and threatened by these childish
anxieties and fears.
Struggles between the Ego and the Id cause neurosis, and
struggles between the Ego and Superego cause moral
anxiety. Psychoanalytic therapy can deal with these (see
below). However, if Id impulses prove too strong for the
Ego, the Id may invade the Ego and take control of it. This
wrecks the reality principle, and insanity results (Freud,
1923). Freud did not think that insanity was treatable -
certainly not by psychoanalytic techniques.
Depression Freud explained depression as arising from a
sense of loss. Typically, when a person is bereaved, the
process of mourning involves taking the character of the lost
loved one into their own psyche, so 'keeping them alive'. If
your feelings towards the lost loved one were positive, then
the preserved loved one in your psyche will be loving and
comforting.
However, if your feelings towards the loved one
contained repressed hatred or resentment, then the
preserved loved one in your psyche will turn malevolent
and be punishing and hostile. Your hatred is directed back
at your own Ego, leading to feelings of being unloved and
worthless, and the Ego is destroyed by what it tried to
preserve (Freud, 1917). Later losses reactivate this earlier
bereavement, leading to depression. Depression can also
arise if there is conflict between the Superego and Ego,
where the Superego harasses the Ego as immoral and
unworthy (Freud, 1923).
Later developments
Freud's followers developed psychodynamic thinking in a
number of different ways. Some put more emphasis on the
role of the Ego. Alfred Adler (1870-1937) focused on the
Ego struggling for mastery over the self and seeking to adjust
to society. Adler had a major influence on American
psychodynamic theory and on the beginnings of humanistic
psychology. In Britain, Freud's daughter Anna (1895-1982)
did important work on the Ego and its defences. Others put
more emphasis on the unconscious, like Carl Gustav Jung
(1887-1961) whose interest in the religious and spiritual
side of human nature has made him popular with more
mystically inclined therapists and New Age groups.
British psychodynamic theory was greatly influenced by
Melanie Klein (1882-1960) and object relations theory. This
focuses on the importance of emotional bonds, especially
with the mother, in the development of the child. Disruption
of these bonds is seen as a source of psychological disorder.