The Symptom Of Symptom From Freud

1204 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Strengths and weaknesses of Freud's theory

About the Symptom from Freud
CHENG CHENG
K1439597

What is Symptom
A symptom, differing from inhibition according to Freud, denotes pathological processes while inhibition, on another plane, relates to function with out a necessary relation to a pathological implication even a inhibition may be a symptom as well. The word symptom is employed when some unusual changes or a new phenomenon has been undergone by a function rather than simply normal restriction of a function. Inhibition is the expression of a ‘restriction of an ego-function’ which has been either imposed as a measure of precaution to avoid a conflict with the id or the super-ego, or a result brought by an impoverishment of energy. In sum, a symptom is not a process taking place within or upon the ego.
The Formation of Symptoms
‘A symptom is a sign of, and a substitute for, and instinctual satisfaction which has remained in abeyance; it is a consequence of the process of repression.’ When the ego, which may be at the behest of the super-ego, refuses the association with the instinctual cathexis aroused in the id, repression proceeds as means just from the ego to keep the idea of the vehicle of the reprehensible impulse from becoming conscious.
‘A symptom arises from an instinctual impulse which has been detrimentally affected by repression.’ Freund indicates that nothing can be learnt when ‘…the ego, by making use of the signal of unpleasure , attains its object of completely suppressing the instinctual impulse’. If the energy from the id cannot be eliminated, however, the instinctual cathexis may be reduced, displaced or inhibited with an necessary outcome which might not be easily recognised but must be exist as either a behaviour or a mental process. Freud describe...

... middle of paper ...

...o be open to interpretation but a phenomenon lasting to be distinguish as well. For example, a recurring dream can be regarded as a change of statues undergone in a normal dream and becomes symptomatic. When the bungled action, or any other subject’s behaviours pervaded by repetitive phenomenon, a statue of a symptom is given. An et cetera is what Lacan said about the symptom. It is a ‘return of the same event’. It is at the very root of the symptom lies a addiction of reiterating the same and it is the same consisting in the symptom what is needed to be distinguished.

References
Freud, S. (1959) ‘Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety’. Translated by J. Strachey in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud Vol. XX. London: The Hogarth Press.
Miller, J. (2011) ‘Reading a Symptom’, Hurly Burly, 6, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis.

Show More
Related

  • Nietzsche and Freud on the Origin of Psychological Illnesses

    806 Words  | 2 Pages

    Freud presents an interpretation of how individuals fall ill. He states that when individuals have an unpleasant idea they repress these ideas into their subconscious. Here the idea grows and festers and can lead to neurotic behaviors. Through psychoanalysis Freud was able to alleviate these problems but also came to the conclusion that these repressed ideas actually were not the root of the problem but in fact sexual frustration from the patient’s childhood or teenage years is the true cause. Individuals then fall ill when the libido is unsatisfied and refuses to accept that reality can offer them satisfaction. The result is that individuals fall into fantasies in order to properly achieve wish-fulfillment since they cannot seem to find satisfaction in the real world. One can avoid becoming neurotic by channeling these desires into pieces of art. But if they fail they will fall into a neurotic state. While in this neurotic state we begin to regress to our infancy, when obtaining pleasures were easier. Thus, the flight to illness is the easy way out since it allows for an individual to simply bypass the troubles of society, moving to a state where they can instantly obtain pleasure. The illness Nietzsche writes about is bad conscience.

    Read More

  • Freudian Psychoanalysis: Understanding and Addressing Anxiety

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    Freudian psychoanalysis distinguished three types of anxiety, - objective anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and moral anxiety. It is the ego's job to deal with anxiety (Hergenhahn, 2009). Freud's theories emphasize on sex as the main motive for human behavior, therefore a Freudian psychoanalysis therapist may attribute origin of the person’s anxiety to sex oriented issues such as sexual relationship, conflicts, and abuse, etc. The role of Freudian psychoanalysis therapist is to encourage patients to focus on affect and the expression of emotion and to explore their attempts to avoid distressing thoughts and feelings. One technique of Freudian psychotherapy is free association which means that patients are encouraged to recall and talk about their

    Read More

  • William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 to Jewish Galician parents in the Moravian town of Pribor in the Austrian Empire (“Sigmund Freud” n. pag). During his education in the medical field, Freud decided to mix the career fields of medicine and philosophy to become a psychologist (“Sigmund Freud” n. pag). During his research as a psychologist, he conceived the Structural Model Theory, which he discussed in his essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle. The theory states that the human psyche is divided into three main parts: the id, ego, and super-ego (“Id, Ego, and Super-ego” n. pag). He concluded that the id was the desire for destruction, violence and sex; the ego was responsible for intellect and dealing with reality; and the super-ego was a person’s sense of right and wrong and moral standards (Hamilton, n. pag). Freud argued that a healthy individual will have developed the strongest ego to keep the id and super-ego in check (“Id, Ego, and Super-ego” n. p...

    Read More

  • Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Through a Freudian Lens

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sigmund Freud’s theories on the construction of the mind are simple, but fundamentally changed the field of psychology. He proposed, among other things, that the human mind is composed of three parts: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The preconscious consists of information, such as a telephone number, that is “accessible to consciousness without emotional resistance” (Schellenberg 21). In Freud’s estimation, the unconscious is the most important area of the mind. The information stored within it has “very strong resistances” to becoming conscious (Freud 32). Residing in the unconscious is the id, which “contains everything…that is present at birth… – above all, therefore, the instincts which originate from somatic organization” (14). From birth, all action is instinctual, from the id. The id recognizes and entertains no desires but its own and is impatient to have its needs met. This phase lasts until a part of the id changes “under the influence of the real external world” (14). This changed portion b...

    Read More

  • Ted Bundy: The Mind of a Killer

    2059 Words  | 5 Pages

    Contemporary Psychology, 36, 575-577. Freud, S. (1961). The Species of the World. The Complete Works of Sigmund Freud. London: The Hogarths.

    Read More

  • Biological and Psychoanalytic Perspectives in Psychology

    1625 Words  | 4 Pages

    The psychoanalytic perspective grew out of subsequent psychoanalytic theories (1901, 1924, and 1940) following decades of interactions with clients with the use of an innovative procedure developed by Sigmund Freud that required lengthy verbal interactions with patients during which Freud probed deep into their lives. In a nutshell, the psychoanalytic perspective looked to explain personality, motivation, and psychological disorders by focussing on the influence of early childhood experiences, on unconscious motives and conflicts, and on the methods people use to cope with their sexual and aggressive urges. The Biological perspective on the other hand looks at the physiological bases of behaviour in humans and animals. It proposes that an organism’s functioning can be described in terms of the bodily structures and biochemical processes that cause behaviour. This paper attempts to examine the similarities and differences between the psychoanalytic perspective and the biological perspective with the key focus on the core assumptions and features of these perspectives as well as their individual strengths and weaknesses.

    Read More

  • Psychodynamic Theory

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    In addition to Freud’s stages of development his best-known concepts are those of the id, ego, and superego (Crain, p. 268). The id personality called ‘the unconscious” is the personality that focuses on maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain through reflexes and drives such as hunger or bladder tensions (Crain, pp. 268-269). The id concept is impulsive, chaotic and unrealistic.

    Read More

  • Theories Of Personality

    2754 Words  | 6 Pages

    The theory of psychoanalysis, founded by Freud, asserted that people could be cured by “…making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations…”, therefore gaining insight into their behavior and state of being (CITE). The aim of psychoanalytic therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, because Freud believed that psychological problems are rooted in the unconscious mind. In certain cases, individuals would have manifested symptoms caused by “…latent…”, or hidden disturbances (CITE). Typical causes could include unresolved issues during development or as a result of repressed trauma. Those who practice psychoanalysis believe that only with a cathartic experience can be the person be helped and therefore cured. In other words, , Freud’s treatment focused on bringing the repressed conflict to consciousness, where the patent then could wo...

    Read More

  • Freud and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    2600 Words  | 6 Pages

    Freud, Sigmund. New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. Ed. James Strachey. Trans. James Strachey. Standard. Vol. 22. London: Hogarth Press, 1964.

    Read More

  • Michael Hollinger's Naked Lunch

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    The professors who composed Psychological Science explain that, “For [Sigmund] Freud, the powerful forces that drive behavior were often in conflict. A key aspect of his thinking was that we are typically unaware of those forces or their conflicts” (Gazzinga et al. 570). To Freud, conflicts in the mind consisted of the never ending battle between the ego, id, and superego. The “id” is the mechanism that drives humans to seek pleasure and avoid pain. The superego is a person’s conscience and morality principle. The “ego” is the mediator between the superego and id. In fact, Freud developed a theory based on analyzing these unconscious struggles which he called the psychoanalytic, sometimes psychodynamic, theory. He recorded peoples’ words and actions to describe their unconscious desires, wishes, fears, and hidden memories. The psychoanalytic theory was later translated into literature as a kind of criticism. This criticism can be applied to any type of literature including dramas. The drama “Naked Lunch” by Michael Hollinger is a good representative of the dramas in which the reader can perceive the unconscious conflicts between the characters through the use of dialogue and non-verbal cues. The reader senses the desires, fears, thoughts, and underlying mechanisms at work behind the conversation and in turn is able to come to a greater understanding of how a person’s word and non-verbal actions describe the person’s subconscious mind.

    Read More

  • How Have Psychodynamic Therapies Changed Since Freud?

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    The psychodynamics theory which was introduced by Freud to understand the human mind and psyche, reached a new level in the continuous analysis from therapists. Psychodynamics originally has been explained as a study of various psychological forces that affect human behavior which is related to early experiences. It specifically discusses the connection between the conscious and subconscious motivations. The theory was further analyzed and developed by Melanie Klein, Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. Based on the theory, the psychodynamic therapy evolved to help patients through psychoanalysis. With time other therapies like individual, group and family therapy evolved to offer treatment by understanding the present day complexities in more detail. The main aim of the therapy is self –awareness through identifying the various influences of many past events in life. The therapies are continuously evolving since it was introduced by Freud to help in solving a variety of psychological disorders within people.

    Read More

  • Erik Erikson’s Ego Theory vs. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

    2080 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout time, many psychologists have had their own views about different theories. Theories direct and guide our perception of thinking. The similarities and differences can be broken down through different forms of development by Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, and Albert Bandura. Sigmund Freud emphasized the influence of the id, believing that the ego acts only out of borrowed energy and acts best as a commander. Sigmund Freud perceived aggression as a universal human behavior. According to Freud, we, humans are unaware of its presence because we are suppressed by the superego. In Erikson’s theory, he explains how the ego is the part of the mind that gives coherence to experiences, conscious or unconscious. Erikson agreed with Freud that the ego is responsible for human behavior and aggression. On the other hand, social learning theorist Albert Bandura suggests that behavior is learned through observation either accidentally or on purpose. This paper examines how Erikson’s psychoanalytic theory of the Ego compares and contrast to Bandura’s social learning theory.

    Read More

  • Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis

    2351 Words  | 5 Pages

    The aim of this essay is to clarify the basic principles of Freud’s theories and to raise the main issues.

    Read More

  • What Is Sigmund Freud's Contribution To Psychoanalysis?

    1422 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this therapeutic approach, he outlines that the therapist and the patient must collectively work together to bring the contents of the patients unconscious into the patient’s conscious awareness. When the patient’s unconscious conflicts are evoked, the therapist helps the patient deal with them positively. Freud was extremely influential in shaping the public view of psychology. Many of his ideas and contributions are cannot be tested using scientific methods, but psychologists widely accept the idea of unconscious mental processes. What people personally go though is extremely important in the study of psychology. ( Grison, Heatherton, Gazzaniga ,2015)

    Read More

  • Freud’s Psychosexual Theory of Development

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    In terms of the unconscious and conscious, Freud situates these conceptions in a topographic model of the mind. He divided it into two systems called the unconscious and the preconscious. Their knowledge in the unconscious system is repressed and unavailable to consciousness without overcoming resistances (e.g., defense mechanisms). Thereby, the repression does not allow unconscious knowledge to be completely aware; rather, it is construed by means of concealing and compromise, but only interpretable through its derivatives dream and parapraxes that overcome resistance by means of disguise and compromise. Within the preconscious system, the contents could be accessible, although only a small portion at any given moment. Unconscious thought is characterized by primary process thinking that lacks negation or logical connections and favors the over-inclusions and 'just-as' relationships evident in condensed dream images and displacements. Freud asserted that primary process of thinking was phylogenetically, and continues to be ontogenetically, prior to secondary process or logical thought, acquired later in childhood and familiar to us in our waking life (1900, 1915a).

    Read More

More about The Symptom Of Symptom From Freud

Open Document