003 - Psychosexual Approaches to Child Development: Freud the elder

Sigmund Freud's psychosexual approach proposes that human development unfolds in a series of stages, each focused on a different erogenous zone. Successful resolution of conflicts in each stage is crucial for healthy personality development. Dr. O'Leary gives a brief breakdown of Freud's psychosexual stages.

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Transcript

Below is an outline of the content in this podcast.

Welcome to PsyDactic - CAPs board study edition.  I am your host, Dr. O'Leary, a child and adolescent psychiatry fellow in the national capital region.  This is a podcast I designed to help myself and other CAPs fellows study for their boards.  Anyone interested in human development and mental health will likely also get something out of it.  For a run-down on how it is produced, please see Episode 001.  I am using AI to assist me with the content creation.  However, all the content in the podcast should be considered my opinion and no one else's. 

Freud - Psychosexual Stages

Sigmund Freud's psychosexual approach proposes that human development unfolds in a series of stages, each focused on a different erogenous zone. Successful resolution of conflicts in each stage is crucial for healthy personality development. Here's a breakdown of Freud's psychosexual stages:

Oral Stage (Birth to 1 year)

• Focus: Mouth - pleasure derived from sucking, chewing, and biting.
• Key conflict: Weaning from the mother's breast or bottle.
• Lifespan implications: Fixation at this stage can lead to oral habits like smoking, overeating, or nail-biting in adulthood.
• Fixation: If oral needs are not met or overindulged, fixation can lead to oral personality traits such as:
• Oral-receptive personality: Dependent, passive, and gullible.  
• Oral-aggressive personality: Hostile, sarcastic, and argumentative.
• Psychopathology: Oral fixation may contribute to issues like smoking, overeating, nail-biting, or substance abuse.
    

Anal Stage (1 to 3 years)

• Focus: Anus - pleasure derived from bowel and bladder control.
• Key conflict: Toilet training.
• Lifespan implications: Fixation can result in anal-retentive (obsessive, controlling) or anal-expulsive (messy, disorganized) personality traits.
• Fixation: Issues with toilet training can lead to anal personality traits such as:
• Anal-retentive personality: Obsessive, compulsive, and rigid.  
• Anal-expulsive personality: Messy, disorganized, and rebellious
• Psychopathology: Anal fixation may contribute to obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders, and depression.

Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years)

• Focus: Genitals - pleasure derived from genital exploration and awareness of gender differences.
• Key conflict: Oedipus complex (boys) or Electra complex (girls) - unconscious desire for the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the same-sex parent.
• Lifespan implications: Successful resolution involves identification with the same-sex parent and development of the superego (moral compass). Fixation can lead to sexual anxieties and difficulties in forming intimate relationships.
• Fixation: Unresolved Oedipal or Electra complex can lead to:
• Phallic personality: Self-centered, vain, and sexually aggressive.
• Psychopathology: Phallic fixation may contribute to narcissistic personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, and sexual dysfunction.

Latency Stage (6 to puberty)

• Focus: Sexual energy is suppressed.
• Key development: Focus shifts to social and intellectual development.
• Lifespan implications: This stage is relatively calm, with energy directed towards friendships, schoolwork, and hobbies.
• Fixation and Psychopathology: Because the primary features of personality are already in place, according to Freud, not much happens in latency.  That is why it is called latency.

Genital Stage (Puberty onwards)

• Focus: Genitals - mature sexual interests develop.
• Key development: Formation of intimate relationships and healthy sexuality.
• Lifespan implications: Successful resolution leads to mature sexuality and the ability to form lasting relationships.

Fixation and Psychopathology: Because this is the final stage of development, you can’t really fixate here.  What occurs here relies primarily on what occurred during the Oral or Anal stages.