freud

Psychoanalysis is a system of psychology originated by the Viennese physician Sigmund Freud in the 1890's and then further developed by himself, his students, and other followers. It consists of activities such as using methods for research into the human mind, a systematic knowledge about the mind, and a method for the treatment of psychological or emotional disorders. Psychoanalysis began with the discovery of "hysteria," an illness with physical symptoms that occurred in a completely healthy physical body, such as a numbness or paralysis of a limb, loss of voice, or blindness. This state could be caused by unconscious wishes or forgotten memories. Many women of the 1800’s were diagnosed with hysteria, given the disorder was thought to be primarily female. Freud began telling his patients, through interpretations, what was going on inside the unconscious part of their minds, thus helping the unconscious become conscious. Many cases of hysteria were cured this way, and in 1895, Freud, along with another fellow physician, published their findings and theories on the study of hysteria. In The White Hotel by D. M. Thomas, the character Lisa does not exhibit the above form of hysteria, but rather a manifestation of reality. Her own reality has become too imprisoned, and she escapes it by creating another Lisa that is nothing like her person.

The traditional psychoanalytical theory states that all human beings are born with instinctual drives that are constantly active even though a person is not usually conscious of them. Two drives, one for sexual pleasure and the other called aggression, motivate and propel most behaviors in people. Lisa creates a very intense sexual drive for her fictive person. Readers may speculate that this creation may have been brought about by experiences beginning at birth. In the infant, the libido supposedly first manifests itself by making the act of sucking the thumb an activity with pleasurable sensations in the mouth. Later, according to Freud, similar pleasures are experienced in the anus during bowel movements, and finally these erotically tinged pleasures are experienced when the sexual organ is manipulated. Thus psychosexual development progresses from the oral through the anal to the phallic stage. During the height of the phallic phase (about ages three to six), Freud notes that these drives focus on the parent ...

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... views into the theory of infantile instinctual drives as the motivating force for normal behavior and as the cause of neurosis if repressed. Continuing research has discovered much evidence that the early relationships between children and parents, have the greatest impact on later psychological development. The influence of the care-givers, especially during infancy, leave a lasting imprint on the personality. Any experience with objects, including persons, that evoke and strengthen the self are "self-object" experiences and are needed by every human being from birth to death in order to sustain a cohesive self. Absence of or faulty self-object experiences cause a loss of cohesion with the self. Lisa’s character was a prime candidate for Freud’s psychoanalysis. She followed many of the stereotypical guidelines set by Freud’s studies. Her reality failed her, so a more vibrant one was created in order to suppress years of secrets, neglect, and the pain from it all. Her character was eventually brought back into a state of reality, but it was too late to "save" her. The true reality that faced her was the grimace of death of her true "self" in the end.