Psychology of Sigmund Freud

Freud’s Structural Model of the Psyche

Over the course of the development of his psychoanalytical theory, Freud modified it several times. He viewed mental life as an apparatus composed of different parts. The concept of the psychic apparatus is one of the fundamental principles of psychoanalysis.

Freud distinguishes three instances:

The Id

The Id has two aspects. First, it encompasses all that is naturally given, such as constitution, heredity, gender, drives, and archaic images (which Jung refers to as archetypes). Second, it serves as a reservoir for all repressed material, which continues to exert influence on the psyche.

Freud compares the Id to a witch’s cauldron—a chaotic mixture of instinctual impulses, dispositions, desires, emotions, and strivings, without logic, morality, or a sense of order and proportion. It is utterly indifferent even to self-preservation, concerned solely with the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of discomfort.

Freud envisions that at birth, a person is entirely Id, and that the two other instances—the Ego and the Superego—develop over time.

The Ego

Freud defines the Ego as the “outer layer” of the Id, encompassing the mental functions that mediate between the Id and the external world (reality and society). These functions include sensory perception, motor control, and all conscious thought and acts of will.

In contrast to the Id, which operates according to the pleasure principle, the Ego serves a mediating function and follows the reality principle. It is also responsible for self-preservation. Furthermore, the Ego acts as the reservoir of psychic energy (libido) and determines which objects are invested with libido (see Drive Theory in the next chapter).

The Superego

The Superego functions as the controlling, admonishing, and punishing instance—often referred to, albeit somewhat imprecisely, as the conscience. Freud sees the Superego as the internalization of social norms and values, primarily transmitted through parental upbringing.

Based on this framework, Freud formulates his concept of psychic health: a person’s actions are “psychologically balanced” when the Ego successfully mediates between the Id, the demands of the Superego, and the requirements of reality, the Ego.

Freud’s Drive Theory

Drives are the domain where the body and the psyche intersect. Such drives as hunger, sexuality, and aggression can be stimulated or subdued through influences on the organism. For Freud, it was self-evident that the drive for life should be considered the foundation of the psyche.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a time of pronounced prudery, Freud faced severe criticism for this “sexualization of the entire psychic life.” One of his critics was August Forel, a well-known psychiatrist who led the Burghölzli psychiatric clinic in Zurich. Forel refused to accept the idea that all human drives could be reduced to the sexual drive.

Later, Freud expanded his theory by introducing the so-called death drive, Thanatos, as a counterpart to Eros, the pleasure drive. He saw human life as shaped by these opposing forces: Eros representing the constructive principle and Thanatos the destructive one. Similarly, Freud believed that the sexual act itself was a combination of these two forces.

Libido and Psychic Energy

Freud fundamentally viewed the psyche not as a fixed entity but as an ongoing process—a dynamic phenomenon. According to his theory, this dynamic psychic activity is driven by psychic energy, which he called libido. Libido is generally available to the Ego. This reflects Freud’s broader effort to trace all mental processes back to organic origins.

Libido can be either free or bound. An object or idea becomes significant for a person when it is invested with libido. Freud referred to this process as cathexis—where an object becomes “charged” with libido. At birth, however, all libido is directed toward the self, a state Freud termed primary narcissism. The term originates from the Greek myth of Narcissus, a shepherd who fell in love with his own reflection in the water. Healthy psychological development involves a shift in libido from the self to external objects.

The first object to which an infant cathects libido is the mother’s breast. This does not mean, of course, that the child is literally fixated on the physical breast itself, but rather that the breast becomes the first significant object in the infant’s world. As the child develops, it invests more and more objects with libido. The stronger the emotional connection to an object, the greater its libidinal charge.

If libido becomes excessively fixated on the self rather than external objects, Freud called this secondary narcissism. This condition is considered a severe psychological disorder—an individual suffering from secondary narcissism remains entirely self-absorbed, socially detached, and incapable of love.

The Structure of Drives

Freud formally identified four essential components of every drive:

Source – The biological need that gives rise to the drive.
Object – The thing or activity that satisfies the drive.
Aim – The goal of the drive, usually the fulfillment of a need.
Pressure – The intensity of the urge.

For example, in the case of hunger:

The source is the body’s need for nourishment.
The object is food.
The pressure is the intensity of the feeling of hunger.
The aim is the satisfaction of hunger.

The same structure applies to other drives as well.

The Anal Phase

Freud believed that starting around the second year of life, the child experiences the anal region as the primary erogenous zone. By this age, children are able to sit up on their own, and parents begin toilet training—partly to avoid having to wash soiled diapers unnecessarily. At this stage, the child increasingly gains control over bowel movements, meaning they can choose to retain or release their stool at will. This newfound control provides a new form of pleasure.

Just as Freud saw the anal phase as the foundation for attitudes toward possession and letting go. Since humans naturally take in and accumulate things, they must also learn to decide what to keep and what to release—whether in terms of material possessions, emotions, or even intellectual ideas. Psychoanalysis suggests that a person’s emotional foundation for dealing with these issues is established during early childhood, through their bodily experiences related to holding in and letting go during the anal phase.

Possession, Money, and Control

Freud also noted symbolic connections between faces and material wealth.

Control, Power, and the “Anal Character”

According to Freud, a child’s newfound control over defecation also brings an early sense of power over their parents. Psychological themes that emerge during this stage include attitudes toward possession, power, order, and control. By choosing when to release or withhold their stool, the child experiences a primitive form of control and dominance, which Freud believed was connected to early sadistic tendencies. This is why he referred to this stage as the anal-sadistic phase.

Parenting Approaches and Their Effects

Wise parents allow children the freedom to enjoy their natural fascination with messes during this phase. Providing finger paints, wet sand, or mud to play with can offer healthy outlets.
Unwise parents impose strict, harsh toilet training in an attempt to make their child “clean” as early as possible—often out of their own sense of pride or social expectations.

Possible Psychological Consequences

Disruptions during the anal phase can lead to lifelong difficulties related to the above themes. A person may develop:

Extreme stinginess or excessive wastefulness
Compulsive orderliness or complete chaos
Stubbornness, obsessive behavior, or an inability to adapt

All obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCDs) are believed to originate from fixations in the anal phase. In this context, psychoanalysis describes the “anal character”—a personality type characterized by:

Excessive control
Rigid thinking and strong opinions
Inability to compromise or let things go

The Phallic Phase

According to Freud, during this stage, the erogenous zone shifts to the genitals. However, his decision to name the entire phase after the male organ (phallus) has been a point of contention, particularly among women.

Freud defended this terminology by arguing that during embryonic development, male and female genitalia are initially indistinguishable, and that what later becomes the penis in boys develops into the clitoris in girls. However, this led to the problematic view that, quantitatively speaking, women were “incomplete men” in terms of sexual development—a perspective that has caused much criticism.

Penis Envy and Castration Anxiety

During the phallic phase, children become aware of the differences between male and female genitalia. They often play “doctor” games out of curiosity and enjoy exposing themselves (voyeurism and exhibitionism).

Girls notice that boys have something they do not. Freud suggested that this leads to “penis envy”—a subconscious frustration over lacking a penis.
Boys, on the other hand, begin to take pride in their penis and often display it (imposing behavior).

Through his work with male patients, Freud found that many boys of that era had been threatened with castration by strict parents or educators if they played with their genitals. He believed that this led to “castration anxiety”—the subconscious fear that they could lose their penis, possibly believing that their mother or sister had once had one but lost it due to punishment.

The Oedipus Complex

Freud considered the Oedipus complex a central concept in psychoanalysis. The term comes from the Greek myth of Oedipus, who unknowingly married his own mother.

How the Oedipus Complex Develops in Boys

The boy subconsciously desires his mother and wants to possess her.
He begins to see his father as a rival.
This rivalry leads to castration anxiety—the fear that his father might punish him.
The boy then experiences guilt for his aggressive feelings toward his father.
To resolve this conflict, he identifies with his father—taking on his values and norms.

Freud saw this identification process as the foundation of moral development—it leads to the internalization of societal rules, which later form the Superego (Über-Ich).

Consequences of an Unresolved Oedipus Complex

Men may unconsciously seek older women as partners or develop fear of intimate relationships.
Women may either reject men entirely (castrating woman stereotype) or be drawn to much older male partners.

Disruptions in parent-child relationships, such as absent parents or inappropriate parental behavior, can make this identification process more difficult. Freud believed that an unresolved Oedipus complex is a major cause of neuroses and is therefore a primary focus of psychoanalytic therapy.

Latency Period

According to psychoanalysis, from around 6 or 7 years old until puberty, children’s sexual interests decline, entering a latent (dormant) phase.

Boys and girls naturally form same-gender groups and avoid the opposite sex.
Boys think girls are “stupid”, while girls think boys “stink”.

However, in modern society—where children are exposed to sexual content through media from an early age—many engage in sexual discussions and jokes during elementary and middle school. This has led to some debate about whether Freud’s theory of a latency period still applies in the same way today.

Genital Phase: Puberty, Adolescence, and Adult Sexuality

Puberty marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. One key milestone is the achievement of sexual maturity:

Girls enter this stage with their first menstruation.
Boys experience their first ejaculation (pollution).

With sexual maturity, attitudes toward the opposite sex also shift dramatically. Many adolescents engage in flirtation through teasing and fighting, signaling the awakening of adult sexual interests.

Psychological changes during puberty are deep and complex, affecting the entire personality—but psychoanalysis mainly focuses on their impact on sexual and emotional development.