Shame On You, Freud

The father of psychoanalysis, the lover of phallic, and the outstanding figure of 19th century psychology, Freud was the man who introduced us to ourselves.

Born in 1856, Freud was indeed one of his most essential patients. As the master of psychoanalysis, Freud made himself and us realize that us people are nothing, but a bunch of miserable beings who can never get over the lasting impacts of our traumas and the pressure of carrying the burden of our subconscious mind.

Freud suggests that any type of human behavior is severely influenced by the unconscious; and I'm sorry but you don't have direct access to it. Psychoanalysis, however, tries to get closer and closer to the 'truest self' as much as possible.

Defense Mechanisms

Before we delve deeper, let's see what Psychoanalysis uses to understand the psyche. Psychoanalysis delves into the darkest side of your mind to see which contents of your life are kept and silenced in your unconscious. This silenced and secure parts blend in with what basically is called defenses, which contain selective memory, denial, regression, replacement, dissociation and a lot more to write a whole book about.

For instance, you can unconsciously dissociate and disconnect from your thoughts and trauma responses, you can deny the existence of a painful event and therefore deny releasing and recovering. Or, you can say that you have daddy issues and therefore, you like older men, or you might subconsciously get addicted to toxic, painful relationships because of daddy issues. But do we know what really is the core of your daddy issues, and what about fixing it?

Are you afraid to love or is your subconscious filled with fear of abandonment, fear of intimacy and fear of betrayal? The question also serves us as an example of psychoanalytic approach because due to a specific trauma, you may have developed this kind of a defense mechanism to protect yourself from any kind of harm. Let's talk about your childhood. Tell me, have you ever experienced a situation that made you realize love means betrayal, love means intimacy, but at the same time love means abandonment? What have youR parents done to you?

On top of these, core issues, in other terms the deeply rooted sources of our self-destructive behaviors, are meticulously surrounded by selective perception and selective memory. So, in simple terms the unconscious is surrounded by every little thing in order for the conscious to suffer without even knowing the reason why. But psychoanalysis tries to solve these problems by offering a therapeutic insight into subconscious and providing a framework for processing, remembering and embracing your unconscious. Ah! Before we forget...

Interpretation of Dreams

By analyzing dreams and dream manifestations, Psychoanalysis offers a way to catch a glimpse of the core issues that were covered with defense mechanisms.

You know Freud loves phallic symbols and cannot imagine a world of interpretation without the use of penis. Let's say that you have a lot of phallic symbols in your dreams; guns, towers, etc.. maybe you have an issue related to phallic, male figures, 'masculinity' or male symbols in general?

The human psyche can still protect itself from the harsh reality by 'dream displacement and dream condensation', both of which serve to cover the wound or the conflict that the unconscious tries to show yet by delving deeper. Psychoanalysis shows that dreams are a way of uncovering the hidden, unconscious truth, desires and anxieties. For instance, by free association, the patient explains the feelings that they experienced while having the dream...

So... Shame on you, Freud, for making us feel buck naked in front of our subconscious, and thank you for your contribution in this field of vast potential.