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!