Behind the Curtain: Psychoanalysis and the History of Psychology

One of the most iconic scenes in one of the most iconic films of the 20th century, The Wizard of Oz, is the revelation of the Oz the Great and Powerful as a smallish, stuttering white-haired man. It is this revelation that defines the course of the rest of the film, with each of the major characters discovering their true selves and true destinies. Each of the characters, and the Wizard himself, has to analyze and address themselves at a deeper level – making the unconscious conscious. This well-known ‘pulling back of the curtain’ is reflective of the psychological theory of psychoanalysis, developed by psychologist Sigmund Freud in the early 20th century. Psychoanalysis has gained quite a unique combination of notoriety and a well established following among psychologists in the subsequent century. As Saul McLeod states:

Sigmund Freud explored the human mind more thoroughly than any other who became before him. Freud's influence in the field of psychology is vast. Freud was one of the most influential people of the twentieth century and his enduring legacy has influenced not only psychology, but art, literature and even the way people bring up their children (2007, n.p.).

This is a concise but telling summary of the major influence that Freud had in the century following his professional career. This paper examines Freud and his theory of psychoanalysis in terms of how Freud as a person and psychoanalysis as a perspective contributed to the field of psychology as a whole. This is accomplished in three parts. First, the paper establishes the background and fundamentals of Freud’s work, specifically in relation to psychoanalysis. Second, the paper discusses psychoanalysis in terms of the history and development of psychology as a whole. Finally, the paper examines the lasting impact of psychoanalysis on psychology, psychologists, and practices to the present day. Overall, the paper finds that Freud and his theory of psychoanalysis undeniably had a lasting (if not positive) impact on the field of psychology.

The Background

Sigmund Freud is one of the most influential theorists in psychology because he transformed the way psychologists approached studying the mind. Though his complete research and contributions are numerable, he is most recognized for conceptualizing the unconscious mind and developing the field of psychoanalysis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Psychoanalysis is a branch of psychology that focuses on treating mental illness, such as depression and anxiety disorders, using specific explanations of human behavior. This field has gone through great development and is still prominent today. The International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA, 2013) is an international accrediting and regulatory body for the field of psychoanalysis and has “70 constituent organizations in 33 countries to support 11,500 members” (IPA, 2013). It is important to understand the significance of Freud’s theories, especially within their historical context and even more importantly how they impact psychology today.

First, it is critical to fully understand Freud’s theories and how he developed them. Inspired by his friend, Dr. Joseph Breuer, who treated a client with hysteria by assisting her recall traumatic life events, Freud began to examine his clients who suffered symptoms of hysteria, such as paralysis, convulsions, hallucinations, and loss of speech. In “Studies of Hysteria” (1895), Freud theorized that physical symptoms of hysteria are a result of deeply repressed conflicts from a client’s past. Intrigued by the repressed conflicts of his clients, he slowly developed a revolutionary conceptualization of the human mind. Specifically, he was the first to conceptualize the “unconscious,” a groundbreaking idea that is embraced by most people today.

Freud theorized that there are large portions of the human mind that are concealed yet have a profound impact on a human’s thoughts, behaviors, and decisions (Institute of Psychoanalysis, 2014). Freud believed that conflicts between the conscious and the unconscious resulted in psychological dysfunctions (Institute of Psychoanalysis, 2014). Additionally, he developed a model of how the mind is organized, called the “psychic apparatus” (Freud, 1923). Freud proposed in “The Ego and the ID” (1923), that there are three main mental functions in the human mind; the id, ego, and superego. Each of these expressions was designed to represent different aspects of the human brain – or, better yet, the different and hidden aspects of the human psyche.

It is necessary to know the difference between these three functions and how they interact in order to understand psychoanalysis. First, the id is where the two kinds of biological instincts, Eros and Thanatos, reside. Respectively, these represent sexual drive and aggression. Essentially, the id is the unconscious mind that consists of basic biological instincts. According to Freud (1920), the id operates on the pleasure principle, meaning that every impulse demands immediate satisfaction and does not rationally consider the consequences. Next, the ego is “that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world” (Freud, 1961, p. 211). In other words, it is the natural self that has been moderated by social nurturing and control.

Essentially, Freud explains that the ego is managed by both the unconscious and the conscious. It functions to meet the needs of the id in a safe and socially acceptable way, based on the “reality principle” (Freud, 1923). Thirdly, and lastly, the superego’s mission is to make choices that respect moral standards, thus following the “morality principle” (Freud 1923). It is this function that causes guilt when ethical standards and values are violated. According to Freud, the superego comes into conflict with the id and it is the ego’s job to mediate the two. These three levels are part of what Freud first deemed the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious, respectively. It is the combination of these three that make up the whole of human psychology.

Freud based his therapy sessions on the understanding that the human personality and mental state is influenced by conflicts between the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The conscious refers to mental processes that humans are aware of, meaning items that humans can think and discuss rationally. The preconscious, according to Freud, primarily refers to memory. Thirdly, the unconscious stores feelings, thoughts, impulses, desires, and even some memories that are hidden from human awareness. Despite the inconspicuousness of these memories and feelings, they impact behaviors, dreams, and experiences of an individual (Cherry, 2014).

Freud’s view of layers of consciousness and the structure of personality (id, ego, and superego) formed the foundation of Freud’s therapy practice, psychoanalysis. The practice involves a specific set of exercises designed to reveal the true self and true meaning of experiences to the client. As part of psychoanalytical therapy – sometimes called the ‘talking cure’ – Freud would ask the therapy patient to lie back on a couch. This was designed to relax the patient (Fisher & Greenberg, 1996). Freud would then position himself behind the patient and instruct them to tell him about their childhood memories, dreams, and deeper-seated thoughts and desires (Fisher & Greenberg, 1996). This would not be as simple as it sounds – psychoanalysis therapy was often a very lengthy process, with multiple sessions each week for a year or two (Fisher & Greenberg, 1996). The goal, ostensibly, was to pull back the curtain of understanding.

Typically, the therapist (or, analyst, as the case would be) acts as a sort of ‘blank screen’, without revealing very much at all about themselves – at least, as much as is possible under the circumstances. This is to ensure that the patient uses the quiet and safe space of therapy to reveal and examine their subconscious and unconscious mind, without undue influence from outside sources or thinking. In addition to the listening, the psychoanalyst utilizes a few different techniques in order to develop meaning in their insights, including “ink blots, parapraxes, free association, interpretation, dream analysis, resistance analysis and transference analysis” (Cherry, 2014). Whether this approach is fully successful or not is a question for the subsequent section. The success of some of these practices (such as inkblots and free association) will be discussed later in the paper.

Before turning to the contextualization of psychoanalysis within the history of psychology, it is worthwhile to summarize the findings of psychoanalysis as a specific practice. Erich Fromm (1992), in his Revision of Psychoanalysis, identifies six basic tenets of psychoanalysis. They are quoted directly below:

1. besides the inherited constitution of personality, a person's development is determined by events in early childhood;

2. human attitude, mannerism, experience, and thought is largely influenced by irrational drives;

3. irrational drives are unconscious

4. attempts to bring these drives into awareness meet psychological resistance in the form of defense mechanisms;

5. conflicts between conscious and unconscious, or repressed, material can materialize in the form of mental or emotional disturbances.

6. the liberation from the effects of the unconscious material is achieved through bringing this material into the conscious mind (via e.g. skilled guidance, i.e. therapeutic intervention). (13-14)

These basic tenets are used as the guiding principles for the discussion of psychoanalysis for the remainder of the paper. While psychoanalysis itself is much more complicated, these tenets cover the essentials needed for understanding the context and impact of Freud’s unique theory of psychology. The contextualization is discussed below, followed by the overall impact of psychoanalysis.

Contextualization of Psychoanalysis

In order to gain a fuller picture of Freud, psychoanalysis and its impact on psychology as a whole, one must consider the origins and history of psychology. Placing psychoanalysis in this context will help in understanding the peculiarities of psychoanalysis and what sets it apart from other psychological theories. For that matter, it will also help in understanding the contribution of psychoanalysis.

Since its inception as a discipline, psychology has attempted to answer a specific set of questions. Some of these questions, as were defined by Cherry (2014) in her relatively in-depth examination of the history of psychology:

What topics and issues should psychology be concerned with? What research methods should be used to study psychology? Should psychologists use research to influence public policy, education, and other aspects of human behavior? Is psychology really a science? Should psychology focus on observable behaviors, or on internal mental processes? (n.p.).

This last question is particularly relevant to Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis, as shall be seen in the section that discusses the impact of psychoanalysis on psychology as a whole and therapy specifically. It was around Freud’s time that this question began to bear out several different answers. Before these answers could be reached, however, psychology had to establish itself as a discipline.

This was in the mid-1800s, less than half a century before the publication of some of Freud’s major works. Wilhelm Wundt, a German physiologist, published his Principles of Physiological Psychology in 1874. The book was based on scientific research methods and was the first major work to connect human physiology with human behavior and mode of thought. Wundt was primarily concerned with designing experimental designs to study human consciousness and internal processes. As Cherry (2014) states, it was Wundt’s developments and connections between science and behavior that are “considered the official start of psychology as a separate and distinct scientific discipline” with his early work in psychology helping to “set the stage for future experimental methods” (n.p.). The start only held promise for more psychological insight, some empirical and some theoretical, but all built off of this initial approach.

As psychology emerged as its own discipline, clearly separated and delineated from philosophy and physical science, the discipline developed its first major school of thought – structuralism. This served as a primary foundation for Freud and essentially operated as the framework from which he completed his work in psychoanalysis, as discussed above. Structuralists contended “human consciousness could be broken down into much smaller parts…to the most basic sensations and perceptions” (Cherry, 2014, n.p.). In other words, the whole is simply a sum of its parts.

In contrast, the American school of thought known as functionalism held to the contention that consciousness could not be broken down into parts, but worked on an ever-changing and continuous basis. This had as much of an effect as structuralism. While neither of these schools lasted on their own, they nevertheless served as a basis for many psychologists and psychological schools of thought in the future – including Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical school.

It is at this point that Sigmund Freud, that no-name physician from Austria, ostensibly altered the discipline of psychology forever. In his theory of psychoanalysis, Freud was the first psychological thinker to forward a theory of personality and behavior. This is in contrast with the prevailing theories and schools of thought of the day, which largely focused on the conscious human experience. As Freud is famous for, he chose to focus on the unconscious mind in attempting to explain a theory of personality, and by that personality, explain individual behavior.

In one of his major books, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901), Freud posits that these unconscious thoughts are often manifest in day-to-day life. Most notably, he argued that these manifestations include slips of the tongue (popularized now as ‘Freudian slips’) and dreams. It was from here that Freud established the practice of psychoanalytical therapy, which is discussed above. Ultimately, Freud’s major claim was that psychological disorders were a result of the unconscious conflicts between the id, ego, and superego. This is the theory that placed Freud in the history books – not because the theory was entirely empirically accurate, but because it addressed the question from a new point of view – that of unconscious factors being the most important ones.

It is an interesting historical development that highlights the impact Sigmund Freud’s work had in the ‘greater scheme’ of psychology’s history: the theory started with just one case of one woman. Known as the “Case of Anno O”, written about in Freud’s Studies in Hysteria (1895), it dealt with a woman under the pseudonym of Anna O. The woman experienced hysteria, which at the time covered many different psychological disorders. It was essentially defined as the manifestation of violent physical symptoms (such as loss of speech, convulsions, hallucinations, or paralysis) without any apparent physical cause (Freud, 1895). The woman’s doctor treated her by asking her a series of questions designed to bring out previously forgotten memories of potentially traumatic events. The questions (and answers) were designed to be the treatment.

If this treatment sounds familiar, it is for a good reason. The woman’s doctor discussed these treatments with his friend, Sigmund Freud. It was these discussions that began Freud on the route to fully defining, developing, and publishing the theories of psychoanalysis and the unconscious self, which ultimately found root in his 1895 Studies in Hysteria. Ostensibly, Anna O sparked the first investigation into the unconscious conflict that made Freud so famous. As McLeod (2007) states, in the case of Anna O, “Freud was not just advancing an explanation of a particular illness. Implicitly he was proposing a revolutionary new theory of the human psyche itself” (n.p.). This is the theory that, while viewed with a certain level of skepticism today, nevertheless had a lasting influence on psychology as a whole. This is discussed in more depth below.

The Impact

As it has been stated in this paper already, Freud’s lasting impact on the face of psychology is undeniable. Even the words he used to describe his theories have become integrated into the vocabulary of the Western world. As McLeod (2007) catalogs, “Words he introduced through his theories are now used by everyday people, such as anal, libido, denial, repression, cathartic, Freudian slip, and neurotic” (n.p.). Each of these terms has been established in our lexicon. This is just one minor way that Freud and his psychoanalysis impacted psychology. The below section highlights the impact of psychoanalysis on developmental psychology, on popular psychological ideas, and on psychologists themselves. Of course, the impact can be considered greater than even this, but this is the limited scope of the paper.

Before looking at the impact, it is worthwhile to note some of the guiding assumptions of psychoanalytical theory. As highlighted by Fisher and Greenberg (1996), there are four major assumptions:

1) “Psychoanalytic psychologists see psychological problems as rooted in the unconscious mind” (Fisher & Greenberg, 1996, p. 14).

2) “Manifest symptoms are caused by latent (hidden) disturbances” (p. 14).

3) “Typical causes include unresolved issues during development or repressed trauma” (p. 14).

4) “Treatment focuses on bringing the repressed conflict to consciousness, where the client can address it” (p. 14).

Even this very basic outline of psychoanalysis’ assumptions makes it quite clear that the theory is here to stay – for better or for worse. Repression, latent disturbances, and manifest symptoms all remain relevant to modern psychological theories. One of these is developmental psychology.

Developmental psychology covers the development of human psychology from birth to adulthood to senior living. Freud’s conception of id, ego, and superego are relevant to this particularly. Each of these develops at different stages in human psychology – starting with the inherent presence of the id. Freud posited that the ego develops to respond to the id as early as infancy, with the goal being to “satisfy the demands of the id in a safe and socially acceptable way” (Freud, 1961, p. 215). This operates from both the conscious and unconscious mind – even from a very early age. This is the first manifestation of the unconscious mind.

The superego, in turn, more fully develops at a later stage, during early childhood. The development of the superego ensures, among other things, that “moral standards are followed” by operating “on the morality principal and motivating us to behave in a socially responsible and acceptable manner” (Freud, 1961, p. 224). In a simple phrase, the superego means that a person can feel guilty if rules are not abided by. According to Freud, this is a natural step that must be followed. If it is not achieved, the dangers of psychological disorders will already begin to show themselves. The establishment of the id, ego, and superego is an important foundation for future psychology.

In addition to the impact on developmental psychology, psychoanalysis popularized several psychological concepts. These include the terms mentioned above, but there are three broader concepts (rather than specific words) that are worth mentioning at this point: Rorschach inkblots, Freudian slips, and free association. More than a century later, and terms are still widely used by the layman and the professional psychologist alike. Rorschach inkblots are a “method of psychological evaluation” used to “examine the personality characteristics and emotional functioning of their patients” (Cherry, 2014, n.p.). The test employs ambiguous ‘ink blots’, asking respondents to identify the blots as a specific figure. There are no right or wrong answers – instead, answers are scored and analyzed, being used to reflect personality profiles. Freudian slips and the practice of free association have already been discussed above in the paper, but they are mentioned here again to highlight the impact that psychoanalysis had on popular practice.

Of course, the most salient and current impacts of Freud’s psychoanalysis theory cannot be fully quantified or even identified. As one of the founding fathers of psychology, Freud’s impact truly was ubiquitous. The Institute of Psychoanalysis (2014) summarizes his impact succinctly:

Psychoanalysis has shown itself to have very broad relevance and finds a home in many diverse contexts including art, literature, philosophy, politics, sociology and film studies. It has made seminal contributions to the understanding of cultural phenomena such as group functioning, institutional process, and wider socio-cultural phenomena such as paranoia and racism. (n.p.)

This is the extent of Sigmund Freud’s impact, specifically in regards to his theory of psychoanalysis. It cannot be limited to subsequent schools of thought, nor to popular psychology down the line. Instead, psychoanalysis plays an inherent role in the education of psychology, from high school to postgraduate to professional psychologists. In a phrase, if psychoanalysis’ quality as a theory may be questioned, its status as a hallmark of psychology cannot.

Conclusion

The above paper makes it clear that Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis has, so far, resisted the test of time and now continues to hold a prominent place in the field and discipline of psychology. Of course, there have been multiple critiques of the theory over the years, and there shall continue to be, psychoanalysis’ theoretical applications have outweighed its empirical shortcomings. Ultimately, Sigmund Freud provided a unique and lasting contribution to psychology.

References

Breuer, J., & Freud, S. (1955). 1893-1895: Studies on Hysteria. London: Hogarth Press.

Cherry, K. (2014). Psychoanalysis in the history of psychology. About.com. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/psychistory.htm

Fisher, S., & Greenberg, R. P. (1996). Freud scientifically reappraised: Testing the theories and therapy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Freud, S. (1961). The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XIX (1923-1925): 211-224. London: Hogarth Press.

Fromm, E. (1992). The revision of psychoanalysis. University of Michigan: Westview Press.

Institute of Psychoanalysis. (2014). What is psychoanalysis? Institute of Psychoanalysis. Retrieved from http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/about_psa.htm.

IPA. (2014). IPA component organizations in Europe. International Psychoanalytical Association. Retrieved from: https://www.ipa.org.uk/.

McLeod, S.A. (2007). Psychoanalysis. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/psychoanalysis.html