psychoanalytic theory of freud

• all psychic energy is generated by the libido
• freud wrote the interpretation of dreams as his first book
• sigmund freud specializes treatment of neurotic disorders
• freud's theory is around analysis of the consciousness
• mental state of a person is influenced by 2 competing forces: cathexis and anticathexis
• heredity is our nature and environment is our nurture
• cathexis refers to a relationship or connection between a need and an object that satisfies the need
• anti-cathexis is the inhibition of an impulse by either ego or the superego
• cathexis is described as an investment of mental energy in a person, an idea, or an object
• anticathexis acts to block or suppress cathexes from being utilized
• anti-cathexis uses repression to keep undesirable actions, thoughts, or behaviors from coming into conscious awareness
• the id is unconscious and contains instinctual drives such as sex and aggression
• the id is the source of all psychic energy and it operates on the pleasure principle which seeks immediate gratification without regard to reality
• the id has no sense of time, morality, or guilt
• the ego mediates between the demands of the id and reality
• the superego represents internalized parental values and morality
• ego defense mechanisms are used when there is conflict between the id's desires and external realities
• the ego mediates between the demands of the id and the realities of the external world
• in cathexis, the ego might harness some of the id's energy to seek out activities in order to disperse some of the excess energy from the id
• interventions of freud: free association, dream analysis, talk therapy
• freud's greatest contribution is the exploration of the unconscious mind
• freud argues that people are motivated by instinctual forces
• the goal of the psyche is to maintain or regain an acceptable level of dynamic equilibrium that maximizes pleasure and minimizes tension
• the id works as a pleasure principle, the ego as a reality principle, and the superego as a moralistic and idealistic principle
• to freud, mental life is divided into two levels: the unconscious and the conscious
• the unconscious has two levels, the unconscious proper and preconscious
• the unconscious mind is the part of the mind that is not accessible to the conscious mind
• meaning behind dreams, slips of the tongue, and certain kinds of forgetting are called repression under the unconscious
• preconscious mind is conscious for a transitory period
• preconscious thoughts were forgotten and once conscious
• preconscious thoughts are the ideas we do not want to recognize because it is threatening
• conscious is the present mental state of being aware of one's surroundings and of one's own thoughts and feelings
• conscious is the level of mental life directly available to us
• the id is illogical and can simultaneously entertain incompatible ideas
• the ego is the sole region in the mind that is in contact with the external world
• the origin of our superego comes from the period of our parents teaching us what we should and should not do
• the superego has two subsystems: conscious and the ego-ideal
• the id furnishes power to the ego and superego
• the id powers for libido and aims to avoid pain and seek pleasure
• the id is a subjective reality