Fwd: Psychoanalysis- Lecture Notes

Psychoanalysis- Lecture Notes

(Introduction to the Reading of Sigmund Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams)

Accordingly to Freud, one converts their repressed desires unconsciously.

These come in forms of:

1. Dreams

2. Slips of the tongue/parapraxis (Also known as the Freudian slip)

3. Jokes

• Links between the literary devices and the human psychic life must be established.

• One must be a critic of the self and not the other (Foucault-What is an Author) and therefore Sigmund Freud analysis one’s self to interpret the Dream Content and even one’s behaviour.

• Freud believed that there are specific stages in which an individual has a specific need, and gratification during each stage is important to prevent an individual from becoming fixated in any particular level.

• Fixation, as Freud described it, is attaching oneself in an unreasonable or exaggerated way to another individual or one particular stage of development. Freud claimed that such a fixation at one particular stage can cause bad habits or problems in an individual’s adult life.

1. Essays on Theory of Sexuality

   1. The Sexual Aberrations

   2. Infantile Sexuality

   3. The Transformation of Puberty
   

Freud’s understanding –Human being grow to become normal from being a child through three stages- The Polymorphoulsy perverse Stage

A child is considered unconscious- not suppressing the sexual desires- therefore it does not gender.

The stages in detail:

Oral Stage (Birth to 18 months).

• The child identifies itself with the mother.

• Pleasure is self-directed and towards the mother.

• It considers no boundaries of self and the other.

 During the oral stage, the child if focused on oral pleasures (sucking). Too much or too little gratification can result in an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is evidenced by a preoccupation with oral activities. This type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, over eat, or bite his or her nails. Personality wise, these individuals may become overly dependent upon others, gullible, and perpetual followers. On the other hand, they may also fight these urges and develop pessimism and aggression toward others.

Anal Stage (18 months to three years).

• Derives pleasure in expelling

• Parental care on the anal region

The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is on eliminating and retaining feces. Through society’s pressure, mainly via parents, the child has to learn to control anal stimulation. In terms of personality, after effects of an anal fixation during this stage can result in an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control (anal retentive). On the opposite end of the spectrum, they may become messy and disorganized (anal expulsive).

Phallic Stage (ages three to six).

• Pleasure is derived from their own sexual region.

• Fallace: Clitoris::Male: Female

The pleasure zone switches to the genitals. Freud believed that during this stage boy develop unconscious sexual desires for their mother. Because of this, he becomes rivals with his father and sees him as competition for the mother’s affection. During this time, boys also develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, such as by castrating them. This group of feelings is known as Oedipus Complex ( after the Greek Mythology figure who accidentally killed his father and married his mother).

Example of the Oedipus Complex:

Both boy and the girl identify with the mother.

• Boy suffers—Due to the mother been taken away by the father—Castration Anxiety-Castration fear-therefore desires other (outside)

• Girl-angry with her Mother-as she is in the way of getting to the father-therefore looks outside for a Father figure.
  

Neurosis and Perversion.—A great part of the opposition to my assertion is explained by the fact that the sexuality from which I deduce the psychoneurotic symptoms is thought of as coincident with the normal sexual impulse. But psychoanalysis teaches us better than this. It shows that the symptoms do not by any means result at the expense only of the so called normal sexual impulse (at least not exclusively or preponderantly), but they represent the converted expression of impulses which in a broader sense might be designated as perverse if they could manifest themselves directly in phantasies and acts without deviating from consciousness. The symptoms are therefore partially formed at the cost of abnormal sexuality. (Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality)

Accordingly to Foucault, Freud and Marx are within the Christian Tradition.

• Marx and Freud are the founders of discrusivity.

• “The latter contains characteristic signs, figures, relationships, and structures that could be reused by others.”-Referring to the philosophies and theories given by them, that are used by others in regards to other fields/areas of study as well.

Why is it necessary to locate Freud within the larger Cultural Context?

Criticism:

• Girindrasekhar-Medical Professional from the Calcutta University-First President of the India Psychoanalytic Society.---He approached Sigmund Freud with his opposition to the Oedipus Complex theory.

            “How would Freud respond to the dent in the theory of the Oedipus that Bose was trying to institute? Was Bose trying to think the question of the ‘subject’ of psychoanalysis, think “the Subject Who Is Finally in Question” (Lacan), think its specificity in our context? Was Bose trying to think the historical-cultural-social particularities of the ‘subject’ of analysis? Was he trying to move out of the particularities of the subject of analysis in the West, in its Judeo-Christian moorings? Was he trying to extricate his version of psychoanalysis from its particularly white bourgeoisie moorings, from its western moorings? But how would Freud respond to this critique and obeisance, critique masked in obeisance; or is it obeisance that drowns the critique; but then, this obeisance to whom; to which Freud; to a particular Freud; to Freud’s Anglo-American invocation?”

• Therefore, we must engage in the context in which we exist.

• Psyche is not necessarily repressive but also reflective.

            The topic and content of Girindrashekar’s doctorate was in no way related to experimental psychology. ‘The Concept of Repression’ was related more to psychoanalysis than psychology. On the whole, Girindrasekhar was not too enthusiastic about the application of western experimental psychological techniques in the Bengali context. In fact, Girindrasekhar left nearly no doubt about this view that the most important psychological method of the Hindus was ‘introspection’: India’s ancient learned men had a genius for introspective meditation and the Indian psychologist has that heritage. In this respect he enjoys an advantage over his colleagues in the west. (Girindrasekhar, as quoted by Hartnack, 2001)

References:

Dhar, Anup. "“Whither the (Post)colonial: Freud and the Savage Freud”." Academia.edu. N.p.. Web. 23 Jan 2014.

"www.Wordpress.com." Catatan ku, seorang doktor . N.p., 07 09 2011. Web. 23 Jan 2014. <http://catatanseorangdoktor.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/sigmund-freuds-theory-of-child-development-and-mental-disorders/>.

Sigmund , Freud. "The Project Gutenberg." Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex. N.p., 08 02 2005. Web. 23 Jan 2014. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14969/14969-h/14969-h.htm>.

Foucault, Michel. "Wiki.Brown.Edu." What is an Author. N.p.. Web. 23 Jan 2014. <https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/download/attachments/74858352/FoucaultWhatIsAnAuthor.pdf>.

Pinto, Anil. Class Lecture. Twentieth Century Critical Traditions.
Christ University. Bangalore,
India. 21 Jan. 2013.

[Notes of the lecture delivered on 21 January, 2014 at Christ University, as prepared by Esther Priyanka- I M.A. (ENG) -1324129]