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Psychodynamic approach - Coggle Diagram
Psychodynamic approach
Psychosexual development -
Sigmund Freud theorised that the personality develops during childhood in psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Psychosexual development
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Each of us must pass through these childhood stages, and of we do not have the proper nurturing and parenting during a stage, we will be stuck, or fixated, in that stage, even as adults.
In each psychosexual stage of development, the child's please-seeking urges, coming from the id, are focused on a different area of the body, called an erogenous zone.
The stages are oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Controversial theory
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To understand the origins of the theory, it is helpful to be familiar with the political, social, and cultural influences of Freud's day in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century.
During this era, aa climate of sexual repression, combined with limited understanding and education surrounding human sexuality, heavily influenced Freud's perspective.
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Stages of psychosexual development - Freud proposed psychosexual stages of development that happen during childhood. At each stage, pleasure is derived from a part of the body, and conflicts can arise leading to problems in adulthood.
Oral
In the oral stage (birth to 1 year), pleasure is focused on the mouth.
Eating and the pleasure derived from sucking (nipples, pacifiers, and thumbs) play a large part on a baby's first year of life.
At around one year of age, babies are weaned from the bottle or breast, and this process can create conflict if not handled properly by caregivers.
According to Freud, an adult who smokes, drinks, overeats, or bites their nails is fixation in the oral stage of their psychosexual development; where fixation tendencies seek to ease anxiety.
Anal
After passing through the oral stage, children enter what Freud termed the anal stage (1-3 years).
In this stage, children experience pleasure in their bowel and bladder movements, so it makes sense that the conflict in this stage is over toilet training.
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A number of personalities can happen if training is handled badly - anal-retentive and anal-explosive personalities.
Phallic
Freud's third stage of psychosexual development is the phallic stage (3-6 years), corresponding to the age when children become aware of their bodies and recognise the differences between boys and girls.
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The conflict arises when the child feels a desire for the opposite sex parent, and jealousy and hatred towards the same-sex parent.
For boys, this is known as the Oedipus complex and for girls, the Electra complex.
Latency
Following the phallic stage of psychosexual development is a period known as the latency period (6 years to puberty).
This period is not considered a stage, because sexual feelings are dormant as children focus on other pursuits, such as school, friendships, hobbies, and sports.
Children generally engage in activities with peers of the same sex. This consolidates a child's gender-role identity.
Genital
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In this stage, there is a sexual reawakening as the incestuous urges resurface. But the young person redirects these urges to more socially acceptable partners (who often resemble the other-sex parent).
People in this stage have mature sexual interests, which for Freud meant a strong desire for the opposite sex.
Individuals who successfully completed the previous stages, reaching the genital stage with no fixation, are said to be well-balanced, healthy adults.