Psychosexual development: Background

Freud observed that, at somewhat predictable points during early development, children’s behavior often orients around certain body parts (the mouth during breast-feeding, the anus during potty-training, and later the genitals). Believing, due to his previous work with hysterical patients, that adult neurosis often has root in childhood sexuality, Freud proposed that these behaviors were childhood expressions of sexual fantasy and desire. He suggested that humans are born “polymorphous perverse”, meaning that infants can derive sexual pleasure from any part of the body.[2], and that it is only though socialization that libidinal drives are focused into adult heterosexuality.

Due to the fairly predictable time-line that the childhood behaviors in question follow, Freud developed a rigid model for what he considered to be the “normal” sexual development of the child, which he called “libido development”. According to this theory, each child passes through five psychosexual stages. During each stage, the libido has a different erogenous zone as the source of its drives.

However, in the pursuit of satisfying these sexual urges, the child may experience failure or reprimand from their parents or society for their behaviors, and may thus come to associate anxiety with this erogenous zone. In order to avoid this anxiety, the child becomes preoccupied with themes related to this zone, a phenomenon Freud termed fixation. Freud believed the fixation persists into adulthood and underlies the personality structure and psychopathology, including neurosis, hysteria and personality disorders. Freud called this psychosexual infantilism.

Related posts

• Psychosexual development:Freud’s model of psychosexual development (0)
• Psychosexual development (0)
• Works by Karen Horney (0)
• Sigmund Freud: Biography (0)
• Psychosexual Development: Criticism of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development (0)

Comments

• Recent Posts

  • Anxiety and Anxiety Attacks
  • Have You Discovered The Cause Of Your Anxiety
  • Finding The Effective Treatment For Your Anxiety Disorder
  • When Anxiety Medications Fail
  • ANXIETY: Counseling and Treatment-From Huntley, Cary and Rolling Meadows

• Categories

  • Articles
  • Books
  • Constructs
  • Medication
  • Mental Disorders
  • Psychotherapies
  • Psychotherapists
  • Substance related disorders
  • Uncategorized

• Psychotherapy In News

  • Psychotherapy Can Help People With Lupus Cope (MedicineNet.com) March 10, 2010
    Title: Psychotherapy Can Help People With Lupus Cope Category: Health News Created: 3/9/2010 6:10:00 PM Last Editorial Review: 3/10/2010
  • Psychotherapy Can Help People With Lupus Cope (HealthDay via Yahoo! News) March 10, 2010
    TUESDAY, March 9 (HealthDay News) -- Psychotherapy helps cut the incidence of psychological woes in patients with lupus who have high levels of daily stress, a new study finds.
  • Psychotherapy Can Help People With Lupus Cope (HealthCentral) March 10, 2010
    After 10 sessions, anxiety, depression and stress lessened, researchers say.
  • Massage Eases Anxiety, But No Better Than Simple Relaxation Does (Medical News Today) March 10, 2010
    A new randomized trial shows that on average, three months after receiving a series of 10 massage sessions, patients had half the symptoms of anxiety. This improvement resembles that previously reported with psychotherapy, medications, or both. But the trial, published in the journal Depression and Anxiety, also found massage to be no more effective than simple relaxation in a room alone with ...
  • When Personality Makes Drugs Ineffective In Depression (Medical News Today) March 10, 2010
    A study published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics addresses the role of personality factors in moderating treatment response in depression. The temperament harm avoidance (HA) has consistently demonstrated an association with major depressive disorder (MDD), serotonin functioning and reduction in depression symptoms in response to antidepressant medications targeting the ...

• 
  

• Tag Cloud

  psychoanalysis anxiety clinical depression anxiety disorders sigmund freud anxiety disorder generalized anxiety disorder social phobia depression major depressive disorder karen horney panic disorder adhd alprazolam bipolar disorder depressed mood panic attacks social anxiety disorder neurosis bipolar major depression attention deficit hyperactivity freud alcoholism depressive episodes major depressive episode mood disorder attention deficit hyperactivity disorder obsessive compulsive disorder antidepressants

• Psychotherapy Links

  • The Ten Coolest Therapy Interventions, Honorable Mentions & Wrap Up | Psychology Today
  • Curriculum | www.saybrook.edu
  • Foundation for Human Enrichment- Trauma Healing
  • Gaylesta
  • Dr. Barbara Killinger
  • Hakomi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • International Psychoanalysis
  • The Spiritual Self-Schema Development Program
  • Everyday Mysteries: Existential Dimensions of Psychotherapy: Amazon.co.uk: Emmy van Deurzen: Books
  • Τι κάνουν καθημερινά τα ευτυχισμένα ζευγάρια;