Classical Psychoanalysis: A Review

Classical Psychoanalysis: A Review

Introduction

Psychoanalysis theory and practice has been in development for more than a generation. Sigmund Freud is undoubtedly the founder of the science of psychoanalysis. The theory and its concurrent models provide ideal psychological foundation and framework for future psychoanalysts to pursue and develop further upon. Furthermore, future researchers, academics and scholars have taken the opportunity and used the theoretical framework on psychoanalysis to provide explanations to different phenomenons. For instance, a British pediatrician by the name of Donald Winnicott used the analytical foundations of psychoanalysis to describe and explain the essential characteristics of caregivers. These characteristics are outlaid by specifically pointing out on the good and bad practices of the caregivers. The aforementioned research has a lot of dependence on Freud's theoretical foundations on psychoanalysis. This example is not in isolation. There are other critical findings of the 20th century that can be directly attributed to psychoanalysis.

Edith Jacobson, a Jew by birth, faced the atrocities and hardships of the Second World War. These experiences offered her insight into the darkest side of human nature, up front. These insights were drawn directly from her experiences in a Nazi concentration camp. After surviving the World War II, Edith Jacobson, saw patients who were experiencing similar hardships. Edith used modified version of Freud's instinctual drive theory to psychoanalyze her patients. Similarly, Harry Stack Sullivan argued that an individual's interpersonal field of experience is associated with the field of psychopathology. He came to this conclusion after comprehensively studying patients with schizophrenic tendencies and symptoms in the '20s. Finally, the contemporary proponents of psychoanalysis such as Robert Stolorow argued that the psychoanalyst and the patient are in a mutual process of analysis and inquiry.

Psychoanalysis and the theoretical foundations of the subject, developed by Sigmund Freud, have developed and progressed as the knowledge is passed from one generation to the next. Psychoanalysis started as a singular focused psychology has progressed into a dual focused psychology and then into a new multi person experiential psychology. Freud argued that the individual's psychological processes develop primarily from their intrinsic drives and forces. As such these components are attributed to develop a person's drives and their inhibitions. The transition of the psychoanalysis model into the theory being considered as a dual focused psychology was primarily led by psychoanalysts including: Sullivan, Jacobson and Winnicott. The current developments in the field of psychoanalysis are led by the psychoanalyst, Stolorow. Stolorow argued that the focus of analytical inquiry be based on the dynamics of individual's experiences. These experiences ought to be deciphered and analyzed within a multiple person context. However, it has to be noted that all the development in the field of psychoanalysis is dependent on the classical models and theoretical foundations, developed by the father of the field i.e. Sigmund Freud.

Discussion

Classical Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud deduced almost all of his theoretical frameworks, concepts and theories on psychoanalysis and personality based on clinical observations. Based on these clinical observations, Freud discovered three main models on ...