Psychosexual Stages of Personal Development
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By:
Dr. Sam Vaknin
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The Viennese neurologist, Sigmund Freud, was
among the first to offer a model of psychological development in early
childhood (within the framework of psychoanalysis). He closely linked the sex
drive (libido) to the formation of personality and described five psychosexual
stages, four of which are centered around various erogenous zones in the body.
The pursuit of pleasure ("the pleasure principle") and the avoidance
of pain drive the infant to explore his or her self and the world at large.
Pleasure is inextricably linked to sexual gratification. In the oral phase
(from birth to 24 months), the baby focuses on the tongue, lips, and mouth and
derives gratification from breast feeding, thumb sucking, biting, swallowing,
and other oral exploratory activities.
This is naturally followed by the anal stage (24 to 36 months). The baby
immensely enjoys defecation and related bowel movements. But it is also the
first time in his or her life that the toddler is subjected to the censure and
displeasure of caretakers. Hitherto unconditionally adoring adults now demand
that the infant delay gratification, relieve himself only in the bathroom, and
not play with his feces. This experience - of hitherto unprecedented adult
approbation - can be traumatic.
(continued below)
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The phallic stage (age 3 to 6 years) involves
the discovery of the penis and clitoris as foci of pleasurable experience. This
tantalizing novelty is coupled with sexual desire directed at the parent of the
opposite sex (boys are attracted to their mothers and girls, to their fathers).
The child overtly and covertly competes with the same-sex parent for the
desired parent's attention: boys joust with their fathers and girls with their
mothers. These are the famous Oedipal and Electra complexes.
If the parent is insufficiently mature or narcissistic and encourages the
attentions of the child in acts of covert (emotional) and overt (physical)
incest, it could lead to the development of certain mental health disorders,
among them the Histrionic, Narcissistic, and Borderline personality disorders.
Doting, over-indulgence, and smothering are, therefore, forms of child abuse.
Sexual innuendo, treating the child as an adult or substitute partner, or
regarding one's offspring as an extension of one's self also constitute abusive
conduct.
The phallic stage is followed by 6 to 7 years of latent sexuality that is
rekindled in puberty. Adolescence is a period of personal development labeled
by Freud the genital phase. In the previous rungs of psychosexual evolution,
the child's own body was the source of sexual pleasure. Hitherto, the
adolescent and young adult seeks sexual gratification from and invests sexual
energy in others. This object-relatedness is what we call mature love.
The “sexual revolution” of the 1960s was the culmination of a process which started more than two centuries before, when Carolus Linnaeus introduced explicit and “shocking” sexual references into his botanical taxonomy. But Freud was the one who explored our “dirty minds” with the avidity of a treasure-hunting archaeologist. His work rendered legitimate topics of study human sexuality and repressed, socially unacceptable drives. He converted the lewdest fantasies into organizing principles of our inner world, possessed with an explanatory power sufficient to account for our daily conduct and even our dreams.
Also read these:
In Defense of Psychoanalysis - click HERE!
The Natural Roots of Sexuality
Ethical Relativism and Absolute Taboos
Homosexual and Transsexual Narcissists
The Offspring of Aeolus: On the Incest Taboo
Narcissists, Psychopaths, Sex, and Marital Fidelity
Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hide (Somatic vs. Cerebral Narcissists)
Many additional Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Personality Disorders - click HERE!
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Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited
Frequently Asked Questions about Pathological Narcissism
Excerpts from the Archive of the Narcissism List
World in Conflict and Transition
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