Psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud: methods, processes, techniques.

What secrets does our psyche hide? Why do they say that “we all come from childhood”? Why do we stubbornly step on the same rake and cannot get out of the vicious circle of relationships that do not suit us? Where do dreams come from and what are they trying to tell us?

Psychoanalysis, created at the beginning of the 20th century and undermining the psychology of consciousness to the ground, gives its answers to these and many other questions concerning the mental life of a person.

The revolutionary views of Sigmund Freud, a brilliant scientist of the early 20th century, not only turned the science of psychology upside down, but also had a huge impact on the entire Western culture. Meanwhile, it cannot be said that the choice of the field of activity, which Freud would later indulge in with all the passion characteristic only of great talents, was made by him consciously.

Sigmund Freud (born 1856) came from a poor Jewish family, and therefore, even having brilliantly graduated from the gymnasium in Vienna, he did not have the opportunity to do anything other than medicine and law - these were the unspoken anti-Semitic rules of those times. Freud chose Faculty of Medicine University of Vienna. From the very beginning, he wanted more to engage in scientific research, but financial difficulties forced him to start practicing. Freud managed to work both as a surgeon, and as a therapist, and as a family doctor, but he chose psychiatry and neuropathology.

Freud was extremely hardworking: his legacy is 24 volumes of scientific writings. He constantly developed and revised his views, ardently affirming and confirming practical research the truth of their guesses and insights. A circle of young doctors gathered around Freud, many of whom subsequently developed their own ideas and created their own schools of psychological thought. It was not easy to get along with him - he tyrannically demanded devotion and loyalty from his associates and arbitrarily expelled those who dared to criticize his theory or propose new, according to Freud, erroneous views on the psyche. Perhaps the Jewish origin, which automatically made him a man of the lower class, and the need to defend his opinion, brought up in Freud from his youth "fighting" qualities and the ability to resist the majority.

AT last years During his life, Freud struggled with constant pain caused by a serious illness - facial cancer. For 15 years, he underwent thirty-three operations, but did not stop working: conducting research, lecturing, publishing works. The more famous his views became, the more criticism was heard against him, and with the more force Freud retorted the arguments of his opponents. In 1933, the Nazis burned a pile of his books, to which Freud reacted with humor, noting that this was progress, that in the Middle Ages they would have burned him himself. In 1938, after the capture of Austria by the Nazis, Freud was allowed to leave for England, where he died a year later.

The history of the emergence of psychoanalysis

At the beginning of his career, Sigmund Freud was fortunate to work with such prominent scientists as the famous European physiologist Ernst Brücke, the successful hypnotic physician Joseph Breuer, and the famous neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot. (Yes, yes, the same Charcot, whose name shower is used today to treat nervous mental disorders). Some ideas and thoughts that originated in this initial period activities, subsequently found development in the scientific works of Freud.

In particular, the attention of the young scientist and medical practitioner Sigmund Freud was attracted by the fact that some of the symptoms that manifested in patients with hysteria could not be explained in any way from the point of view of physiology. For example, a person "lost sensation" in one area of ​​his body, although nerve conduction in neighboring areas remained healthy. Another example is that not all processes occurring in the psyche can be explained by the reaction nervous system or an act of human consciousness, was the observation of the behavior of people subjected to hypnosis. Now everyone understands that a person in a hypnotic state can be given an order to perform certain actions, and after awakening the person will unconsciously strive to fulfill the order. If you ask a person why he wants to perform this action, he will give quite logical justifications. That is, the psyche itself “comes up” with explanations for actions, even if there is no objective need for these actions. In Freud's time, the understanding that a person's conscious actions can be controlled by reasons hidden from consciousness was a real discovery. Before Freud, the concepts of "unconscious" or "subconscious" did not exist at all! These observations served as an impetus for the development of psychoanalysis - that is, the analysis of the human psyche from the point of view of its driving forces, causes and consequences, the impact of previous experience on later life and neuropsychic health.

Fundamentals of psychoanalysis

The whole theory of psychoanalysis is based on Freud's assertion that in the nature of mental (spiritual) life there are no breaks and inconsistencies. Every thought, desire, feeling or action has its cause - a conscious or unconscious intention. Previous events and experiences influence subsequent ones. Even if some emotional experiences, according to a person, are not justified by anything, there are hidden connections that establish one conscious event with another.

Therefore, the human psyche can be divided into three areas: consciousness, preconscious, unconscious.

• The domain of the unconscious contains instinctive elements that have never been conscious and will never be accessible to him. Also, experiences, feelings and thoughts that have not passed “censorship”, that is, perceived by a person as forbidden, dirty, having no right to life, are forced out of consciousness here. The unconscious is not subject to time. Early childhood memories, if they suddenly re-enter consciousness, remain as vivid as they were at the time of their inception.
• The preconscious is a part of the unconscious that can easily become accessible to consciousness.
• Consciousness includes what we are aware of at every moment in our lives.

The main active forces of the psyche, according to Freud, are instincts - tensions that direct the body towards a specific goal. There are two main instincts:

• Libido (from Latin “desire”) - the energy of life;
• Aggressive energy or death instinct.

Psychoanalytic theory considers for the most part“libido”, which is basically sexual in nature. Libido is a living energy, the emergence, quantity, movement and distribution of which can explain the observed mental disorders or features in a person’s behavior, thoughts and experiences.

In the personality of a person, according to psychoanalysis, there are three structures: It (Id), I (Ego) and Super-I (Super-Ego).

It (Id) is everything inherent in a person from the very beginning - heredity and instincts. The id does not obey the laws of logic, everything in it is chaotic and unorganized. However, the id undoubtedly influences the ego and the superego. Eid is a blind king whose power is limitless, but who is forced to rely on his subordinates to carry out his will.

I (Ego) is that part of the personality that is in direct contact with others. The ego develops from the id as the child becomes aware of himself as a person. The ego feeds on the juices of the Eid, protecting it as the bark protects a tree. The interaction of the Ego and the Id can be represented by the example of a sexual need: the Id would discharge this need through direct sexual activity, the Ego is called upon to decide when and under what conditions such activity would be appropriate. The ego restrains or redirects the instinctive id, ensuring the physical and mental health and safety of the individual.

Super-I (Super-Ego) - in turn develops from the Ego. Superego is a repository moral standards and laws, these are restrictions and prohibitions imposed on a person. According to Freud, the superego has three functions: conscience, self-observation and the formation of ideals.

The id, ego, and superego are called upon to achieve the same goal together: to maintain a balance between the desire for increased pleasure and the danger of displeasure.

The energy born in the id finds its expression in the ego, and the superego defines the boundaries of the ego. Since the requirements of the id, the superego, and the external reality to which the personality must adapt are often contradictory, conflicts inevitably arise within the personality.

The solution of intrapersonal conflicts can take place in several ways:

• Dreams;
• Sublimation;
• Compensation;
• Blocking with "protection mechanisms"

In dreams they can find expressions of desire that were not fulfilled in real life. Recurring dreams may indicate some unfulfilled need, which is an obstacle to a person’s free self-expression and his further psychological growth.

Sublimation is the redirection of libido energy to socially approved goals. Often such goals are creativity, intellectual or social activity. Sublimation can be called a successful defense. Sublimated energy creates what is called civilization.

Anxiety that arises as a result of unsatisfied desire can be resolved by directly addressing the problem. In this case, the energy that finds no way out is directed to overcome difficulties, to reduce their consequences, to compensate for the lack of something. A striking example of organic compensation is the development of perfect hearing in visually impaired or blind people. The human psyche can do the same: for example, with a lack of abilities and strong desire without fail to succeed in the chosen activity, a person may develop an unparalleled capacity for work or excessive assertiveness.

For example, such a situation as the loss of love and recognition, if it is impossible to get approval again, can cause severe anxiety and anxiety - create unbearable tension. This tension can find an outlet in dreams, or be directed to creativity: writing poems, drawing pictures, and so on. Or in such a situation, a person can directly try to win favor and direct his efforts to obtaining approval from someone - everyone knows cases when failures in their personal lives by some people are compensated by an extremely successful career.

But in other cases, the emerging tension is distorted or rejected with the help of such defense mechanisms as repression (suppression), denial, rationalization, reactive formation, isolation, projection and regression, overcompensation.

In our example of the loss of love, the defense mechanisms can be illustrated as follows:

• Repression (suppression): - Was there love? I do not remember…
• Denial: - Yes, there was no love!
• Rationalization: - I loved (loved) the wrong person, it was a mistake.
• Reactive formation (need distortion): - My best man is my cat!
• Isolation: - Love is not for me.
• Projection (attributing one's thoughts and feelings to others): - Nobody loves anyone, nobody knows how to truly love ... (We read: nobody loves me ...)
• Regression (transition to more early stages development): - Now I have only one love - delicious food.
• Overcompensation (overcompensation) - I am for free sexual relations with no restrictions!

Psychoanalysis is a brilliant attempt by Sigmund Freud to understand and describe those components of mental life that seemed incomprehensible in the pre-Freudian period.

The word "psychoanalysis" from the time of its creation to the present is called:

• research procedures mental processes;
• method of treatment of neurotic disorders;
• scientific discipline.

Psychoanalytic practice

Perhaps, at the word “psychoanalysis”, a picture pops up in the mind of many, often anecdotally used in cinema:

Indifferent with an absolutely neutral facial expression, sometimes bearded (so that no emotions can be seen at all), the analyst sits at his desk, and the patient sits in a reclining chair or on the couch almost with his back to the analyst and tells something about his life there . The analyst occasionally lets out remarks, but generally does not interfere with or force the flow of the patient's speech. It can be seen from the nature of what is happening that while the patient pours out his soul, the psychoanalyst is immersed in his own thoughts and does not follow the process too much.

The meaning of all this action is not very clear, and often people are sincerely surprised why psychoanalysts are “paid that kind of money!”.

In fact, the procedure of psychoanalysis outwardly looks almost the same, except that at the moment of the patient’s story, the analyst is extremely concentrated - after all, it is at this moment that he analyzes in “real time” everything that the patient trusts him. The client during psychoanalysis is indeed not located opposite the analyst, but slightly to the side, but so that, if desired, he can turn his head and see the expression on his face. There are definitely emotions on the face of the analyst, and these emotions should show the person: “I accept everything that you say, I don’t condemn, I don’t moralize, I don’t pass judgment.”

The main task of the analyst is to release subconscious thoughts and feelings so that they can be worked with consciously. For this, an atmosphere of relaxation and trust is created on the one hand and complete neutrality on the other. The rule of neutrality also lies in the fact that in psychoanalysis any personal contact between the patient and the analyst is prohibited: no handshakes, let alone more. The patient does not need to know the details of the psychoanalyst's personal life, it is enough that he knows his professional data.

The goal of psychoanalysis is to release blocked energy and allow it to be freely realized, making a person freer and happier. It is believed that by realizing the causes of repressed desires and realizing the presence of complexes, it is possible, although not without difficulty, to find acceptable forms of expression of the Id, as well as to make the human Ego strong, independent and more independent of the Super-Ego.

Freud's works and psychoanalysis are often criticized today, but the concepts he introduced It (Id), I (Ego), Super-I (Super-Ego), libido, sublimation, defense mechanisms are now understood not only by scientists, practicing psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists but also just culturally educated people. Psychoanalysis is reflected in literature and art, including cinema, anthropology, ethnography, pedagogy and sociology.

She gradually became philosophy about the individual, society and culture.

The core of psychoanalysis is the idea of ​​​​an eternal secret war between instincts hidden in the depths of the individual (the main of which is sexual desire - libido) and the need to comply with generally accepted norms and rules of behavior in society that control instincts.

Social prohibitions, suppressing the energy of instincts, force her to look for workarounds. And it manifests itself in the form of neuroses, dreams of forgetting the unpleasant, and so on.

The unconscious is a huge layer of the psyche, in terms of its volume is much larger than the entire conscious life. The unconscious is a bottomless reservoir of our inherently biological energy: complexes, fears, neuroses, instincts.

Freud's main conclusion: a person can never fully know himself. The unconscious is not illuminated by the light of the mind. This is a dark, infinitely deep well, where everything is mixed. Here is the Oedipus complex that we inherited from our animal state, here are all kinds of fears and complexes that we acquired in childhood. Any person is stuffed with various complexes and fears.

Mental processes and phenomena are considered by Freud from three main positions:

Topical (in terms of structure);

Dynamic (in terms of their manifestation);

Economic (i.e. energy).

Initially, Freud's topical system was represented by three levels: the unconscious, the preconscious. conscious. Since the early 1920s, Freud has identified other levels:

OVER - I or SUPER - EGO

From Freud's point of view, the source of energy for mental processes is IT - ID. ID is a concentration of blind instincts (sexual, aggressive) that require immediate satisfaction.

The adaptation of the subject to real life is served by I - EGO (consciousness), which perceives information about the surrounding world, the state of the body and regulates the response of a person in the interests of his self-preservation.

OVER - I includes moral standards, norms of behavior learned by a person in the process of education and, above all, from parents. This manifests itself in the form of conscience and can cause feelings of guilt or fear. Since the requirements for the EGO on the part of the ID and the SUPER - EGO, as a rule, are incompatible, then a person is almost constantly in a state of conflict.

This creates an unbearable tension, from which the individual escapes with the help of protective mechanisms:

Repression is a process as a result of which thoughts, memories and experiences that traumatize the human psyche are expelled from consciousness into the unconscious, while they continue to influence the behavior of the individual in the form of an unconscious feeling of anxiety, fear, etc.

Rationalization is hiding from the consciousness of the individual himself the true motives of his behavior in order to ensure a state of inner comfort and prevent feelings of guilt or shame.

Sublimation is the transformation (switching) of the instinctive forms of the psyche into its more civilized forms (creativity, politics).

Regression is a form of a person's departure from reality and a return to that stage of personality development in which she experienced a sense of pleasure.

Freud introduced a number of important problems into personality theory:

Unconscious motives in human behavior;

The ratio of normal and pathological phenomena of the psyche;

The role of the sexual factor;

Her defense mechanisms;

Influence psychological trauma received in childhood on the behavior of an adult.

Freud spoke of the omnipotence of the libido, the antagonism of the conscious and the unconscious. That is why, from his point of view, the relationship between people in modern world are characterized by hostility, including in culture. Therefore, culture, especially European, according to Freud, is imperfect. It forbids the person of his attraction, and the person, in turn, hates the forbidding culture.

According to Freud, the whole European culture is neurotic, and any person who has become the object of this culture turns into a neurotic.

The main meaning of Freud's teachings is a meaningful balance of OVER - I and IT, thereby enabling the I to freely and intelligently build itself. A person, knowing about the role of the unconscious in his behavior, is able to establish a compromise between OVER-I and IT.

Freud argued that in the end the mind and consciousness will turn out to be stronger than IT, that a person must constantly, strengthening the Self in himself, free himself from the subconscious, that people need to know about the unconscious in order to be free in their behavior.

Freud's teachings were used by some artists who discounted the SUPER-I, suggested that people free themselves from social norms and, above all, from shame, which was declared a false and disturbing feeling to live. The world of art has been busy shamelessly showing all the hidden vices of man, his secret instincts, forgetting about the main thing in Freud's teaching - to defeat IT.

Who will argue with the fact that it is impossible to overestimate Freud's influence on the development of psychology as a science? This man explored everything that is possible, but Freud made a truly fundamental contribution to the philosophy of psychoanalysis of the personality, in fact, this theory was developed by him. Subsequently, the technique was finalized by A. Adler, K. Jung, as well as neo-Freudians E. Fromm, G. Sullivan, K. Horney and J. Lacan. To date, the methods of psychoanalysis are widely used in psychology to solve the problems of self-determination and personality correction.

The concept of psychoanalysis

Over the hundred years of the existence of psychoanalysis, more than one school and direction has arisen. The main schools are:

• the classical theory of Freud;
• ego psychology;
• Sepf-psychology of Lacan;
• structural psychoanalysis of Kohut;
• intersubjective approach;
• intersubjective psychoanalysis;

In addition, psychoanalysis itself is usually divided into three main areas:

1. The theory of personality psychoanalysis is the first and one of the most significant ideas of human development in psychology. It is usually considered within the framework of classical psychoanalysis according to Freud, but can also be used for any of its derivatives. For example, in analytical psychology according to Jung or individual psychology according to Adler.
2. Psychoanalysis is also considered as methods for studying the hidden motives of human activity, which are manifested through free associations expressed by the patient. It is this aspect that is the basis of Freud's philosophy of psychoanalysis.
3. And of course, modern psychoanalysis is seen as a method of treating various mental disorders arising from conflicts between desires and reality.

For the purposes of psychoanalysis, Freud introduced the concepts of defense mechanisms (substitution, sublimation, denial, etc.), complexes (Oedipus, Electra, inferiority, castration), stages of psychosexual development (oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital). Freud also developed a topographical and structural model of the psyche. The topographic model assumes the presence of consciousness and the unconscious departments, and the structural one indicates the presence of three components - Id (unconscious), Ego (consciousness) and Superego (society within a person).

The Unconscious in Psychoanalysis

Freud in both proposed models of the psyche gave a large role to the unconscious (Id), which is the energy basis of the personality. This component contains innate instincts that encourage a person to strive to satisfy natural needs and enjoy. Freud believed that the unconscious is the largest part of the human psyche. It is it that pushes people to get what they want at any cost, forcing them to do rash and illegal acts. If there were no other departments of the psyche, then there would be no norms and rules in society, they simply could not act.

Fortunately, the unconscious is balanced by the conscious components of the Ego and Superego, which allow you to postpone the execution of instincts until the right opportunity (Ego) or completely prohibit the execution, since it does not correspond to norms or ideals (Superego). Freud believed that the unconscious (id) and highest degree consciousness (Superego) are in conflict, hence constant pressure. neuroses and complexes. By the way, it was precisely because of this feature of the psyche that Freud said that all people are neurotic, since instincts will never correspond to the ideal ideas of the individual.

Despite the widespread use of psychoanalysis for practical purposes, it also has many critics. Many are annoyed by Freud's statement about universal neuroses, others do not accept the idea of ​​the unconscious that controls the personality, and still others perceive the psychosexual theory of human development with hostility. Briefly, all claims to Freud's psychoanalysis can be summarized as follows - he justifies any human action, referring to instinct, taking away from the individual the desire to work on himself in order to avoid negative aspirations.

Psychoanalysis is a way to identify the experiences and actions of a person due to unconscious motives in order to treat mental illness. At the beginning of the last century, it was introduced by the Austrian scientist Z. Freud and was widely used together with hypnosis.

Internal conflict

The main feature of Freud's theory and his psychoanalysis is that conflict between his internal unconscious forces, such as libido, the Oedipus complex, and a hostile environment that dictates and imposes on him various laws and rules of behavior.

Those laws and norms of behavior that external reality imposes on him suppress the energy of unconscious drives and this energy is released in the form of neurotic symptoms, terrible dreams and other mental disorders.

According to Freud's theory of psychoanalysis Personality has three components:

• unconscious (It),
• ego (I)
• over ego (over I).

Unconscious represents sexual and aggressive instincts, seeking to satisfy their desires in external reality.

Ego (I) contributes to the adaptation of the individual to reality, stores information about the world around him in the mind of a person in the interests of his life and self-preservation.

super ego is a receptacle of moral norms, prohibitions and encouragement of a person and thus serves as a kind of conscience of a person. Norms are assimilated by a person unconsciously in the process of education and therefore appear in a person as a feeling of fear, guilt and remorse. Thus, the inability of unconscious energy to be freely released leads to a conflict between a person and environment and the occurrence of various mental illnesses.

The task of a psychologist or psychotherapist is identifying unconscious experiences in the patient and ideas and their displacement from the sphere of It (the unconscious) into the sphere of human consciousness, i.e., liberation with the help of catharsis.

In the process of a psychotherapeutic session, the patient's negative transfer (the transfer of the patient's feelings and sensations in relation to his relatives to the personality of the psychotherapist) to the psychologist is replaced by a positive emotionally colored one. Thus, the patient's self-esteem increases and a gradual recovery takes place, but it must be borne in mind that before this the psychologist must enter into a trusting relationship with the patient in order to reduce his resistance to the psychotherapy process. During the life of Z. Freud, hypnosis was widely used to treat mental disorders, but after his works, they began to use it more and more often in practice. suggestion, autogenic training and self-hypnosis.

me and it

• the role of verbal representation and perception in the human mind
• the role of intermediate links in the transition from the id to the self
• the dominance of the unconscious in a person according to the theory of psychoanalysis

Under consciousness Freud in his theory of psychoanalysis meant the surface layer of a person's personality in relation to the outside world. Sense perceptions that come from without, as well as sensations and feelings that come from within, are conscious. With the help of verbal representations, all our sensations and feelings become conscious and appear in consciousness.

The verbal presentation is traces of memories in our memory, which remained due to the perceptions of any processes occurring in the past. Any processes, in order to be conscious by a person, must pass into external perception and become memories, which then take on a verbal form and become thought processes.

With the help of verbal-figurative links, various perceptions can be forced out of the sphere of the unconscious into the preconscious, and then into consciousness. This internal perception is felt by consciousness as pleasure or displeasure and is primary than sensations coming from outside.

Sensations perceived as pleasures do not induce action and are felt as a decrease in energy, but Displeasure motivates us to do things and leads to increased energy.

Thus, if our libido is hidden in the unconscious and tries to manifest itself in the personality in the form of sexual feelings or aspirations, then in order to sublimate and receive pleasure, it must be transferred to the sphere of consciousness, that is, made conscious. According to Freud and his theory of psychoanalysis, in order to do this, the so-called intermediate links, and for the sensations flowing into consciousness naturally, there is no such need.

Freud calls the entity emanating from the surface conscious (W) as I, and those areas where this entity is going to penetrate he designates the word It.

The Personality is presented as an unconscious and unknown It, which is covered from above by the I, emerging from the W system. I am only a part of the It changed under the influence of the outside world and through conscious perception. I'm trying to replace outside world and reality, the pleasure principle, which reigns supreme in the sphere of the id. Perception is characteristic of the I, and attraction is characteristic of the id sphere. Reason and thinking are characteristic of the I, and passions are characteristic of the sphere of the It.

I, in the theory of psychoanalysis, represents the place where both external and internal perceptions come from. If you look for an anatomical analogy, then I, like a little man in the brain, which is upside down, looks back and controls the left hemisphere of the brain and the speech zone.

We are used to leading role divert consciousness and believe that the play of passions occurs mainly in the subconscious, but Freud argues that even a difficult intellectual work can occur subconsciously and not reach consciousness. For example, in the dream state, the decision challenging task, over which the person fought the day before to no avail.

It is noteworthy that some people have such higher manifestations of personality as conscience, self-criticism and guilt. appear unconsciously which can lead to various kinds of mental illness. As a consequence, Freud, in his theory of psychoanalysis, concludes that not only the deepest and most unknown in the Self, but also the highest in the Self can be unconscious. Thus, demonstrating and speaking about the conscious I, Freud calls it as the I-body and emphasizes its direct and inalienable connection with the unconscious.

Two kinds of attraction

• instincts that govern personality
• sublimation of libido into the realm of consciousness
• obstacles in the way of sublimation

So, according to the theory of Freud's psychoanalysis, we found out that the personality consists of the conscious (above the Self), the preconscious (I) and the unconscious (It). From our ordinary life we know that a person can live not only in harmony with himself, but also be in conflict with himself in those cases when he wants to achieve something, but cannot. According to Freud, it turns out that a person cannot subjugate his inner degree of the unconscious, as a result of which it turns out a conflict.

According to Freud, the basis of this conflict is an attraction based on the energy of a sexual nature. He highlights two types of attraction: on the one hand - erotic, sexual attraction or eros, love, and on the other hand - an attraction to hatred, decay, death.

If a a person can subjugate this unconscious energy to his I or libido, as Freud called it, then it is released and the person lives a harmonious life. In another case, accumulating in the muscles of the body, this energy accumulates its destructive power and rushes to the outside world.

Sublimation- a protective psychological mechanism, in which the energy of a person's sexual attraction is transformed into socially acceptable forms of activity (for example, creativity).

Thinking and thought processes are also subject to the sublimation of erotic attraction. The sublimation itself is carried out purely under the control of the Self within the personality.

In ordinary life or reality there is no such thing as good or bad, that is, from a human point of view, the death or decay of something is bad. For example, if we take the universe and a star decays in it, then this is not bad, because other stars are formed from the decayed components, as well as planets and various objects of the universe. AT human life hatred, decay, decay and death are not entirely acceptable things, and a person tries, switching to love, goodness and creation, to avoid their manifestation, and due to the fact that a person is a complex biological structure, it is very difficult for him to do this.

Freud's theory of psychoanalysis warns personality not only from embarking on the path of hatred, but also from narcissism, that is, narcissism. It (the unconscious) seeks to possess the object by transferring the libido to the I. Now the I ends up endowed with the properties of libido and proclaims itself a love object, that is, an object to be admired.

A Brief Review of Sigmund Freud's Classical Psychoanalysis: Methods, technique, scope and criticism from the scientific community.

Prerequisites for the emergence of the theory

The theory of psychoanalysis was developed in the late 19th century. There are two important moments, preceding this, according to Sigmund Freud himself, which he "took into service", creating his theory. We are talking about the method of the Viennese doctor Josef Breuer and the method of the psychiatrist Hippolyte Bernheim. With the first, Freud had a chance to work together for some time, and Sigmund Freud observed the method of Dr. Bernheim at one of the demonstration training sessions.

Dr. Breuer's method
Josef Breuer, an Austrian psychiatrist, developed a method between 1880 and 1882 called the catharsis method. His patient, a 21-year-old girl, had paralysis of both right limbs with lack of sensation, an aversion to eating, and a number of other bodily and mental disorders. The symptoms of the disease appeared after the death of her beloved father, whom she stopped caring for due to her own illness.
Breuer introduced her into a state of hypnosis, brought her to a situation where her traumatic experiences appeared for the first time, emotional state, who owned it at that moment, and eliminated these “stuck” symptoms of the disease (1, pp. 165–170).
The history of her illness was subsequently published jointly by Breuer and Freud in Investigations into Hysteria (1895). Affective experiences, as a result of which the symptoms of the disease appeared, began to be called mental trauma. The direction of movement was determined: from the last trauma to the initial one, and the need to express affect in the process of remembering in order to free oneself from “stuck” traumatic experiences (1, pp. 170–177).

Dr. Bernheim's method
Hippolyte Bernheim, a psychiatrist, used hypnotic suggestion to treat neurotics. In 1889, Freud was present during one of Bernheim's teaching sessions. During this session, the patient's memories from the sambulic state under hypnosis, overcoming conscious resistance, were successfully restored to the waking state.

Subsequently, Freud introduced the concepts of resistance and repression as a protective mechanism of the psyche. In order to be able to work with the resistance and displacement of the patient, the method of free association was chosen instead of hypnosis. The concept of a conscious substitute for the repressed unconscious was introduced (1, pp. 180–185).

Theory of Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

The main idea of ​​the theory can be summarized briefly by the following quotation: highest value among the factors leading to disease, and this is true for both sexes...
Why other mental disturbances cannot give rise to the described phenomena of repression and substitution. I can answer that: I don't know why other, non-sexual, mental disturbances should not lead to the same results, and I would have nothing against it; but experience shows that they have no such significance, and at most they help the action of sexual moments, but can never replace the latter, ”wrote Freud (1, Ch. On Psychoanalysis, p. 199).

The necessary analytical work must reach the time of sexual development and early childhood. “Only childhood experiences provide an explanation for sensitivity to future traumas, and only by uncovering and bringing to consciousness these traces of memories, usually almost always forgotten, do we gain strength to eliminate symptoms” (1, p. 201).
To substantiate the theory, Sigmund Freud introduced the concept of the Oedipus complex and successive phases in the psychosexual development of a person (oral, anal, phallic and genital).

Methods of classical psychoanalysis

The means of recognizing the hidden in psychoanalysis are: the method of free association, the interpretation of dreams, and the use of accidental reservations and erroneous actions of the patient.
The basic rule is: the patient must say everything. “He must say everything, completely abandoning any critical choice, everything that comes to his mind, even if he considers it wrong, irrelevant, meaningless ... By following this rule, we provide ourselves with material that will lead us on the trail of the repressed complexes” (1, p. 190).

The method of free association underlies psychoanalysis and is one of the main ones. The law of association states that if any objects are perceived simultaneously or in close proximity, then the appearance of one of them may subsequently lead to awareness of the other.
“The patient sometimes becomes silent, stammers and begins to assert that he does not know what to say, that nothing comes to his mind at all ... However, a more subtle observation shows that such a refusal on the part of thoughts never really happens” (1 , p.190).
Random reservations and erroneous actions reveal hidden, repressed intentions, desires, or fears that various reasons one cannot show.

Dream interpretation.
Dreams are encrypted messages from the unconscious, not a mindless collection of images. “Let's imagine that we want to replace a newspaper article with a series of illustrations. It will not be easy to do this ... it will be even more difficult to do this with abstract words and all parts of speech that express logical relations.
"In the preface to the third English edition in 1931, the seventy-five-year-old Sigmund Freud wrote: “This book (* The Interpretation of Dreams), in full accordance with my present ideas, contains the most valuable of the discoveries that a favorable fate has allowed me to make. Insights of this kind fall to the lot of a person, but only once in a lifetime” (5).

A peculiar psychosexual direction of the theory of classical psychoanalysis implies the passage by the analyst and the analyzed person of certain mental processes.
Transfer process
“The one whose need for love does not receive full satisfaction in reality is forced to turn his libidinal hopes on every new face ... Therefore, it is quite natural that the active force of the libido also turns on the personality of the doctor,” wrote Sigmund Freud (1, p. .293).
“The doctor must admit that the patient’s falling in love is forced by the analytic position and cannot be attributed to the superiority of his person and that he has no reason to be proud of such a “conquest”, as it would be called outside of analysis” (1, p. 303).
The process of countertransference
Countertransference is the response of the analyst's unconscious feelings to the patient. "This phenomenon is one of the main dangers for the psychoanalyst, it can lead to mental infection of both."

Resistance Recycling Process
“The overcoming of resistances begins with the fact that the doctor discovers a resistance never recognized by the analysand, and points to it... the indication of resistance is not immediately followed by its cessation. It is necessary to give the patient time to delve into resistance unknown to him, process it, overcome it ... ”(1, Ch. “Method and Technique of Psychoanalysis”, p. 284).
The patient's resistance is an unconscious defense mechanism that prevents him from becoming aware of his unacceptable repressed thoughts and desires.
“This processing of resistances becomes in practice a painful task for the analysand and a test of the patience of the doctor. But it is precisely this part of the work that exerts the greatest altering influence on the patient, and it is here that analytic treatment differs from any influence by suggestion” (1, p. 285).
The process of catharsis
Catharsis is an emotional discharge, as a result of which a person is freed from repressed, traumatic experiences. This is the resolution of a neurotic conflict due to the recollection and experience of negative emotions once "stuck" in the psyche.

The technique of classical psychoanalysis

A general idea of ​​the techniques can be obtained from the following explanations by Sigmund Freud:
1. “I insist on the advice to lay the patient on the sofa, while the doctor should take a seat behind him so that the patient does not see him ... Since during the hearing I myself surrender to the flow of my unconscious thoughts, I do not want the expression my face gave the patient material for interpretation or influenced what he said” (1, ch. “Psychoanalysis and character”, p. 259).
2. You should not tell the patient what he should talk about. “In general, it doesn’t matter what material to start treatment with, whether it’s a life history, a medical history or childhood memories ... the patient is told: “Before I can tell you anything, I need to know a lot about you, please tell me everything about yourself what you know about yourself. (1, p. 259).
3. We must say everything. There are no secrets and indiscretion towards third parties. You can't hide names, dates, nothing. This demand "you must obey" (1, p. 260).
4. “It is necessary to eliminate all conscious influence on one’s ability to remember and to surrender entirely to “unconscious memory” or, technically speaking, one must listen and not care if you remember anything ... The analysand often claims that he has already made some message before , meanwhile, calmly, conscious of his superiority, you can assure him that this message has now been made for the first time ”(1, p. 317).
5. Working with dreams is one of the main methods of the theory. “After being told the content of the dream, Freud began to ask the same question about the individual elements of this dream: what comes to the narrator’s mind about this element when he thinks about it?” (5, "The Interpretation of Dreams"). In understanding the unconscious needs expressed in dreams, according to Sigmund Freud, lies the key to understanding the problem itself.
6. When can you start giving the patient necessary information when it's time to reveal it secret meaning the thoughts he has? Not until the process of transference begins to develop. “The first goal of treatment remains to bind the patient to the treatment and to the personality of the doctor. And for this you need to do only one thing – give the patient enough time” (1, p. 265).

Scope of the theory
Classical psychoanalysis is not designed for people over 50 years old: "Persons over the age of 50 have lost the plasticity of mental processes that therapy relies on."
The technique is also inapplicable to persons "who do not have a well-known education and a relatively credible character," wrote Freud (1, Ch. "Method and Technique of Psychoanalysis", p. 224). “I have developed a rule only conditionally for a period of one or two weeks to accept patients whom I know little” (1, p. 248).
Analysis should not be used for close and dear people: “As for the treatment of“ relatives ”, then in this respect I confess my complete confusion and generally have little confidence in individual influence on them” (1, p. 325).
In neurosis, it is dangerous to push a person to be stronger than he is capable of. “A fair number of those who are now escaping in illness will not survive under the supposed conditions of the conflict, but will quickly perish or do worse misfortune than their own neurotic illness” (1, p. 238).

Warranty
Some patients ask to be relieved of one particular symptom, “but they overestimate the selective power of the analysis. Of course, the analyst can achieve a lot, but he is not able to determine exactly what he can do” (1, p. 255).
Classical psychoanalysis is lengthy, we are talking about years. When asked how long the treatment could last, Freud answered with the words of Aesop: "To answer the length of the road, you need to know the traveler's step and the speed of his movement" (1, p. 252).
“I allow everyone to interrupt the treatment when he pleases, but I do not hide from him that stopping the treatment after a short work will not give any success and, like an unfinished operation, will easily lead him to an unsatisfactory state” (1, p. 254).

Criticism of the theory of psychoanalysis

For many positions of psychoanalysis there is no method of refutation in principle, and therefore they cannot be considered scientific. “Yale University psychology professor Paul Bloom noted that Freud's claims are so vague that they cannot be verified by any reliable method and therefore cannot be applied from the point of view of science” (Bloom P. Introduction to Psychology) (5).
Philosopher Leslie Stevenson, analyzing the concept of Sigmund Freud in the book "Ten Theories of Human Nature" (eng. Ten Theories of Human Nature, 1974), drew attention to a number of points more characteristic of the sect, whose representatives "can easily analyze in a pejorative manner the motivation of critics - that is, to attribute to unconscious resistance any attempts to doubt the truth of the concept they share. In fact, Freudianism is a closed system that neutralizes any evidence of falsification, and can be perceived as an ideology, the adoption of which is mandatory for every psychoanalyst" (3, 5).
"Biologist and Nobel laureate Peter Medawar has described psychoanalysis as "the most grandiose intellectual fraud of the twentieth century" (5).
If we talk about the most famous students and associates of Sigmund Freud, such as Karen Horney, Erich Fromm, Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav Jung, then they all subsequently moved away from the key postulate of the theory (the sexual factor as the main motive for the occurrence of mental disorders). The study of the mental and mental state of a person was shifted towards the socio-cultural elements of society and the environment.

Literature:
1. Freud, Z. Beyond Pleasure / Per. with him. - Minsk: Harvest, 2004. - 432 p.
2. Bern, E. People who play games.
3. Jose, Brunner. Freud and politics of psychoalanysis. – N.J.: Transaction Publishing, 2001.
4. Stevenson, Leslie. Critical discussion / Ten theories about the nature of man. - SLOVO / SLOVO, 2004.
5. Wikipedia. [Electronic resource] /