Psychoanalysis is one of the most famous and influential psychological theories, put forward and developed in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century by the Austrian psychologist and neurologist Sigmund Freud (Freud). The theory-based method of treating mental disorders is also called psychoanalysis.
The fundamentals of Freud's concept of classical psychoanalysis can be summarized as follows.
The sphere of the mental in the structure of the human personality is described by a three-component (three-level) model (the structure includes “It”, “I” and “Super-I”, that is, subconsciousness, consciousness and superconsciousness).
The behavior and development of a person's personality is largely determined by internal unconscious drives, which are mostly completely irrational.
As a result of a person's awareness of these drives, resistance attempts arise, thus various (well-defined and well-typed) defense mechanisms are formed.
Personality, in addition to the structural interdependence of elements common to all, is determined by facultative (that is, individual) development, mainly the events of early childhood.
Internal conflicts between the unconscious and conscious perception of reality lead to the phenomenon of repression, which creates the basis for various mental disorders and, subsequently, mental disorders that reach clinical forms. Getting rid of the influence of the repressed unconscious can be achieved through its awareness, caused by the re-experiencing of traumatic events with the appropriate support of a psychoanalyst.
For diagnostics and influences, in addition to the analysis of observations and personal history, it is supposed to use methods of verbalization of thoughts, free associations and interpretation of dreams.
Freud's Basic Techniques of PsychoanalysisIn the process of treatment, free associations, dreams and fantasies are explored, on the basis of which the analyst forms an idea of unconscious conflicts that determine the causes and forms of the problems and symptoms observed in the analysand.
The analyst interprets what is observed for the patient and together they look for a solution. The specificity of such influences is in the form of psychic interventions, which, as a rule, causes a reaction in the patient of confrontation and attempts to build a defense, sometimes in a pathological form. A special kind of psychic connection is formed between the analyst and the patient - the transfer. In the process of developing this connection and exchanging information, the patient may experience "transfer" and pathological reactions. Sometimes such phenomena can lead to the development of specific iatrogenies (which, by the way, also happens when using non-psychoanalytic methods of treatment).
Freud's theory had a serious impact not only on the development of psychology and psychiatry, but also on the development of other sciences and areas of human knowledge in the humanities.
Modern psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis has become and remains one of the most authoritative schools in psychology. The theory and method were expanded, supplemented, criticized and developed in various directions thanks to the activities and scientific creativity of former colleagues and numerous students (A. Adler, K. G. Jung). Subsequently, later trends arose and developed - the theories and methods of neo-Freudians (G. Sullivan, K. Horney, E. Fromm, V. Frankl, R. Assagioli).
In the first years of Soviet power (before the Stalinist repressions), psychoanalysis developed well in Russia under the general patronage of L. Bronstein (Trotsky).
Currently, psychoanalysis in a broad sense is represented by more than 20 concepts. mental development person. Various (in particular) approaches to psychoanalytic treatment are also proposed.
No matter how much psychoanalysis is criticized as a view and a method, there is definitely a rational grain in it, thanks to which this method as a whole is quite successful in one form or another.
Psychoanalysis is a term introduced into psychological use by Z. Freud. It is a teaching that focuses attention on the unconscious processes of the psyche and motivation. This is a psychotherapeutic method based on the analysis of the implicit, repressed experiences of the individual. In human psychoanalysis, the fundamental source of neurotic manifestations and various pathological diseases is considered to be the pushing out of the consciousness of unacceptable aspirations and traumatic experiences.
The psychoanalytic method prefers to consider human nature from a standpoint of confrontation: the functioning of the personality's psyche reflects the struggle of diametrically opposed tendencies.
Psychoanalysis in psychology
Psychoanalysis reflects how unconscious confrontation affects the self-esteem of the individual and the emotional side of the personality, its interactions with the rest of the environment and others. social institutions. The root cause of the conflict lies in the very circumstances of the individual's experience. After all, man is both a biological creation and a social being. According to its own biological desires, it is aimed at seeking pleasure and avoiding pain.
Psychoanalysis is a concept introduced by Z. Freud in order to designate a new methodology for the study and treatment of mental disorders. The principles of psychology are many-sided and broad, and one of the most famous methods of studying the psyche in psychological science is psychoanalysis.
Sigmund Freud's theory of psychoanalysis consists of the conscious, preconscious part and the unconscious.
In the preconscious part, many fantasies of the individual and his desires are stored. Desires can be redirected into the conscious part if enough attention is focused on it. A phenomenon that is difficult for an individual to realize, due to the fact that it contradicts his moral principles, or seems too painful for him, is located in the unconscious part. Actually this part is separated from the other two by censorship. Therefore, it is important to always remember that the subject of careful study of psychoanalytic technique is the relationship between the conscious part and the unconscious.
Psychological science refers to the deep mechanisms of psychoanalysis: the analysis of causeless actions of the symptomatic structure that occur in everyday life, analysis with the help of free associations, interpretation of dreams.
With the help of psychological teachings, people discover answers to questions that disturb their souls, and psychoanalysis only pushes them to find an answer, often one-sided, private. Psychologists mainly work with the motivational sphere of clients, their emotions, relationship to the surrounding reality, sensory images. Psychoanalysts concentrate mainly on the essence of the individual, on his unconscious. Along with this, both psychological practice and psychoanalytic methodology have something in common.
Sigmund Freud psychoanalysis
The main regulatory mechanism of human behavior is consciousness. Z. Freud discovered that behind the veil of consciousness there is a deep, “raging” layer of powerful aspirations, aspirations, desires that are not realized by the individual. As a practicing physician, Freud faced the serious problem of the complication of being due to the presence of unconscious worries and motives. Often this "unconscious" becomes the cause of neuropsychiatric disorders. This discovery directed him to search for tools to help patients get rid of the confrontation between "pronounceable" consciousness and hidden, unconscious motives. Thus, Sigmund Freud's theory of psychoanalysis was born - a method of healing the soul.
Not limited to the study and treatment of neuropaths, as a result of hard work to recreate their mental health, Z. Freud formed a theory that interpreted the experiences and behavioral reactions of sick individuals and healthy individuals.
Sigmund Freud's theory of psychoanalysis is known as classical psychoanalysis. It has gained immense popularity in the West.
The concept of "psychoanalysis" can be represented in three meanings: psychopathology and personality theory, a method for studying the unconscious thoughts of an individual and his feelings, a method for treating personality disorders.
Freud's classical psychoanalysis demonstrated a completely new system in psychology, which is often referred to as the psychoanalytic revolution.
Sigmund Freud philosophy of psychoanalysis: he argued that the hypothesis of unconscious processes of the psyche, the recognition of the doctrine of resistance and repression, the Oedipus complex and sexual development form the fundamental elements of psychoanalytic theory. In other words, no physician can be considered a psychoanalyst without agreeing with the enumerated basic premises of psychoanalysis.
Freud's psychoanalysis is the basis for comprehending many processes in the social mind, mass behavior, preferences of individuals in the field of politics, culture, etc. From the standpoint of psychoanalytic teaching, the modern subject lives in a world of intense mental motives, embraced by repressed aspirations and inclinations, which leads him to television screens, serial films and other forms of culture that give a sublimation effect.
Freud identified two fundamental antagonistic driving forces, namely "thanatos" and "eros" (for example, life and death). All the processes of a destructive nature in the subject and society are based on such oppositely directed motives - "aspiration for life" and "thirst for death". Freud considered Eros in a broad sense as a striving for life and gave this concept a central place.
Freud's theory of psychoanalysis gave science an understanding of such an important phenomenon of the personality psyche as "libido" or, in other words, sexual desire. Freud's central idea was the idea of unconscious sexual behavior, which is the basis of the behavior of the subject. Behind most of the manifestations of fantasies and creativity, sexual problems are mainly hidden. Any creativity was considered by Freud as a symbolic fulfillment of unfulfilled desires. However, this concept of Freud should not be exaggerated. He proposed to consider that behind each image an intimate background is necessarily hidden, but in principle it is undeniable.
Introduction to Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud is often referred to as the concept of the unconscious psyche. The core of the psychoanalytic teaching is the study of the active affective complex that is formed as a result of repressed traumatic experiences from consciousness. The strength of this theory has always been considered that it managed to focus on the unthinkable complexity of the affective side of the individual, on the problem of clearly experienced and hidden drives, on conflicts that arise between various motives, on the tragic confrontation between the sphere of "desired" and "should". Neglect of unconscious, but real mental processes, as a determinant of behavior, in the field of education inevitably leads to a deep distortion of the whole image inner life subject, which in turn creates an obstacle to the formation of deeper knowledge about the nature and tools of spiritual creativity, norms of behavior, personal structure and activity.
Psychoanalytic teaching by focusing attention also represents the processes of an unconscious nature and is a technique that forces the unconscious to be explained by the language of consciousness, brings it to the surface in order to search for the cause of the suffering of the individual, internal confrontation to cope with it.
Freud discovered the so-called "mental underground", when an individual notices the best, praises it, but strives for the bad. The problem of the unconscious is acute in individual psychology, social life and social relationships. As a result of the influence of certain factors, a misunderstanding of the surrounding conditions and one's own "I" appears, which contributes to a sharp pathologisation of social behavior.
In a general sense, psychoanalytic theory is considered not only a scientific concept, but a philosophy, a therapeutic practice associated with the healing of the psyche of individuals. It is not limited only to experimental scientific knowledge and consistently approaches humanistically oriented theories. However, many scholars considered psychoanalytic theory a myth.
For example, Erich Fromm considered psychoanalysis limited due to its biologization determination of personal development and considered the role of sociological factors, political, economic, religious and cultural reasons in personal formation.
Freud developed a radical theory in which he argued for the prevailing role of repression and the fundamental importance of the unconscious. Human nature has always believed in reason as the apogee of human experience. Z. Freud delivered humanity from this delusion. He forced the scientific community to doubt the inviolability of the rational. Why you can rely on the mind completely. Does it always bring consolation and release from torment? And is the torment less grandiose in terms of the level of impact on the individual than the ability of the mind?
Z. Freud substantiated that a significant proportion of rational thinking only masks real judgments and feelings, in other words, serves to hide the truth. Therefore, for the treatment of neurotic states, Freud began to use the method of free association, which consisted in the fact that patients in a relaxed state say everything that comes to their mind, whether such thoughts are absurd or of an unpleasant, obscene nature. Powerful impulses of an emotional nature carry away uncontrolled thinking in the direction of psychic conflict. Freud argued that a random first thought is a forgotten continuation of a memory. However, later, he made a reservation that this is not always the case. Sometimes the thought that arises in the patient is not identical to the forgotten ideas, due to the mental state of the patient.
Also, Freud claimed that with the help of dreams, the presence in the depths of the brain of an intense mental life is revealed. And the direct analysis of a dream involves the search for hidden content in it, a deformed unconscious truth that is hidden in every dream. And the more confusing the dream, the greater the significance of the hidden content for the subject. Such a phenomenon is called resistances in the language of psychoanalysis, and they are expressed even when the individual who has had a dream does not want to interpret the nocturnal images that inhabit his mind. With the help of resistances, the unconscious defines barriers to protect itself. Dreams express hidden desires through symbols. Hidden thoughts, being transformed into symbols, are made acceptable to consciousness, as a result of which it becomes possible for them to overcome censorship.
Anxiety was considered by Freud as a synonym for an affective state of the psyche - which was given a special section in the introduction to psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud. In general, the psychoanalytic concept distinguishes three forms of anxiety, namely, realistic, neurotic and moral. All three forms are aimed at warning about a threat or danger, developing a behavioral strategy, or adapting to threatening circumstances. In situations of internal confrontation, the “I” forms psychological defenses, which are special types of unconscious activity of the psyche that allow at least temporarily alleviate confrontation, relieve tension, get rid of anxiety by distorting the actual situation, modifying attitudes towards threatening circumstances, substituting the perception of reality. under certain living conditions.
Theory of psychoanalysis
The concept of psychoanalysis is based on the concept that human behavior is largely unconscious and not apparent. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Z. Freud developed a new structural model of the psyche, which made it possible to consider internal confrontation in a different aspect. In this structure, he singled out three components, called: "it", "I" and "super-I". The pole of the individual's drives is called "it". All processes in it occur unconsciously. From "IT" is born and formed in interaction with the environment and the environment
"I", which is a complex set of identifications with other "I". In the conscious surface, the preconscious and unconscious planes, the "I" functions and performs psychological protection.
All protective mechanisms are initially designed to adapt subjects to the requirements external environment and inner reality. But due to developmental disorders of the psyche, such natural and common methods of adaptation within the boundaries of the family can themselves become the cause of serious problems. Any defense, along with the weakening of the impact of reality, also distorts it. In the case when such curvature is too massive, adaptive methods of protection are transformed into a psychopathological phenomenon.
"I" is considered the middle area, the territory on which two realities intersect and overlap one another. One of its most important functions is reality testing. “I” invariably encountering difficult and dual requirements that come from “IT”, the external environment and the “super-I”, “I” is forced to find compromises.
Any psychopathological phenomenon is a compromise solution, an unsuccessful desire for self-healing of the psyche, which has arisen as a response to pain sensations generated by intrapsychic confrontation. "SUPER-I" is a pantry of moral prescriptions and ideals, it implements several significant functions in mental regulation, namely control and self-observation, encouragement and punishment.
E. Fromm developed humanistic psychoanalysis in order to expand the boundaries of psychoanalytic teaching and emphasize the role of economic, sociological and political factors, religious and anthropological circumstances in personal formation.
Fromm's psychoanalysis briefly: he began his interpretation of personality with an analysis of the circumstances of an individual's life and their modification, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. The humanistic psychoanalytic concept was developed to resolve the main contradictions of human existence: egoism and altruism, possession and life, negative "freedom from" and positive "freedom for".
Erich Fromm argued that the way out of the crisis stage of modern civilization lies in the creation of the so-called "healthy society", based on the beliefs and guidelines of humanistic morality, the restoration of harmony between nature and the subject, personality and society.
Erich Fromm is considered the founder of neo-Freudianism, a trend that has become widespread mainly in the United States. Neo-Freudians combined Freudian psychoanalysis with American sociological teachings. Horney's psychoanalysis can be singled out among the most famous works on neo-Freudianism. The followers of neo-Freudianism sharply criticized the chain of postulates of classical psychoanalysis regarding the interpretation of the processes occurring inside the psyche, but at the same time preserved the most important components of its theory (the concept of the irrational motivation of the subjects' activities).
Neo-Freudians focused on the study of interpersonal relationships in order to find answers to questions about the existence of a person, about the proper way of life for a person and what she needs to do.
Horney's psychoanalysis consists in the presence of three fundamental behavioral strategies that an individual can use to resolve a basic conflict. Each strategy corresponds to a certain basic orientation in relations with other subjects:
- a strategy of movement towards society or an orientation towards individuals (corresponding to a compliant personality type);
- a strategy of movement against society or an orientation against subjects (corresponds to a hostile or aggressive personality type);
- a strategy of moving away from society or orientation from individuals (corresponds to a detached or isolated personality type).
The style of interaction focused on individuals is characterized by bondage, uncertainty and helplessness. Such people are driven by the belief that if the individual backs down, he will not be touched.
The compliant type needs love, protection, and guidance. He usually enters into relationships to avoid feelings of loneliness, worthlessness or helplessness. Behind their courtesy may be a repressed need for aggressive behavior.
With a style of behavior oriented against subjects, dominance and exploitation are characteristic. A person acts on the basis of the belief that she has power, so no one will touch her.
The hostile type adheres to the point of view that society is aggressive, and life is a struggle against everyone. Hence, the hostile type considers each situation or any relationship from the position that he will have from it.
Karen Horney argued that this type is able to behave correctly and friendly, but at the same time, in the end, his behavior is always aimed at gaining power over the environment. All his actions are aimed at increasing his own status, authority or satisfying personal ambitions. Thus, this strategy reveals the need to exploit the environment, to receive social recognition and delight.
Detached type enjoys protective installation– “I don’t care” and is guided by the principle that if he pulls away, he will not suffer. For this type, the following rule is characteristic: under no circumstances should you be carried away. And it doesn't matter what it's about - either about love relationships or about work. As a result, they lose their true interest in the environment, become akin to superficial pleasures. This strategy is characterized by the desire for solitude, independence and self-sufficiency.
Introducing such a division of behavioral strategies, Horney noted that the concept of "types" is used in the concept for a simplified designation of individuals characterized by the presence of certain character traits.
Psychoanalytic direction
The most powerful and diverse current in modern psychology is the psychoanalytic direction, the founder of which is Freud's psychoanalysis. The most famous works in the psychoanalytic direction are Adler's individual psychoanalysis and Jung's analytical psychoanalysis.
Alfred Adler and Carl Jung, in their writings, supported the theory of the unconscious, but sought to limit the role of intimate urges in the interpretation of the human psyche. As a result, the unconscious acquired a new content. The content of the unconscious, according to A. Adler, was the desire for power as a tool that compensates for the feeling of inferiority.
Jung's psychoanalysis briefly: G. Jung rooted the concept of "collective unconscious". He considered the unconscious psyche to be saturated with structures that cannot be acquired individually, but are a gift from distant ancestors, while Freud believed that phenomena previously repressed from consciousness can enter the unconscious psyche of the subject.
Jung further develops the concept of the two poles of the unconscious - the collective and the personal. The superficial layer of the psyche, covering all the contents that have a connection with personal experience, namely forgotten memories, repressed urges and desires, forgotten traumatic impressions, Jung called the personal unconscious. It depends on the personal history of the subject and can awaken in fantasies and dreams. He called the collective unconscious a supra-personal unconscious psyche, including drives, instincts, which in a person represent a natural creation, and archetypes in which the human soul is found. The collective unconscious contains national and racial beliefs, myths and prejudices, as well as a certain heritage that has been acquired from animals by people. Instincts and archetypes play the role of a regulator of the inner life of the individual. The instinct determines the specific behavior of the subject, and the archetype determines the specific formation of the conscious contents of the psyche.
Jung identified two human types: extroverted and introverted. The first type is characterized by an outward orientation and a focus on social activity, and the second type is characterized by an internal orientation and focus on personal drives. Subsequently, Jung called such drives of the subject the term "libido" as well as Freud, but at the same time Jung did not identify the concept of "libido" with the sexual instinct.
Thus, Jung's psychoanalysis is an addition to classical psychoanalysis. Jung's philosophy of psychoanalysis had a rather serious influence on the further development of psychology and psychotherapy, along with anthropology, ethnography, philosophy and esotericism.
Adler, transforming the initial postulate of psychoanalysis, singled out the feeling of inferiority, caused, in particular, by physical defects, as a factor in personal development. As a response to such feelings, there is a desire to compensate for it, in order to gain superiority over others. The source of neuroses, in his opinion, is hidden in an inferiority complex. He fundamentally disagreed with the statements of Jung and Freud about the prevalence of personal unconscious instincts in human behavior and his personality, which oppose the individual to society and alienate him from it.
Adler's psychoanalysis briefly: Adler argued that a sense of community with society, stimulating social relationships and orientation to other subjects, is the main force that determines human behavior and determines the life of the individual, and not at all innate archetypes or instincts.
However, there is something in common that connects the three concepts of Adler's individual psychoanalysis, Jung's analytical psychoanalytic theory and Freud's classical psychoanalysis - all of these concepts claimed that the individual has some inner, unique nature that affects personality formation. Only Freud gave a decisive role to sexual motives, Adler noted the role of social interests, and Jung attached decisive importance to primary types of thinking.
Another staunch follower of Freud's psychoanalytic theory was E. Berne. In the course of further development of the ideas of classical psychoanalysis and the development of a methodology for the treatment of neuropsychiatric ailments, Berne focused on the so-called "transactions" that form the foundation interpersonal relationships. Psychoanalysis Bern: he considered three states of "ego", namely the child, adult and parent. Berne suggested that in the process of any interaction with the environment, the subject is always in one of the listed states.
Introduction to Psychoanalysis Berne - this work was created to explain the dynamics of the psyche of the individual and analyze the problems experienced by patients. Unlike fellow psychoanalysts, Berne considered it important to bring the analysis of personality problems to the life history of her parents and other ancestors.
Berne's introduction to psychoanalysis is devoted to the analysis of the varieties of "games" used by individuals in daily communication.
Methods of psychoanalysis
The psychoanalytic concept has its own techniques of psychoanalysis, which include several stages: the production of material, the stage of analysis and the working alliance. The main methods of material production include free association, transfer reaction and resistance.
The method of free association is a diagnostic, research and therapeutic method of classical Freudian psychoanalysis. It is based on the use of associativity of thinking to comprehend deep mental processes(mostly unconscious) and further application of the data obtained in order to correct and cure functional mental disorders through the clients' awareness of the sources of their problems, causes and nature. A feature of this method is the jointly directed, meaningful and purposeful struggle of the patient and the therapist against the sensations of mental discomfort or illness.
The method consists in uttering by the patient any thoughts that come into his head, even if such thoughts are absurd or obscene. The effectiveness of the method depends, for the most part, on the relationship that has arisen between the patient and the therapist. The basis of such relationships is the phenomenon of transference, which consists in the subconscious transfer by the patient to the therapist of the properties of the parents. In other words, the client transfers onto the therapist the feelings he has for surrounding subjects in the early age period, in other words, he projects early childhood desires and relationships onto another person.
The process of comprehending cause-and-effect relationships in the course of psychotherapy, the constructive transformation of personal attitudes and beliefs, as well as the renunciation of old and the formation of new types of behavior are accompanied by certain difficulties, resistance, opposition of the client. Resistance is a recognized clinical phenomenon that accompanies any form of psychotherapy. It means the desire not to touch upon the unconscious conflict, as a result of which any attempt to identify the true sources of personality problems is created.
Freud considered resistance to be the opposition unconsciously offered by the client to attempts to recreate the "repressed complex" in his mind.
The analysis phase contains four steps (confrontation, interpretation, clarification, and working through), which do not necessarily follow each other in sequence.
Another important psychotherapeutic step is the working alliance, which is a relatively healthy, sensible relationship between patient and therapist. It enables the client to work purposefully in the analytic situation.
The method of interpreting dreams is to look for the hidden content, the deformed unconscious truth that lies behind every dream.
Modern psychoanalysis
Modern psychoanalysis has grown up in the field of Freud's concepts. It is a constantly evolving theories and methods designed to open up the innermost sides of human nature.
For more than a hundred years of its existence, psychoanalytic teaching has undergone many cardinal changes. On the basis of Freud's monotheistic theory, a complex system was formed that covers a variety of practical approaches and scientific points of view.
Modern psychoanalysis is a complex of approaches connected by a common subject of analysis. The unconscious aspects of the mental existence of subjects serve as such an object. The general goal of psychoanalytic writings is to free individuals from the various unconscious limits that give rise to torment and block progressive development. Initially, the development of psychoanalysis proceeded exclusively as a method of healing neuroses and teaching about unconscious processes.
Modern psychoanalysis identifies three interrelated areas, namely the psychoanalytic concept, which forms the basis for a variety of practical approaches, applied psychoanalysis, aimed at studying cultural phenomena and solving social problems, and clinical psychoanalysis, aimed at providing psychological and psychotherapeutic assistance in cases of personal difficulties. or neuropsychiatric disorders.
If during Freud's work the concept of drives and the theory of infantile sexual desire were especially widespread, today the undisputed leader in the field of psychoanalytic ideas is ego psychology and the concept of object relations. Along with this, the techniques of psychoanalysis are constantly being transformed.
Modern psychoanalytic practice has already gone far beyond the treatment of neurotic conditions. Despite the fact that the symptomatology of neuroses, as before, is considered an indication for the use of the classical technique of psychoanalysis, modern psychoanalytic teaching finds adequate ways to help individuals with a variety of problems, ranging from ordinary psychological difficulties to severe mental disorders.
The most popular branches of modern psychoanalytic theory are structural psychoanalysis and neo-Freudianism.
Structural psychoanalysis is a direction of modern psychoanalysis based on the meaning of language for assessing the unconscious, characterizing the subconscious and for the purpose of treating neuropsychiatric diseases.
Neo-Freudianism is also called the direction in modern psychoanalytic theory, which arose on the foundation of the implementation of Freud's postulates about the unconscious emotional motivation of the subjects' activities. Also, all the followers of neo-Freudianism were united by the desire to rethink Freud's theory in the direction of its greater sociologization. For example, Adler and Jung rejected Freud's biologism, instinctivism and sexual determinism, and also attached less importance to the unconscious.
The development of psychoanalysis thus led to the emergence of numerous modifications that changed the content of the key concepts of Freud's concept. However, all followers of psychoanalysis are bound by the recognition of the judgment of "conscious and unconscious." 
Psychoanalysis is one of the trends in psychology, founded by the Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist Z. Freud at the end of the 19th - the first third of the 20th century.
This psychological direction is based on the concept of the unconscious by Z. Freud. The impetus for a deep study of the unconscious was for Freud the presence at a hypnosis session, when a suggestion was made to the patient, who was in a hypnotic state, according to which, after waking up, she had to get up and take an umbrella standing in the corner and belonging to one of those present. Before awakening, she was instructed to forget that this suggestion had been given. After waking up, the patient got up, went over and took the umbrella and then opened it. When asked why she did this, she replied that she wanted to check if the umbrella was working or not. When she was noticed that the umbrella was not hers, she was extremely embarrassed.
This experiment attracted the attention of Freud, who was interested in a number of phenomena. First, the unawareness of the causes of the actions taken. Secondly, the absolute effectiveness of these reasons: a person performs a task, despite the fact that he himself does not know why he does it. Thirdly, the desire to find an explanation for their action. Fourthly, the possibility, sometimes through lengthy interrogations, of bringing a person to the memory of the true reason for his action. Thanks to this occasion and relying on a number of other facts, Freud created his own theory of the unconscious.
According to Freud's theory, there are three spheres or areas in the human psyche: consciousness, preconscious and unconscious. He referred to the category of consciousness everything that is realized and controlled by a person. Freud attributed hidden or latent knowledge to the area of preconsciousness. This is the knowledge that a person has, but which is currently absent in the mind. They are triggered when an appropriate stimulus occurs.
The area of the unconscious, according to Freud, has completely different properties. The first property is that the content of this area is not recognized, but it has an extremely significant influence on our behavior. The area of the unconscious is active. The second property is that information that is in the area of the unconscious hardly passes into consciousness. This is explained by the work of two mechanisms: displacement and resistance.
In his theory, Freud singled out three main forms of manifestation of the unconscious: dreams, erroneous actions, neurotic symptoms. To study the manifestations of the unconscious within the framework of the theory of psychoanalysis, methods for studying them were developed - the method of free associations and the method of dream analysis. The method of free association involves the interpretation by the psychoanalyst of the words continuously produced by the patient. The psychoanalyst must find a pattern in the words produced by the patient and make an appropriate conclusion about the causes of the condition that arose in the person who applied for help. As one of the variants of this method in psychoanalysis, an associative experiment is used, when the patient is prompted to quickly and without hesitation name the words in response to the word uttered by the psychoanalyst. As a rule, after several dozen trials, words associated with his hidden experiences begin to appear in the answers of the subject.
Dreams are analyzed in the same way. The need to analyze dreams, according to Freud, is due to the fact that during sleep the level of consciousness control decreases and a person sees dreams caused by a partial breakthrough into the sphere of consciousness of his drives, which are blocked by consciousness in the waking state.
Freud paid special attention to neurotic symptoms. According to his ideas, neurotic symptoms are traces of repressed traumatic circumstances that form a highly charged focus in the sphere of the unconscious and from there perform destructive work to destabilize the mental state of a person. In order to get rid of neurotic symptoms, Freud considered it necessary to open this focus, that is, to make the patient aware of the causes that determine his condition, and then the neurosis would be cured.
Freud considered the basis for the emergence of neurotic symptoms to be the most important biological need of all living organisms - the need for procreation, which manifests itself in humans in the form of sexual desire. Suppressed sexual desire is the cause of neurotic disorders. However, such disorders can also be caused by other causes not related to a person's sexuality. These are various unpleasant experiences that accompany everyday life. As a result of displacement into the sphere of the unconscious, they also form strong energy centers, which manifest themselves in the so-called erroneous actions. Freud referred to erroneous actions the forgetting of certain facts, intentions, names, as well as typos, reservations, etc. These phenomena were explained by him as a result of difficult or unpleasant experiences associated with a particular object, word, name, etc. In turn, Freud explained slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, or accidental omissions by saying that they contain the true intentions of a person, carefully hidden from others.
The formation of Z. Freud's views went through two main stages. At the 1st stage, a dynamic model of the psyche was developed, including the idea of its three areas: consciousness, preconsciousness and the unconscious. At the 2nd stage (starting from the 1920s), psychoanalysis turns into a doctrine of personality, in which three structures are distinguished: It (Id), I (Ego) and Super-I (Super-Ego). The structure of the id contains innate unconscious instincts (the instinct of life and death), as well as repressed drives and desires. The structure of the ego is formed under the influence of the external world and is under the bilateral influence of the id and the superego. The structure of the Super-I contains a system of ideals, norms and prohibitions, which is formed in individual experience through identification with the Super-I of parents and close adults. The struggle between the structures of the Super-I and It generates unconscious defense mechanisms of the personality, as well as the sublimation of unconscious drives.
However, very few followers of Z. Freud agreed with him that sexual desires determine the whole life of a person. This direction was further developed in the works of A. Adler, C. Jung, E. Erickson, K. Horney, A. Assogiolli, E. Fromm and others.
So, A. Adler creates his own version of psychoanalysis - individual psychology, in which the central place is given to the problems of target determination of human behavior, the meaning of life, the conditions for the emergence of an inferiority complex in a person and means of compensation (overcompensation) for real and imaginary shortcomings.
E. Erickson on a large empirical material, he proved the socio-cultural conditioning of the human psyche, as opposed to classical psychoanalysis, where man and society were opposed. The most important in the concept of E. Erickson is the concept "psychosocial identity": a stable image of the Self and the corresponding ways of behaving a person that are developed during life and are a condition for mental health. But with significant social upheavals(war, disasters, violence, unemployment, etc.) psychosocial identity may be lost. The main role in the formation of this personal education is played by the I (Ego), which focuses on the values and ideals of society, which become the values and ideals of the personality itself in the process of educating the individual.
K. Jung, one of the students of Z. Freud, created his own version of psychoanalysis - analytical psychology. Based on the analysis of dreams, delusions, schizophrenic disorders, as well as on the study of mythology, the works of Eastern, ancient and medieval philosophers, K. Jung comes to the conclusion about the existence and manifestation in human psychology collective unconscious. According to K. Jung, the contents of the collective unconscious are not acquired in the individual life experience of the subject - they already exist at birth in the form archetypes that are inherited from ancestors.
And according to C. Horney, neuroses develop due to contradictions in people's relationships that actualize a person's feeling "root anxiety". A particularly important role in the neurotic development of the personality is played by relationships with parents in childhood.
As scientists ironically, Freud was 50% right and 100% wrong. Indeed, in publications, films, books, opposite opinions are expressed about him, and psychoanalysis is generally called pseudoscience. But with all this, Freud was and remains the central figure of modern psychotherapy. World psychology has been referring to this great man for almost 100 years. And we daily use the words associated with his theory: the phallic symbol, the Oedipus complex or the Freudian slip.
In the article we talk about the background and history of psychoanalysis, its key postulates, levels of personality and why Freud is called a brilliant PR man.
What is psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a metapsychological theory founded by Sigmund Freud that combines several psychotherapeutic schools and directions. Basic postulates psychoanalysis were formed at the end of the 19th century on the border of practical medicine, psychological theory and its practical application. Today, the term "psychoanalysis" is used in a threefold sense:
- Like a philosophical teaching about the structure of mental life, the interaction of individual substructures.
- Like a psychological theory about the study of unconscious processes that cannot be studied in any other way.
- As a psychotherapeutic method of treatment neurosis and mental health.
According to Freud, memories of early childhood events (especially unpleasant ones) hide deep, deep in us. We can't remember them, but we can't forget either. Repressed events are never left alone, they limit, poison life, spoil relationships, cause painful symptoms. Freud not only found out the causes of recurring mental problems, but came up with a method that helps to unravel the tangle of painful childhood secrets and deal with the "ghosts" of the past. And he called this method psychoanalysis.
Key postulates of psychoanalysis:
- A person is not a full owner of his mind - thoughts, experience, knowledge, thinking are largely predetermined by internal and irrational processes that are beyond the control of consciousness.
- As soon as a person tries to realize these drives, the psyche turns on the protective mechanisms of denial, transfer, repression, projection, rationalization.
- Conflicts between the conscious and unconscious perception of reality can provoke psycho-emotional disorders, neuroses, phobias, sexual deviations and disorders (frigidity or impotence, for example).
- Conscious and unconscious desires, fears, desires directly affect our dreams.
- Individual development is predetermined not only by the events of early childhood.
- All five phases of psychosexual development leave their imprint in the form of painful experiences, attitudes, character traits, values.
Freud's psychoanalysis was the first system in modern psychology that considered not individual aspects of a person's problem, but a person as a whole person. The psychoanalytic method does not guarantee healing or correction of the situation, but helps:
- Get working tools to get into your psyche and make unconscious processes more apparent.
- Work out the personal unconscious and correct the psyche.
- To reveal previously inaccessible unconscious material so as to study and change it with the help of consciousness.
- Decipher and interpret all the contradictions that arise in consciousness, relationships.
- Explore and integrate your own unconscious experience in order to stop "stepping on the same rake".
- Research client requests: What is happening to me? Why is this happening to me? And thanks to this, to answer the main question: What to do with it?
In the 21st century, Sigmund Freud is recognized as one of the most mentioned psychoanalysts, and psychoanalysis is of general interest. Moreover, the same interest in the form of psychotherapeutic experience and in the form of criticism of most of the postulates.
Criticism of Freud's theory
Academic psychology in the 21st century prefers not to mention Freud as a reliable source. This is explained by the fact that the entire psychoanalysis, in fact, is built on a dozen clinical cases from Freud's practice. But that's not the point. Here are the main reasons for criticism:
- Freud conducted his observations haphazardly, worked on the basis of notes made a few hours after the end of the therapy session. Therefore, it is highly likely that when reproducing the conversation, the scientist interpreted the data at his own discretion.
- There is no scientific support for the idea that boys subconsciously lust after their mothers and dislike their fathers. As well as evidence that women envy the male genitals.
- The scientist's view of the activity of the "male" and the passivity of everything "female" causes anger among minded public figures.
- It is believed that the scientist ignored psychic powers that do not have a physiological source. Hence Freud's appeal to sexuality and everything connected with it.
- Freudianism has been called a "closed system" that ignores any refutation.
Famous critics of psychoanalytic theory consider V. Nabokov, Pierre Janet, Erich Fromm, V. Leybin, L. Stevenson, G. Eysenck. The psychological direction generally recognizes psychoanalysis as a pseudoscience, and some critics distort the name of the scientist, call him « Fraud"-"Scammer"(translated from English).
However, the psychoanalytic direction in psychology today is considered the most powerful. Freud founded it and left behind 24 volumes of scientific works. It is difficult to overestimate his contribution to psychological science. No wonder A. Einstein called him "Copernicus of the unconscious."
Background to psychoanalytic theory
Freud's main "PR move" is considered to be his authorship in the discovery of the unconscious. But the scientists of Antiquity spoke about the fact that consciousness does not single-handedly “control” the psyche. Back in the 4th century BC, the ancient Greek healer Hippocrates, observing epilepsy, suggested the presence of an extraconscious control system. In the 11th century, the Arab scientist Al-Hassan, while studying visual illusions, described mental activity that is not realized by a person. These theories became the basis of psychoanalysis.
Since the early Christian period, the topics of female, sexual desire, self-satisfaction, sexual education were hushed up or studied within the framework of pathology. By the end of the 19th century, religion had ceased to "calm", and the problem of neuroticism and sexuality began to take over the world. At the same time, European psychiatrists began to actively publish works on sexual anomalies. The very category of "sex" became fundamentally new, since from the point of view of religion, all desires for pleasure were reduced to the sins of the flesh. Sometimes it reached the point of absurdity. For example, in secular salons draped chandeliers, piano legs - any objects that vaguely resemble phallic symbols.
Freud was not an innovator in the topic of the study of sexuality or theories about the unconscious. He drew his knowledge from the works of the French psychiatrist Pierre Janet, his scientific mentor, the famous neuropathologist J. Charcot. Other sources for the Freudian theory were the "doctrine of monads" by Wilhelm Leibniz, Darwin's evolutionary doctrine, Haeckel's bioenergetic law, and the theory of dreams by K. Carus.
Indeed, the discovery of psychoanalysis was not the result of the research of Sigmund Freud alone. But in his discoveries he went further than his teachers. Psychoanalytic theory itself became innovative. On its basis, psychodrama, NLP, transactional analysis and other areas that recognize the supremacy of the unconscious were built.
Freud developed the basic terms of psychoanalysis and described:
- Structural model of the psyche.
- Psychosexual phases of development.
- (in boys), (in girls).
- Defense mechanisms of the psyche.
- Method of free associations.
- dream interpretation technique.
- transference and countertransference.
- Ideas of children's sexuality.
Famous followers of Freudian ideas are the Austrian physician J. Breuer, the Austro-American psychoanalyst T. Reik, and the American psychoanalyst Karen Horney. Later, the theory of A. Adler's "sense of inferiority", V. Shtekel's "affective disorders", and C. Jung's analytical psychology "budded" from the psychoanalytic base.
Freud's theory, revolutionary and scandalous for that time, still influences the development of science, is criticized, provokes new revelations, and causes controversy and discussion. A scientist can be criticized or admired, but it is impossible not to respect his contribution to science.
Basic ideas of psychoanalysis
The main idea of psychoanalysis is based on the statement: in the mental nature of a person there are no accidents or inconsistencies, and any events of the past affect the future. Hence the assertion that the main cause of neurosis or an adult is unconscious childhood fantasies or forgotten childhood events.
Based on the theory of the relationship between the past and the present, Freud divided the psyche into three areas.
Three in One: Id, Ego, Super-Ego
According to Freud's theory, a person's personality is the interaction of three mental instances:
Id (translated from Latin - "It"): a set of drives that energize any action. This is an archaic structure of the psyche, controlled by basic instincts (the main ones are aggression and sex) and basic ones. The irrational id obeys the "pleasure principle" and seeks to get the most out of every moment. However, if only It controlled man, he would be no different from animals. Therefore, during the period of growing up and interaction of the child with the outside world, the second structure of the personality is formed - the Ego.
Ego (translated from Latin - "I"): rational intermediary between "want" and "should". This is the conscious mental world of a person, which protects against harmful influence from the outside and inhibits instincts in order to meet the requirements of society. The ego plans, reasons, evaluates, remembers, responds to physical and social influences. That is, conscious life takes place precisely in the ego. Unlike the nature of the id, the ego tries to delay its deep impulses until it finds a suitable opportunity to discharge. According to Freud, the ego seeks pleasure. But he avoids displeasure.
Super-ego (translated from Latin - "super-I”): an internal limiter that prevents desires from manifesting directly. This is a judge, a censor, a repository of moral attitudes and value systems that are compatible with generally accepted norms - a "branch" of public morality in a person's head. The super-ego is absent in the newly born organism, but appears at the moment when the child begins to distinguish good from bad. This is a dual structure, divided into Conscience and Ego-Ideal. Conscience is formed during education and is associated with the disapproval of everything that is considered to be "disobedience". The ego ideal is associated with or, since it is formed from the approval and high marks of significant people.
Such a multi-layered psyche divides psychoanalysis into two problem-theoretical areas. The first is connected with the medical therapy of neuroses and personality disorders. During clinical psychoanalysis, basic knowledge about a sick or healthy psyche is obtained. The second direction is formed on the basis of practical experience, is used in everyday psychotherapy and interacts with other therapeutic theories: reflexology, body therapy.
Libido, sexuality and aggression: the main motives for our actions
Sexuality and aggression have long traveled from fairy tale to fairy tale under the guise of goddesses, gods, queens, knights, dragons, heroes and beauties. But in scientific theory, they appeared relatively recently. According to Freud, it is instincts that drive a person:
Libido (attraction, desire). The basic psychoanalytic concept was originally used as a synonym for unconscious sexual urge. The redirected (sublimated) energy of sexuality can be transformed into useful activity, and the repressed one can provoke pathological changes in the psyche.
Aggression (or death instinct). Problem aggressive behavior Freud was less interested. But repressed aggression, like repressed sexuality, can cause neurotic diseases, personality disorders.
Self-Defense Mechanisms
Psychological defenses are self-deception mechanisms that help us “hide” unwanted memories, reduce traumatic experiences, and not be aware of our own desires that contradict our opinion of ourselves. These include:
- Crowding out: forget what causes psychological discomfort.
- Projection: unconsciously we attribute our own experiences, feelings, desires to other people.
- Sublimation: transform unspent energy into different types activities (creativity, sports).
- Negation: we ignore the obvious facts, protecting the psyche from trauma.
- Regression: we adapt to the traumatic situation, mentally returning to childhood (we cry, act up, hide).
- Rationalization: we try to see reasonable arguments in a situation of failure or discomfort in order to save .
- Jet formation: we substitute behaviors and feelings with opposite meanings (hatred instead of).
Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy: what's the difference?
Psychoanalysis is not synonymous with psychotherapy. These are different concepts. Moreover, supporters of psychoanalysis call it a separate discipline that has nothing to do with psychotherapy or psychology. And among similar disciplines are called literature, linguistics, cybernetics, media.
The founding father of psychoanalysis emphasized its exploratory-theoretical nature. Later, several psychotherapeutic schools and directions were formed within this theory. But the main goal of psychoanalysis has not changed. It enables the patient to explore his psyche through immersion in the unconscious, to discover the inner world.
Nine facts about psychoanalysis:
- A psychoanalysis session is a sacrament in which only the client and the psychoanalyst participate.
- The personality of the psychoanalyst is one of the main tools in psychoanalytic work. He must inspire complete confidence in the patient in order to jointly experience the most hidden conflicts and tragedies.
- The position of the patient lying on the couch is another difference between psychoanalysis and other methods of psychotherapy, where the patient and the psychologist are facing each other.
- Psychoanalysis is personal oriented. The focus of the study is the personality as a whole with its "good" and "bad" manifestations.
- A psychoanalytic session will not immediately give noticeable relief to the patient. On the contrary, disease processes can become aggravated and cause additional suffering.
- The work goes in all directions: with personality disorders, psychological problems, with everyone who wants to understand themselves better. Psychoanalysts do not work only with mentally ill people who need medication.
- An experienced psychoanalyst can reconstruct past events from fragmentary memories, fragments of dreams, behavioral, reservations, forgotten intentions. But this will take time.
- Frequency of sessions: 1-5 per week. Duration of therapy: from 4 to 7-10 years.
- During prolonged interaction with the psychoanalyst, the patient may experience different feelings towards the analyst (including sexual attraction). But this is one of the important stages of working with the unconscious, described as a reaction of transference and countertransference.
Today it has been proven that Freud was wrong in many ways, and most of his postulates are now recognized as untenable. To recognize a scientist as a genius or not is a personal matter for everyone. But it is irrational to do two things: a) take all the initial theories seriously; b) underestimate Freud's contribution to psychology, philosophy and medicine. Yet in its time, psychoanalysis was a revolution in psychology.
Psychoanalysis is one of the trends in psychology, founded by the Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist Z. Freud at the end of the 19th - the first third of the 20th century.This psychological direction is based on the concept of the unconscious by Z. Freud. The impetus for a deep study of the unconscious was for Freud the presence at a hypnosis session, when a suggestion was made to the patient, who was in a hypnotic state, according to which, after waking up, she had to get up and take an umbrella standing in the corner and belonging to one of those present. Before awakening, she was instructed to forget that this suggestion had been given. After waking up, the patient got up, went over and took the umbrella and then opened it. When asked why she did this, she replied that she wanted to check if the umbrella was working or not. When she was noticed that the umbrella was not hers, she was extremely embarrassed.
This experiment attracted the attention of Freud, who was interested in a number of phenomena. First, the unawareness of the causes of the actions taken. Secondly, the absolute effectiveness of these reasons: a person performs a task, despite the fact that he himself does not know why he does it. Thirdly, the desire to find an explanation for their action. Fourthly, the possibility, sometimes through lengthy interrogations, of bringing a person to the memory of the true reason for his action. Thanks to this incident and relying on a number of other facts, Freud created his theory of the unconscious.
According to Freud's theory, there are three spheres or areas in the human psyche: consciousness, preconscious and unconscious. He referred to the category of consciousness everything that is realized and controlled by a person. Freud attributed hidden or latent knowledge to the area of preconsciousness. This is the knowledge that a person has, but which is currently absent in the mind. They are triggered when an appropriate stimulus occurs.
The area of the unconscious, according to Freud, has completely different properties. The first property is that the content of this area is not recognized, but it has an extremely significant influence on our behavior. The area of the unconscious is active. The second property is that information that is in the area of the unconscious hardly passes into consciousness. This is explained by the work of two mechanisms: displacement and resistance.
In his theory, Freud singled out three main forms of manifestation of the unconscious: dreams, erroneous actions, neurotic symptoms. To study the manifestations of the unconscious within the framework of the theory of psychoanalysis, methods for studying them were developed - the method of free associations and the method of analyzing dreams. The method of free association involves the interpretation by the psychoanalyst of the words continuously produced by the patient. The psychoanalyst must find a pattern in the words produced by the patient and make an appropriate conclusion about the causes of the condition that arose in the person who applied for help. As one of the variants of this method in psychoanalysis, an associative experiment is used, when the patient is prompted to quickly and without hesitation name the words in response to the word uttered by the psychoanalyst. As a rule, after several dozen trials, words associated with his hidden experiences begin to appear in the answers of the subject.
Dreams are analyzed in the same way. The need to analyze dreams, according to Freud, is due to the fact that during sleep the level of consciousness control decreases and a person sees dreams caused by a partial breakthrough into the sphere of consciousness of his drives, which are blocked by consciousness in the waking state.
Freud paid special attention to neurotic symptoms. According to his ideas, neurotic symptoms are traces of repressed traumatic circumstances that form a highly charged focus in the sphere of the unconscious and from there perform destructive work to destabilize the mental state of a person. In order to get rid of neurotic symptoms, Freud considered it necessary to open this focus, that is, to make the patient aware of the causes that determine his condition, and then the neurosis would be cured.
Freud considered the basis for the emergence of neurotic symptoms to be the most important biological need of all living organisms - the need for procreation, which manifests itself in humans in the form of sexual desire. Suppressed sexual desire is the cause of neurotic disorders. However, such disorders can also be caused by other causes not related to a person's sexuality. These are various unpleasant experiences that accompany everyday life. As a result of displacement into the sphere of the unconscious, they also form strong energy centers, which manifest themselves in the so-called erroneous actions. Freud referred to erroneous actions the forgetting of certain facts, intentions, names, as well as typos, reservations, etc. These phenomena were explained by him as a result of difficult or unpleasant experiences associated with a particular object, word, name, etc. In turn, Freud explained slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue, or accidental omissions by saying that they contain the true intentions of a person, carefully hidden from others.
The formation of Z. Freud's views went through two main stages. At the 1st stage, a dynamic model of the psyche was developed, including the idea of its three areas: consciousness, preconsciousness and the unconscious. At the 2nd stage (starting from the 1920s), psychoanalysis turns into a doctrine of personality, in which three structures are distinguished: It (Id), I (Ego) and Super-I (Super-Ego). The structure of the id contains innate unconscious instincts (the instinct of life and death), as well as repressed drives and desires. The structure of the ego is formed under the influence of the external world and is under the bilateral influence of the id and the superego. The structure of the Super-I contains a system of ideals, norms and prohibitions, which is formed in individual experience through identification with the Super-I of parents and close adults. The struggle between the structures of the Super-I and It generates unconscious defense mechanisms of the personality, as well as the sublimation of unconscious drives.
However, very few followers of Z. Freud agreed with him that sexual desires determine the whole life of a person. This direction was further developed in the works of A. Adler, C. Jung, E. Erickson, K. Horney, A. Assogiolli, E. Fromm and others.
So, A. Adler creates his own version of psychoanalysis - individual psychology, in which the central place is given to the problems of target determination of human behavior, the meaning of life, the conditions for the emergence of an inferiority complex in a person and means of compensation (overcompensation) for real and imaginary shortcomings.
E. Erickson, using a large empirical material, proved the socio-cultural conditioning of the human psyche as opposed to classical psychoanalysis, where a person and society were opposed. The most important concept in the concept of E. Erickson is the concept of "psychosocial identity": a stable image of the Self and the corresponding ways of behavior of the individual, which are developed during life and are a condition for mental health. But with significant social upheavals (war, disasters, violence, unemployment, etc.), psychosocial identity can be lost. The main role in the formation of this personal education is played by the I (Ego), which focuses on the values and ideals of society, which become the values and ideals of the personality itself in the process of educating the individual.
K. Jung, one of the students of Z. Freud, created his own version of psychoanalysis - analytical psychology. Based on the analysis of dreams, delusions, schizophrenic disorders, as well as on the study of mythology, the works of Eastern, ancient and medieval philosophers, K. Jung comes to the conclusion that the collective unconscious exists and manifests itself in human psychology. According to K. Jung, the contents of the collective unconscious are not acquired in the individual life experience of the subject - they already exist at birth in the form of archetypes that are inherited from ancestors.
And according to K. Horney, neuroses develop due to contradictions in people's relationships, which actualize a person's feeling of "fundamental anxiety". A particularly important role in the neurotic development of the personality is played by relationships with parents in childhood.
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