The Yearning of the Id

I would like to share a song from Beyond, my favorite band, with you all.  Every time I listen to it, I feel unusually excited and energetic.  To me it is like the voice of my Id:

"Go, go, go!  The reality is like a game, don't take it seriously and act out what is deep inside ourselves!"

Here are the lyrics:

自由尋覓快樂別人從沒法感受
跳進似箭快車通宵通街通處闖
速度從沒界限黑夜彌漫了衝動
縱有挫折困苦不可不可將我縛
我不需忠告　這刻只知道　法則於今晚開放
讓生命衝開一切　我要接觸新的希望
驕傲的心宣布　現實就是像遊戲

室內長夜困著不願人漸變痴呆
遠處聽有叫聲彷彿彷彿跟你講
音樂強烈振動聲浪停頓了心臟
跳躍節奏炸開一堆一堆的嘆息
世間多挑戰　勇敢的一試　痛苦終使你變改

Enjoy!

Food for Thought - Who loses? Who wins?

I didn't manage to identify literature concerning how psychoanalysis understands the formation and development of psychosis and it was a bit frustrating...

Going back to the Structural Model of Personality and the concept of Conflict, I wonder if various dynamics would lead to different forms of psychopathology...

Sometimes, conflicts are successfully dealt by the Ego with the implementation of appropriate defense mechanisms.

Sometimes, the conflicts remain unresolved and the Ego is either partially or completely defeated which results in neurotic symptoms.

Sometimes, the Id wins and dominates the entire mental process.  If that is the case, what would that be?  According to the pleasure principle and the primary processes upon which the Id work, the Id adopts irrational or illogical ways to have its needs fulfilled such as fantasizing.  It has loose or even no contact with the reality and does not consider any consequence before acting.  There is an absence of reality testing.  The result, as could be imagined, is chaos.  A world with no other people and what matters is immediate tension release or gratification.  Is it the reality of the sufferers of schizophrenia?

Sometimes, the Superego takes over and both the Id and the Ego are suppressed and that is when morals and rules dominate.  Neuroses may probably emerge as the libido involved cannot be released via acceptable and appropriate channels.


What about personality disorders?  To answer this we may need to examine the course of personality development. What do you think about this?


I have found a YouTube video clip about the five psychosexual stages that govern the development of an individual's personality.   Have a look and have fun!

Psychoanalysis and Neurosis

Psychoanalytic Theory classifies psychological disorders into three levels of severity, they are:
-  neurosis (e.g. depression and anxiety)
-  personality disorder (e.g. borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder)
-  psychosis (e.g. delusional disorder and schizophrenia)

Neurosis refers to an emotional disturbance, the type of disturbance that is caused by the internal conflicts that are experienced by both "normal" and "abnormal" populations. Usually, the disturbance is not so severe as to prevent the individual who has it from functioning in his day-to-day living.

Its development is similar to that of hysteria.  A neurosis emerges when the urges or needs of the Id are denied or repressed and hence not being satisfied.  The needs or urges are then expressed themselves in other ways.  They create all sorts of problems and produce what are called neurotic symptoms.

Example

Peter is a fresh graduate who is aspired to becoming a teacher and in fact, he got a teaching offer and is now working in a college.  However, during his time in the college, he has realized that the "teaching" that he is doing is not quite the same as what he thought to be.  Instead of devoting himself to the needs of his students, he has been spending most of her time dealing with administrative tasks which he does not find personally meaningful.  Under the pressure of his colleagues and principal as well as the prevalent culture of education in his home town, it seems that there is not much he can do to fulfill his needs or wishes but follow the trend and working guidelines given.  Gradually, he has developed a number of neurotic symptoms like sleeping problems, anxiety and depression.

In this case, there is an obvious conflict within Peter's mind, the differences between the ways society sees education and that Peter sees it.  They are not in line and Peter chose to neglect his needs (aspiration) and hence the psychic energy sought its way out and formed the above-mentioned symptoms.

To explain the development of neurosis, psychoanalysts have taken a developmental view which is connected with the five psychosexual stages identified by Freud.  See if we could discuss them later.

References 

American Psychiatric Association, & American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : DSM-IV-TR (4th , text revision ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.   

Bornstein, R. F. (2006). A freudian construct lost and reclaimed: The psychodynamics of personality pathology. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 23(2), 339-353. doi: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.lb.polyu.edu.hk/10.1037/0736-9735.23.2.339

Engler, B. (2009). Personality theories :An introduction (8th ed.). Belmont, CA:Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. 

Freud, S. (1910).  Five lectures on psychoanalysis. SE (vol.11).

Psychoanalysis and Hysteria

After sketching some of  the core concepts connected with psychoanalysis, I think it is time for us to have a look at the way it understands and conceptualizes the construct of mental illnesses or what is called abnormality.

Perhaps we can start with the case history of one of Joseph Breuer's patients, Anna O, which is classical case in the field and has been used widely in the field as a part of professional training to illustrate some conceptual ideas and constructs of psychoanalysis.

Anna O was a highly intelligent young woman.  In the course of  a two-year illness starting in 1880, she had developed numerous physical and mental disturbances and they are outlined as follows:
-  paralysis of the right arm and leg
-  blurred vision
-  nausea
-  inability to drink any liquid
-  inability to speak and comprehend her own mother tongue
-  altered state of consciousness
-  personality change
-  forgetting of events that took place during that period of illness

Anna O received a diagnosis of hysteria at that time which referred to an illness in which there were physical symptoms but no physiological basis for the problem.  Though we seldom have this diagnosis nowadays, hysteria and conversion disorder, which has been included in DSMs, are comparable in nature. 

According to DSM IV-TR (2000), individuals with this disorder have one or more symptoms or deficits affecting voluntary motor or sensory functions, such as impairment of eyesight, paralysis of limbs and inability to swallow as mentioned in the case of Anna O, that are judged to be temporally associated with psychological factors such as stress or psychological conflict originating in traumatic experiences rather than physiological deficits or any other medical condition.

To me, it is like the expression of psychological pain through physical symptoms due to its inability to release or discharge its distress (psychic energy) through appropriate means due to some reasons like repression of unacceptable and excessively painful materials.  Since there is an innate tendency for us to strike an equilibrium, the excess energy finds its own ways out and other physical symptoms or other disturbances are then formed.

The case of Anna O suggested that her symptoms were in association with the illness and the death of her father what posed a dramatic psychological impact on her.  Her emotions were blocked and repressed from the conscious mind at that time as they were too painful and hence the energy inside found its own way to seek discharge so as to reduce the tension arised.  However, during the talk therapy designed and conducted by Freud, through recollecting the relevant events, memories and emotions she had restrained, in other words, through bringing the repressed materials from the unconscious to the conscious, she were freed from the disabling symptoms.

It sounds magical and unbelievable, yet it could be explained in terms of psychoanalysis.

It was asserted that at the time of the original traumatic event, the patient had to hold back (repress) a strong emotion due to the reasons we talked about previously.  This may also be due to the circumstances that surrounded the event.  Nonetheless, the fact was that the patient was unable to express the emotion in a normal way through thought or word.  The emotion, which was a strong form of psychic energy resulted from intra-psychic conflicts, prevented from discharging normally, had found another outlet and was expressing itself through a neurotic symptom.  Once the emotion was recollected and allowed to release properly, the symptom disappeared.

Hysteria, in this sense, it closely connected with repression, conflict and psychic energy flow.  Perhaps this could also cast some light on our understanding of the formation and development of mental illnesses.

References 

American Psychiatric Association, & American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : DSM-IV-TR (4th , text revision ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

Engler, B. (2009). Personality theories :An introduction (8th ed.). Belmont, CA:Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. 

Freud, S. (1910).  Five lectures on psychoanalysis. SE (vol.11).

Basic Concept Expalined -- Defence Mechanisms

Defense mechanism is a tactic developed by the Ego to protect an individual against anxiety induced from the conflicts among the Id, Superego and the reality. Defense mechanisms are employed to protect the mind against feelings, incidents and thought that are too difficult for the conscious mind to cope with. In some instances, defense mechanisms are responsible for keeping inappropriate or unwanted thoughts and impulses, such as unconscious sexual and aggressive wishes that are thought to be either inappropriate or unacceptable, from entering the conscious mind through the process of repression so that the individual may have no idea at all about the repressed contents.

For example, if you are forced to have a date with a person you don't really like, your unconscious mind may choose to forget that particular date and you, I mean your unconscious mind, may have a tendency to fit this slot with another appointment so as to avoid the date.

Forgetting is only one of the many defense mechanisms proposed by Freud and later developed by his daughter, Anna Freud, and there are a number of them.

Before having an overview of various mechanisms, perhaps it is a good idea for us to get to know some of their characteristics and they are outlined as follows:

-  They are always unconscious
-  They are ego functions that serve to protect an individual from anxiety
-  They usually involve distortion of either internal or external reality so as to make things less threatening
-  They use up part of the total energy (libido) available

 Defense mechanisms can be conceptualized as a hierarchy, please see here (Gabbard, 2010, pp.34-36), from the most primitive ones to the most mature ones.

Basic Concept Explained -- Ego

The Ego is the part of personality that is aware of the reality and is in contact with the external world.  It is the only constituent that takes the possible consequences of an action into consideration before doing it.  It operates on reality principle based on which the Ego attempts to satisfy the Id's impulses in an appropriate and socially acceptable manner.  Instead of constructing fantasies and hallucinating mental images, the Ego finds the appropriate objects in the external world to serve Id by realistically meeting its demands.  In order to do so, the Ego may suspend or redirect the Id's wishes, i.e postpones the discharge of psychic energy, in accordance with the demands of the reality. 

Example:
I am now at work having a class with my students.  The class lasts 2 hours and it has just started.  I am extremely hungry as I didn't have my breakfast this morning.  My stomach is rumbling like thunders and my Id urges me to grab something to eat immediately.  Yet, in negotiation with the Id and the Superego, my Ego, finally compromises that I have to wait until the end of the class.

The Ego employs secondary processes which include the cognitive and perceptional skills that help an individual distinguish between fact and fantasy and mediate between the demands of the Id and the Superego through channeling the libido (psychic energy) through socially accepted means, such as:
-  higher intellectual functions of problem solving
-  skills in reality testing
-  ability to marshal defenses to deal with impulses
-  self-control
- capacity of adjustment and adaptation. 

Though the Ego works as a loyal servant doing a hard job serving two masters, Id and Superego, it always ends up being harassed as the discrepancies between the two masters are always huge that cannot be easily bridged.  When this happens, the Ego may not be able to implement its strategies to resolve the inner conflicts and maintain a healthy or normal psychic equilibrium, and mental illnesses may then emerge.

References

Barlow, D. H., & Durand, V. M. (1999). Abnormal psychology :An integrative approach (2nd ed.). Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Pub.

Engler, B. (2009). Personality theories :An introduction (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.

Gabbard, G. O. (2010). Long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy :A basic text (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Pub.

Basic Concept Explained -- Superego

Yea, you are right here.  The Superego is more or less like a judge, judging the Id and Ego on right or wrong and imposing moral and social standards on them.  It represents internalized values, ideals and moral standards that have a role in our personality development.

To put it simply, the Superego consists of two subsystems, they are conscience and ego ideal.  Conscience is the capacity for self-evaluation, criticism and reproach.  It blames the Id and Ego and causes the feeling of guilt and anxiety when one does something wrong, most probably something socially and culturally unacceptable.  With the Superego in place here, we can anticipate possible conflicts between it and the Id which may later develop into psychopathology if not being handled appropriately.  Ego ideal is an ideal image of oneself which comprises approved and rewarded behaviors.  It is the source of pride.

The Superego is the result of the interactions with one's parents during childhood which is characterized by by dependency.  During this particular period, we are exposed to the teachings of, rewards and punishment placed on us by parents as well as the expectation of society without any censoring.  Gradually, they are internalized and have become a part of one's personality.

Some examples of the blames posed by the Superego are:
- you have to finish your assignments before your go to bed every night (though you are very sleepy)
- you can only go out for lunch during the lunch hour, not anytime before it, even though you are starving at 11:00 in the morning.

 

References

Barlow, D. H., & Durand, V. M. (1999). Abnormal psychology :An integrative approach (2nd ed.). Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Pub.

Engler, B. (2009). Personality theories :An introduction (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.

Gabbard, G. O. (2010). Long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy :A basic text (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Pub.