Freud Freud’s approach trauma is based in the treatment of hysteria. According to Ringel and Brandell, Freud and Breuer, considered an “external event” as responsible of determining hysterical symptoms. The common component between hysteria and trauma is the outcome of fright. Freud and Breuer emphasis the importance of cathartic experience as a way of decreasing or vanishing the effect. The “cathartic method” that was developed by Breuer, assisted to release of inhibited emotions. Freud believed that the libido, necessary to be relished for the symptoms to be improved (p. 43). In Freud’s view, the difference between traumatic loss and the mourning is that a loss will not be a permanent trauma, but be considered as normal bereavement. Individuals effected by trauma, experience major mood of pain and display loss of interest in their surrounding (p. 46). Separating between normal bereavement and permanent trauma is a great observation and appropriate when treating …show more content…
Ringel and Brandell state that, according to Fairbairn the biggest drive of people is not pleasure or tension release in relationships, but seeking connections with others is the purpose of libido (p. 53). Fairbairn claimed that the traumatic event in infancy could lead individuals to feel unloved and the love for their parents has negative value, or not value at all (p. 54). Fairbairn theory claimed that children defense mechanism demonstrated by ego splitting (p. 54). After early ego splitting, another one happened. First split between “the good parents” which function as exciting objects, and the disappointing ones that called the rejecting objects. According to Fairbairn this is part of the self, connected to exciting objects that the individual feels longing to, and the anti-libidinal ego, which is connected to the rejecting object that provoke negative emotions (p.
It was eleven years later that Breuer and his assistant, Sigmund Freud, wrote a book on hysteria. In it they explained their theory: Every hysteria is the result of a traumatic experience, one that cannot be integrated into the person's understanding of the world. The emotions appropriate to the trauma are not expressed in any direct fashion, but do not simply evaporate: They express themselves in behaviors that in a weak, vague way offer a response to the trauma.
The effects of trauma on the functioning of the brain is an expanding subject of research and treatment. Trauma can change the chemistry of the brain and disrupt normal human functioning. Information in this section has been taken from the works of Judith Lewis Hermann, MD, Robert Scaer,
“Trauma is used when describing emotionally painful and distressing experiences or situations that can overwhelm a person’s ability to cope” (John A. Rich, Theodore Corbin, & Sandra Bloom, 2008). Trauma could include deaths, violence, verbal and nonverbal words and actions, discrimination, racism etc. Trauma could result in serious long-term effects on a person’s health, mental stability, and physical body. Judith Herman, from Trauma and Recovery, said “Traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life” (John A. Rich, Theodore Corbin, & Sandra Bloom, 2008). Trauma does not involve the same experiences for everyone; each individual is unique in that they, and only they, can decide what is traumatic for them.
Freud had developed his theory of hysteria and how its origin came from repressed sexual desire. He diagnosed Dora as someone who was suffering from hysteria as a result of this repressed desire. He used the fact that when Herr K. was not around, Dora was unable to talk, and that showed that her symptoms of hysteria were directly correlated with Herr K. He concluded from his invalid evidence, which consisted of Dora's dreams and her past childhood experiences, that she was indeed repressing her love for Herr K. and this cam...
Breuer, Joseph and Sigmund Freud. Studies In Hysteria. Boston: Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing, 1950.
Freud gives insight of psychological theories and their expressions on the development of psychoanalysis within the term ‘anxiety hysteria’ (Freud, 1910). In Friedman’s (1968) article, he states that it is normal to be anxious over a dangerous situation; however, it is not normal to refuse to leave the house over situations like being afraid a hurricane might come every single day when one has never hit around you. Freud explains that failure and pain are a part of normal living just as success and pleasure. Normal anxiety is said for self-preservation: warning us of possible dangers (Freud, 1910). Bornstein (2006) stated that as children move through adolescence into adulthood, they gradually develop a stable way of managing anxiety and coping with external threat. The article refers back to the element of relationships in compulsions, the psychodynamic background, and the disturbance of the obsessive-compulsive neurotic’s
A Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria (1905), simply known as “Dora”, was a case study written by Austrian neurologist and the founding father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Dora chronicles the condition and treatment of an 18-year- old female exhibiting symptoms of hysteria. Freud highlights this case study as a scientific approach. He likens himself to a gynecologist, engaging in conversations with his patient purely for scientific purposes rather than any excitement or gratification. However, the lines between his scientific interest and personal involvement become blurred, having a direct negative outcome on the patient’s treatment.
Cathy Caruth’s “Psychoanalysis, Culture, and Trauma” claims that “to be traumatized is precisely to be possessed by an image or event” (Caruth 3). This idea of possession is seen in Edgar Allan Poe’s “Ulalume” through the narrator’s enigmatic journey toward his dead lover’s grave. Throughout the poem, the narrator unknowingly works to overcome the trauma that is associated with “surviving” the event of his lover dying. The narrator is seemingly able to understand the true cause of his trauma through the use of the paradoxical duality of attraction/repulsion and familiar/unfamiliar contained in the “Uncanny” as described by Sigmund Freud in “The Uncanny.” The narrator uses the information gained from his trance-like walk to realize his repressed trauma; thus, creating a way to communicate what is deep inside of him in a manner that allows others to understand their own pain. By closely examining the ways in which the narrator uses the “Uncanny” to both access his own unconscious to obtain information essential to his understanding of his own trauma and to validate his relationship to the world, the poem anachronistically—because the poem is written prior to Freud’s scholarship—suggests that while there are varying degrees of consciousness in respect to the trauma itself, one can come to understand, or witness, the crisis of the trauma through the use of the “Uncanny” as a form of psychoanalysis.
After a tragic loss someone will go through a grieving process that will either be constructive or destructive. Mourning is a period of time when the person experiencing this loss begins to search for reconciliation and a way to deal with the sadness. They will attempt to move on, forgive and forget, the past. Freud wrote that mourning is a normal reaction to the loss of a love object, which is consciously known and identifiable. People mourning will express their sadness but will be able to eventually part from their love lost. Inversely, Freud says that melancholia develops when the sadness is inappropriate to the situation and becomes internalized. The person suffering from melancholia identifies the lost object or person with himself or herself on an unconscious level, leading to ego loss. Two films dealing with mourning and melancholia are Journey From The Fall and New Year Baby.
According to Freud, an individual’s psyche consists of three basic structures that begin to develop during childhood. The first basic structure, the unconscious id, is the innate desire to satisfy instinctual passions and aims that is driven by the libido. Very young children identify completely with the libidinal energy of the id. As a result, they develop a strong, loving attachment to their parents as they come to view them as powerful protectors and providers. The second basic structure of the psyche, the conscious ego, deliberates between the aims of the id and the aims of the superego. The ego is created when a child comes to accept his parents as the supreme authorities, and chooses to obey them out of a fear of punishment or a fear of the loss of parental love.
Nurses work in many situations where they will observe patients and their families experiencing grief and loss. In order for patients to receive the utmost care it is imperative for nurses to have a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of these theories and the stages of grief and loss to facilitate support to their patients and their patients families.
Print Freud, Sigmund. “Selected Papers on Hysteria.” The Major Works of Sigmund Freud. Ed. William Benton.
From a Freudian perspective, human development is based on psychosexual theory (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). Psychosexual theory indicates that maturation of the sex drives underlies stages of personality development (Shaffer et al., 2010). It was Freud’s perspective that there are three components of personality (the id, ego, and superego) that become integrated into his five stage theoretical model. The id was the biological or drive component that is innate from birth. The sole purpose of the Id is satiate an individual’s internal drives (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). The ego is the conscious portion of our personality that mediates between our id and superego. Throughout development the ego reflects the child’s emerging ability to...
In conclusion, Freud’s reputation and fame grew enormously especially in the field of social science; he continued to write effectively until his death. In his lifetime he produced more than twenty volumes of scientifically sound work and clinical studies. After a life of hard work, resilience, dedication, and vigor in research, he died of cancer while exiled in England in 1939. He is truly one of the main contributors and founding fathers of physiological
Freud viewed the entire human psyche from a sexual perspective. He defined the unconscious as a collection of repressed personal material. He believed that behaviors are controlled by the unconscious mind, which could be understood through dreams and free association. (Lothane, 2006, p.295-296). He theorized that the human mind had three basic components: the id, the ego, and the superego, and these individual parts often conflict, shaping personality and if not treated, causing neurosis (Schultz & Schultz, 2012, p. 321-323). He stated that therapy could repair narcissism that stemmed from low self-esteem, through transference as patients begin to get the things they missed. Freudians believe there are two basic conflicting drives in a person: the life drive and the death drive. The life drive supports survival by avoiding uncomfortable and life-threatening situations while the death drive desired extreme pleasures that to death (Reppen, 2006, p. 215-216).