Psychosexual development

The Oral stage (0-1 years)

The Oral stage is contained in the first year of a childs life when the focus of organ pleasure is the mouth e.g. breastfeeding. We take away from the Oral stage a number of characteristics collectively known as orality. These characteristics can include: An enjoyment of food and drink Attitudes of dependence Attitudes of helplessness Attitudes of acceptance Aggression a childs wish to bite (can manifest itself both verbally or physically)

We all take away a degree of dependent orality from our first year without this we would not be able to take enjoyment in food and drink in adulthood or being dependent on the people we have relationships with. However, if the child experiences a trauma in their Oral years (prolonged separation from mother) they can become fixated in the Oral stage and their adult personality will be dominated by orality. The personality characteristics of orality can be assessed using the Rorschach Inkblots in which we see different images according to our own personality. It can be used to assess various characteristics and scored in different ways, which vary in their reliability and validity. The Rorschach Oral Dependency (ROD) scale measures the extent to which people see food, aggressive and dependency images in the inkblots. Huprich et al. (2004) attempted to test the validity of the orality concept by seeing whether it distinguished between offenders committing different crimes. As predicted, when sex murderers, nonsexual psychopaths and non-violent paedophiles were assessed for orality sexual psychopaths emerged as significantly higher than the others in oral aggression whilst the non-paedophiles were significantly higher in oral dependence.

The Anal stage (2-3 years)

The focus of organ pleasure is now shifted to the anus. The child is now fully aware that they are a person in their own right and that their wishes can come into conflict with the demands of the outside world. Freud believed that this sort of conflict tends to come to a head in potty training, in which adults impose restrictions for the first time in the childs experience on when and where the child can defecate. Succesful negations in the anal stage are what give us the qualities of: Assertiveness Order

However, early or harsh potty training can lead to fixation in the anal stage. This leads to an adult personality dominated by the three anal personality characteristics of: Stubbornness Orderliness Lack of generosity

The Phallic Stage (3-6 years)

The focus of the organ pleasure is now in the genitals and the child has become aware of its gender. This coincides with a growing awareness of the childs exclusion from some aspects of their parents lives such as sleeping in the same room. The resulting three way relationship is known as the Oedipus complex. A rivalry develops between the child and the same-sex parent for the affection of the opposite sex parent. Freud believed that on an unconscious level, a boy is expressing instinctive wishes to have sex with his mother and kill his father. This is not to suggest that children possess a conscious awareness of sexual intercourse or death in the adult sense. Freud was mainly concerned with observing boys development during the phallic stage. One of Freuds case studies, Little Hans (1909) illustrates Freuds ideas about the Oedipus complex.

The Latency Stage (6 - Puberty)

No psychosexual development takes place in this stage as the child is more concerned with practical aspects of their lives such as education. The difficulties of the Oedipus complex are repressed, allowing the child to have a happier relationship with their parents.

The Genital Stage (Adolescence onwards)

This stage is the final stage and represents the transition to psychosexual adulthood. The genital stage is a chance to revisit the early stages and resolve any remaining before moving into adulthood. Adolescence is often a difficult time for parents and children to get along. This is because anything that is not dealt with in early development will come back to haunt the parent-child relationship in adolescence. An unresolved Oedipus complex for example will cause child-same sex parent conflict. Discipline problems not sorted out in the anal stage are likely to resurface in adolescence as the child faces the same issues of increasing independence.

Little Hans (1909)

Background: Little Hans, a five-year old boy was taken to Freud siffering from a phobia of horses.
Freuds therapeutic input in this case was extremely minimal. Accounts vary as to how many times Freud saw Hans but it was probably only once or twice. Most of his information came from weekly reports by Hanss father. Case History: From the age of three, Hans had developed such an interest in his own penis that at the age of five his mother had threatened to cut it off if he didnt stop playing with it. At about the same time Hans developed a morbid fear that a white horse would bite him. Hans father reported that his fear seemed to be related to the horses large penis. At the time Hans phobia developed, his father began to object to Hans habit of getting into bed with his parents in the morning. Over a period of weeks, Hans phobia got worse and he feared going out of the house in case in encountered a horse. He also suffered attacks of more generalised anxiety. Over the next few weeks Hans phobia gradually began to improve. His fear became limited to horses with black harnesses over their noses. Hans father related this to his own black moustache. The end of Hans phobia of horses was accompanied by two significant fantasies, which he told his father. In the first, Hans had several imaginary children. When asked who their mother was, Hans replied Why, mummy, and youre their Grandaddy. In the second fantasy which occurred the next day, Hans imagined that a plumber had come and fitted him with a bigger penis. These fantasies marked the end of Hans phobia. Interpretation: Freud saw Hans phobia as an expression of the Oedipus complex. Horses, particularly horses with a black harness, symbolised his father. Horses were particularly appropriate father-symbols because of their large penises. The fear began as an oedipal conflict was developing around Hans being allowed in his parents bed. Freud saw the Oedipus complex happily resolved as Hans fantasised about himself with a large penis like his fathers and married his mother with his father present as the Granddad.