Analysis of a Phobia of a 5 Year Old Boy

Analysis of a Phobia of a 5 Year Old Boy

One of the themes of Freud’s work is the importance of the first few

years of life in the development of personality. He also believed that

children experience emotional conflicts, and their future adjustment

depends on how well these conflicts are resolved. Another theme within

Freud’s work concerns the unconscious mind, which is the part of our

mind which we are not aware of. Freud believed that the unconscious

contains unresolved conflicts and has a powerful effect on our

behaviour and experience.

He believed that children pass through five stages of development,

known as the psychosexual stages because of Freud's emphasis on

sexuality as the basic drive in development. These stages are: the

oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, the latency period and

finally the genital stage. It is the first three stages which take

place in the first five years of life of a child.

The phallic stage, from three to five years old was the stage where

the child's sexual identification was established. During this stage

Freud hypothesised that a young boy would experience what he called

the Oedipus complex. Freud thought that, during the phallic stage, the

young boy develops an intense sexual love for his mother. Because of

this, he sees his father as a rival, and wants to get rid of him.

Aim

The aim of the study was to report the findings of the treatment of a

five-year-old boy for his phobia of horses.

Method

Freud used a case study method to investigate Little Hans’ phobia.

However the case study was actually carried out by the boy’s father

who was a friend of Freud. Freud gave directions as how to deal with

the situation based on his interpretations of the father’s reports.

The first reports of Hans are when he was 3 years old.

Results

The first reports of Hans are when he was 3 years old when he

developed an active interest in his ‘widdler’ (penis), and also those