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Ego psychology is a school of psychoanalysis rooted in Sigmund Freud's structural -- id-ego-superego -- model of the mind. Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior The concept of psychosexual development, as envisioned by Sigmund Freud at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century is a central element in his sexual Psychosocial development as articulated by Erik Erikson explains Eight Stages through which a healthily developing Human should pass from Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the See also Consciousness Jacques Lacan Philosophy of mind Rapid eye movement sleep Many observers throughout history have argued that there are influences on Consciousness from other parts of the Mind. The term psychic apparatus (sometimes translated as psychical apparatus or mental apparatus) is a central concept of Freudian Metapsychology. Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the " Psychic apparatus " defined in Sigmund Freud 's structural model of Libido in its common usage means Sexual desire however more technical definitions such as those found in the work of Carl Jung, are more general referring to libido Motivation is the reason or reasons for engaging in a particular behavior especially Human behavior as studied in Philosophy, Conflict, Economics Transference is a phenomenon in Psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings for one person to another In Psychology, sublimation is a coping mechanism It has its roots in the Nietzschean & psychoanalytical approach and is often also referred to as a type Psychological resistance is the phenomenon often encountered in clinical practice in which patients either directly or indirectly oppose changing their behavior or refuse to discuss Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Alfred Adler ( February 7 1870 &ndash May 28 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychologist and founder of Otto Rank ( April 22, 1884 – October 31, 1939) was an Austrian Psychoanalyst, writer teacher and therapist Anna Freud ( December 3, 1895 – October 9, 1982) was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud Margaret Schönberger Mahler ( May 10 1897 – October 2 1985) was a Hungarian physician who later became interested in psychiatry Karen Horney (pronounced "horn-eye" /hɔrnaɪ/ born Danielsen ( September 16, 1885 – December 4, 1952) was a German Jacques-Marie-Émile Lacan (French ʒak lakɑ̃ ( April 13, 1901 &ndash September 9, 1981) was a French Psychoanalyst William Ronald Dodds Fairbairn ( 11 August 1889 - 31 December 1964) was a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. Melanie Klein ( March 30 1882 – September 22 1960) was an Austrian born Herbert "Harry" Stack Sullivan ( February 21, 1892, Norwich New York – January 14, 1949, Paris, France Erik Homburger Erikson ( June 15, 1902 – May 12, 1994) was born in Frankfurt to Danish parents but later obtained Nancy Julia Chodorow is a feminist sociologist and psychoanalyst born 20 January 1944 in New York City. Susan Sutherland Isaacs (née Fairhurst (1885–1948 was an English educational Psychologist and Psychoanalyst. Alfred Ernest Jones ( January 1, 1879 – February 11, 1958) Welsh Neurologist, Psychoanalyst and Sigmund Heinz Kohut May 3 1913 &ndash October 8 1981 is best known for his development of Self Psychology, a school of thought The Interpretation of Dreams is a book by Sigmund Freud. The first edition was first published in German in November 1899 as Die Traumdeutung The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis (Les quatres concepts fondamentaux de la psychanalyse is the English translation of one of the pivotal works of Jacques " Beyond the Pleasure Principle " (first published in German in 1920 as Jenseits des Lustprinzips) is an essay by Sigmund Freud. Civilization and Its Discontents is a book by Sigmund Freud. Written in 1929 and first published in German in 1930 as Das Unbehagen in der Kultur Self psychology is a school of Psychoanalytic theory and therapy created by Heinz Kohut and developed in the United States. Jacques-Marie-Émile Lacan (French ʒak lakɑ̃ ( April 13, 1901 &ndash September 9, 1981) was a French Psychoanalyst Analytical psychology (or Jungian psychology) refers to the school of Psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and then advanced Object relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within Psychoanalytic psychology. Interpersonal psychoanalysis is based on the theories of Harry Stack Sullivan, an American Psychiatrist who believed that the details of patient's interpersonal interactions Relational psychoanalysis is a school of Psychoanalysis in the United States that emphasizes the role of real and imagined relationships with others in Mental disorder Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the " Psychic apparatus " defined in Sigmund Freud 's structural model of
An individual interacts with the external world as well as responds to internal forces. Many psychoanalysts use a theoretical construct called the ego to explain how that is done through various ego functions. Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the " Psychic apparatus " defined in Sigmund Freud 's structural model of Proponents of ego psychology focus on the ego’s normal and pathological development, its management of libidinal and aggressive impulses, and its adaptation to reality. Psychopathology is a term which refers to either the study of Mental illness or mental distress or the manifestation of behaviours and experiences which may be indicative Libido in its common usage means Sexual desire however more technical definitions such as those found in the work of Carl Jung, are more general referring to libido Reality, in everyday usage means "the state of things as they actually exist"
Contents |
History
Sigmund Freud initially considered the ego to be a sense organ for perception of both external and internal stimuli. Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Senses are the physiological methods of Perception. The senses and their operation classification and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields In Psychology and the Cognitive sciences perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory Information. He thought of the ego as synonymous with consciousness and contrasted it with the repressed unconscious. Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the By 1911, he referenced ego instincts for the first time in Formulations on the Two Principles of Mental Functioning and contrasted them with sexual instincts: ego instincts responded to the reality principle while sexual instincts obeyed the pleasure principle. He also introduced attention and memory as ego functions. Attention is the Cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things In Psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store retain and subsequently retrieve information
Freud began to notice that not all unconscious phenomena could be attributed to the id; it appeared as if the ego had unconscious aspects as well. This posed a significant problem for his topographic theory, which he resolved with the publication of his essay The Ego and the Id (1923). In what came to be called the structural theory, the ego was now a formal component of a three-way system that also included the id and superego. Id, ego, and super-ego are the three parts of the " Psychic apparatus " defined in Sigmund Freud 's structural model of The ego was still organized around conscious perceptual capacities, yet it now had unconscious features responsible for repression and other defensive operations. Freud’s ego at this stage was relatively passive and weak; he described it as the helpless rider on the id’s horse, more or less obliged to go where the id wished to go. (Meissner, 159).
Not long after The Ego and the Id, Freud (1926) published Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety. In this essay, Freud revised his theory of anxiety as well as delineated a more robust ego. Instead of being passive and reactive to the id, the ego was now a formidable counterweight to it, responsible for regulating id impulses, as well as integrating an individual’s functioning into a coherent whole. The modifications made by Freud in Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety formed the basis of a psychoanalytic psychology interested in the nature and functions of the ego. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and
Following Freud, the psychoanalyst most responsible for the development of ego psychology was Heinz Hartmann (1958). Heinz Hartmann (1894 in Vienna, Austria - 1970 in Stony Point, New York) was a Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst. Through his assiduous study of ego functions and how an individual adapts to his or her environment, Hartmann created both a general psychology and a clinical instrument with which an analyst could evaluate an individual’s functioning and formulate appropriate therapeutic interventions. Mitchell and Black (1995) write “Hartmann powerfully affected the course of psychoanalysis, opening up a crucial investigation of the key processes and vicissitudes of normal development. Hartmann’s contributions broadened the scope of psychoanalytic concerns, from psychopathology to general human development, from an isolated, self-contained treatment method to a sweeping intellectual discipline among other disciplines (p. 35). ”
Hartmann (1958) believed the ego included innate capacities for such things as perception, attention, memory, concentration, motor coordination, and language. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Under normal conditions, what Hartmann called an average expectable environment, these capacities developed into ego functions and had autonomy from the libidinal and aggressive drives; that is, they were not products of frustration and conflict, as Freud (1911) believed. Frustration is an Emotional response to circumstances where one is obstructed from arriving at a personal goal. Hartmann recognized, however, that conflicts were part of the human condition and in the process of ego development certain functions often became conflicted by aggressive and libidinal impulses. According to Hartmann, the task of the psychoanalyst was to neutralize conflicted impulses and expand the conflict-free spheres of ego functions. By doing so, Hartmann believed psychoanalysis facilitated an individual’s adaptation to his or her environment.
Subsequent psychoanalysts interested in ego psychology emphasized the role of defenses, early-childhood experiences, and the importance of socio-cultural influences. First, Anna Freud (1966) focused her attention on the ego’s unconscious, defensive operations and introduced many important theoretical and clinical considerations. Anna Freud ( December 3, 1895 – October 9, 1982) was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud She believed the ego was predisposed to supervise, regulate, and oppose the id through defenses and that this activity could be observed by the psychoanalyst in the manifest presentation of the patient’s associations. In Psychology and Marketing, two concepts or stimuli are associated when the experience of one leads to the effects of another due to repeated pairing The analyst needed to be attuned to the moment-by-moment process of what the patient talked about in order to identify, label, and explore defenses as they appeared. For Anna Freud, interpreting repressed content was less important than understanding the ego’s methods by which it kept things out of consciousness.
Next, René Spitz (1965), Margaret Mahler (1968), and Edith Jacobson (1964) studied infant behavior and their observations were integrated into ego psychology. René Árpád Spitz ( 1887 &ndash November 11, 1974) was an American psychoanalyst of Hungarian origin Margaret Schönberger Mahler ( May 10 1897 – October 2 1985) was a Hungarian physician who later became interested in psychiatry Their research described and explained early attachment issues, successful and faulty ego development, and psychological development through interpersonal interactions. In particular, Spitz identified the importance of mother-infant nonverbal emotional reciprocity; Mahler refined the traditional psychosexual developmental phases by adding the separation-individuation process; and Jacobson emphasized how libidinal and aggressive impulses unfolded within the context of early relationships and environmental factors.
Finally, Erik Erikson provided a bold reformulation of Freud’s biologic, epigenetic psychosexual theory through his explorations of socio-cultural influences on ego development. Erik Homburger Erikson ( June 15, 1902 – May 12, 1994) was born in Frankfurt to Danish parents but later obtained For Erikson, an individual was pushed by his or her own biological urges and pulled by socio-cultural forces.
In the United States, ego psychology was the predominant psychoanalytic approach due mostly to the influx of European psychoanalysts, including all the prominent ego psychologists, during and after World War II. Ego psychology, however, gradually became conflated with the hegemonic influence of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the theory came to be viewed as conservative, oppressive, and focused too narrowly on oedipal conflicts. The Oedipus complex, in Freudian Psychoanalysis, is named after the Greek mythical character Oedipus, who unknowingly kills his father It was challenged by W.R.D. Fairbairn’s object relations theory, Melanie Klein's theory, and then by Heinz Kohut’s self psychology. William Ronald Dodds Fairbairn ( 11 August 1889 - 31 December 1964) was a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. Object relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within Psychoanalytic psychology. Melanie Klein ( March 30 1882 – September 22 1960) was an Austrian born Heinz Kohut May 3 1913 &ndash October 8 1981 is best known for his development of Self Psychology, a school of thought Self psychology is a school of Psychoanalytic theory and therapy created by Heinz Kohut and developed in the United States. (Ego psychology should not be confused with self psychology, as the two are distinctly different models of the mind with differing clinical methods. )
Charles Brenner (1982) attempted to revive ego psychology with a concise and incisive articulation of the fundamental focus of psychoanalysis: intrapsychic conflict and the resulting compromise formations. Over time, Brenner (2002) tried to develop a more clinically-based theory, what came to be called “modern conflict theory. ” He distanced himself from the formal components of the structural theory and its metapsychological assumptions, and focused entirely on compromise formations. It is, in essence, ego psychology by another name.
Other ego psychologists, such as Paul Gray (2005) and Fred Busch, have argued for an increasingly nuanced and sophisticated concept of the ego. In particular, Gray argued that there has been a "developmental lag" in psychoanalysis; that is, when Freud shifted from the topographic to the structural model, a corresponding shift in technique, made necessary by the new model, was slow to develop.
Ego Functions
Reality Testing: The ego’s capacity to distinguish what is occurring in one’s own mind from what is occurring in the external world. It is perhaps the single most important ego function because it is necessary for negotiating with the outside world. One must be able to perceive and understand stimuli accurately. Reality testing is often subject to temporary, mild distortion or deterioration under stressful conditions. Such impairment can result in temporary delusions and hallucination and is generally selective, clustering along specific, psychodynamic lines. Chronic deficiencies suggest either psychotic or organic interference.
Impulse Control: The ability to manage aggressive and/or libidinal wishes without immediate discharge through behavior or symptoms. Problems with impulse control are common; for example: road rage; sexual promiscuity; excessive drug and alcohol use; and binge eating.
Affect Regulation: The ability to modulate feelings without being overwhelmed.
Judgment: The capacity to act responsibly. This process includes identifying possible courses of action, anticipating and evaluating likely consequences, and making decisions as to what is appropriate in certain circumstances.
Object Relations: The capacity for mutually satisfying relationship. The individual can perceive himself and others as whole objects with three dimensional qualities.
Thought Processes: The ability to have logical, coherent, and abstract thoughts. In stressful situations, thought processes can become disorganized. The presence of chronic or severe problems in conceptual thinking is frequently associated with schizophrenia and manic episodes.
Defensive Functioning: A defense is an unconscious attempt to protect the individual from some powerful identity threatening feeling. Initial defenses develop in infancy and involve the boundary between the self and the outer world; they are considered primitive defenses and include projection, denial, and splitting. As the child grows up, more sophisticated defenses that deal with internal boundaries such as those between ego and super ego or the id develop; these defenses include repression, regression, displacement, and reaction formation. All adults have, and use, primitive defenses, but most people also have more mature ways of coping with reality and anxiety.
Synthesis: The synthetic function is the ego’s capacity to organize and unify other functions within the personality. It enables the individual to think, feel, and act in a coherent manner. It includes the capacity to integrate potentially contradictory experiences, ideas, and feelings; for example, a child loves his or her mother yet also has angry feelings toward her at times. The ability to synthesize these feelings is a pivotal developmental achievement.
Conflict, Defense, and Resistance Analysis
According to Freud’s structural theory, an individual’s libidinal and aggressive impulses are continuously in conflict with his or her own conscience as well as with the limits imposed by reality. In certain circumstances, these conflicts may lead to neurotic symptoms. Thus, the goal of psychoanalytic treatment is to establish a balance between bodily needs, psychological wants, one’s own conscience, and social constraints. Ego psychologists argue that the conflict is best addressed by the psychological agency that has the closest relationship to consciousness, unconsciousness, and reality: the ego.
The clinical technique most commonly associated with ego psychology is defense analysis. Through clarifying, confronting, and interpreting the typical defense mechanisms a patient uses, ego psychologists hope to help the patient gain control over these mechanisms.
Criticisms of ego psychology
Many authors have criticized Hartmann's conception of a conflict-free sphere of ego functioning as both incoherent and inconsistent with Freud's vision of psychoanalysis as a science of mental conflict. Freud believed that the ego itself takes shape as a result of the conflict between the id and the external world. The ego, therefore, is inherently a conflicting formation in the mind. To state, as Hartmann did, that the ego contains a conflict-free sphere may not be consistent with key propositions of Freud's structural theory.
Some have also accused Hartmann of proposing a conformist psychology in which the ego is considered most healthy when it adjusts to the status quo. Hartmann claimed, however, that his aim was to understand the mutual regulation of the ego and environment rather than to promote adjustment of the ego to the environment. Furthermore, an individual with a less-conflicted ego would be better able to actively respond and shape, rather than passively react to, his or her environment.
Also, Jacques Lacan, a prominent French psychoanalyst, had a certain disdain for ego-psychology. Jacques-Marie-Émile Lacan (French ʒak lakɑ̃ ( April 13, 1901 &ndash September 9, 1981) was a French Psychoanalyst He took issue with the movement insofar as his form of psychoanalysis focuses on the unconscious, rather than the ego. It also splits the ego and theorizes how one never has a true relation to their ego because it is an illusionary relationship to an ideal image, and is a product of the unconscious itself.
References
- Brenner, C. (1982). The mind in conflict. New York: International Universities Press, Inc.
- Brenner, C. (2002). Conflict, compromise formation, and structural Theory. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 71, 397-417.
- Freud, A. (1966). The ego and the mechanisms of defense. Revised edition. New York: International Universities Press, Inc.
- Freud, S. (1911). Formulations on the two principles of mental functioning. Standard Edition, vol. 12, pp. 213-226.
- Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id. Standard Edition, vol. 19, pp. 1-59.
- Freud, S. (1926). Inhibitions, symptoms, and anxieties. Standard Edition, vol. 20, pp. 75-174.
- Gray, P. (2005). The ego and analysis of defense. 2nd edition. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.
- Hartmann, H. (1958). Ego psychology and the problem of adaptation. Trans. , David Rapaport. New York: International Universities Press, Inc.
- Jacobson, E. (1964). The self and the object world. New York: International Universities Press, Inc.
- Mahler, M. (1968). On human symbiosis and the vicissitudes of individuation. New York: International Universities Press, Inc.
- Meissner, W. W. ( ). Freud and psychoanalysis.
- Mitchell, S. A. & Black, M. J. (1995). Freud and beyond: A history of modern psychoanalytic thought. New York: Basic Books.
- Spitz, R. (1965). The first year of life. New York: International Universities Press.
External links
- Scharnberg, Vienna Woods criticism of the scientific validity of Ego psychology by Freud scholar Max Scharnberg.
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