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The
Freud Test(according
to eMode)
| |
Freud would say that your greatest unconscious
conflict began when you were a
He would also conclude that compared with others, the way you are
today is affected by the events from your childhood. What this means
is like many people, you appear to have some unresolved conflicts to
attend to. This also means that the conflicts you do have aren't extreme
in their intensity. Still these issues may be ones that deserve your
attention.
Emode's Ph.D.s determined your level of conflict by looking at the
different psychosexual stages of your development and your "level
of conflict" in each. These findings were then compiled to determine
how conflicted you are overall.
Based on your responses to the test questions, it appears that you
are more conflicted than 66% of the individuals who took The Freud Test.
This score doesn't mean that you're better or worse off than anyone
else; it's merely a gauge of how your childhood experiences may be affecting
you more or less than other people's experiences are affecting them.
But before you examine your specific scores in relation to the standard
psychosexual conflicts, you should know a bit more about Freud's theories.
The next few paragraphs are designed to help you do just that. |
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The unconscious is the part of the mind you don't have easy access
to — it's kind of like a locked storage room. It's believed that
painful or difficult memories are often stored in your unconscious so
that these remembrances can't get out to disturb or upset you. Freud
believed that infantile desires, needs, and impulses are also housed
in this part of the mind.
By storing early memories in the unconscious, you don't have to be
aware of them, or fully acknowledge them, or even work through them.
By hosting them in your unconscious mind, you also protect yourself
from interfering with your present image of yourself.
Freud, however, argued that the clutter we never fully addressed in
our unconscious, is a series of "conflicts" we never resolved
as we went through the five stages of psychosexual development: the
Oral Period, the Anal Period, the Phallic Period, the Oedipal Period,
and the Genital Period. He further believed that these conflicts cannot
only be traced back to specific stages of psychosexual development,
but also can lead to specific personality traits in adults. Freud believed
most adults still experience substantial problems due to their unresolved
unconscious conflicts. He also felt that most people could benefit from
Freudian analysis to uncover exactly what their conflicts are.
Freud's theories are based on the idea that all adult neuroses originate
in some kind of unresolved sexual conflict, normally tied to an earlier
point in life. To emphasize his point, he delineated the conflicts that
must be resolved in each in order for us to develop fully into healthy,
normal adults.
This process, Freud believed, was normal and unavoidable. He didn't
think it possible for anyone to make it through these very difficult
periods of childhood and psychosexual development unscathed. Rather,
he saw development as a journey that would likely result in numerous
problems later on. He also believed that in most situations parents
could only partially mitigate a child's trauma. Only in very unusual
situations could they alleviate it altogether. As a result, Freud would
say that most — if not all — adults struggle with some kind
of conflict that dates back to what happened during their childhood
sexual development. |
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Through your test responses, Emode determined that your greatest conflict
originated in what is called the Anal Period of sexual development. This
stage occurs at about the same ages for all people. Note that some stages
overlap and exactly how each stage plays out differs slightly from person
to person. Yet for the most part, there is a standard progression across
individuals and across years. Freud would say that your strongest conflict
stems from events that happened when you were a toddler. The section
below does three things: It details the strength of your conflicts during
each of your developmental stages, examines exactly what the stages are,
and looks at issues that may persist in your adult life as a result.
This chart shows how conflicted you are in each of the periods when
compared with others:
Anal Period (18 months to 3 years)
Compared with others, you're more conflicted about this period than
88% of people.
The Anal Period is the second stage of development. Even if you had
difficulties during the Oral Period, you still moved beyond them and
onto this second stage — though it's possible you had two sets
of conflicts to contend with.
Freud's theory states that during the Anal Period you learn the pleasure
you can experience by having control over your body, and, more specifically,
by withholding or releasing your excrement. This stage marks the first
time you can control something in your environment through your own
will. Freud remarked that if your parents interfered with this process
by trying to control when you defecated, a battle of wills may have
ensued.
During the Anal Period, you began to learn the power of your own choices.
What exactly you learned was dependent on your parents' behavior. For
example, if your parents forced you to go to the bathroom on a predetermined
schedule as dictated by some expert, a doctor, or just for their convenience,
you probably learned that your bodily functions weren't as important
as the convenience and needs of others.
On the other hand, if you were allowed to go to the bathroom more
or less when you wanted to and weren't potty trained prematurely, it's
likely that you moved through this stage with little strife. However,
having a highly permissive parent could result in problems of a different
kind.
There are two main ways that the Anal Period manifests itself in adulthood.
You can be either "anal retentive" due to parental over-control
or "anal expulsive" due to parental under-control. Of the
two, you appear to be more retentive.
People who are anal retentive are likely to be highly compulsive.
For highly, anal-retentive types, everything needs to be in its proper
place, and their surroundings need to be cleaned and organized. In addition,
they may have trivial compulsions like having to cross the road just
to pick up a piece of newspaper littering the sidewalk.
Interestingly enough, even though anal retentives typically avoid
mess, Freud believes that unconsciously they crave it — and therein
lies their conflict. Freud felt that this internal unrest also manifested
through stubborn behavior. He suggested that anal-retentive individuals
learned that controlling others and standing their ground was the key
to being able to satisfy and have control over their own bodily functions
and needs.
Freud also believed that in adulthood being anal retentive could take
on yet another form, translating into withholding or saving money more
than most people. Of course not all people who save money are anally
fixated, but when paired with compulsive cleanliness and control issues,
it's strongly suggested.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are people who are highly anal
expulsive. Rather than withholding pleasure from themselves, anal expulsive
types are more likely to overindulge. Often this trait is associated
with being sloppy and wasteful, as well as with not being able to keep
a good hold of things. Much like anal retentives, those who are very
anal expulsive tend to be defiant of authority and are often obstinate.
The Anal Period (18 months to 3 years) is also the time of life when
you grew stronger and got sharper teeth. During this time you may have
learned that you could hurt others by biting, hitting, and so forth.
You likely also learned what it's like to experience aggression and
be able to act on it. Because this period couples the knowledge of how
to inflict pain on others with the discovery of anal pleasure, Freud
concluded that being fixated in this stage could, in extreme cases,
lead to sadomasochistic behaviors, pairing pain with sex. Because your
fixation on this period seems to be very strong, you're likely to experience
these kinds of issues to a great degree.
Phallic Period (4 to 7 years)
Compared with others, you're more conflicted about this stage than 84%
of people.
The Phallic Period starts when you're about four years old and goes
on until approximately age seven. Freud's theories about this stage
focus more heavily on the penis than on the clitoris. He stated that
the Phallic Period is the time of life when both boys and girls learn
the importance of the penis. Freud believed that from girls' anatomy,
boys learn it is possible for them to lose their penises — to
be castrated. Girls learn from boys' anatomy that they have already
lost their penises and are deficient. Freud postulated such realizations
cause boys to feel fearful of losing their penises and girls to feel
inferior because they do not have one.
In addition, Freud focused on the fact that children between three
and seven typically realize that they can receive pleasure by stimulating
the penis or clitoris. Masturbation is a natural human behavior, but
because of social taboos, parents often shame children caught doing
it. For example, according to Freud, some boys are told that if they
masturbate their penises will fall of or will get cut off. Furthermore,
Freud felt that even boys not explicitly given this message might have
internalized it because of the way they processed other parental instructions.
For instance, if a boy played with something he wasn't supposed to and
it was taken away, that same child may feel that if he plays with his
penis when he wasn't supposed to, that could be taken away as well.
Depending on how your parents treated masturbation and feelings of
inferiority or superiority during this period, you may have come out
feeling more or less conflicted. Girls with a phallic fixation will
tend to behave submissively and passively in romantic relationships.
Boys with this fixation often grow up needing to show the power of their
penises by dominating others either sexually or throughout life; Freud
said this hides their fears of castration. Freud also believed that
phallic fixation can cause boys and girls to resent their mothers —
for the girls because the mother represents inferiority and for the
boys because she represents a threat. In addition, Freud said phallically
fixated girls wish to be like their fathers so that they can have penises
too.
If you were punished as a child for masturbating or were made to believe
that you were wrong to touch yourself, chances are you have some residual
unconscious feelings about touching yourself now. Another possible repercussion
of feeling intense guilt is if you masturbate compulsively, needing
to masturbate any time life gets intense. Because your fixation on this
period appears to be very strong , you're likely to experience these
problems to a slight degree.
The stage that follows the Phallic Period is latency, lasting from
age seven to puberty. During this time Freud hypothesized that children
repress their sexuality. He also believed that the seeds of the Oedipus
complex are planted during the Phallic Period and latency as children
experience conflicts regarding their love for their same and opposite-sex
parents.
Genital Period (Adolescence onward)
Compared with others, you're more highly advanced in this period than
79% of people.
The Genital Period is different from the rest. In order to arrive
here successfully, you have to have resolved most conflicts from the
other periods. This is no small feat. This is the stage when adult sexuality
begins to flourish because the difficulties of childhood sexual development
have basically been maneuvered successfully.
While in theory you can't reach this stage if you are stuck in earlier
ones, in practice you're likely to display some healthy behaviors typical
of adult sexual relationships while still having some unresolved unconscious
conflicts from childhood. Thus your score on this dimension indicates
the extent to which you engage in healthy sexual behaviors. If it is
your highest score, it means you have resolved more conflicts than you
have left to resolve. It also indicates that to a great extent, you're
able to engage in positive adult sexual relationships. However, a positive
score doesn't mean that you have no issues to resolve; you simply have
fewer of them than most people do.
One way you can tell that a person has reached the Genital Period
is by looking at how they handle the impulses of the id. The id is the
aspect of self that is responsible for raw desire. It has no consciousness
or rational thought. It simply wants — whether the want is food,
sex, or some other primal desire. People in the Genital Period are able
to take this raw energy and express it in the form of productive, creative
work. People who have not reached this period may feel compelled to
relentlessly pursue satiation of those needs.
According to Freud, another way you can tell if someone is in this
stage is if they seek a mate who resembles their opposite-sex parent
but aren't guilty about having sex with this person. Freud believed
that this indicated several things: First, that an individual has abandoned
their incest feelings for their opposite-sex parent and has therefore
let go of any rivalry with their same-sex parent. Secondly, that they've
let go of the phallic problems around gender identification and are
able to lovingly accept and appreciate the differences between the sexes.
Lastly, that they can now identify with the same-sex parent and be on
good terms with them.
Obviously this all assumes that the person's parents are normal to
some extent, so that wanting someone just like your parent would be
a rational thing to feel. However, not everyone has reasonable parents.
So just because someone doesn't get along with their mother it doesn't
necessarily mean that they haven't resolved their Oedipal complex yet.
It may simply mean that their mother is a tough person to deal with.
While this appears to be an obvious truth, it's not necessarily a
perspective Freud would share. Therefore we give you the result here
according to what Freud would have thought, given the assumptions of
the theory stated above. Based on Freud's assumptions, it appears that
your connection to this period is a moderately strong one. As a result,
Freud would say that you're likely to experience this situation to a
moderate degree.
So if you didn't know before, you definitely know now: Sexuality is
a primary component of Freud's theories. This being true, it only makes
sense that among the many ways Freudian analysis might impact your life
is by improving your sex life. Emode's Ph.D.s have examined particular
aspects of Freud's work to help you look more deeply at your sex life
from a Freudian perspective.
Oedipus complex (puberty)
Compared with others, you're more conflicted regarding this period than
50% of people.
The Oedipus complex occurs during puberty. The issues behind the Oedipus
complex center on guilt about wishing you could marry your opposite-sex
parent. Obviously most people don't identify with this wish consciously
— most likely in part because of the social taboo that keeps these
desires repressed. However, at some point in your life you may have
wished that you could have your opposite-sex parent all to yourself
and then felt guilty about wishing your other parent would disappear.
Understand that there is a big difference between what you wished would
happen and what you truly wanted. However, on an unconscious level having
the thought and performing the act are identical. Therefore, the guilt
for actually doing something is no less than just thinking it.
According to Freud's theory, at some point everyone wishes for their
same-sex parent to disappear and is left with the guilt of having that
wish. If the same-sex parent dies or leaves for some other reason, this
guilt can become dramatically compounded. So too, if incest occurs,
children can experience tremendous guilt and shame because they unconsciously
believe that they caused the abuse to happen by wanting the opposite-sex
parent all to themselves. Such feelings cause enormous conflicts.
If you're stuck in the Oedipal Period and unresolved about it, you
may feel guilty when kissing a lover in front of a parent, as though
you're doing something wrong or betraying them. You may also feel either
guilt or fear around same-sex people who are about your parent's age.
Freud said that these feelings surface because of a fear that the same-sex
parent will punish you for being a rival.
Many factors can complicate the Oedipal Period, and most people have
difficulty with it. For instance, if your opposite-sex parent communicated
in some way or another that you were more attractive, desirable, or
otherwise a more preferable partner than your same-sex parent, your
own experiences with the Oedipus complex may be harder to deal with.
On the one hand you may consciously or unconsciously want victory over
the same-sex parent. At the same time, you don't really want that victory.
So if you attain it, the result can be a lot of guilt and confusion.
Your fixation on this period seems to be moderate, so you're likely
to experience Oedipal problems to a moderate degree.
Oral Period (birth to 18 months)
Compared with others, you're more conflicted about this period than
31% of people.
The Oral Period is the first stage that everyone goes through. It
begins when you're born and continues through your first year and a
half. For some individuals, it may not last quite that long and for
some it may last slightly longer. However, overall this stage lasts
about 18 months. Freud said that during the Oral Period, you experience
pleasure through your mouth, by sucking on a mother's breast, a pacifier,
a bottle, or even your thumb. This is the first pleasure you feel and
it is one that you're able to give to yourself. In other words, Freud
interpreted this to mean that the first pleasurable feeling a person
has is autoerotic.
It has been argued by some that children should suckle at their mother's
breast through the age of six or seven. The rationale is that when the
children aren't allowed to do so, they need a surrogate for the mother's
nipple. Thus, when a child moves to a pacifier, thumb, or blanket, these
things are used as a substitute for the nipple.
According to Freud, there are two types of parental behavior that
can negatively affect children during this stage. Parents can wean a
baby off of the mother's breast, pacifier, or other object too early,
or they can do so too late.
Freud taught that in order to move past the Oral Period, you have
to have been able to graduate out of your need and dependence on the
nipple. If your parents insisted that you stop your sucking behaviors
before you were ready, you may have developed an oral fixation. Moreover,
if you were shamed or chastised for your behavior on top of being forced
to quit, your oral fixation could be even stronger. If you can't remember
ever sucking your thumb, blanket, pacifier, or some other soothing object,
or were weaned from your mother's breast too early, chances are you
repressed that need, and now it can resurface as an adult through other
problems.
On the flip side, if your parents didn't put any pressure on you to
stop sucking, or weaned you off your mother's breast much too late,
you may also have developed an oral fixation. This kind of fixation
plays out differently in terms of certain personality traits.
Of these two types of fixation, you display more of the personality
traits consistent with having an overindulgent parental figure. People
with extreme fixation in the Oral Period are likely to:
- Develop serious eating disorders
- Eat when they are stressed or lonely
- Be orally aggressive (In childhood this aggression may mean literally
biting, in adulthood, it can mean being verbally 'biting' by using
sarcastic language)
When it comes to other aspects of personality, those who were weaned
too late by an overindulgent parent are more likely to be domineering
and manipulative; those who were weaned too early by an underindulgent
parent are more likely to be passive and dependent. Because your fixation
on this period appears to be moderate, you're likely to experience these
problems to a moderate degree. |
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According to Freud, your sexuality in adulthood is intimately tied to
how your psychosexual development unfolded during childhood. Freud felt
that the more unresolved sexual conflicts you experience as a child,
the more difficult it becomes to experience satisfying sexual relationships
as an adult. To help you get past these old conflicts, Emode's team gathered
information about typical ways Freud's stages of development can play
out in your sex life. They also provided exercises to help examine and
alleviate the conflicts associated with each period.
Anal Period
When fixated in the anal stage of psychosexual development, you may
be drawn to sadomasochistic sexual fantasies or encounters that pair
pain and pleasure. Again, if you have a sexual partner with similar
desires, such a focus becomes less of a problem than when only one partner
is oriented this way. In fact, you and your mate may be able to indulge
one another's greatest fantasies. However, potential problems arise
from the danger involved in this kind of sexual activity. Sadomasochistic
acts require a great deal of trust. They also require that each partner
take careful precautions so that neither person is physically injured
during the encounters. If you feel compelled to engage in this kind
of sexual behavior or are in an unbalanced relationship where your sexual
partner doesn't have an interest in it, you might want to consider seeking
some method to change these desires for yourself. However, whether or
not you should change is a judgment only you can make.
Some theorists believe that this kind of sexual behavior is linked
more to the oral stage of development. Disturbance from either stage
may make you more liable to be dealing with these compulsions.
Take Action
| When sex and pain are paired, it can
be difficult to untangle them. Most people have some fantasies that
border on sadomasochistic. One way to lessen the entanglement of pain
and sexual pleasure is to use visualization techniques to try to pair
your sexual excitement with highly erotic but not painful images of
sex. So for example, masturbating to non-painful sex, making it as
erotic as you can, even if it is not as enjoyable as what you could
be thinking, can help you move closer to what you are trying to achieve:
arousal by non-painful sex. Creating choices for yourself about the
kinds of sex you want to have can be very liberating. By teaching
yourself to become aroused by non-painful sex, you give yourself the
option to be aroused by whatever kind of sex you wish to engage in.
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Phallic Period
When fixated in the phallic stage of psychosexual development, you may
be conflicted about gender roles in society or may have an unclear or
ambivalent gender identity yourself. This conflict can influence the
roles you take on during sex. Typically, sex for phallically fixated
people focuses on power and domination.
The pairing of domination and sexual excitement is more common in
males. Freud would say that this is because during the Phallic Period
there is a strong focus on male domination. While some females also
take on more dominant roles — if they identified with the father
more than the mother during this period of childhood, for example —
in general they are more likely to take submissive roles. Whatever the
gender, being fixated in this period can often lead to a compulsion
to engage in power games during sex. If you and your sexual partner
enjoy this, then you can have enjoyable sex together. However if your
partner doesn't enjoy this kind of power play, or you feel guilty about
it afterwards, you may not want to focus your sexual encounters in this
way.
The other and perhaps more frequent consequence of phallic fixation
is being addicted to masturbation or preferring it over sex with others.
Obviously this preference can interfere with sexual intimacy. If masturbation
is the height of your sexual experience, other encounters may seem dull
or not good enough by comparison.
Take Action
| Most of the problems from this period
stem from guilt around masturbation. This is something that you can
work on, on your own, when masturbating. For one, try to stay away
from indulging in fantasies about bondage or power games if you have
compulsions around those areas and are trying to reduce your compulsions.
Secondly, you can work on your feelings after you masturbate, or while
you are masturbating, if you are wracked with guilt, shame, anger,
or some other intense emotion. By labeling that emotion you give it
less power, and you can start to use self-talk to change your emotional
reaction to it. For example, if you feel guilt when masturbating,
you can talk to yourself about how normal it is to have sexual desires
and to masturbate. You can assure yourself that it is a completely
natural human behavior that is healthy to do. Give yourself permission
to feel the guilt, but simultaneously soothe and encourage yourself.
By consciously thinking more positively about your actions, you can
gradually move out of the emotional trap that may be associated with
masturbating. |
Oedipus complex
According to Freud, it is difficult to maneuver this stage of sexual
development so that upon your exit all conflicts are resolved. Therefore,
for most people this particular stage has special relevance.
As for how the Oedipus complex interferes in sex, there are two primary
ways. The first way is experiencing guilt about having sex. This is
especially true in heterosexual relationships, because being stuck in
this stage of development indicates a conflict around the incest taboo:
threatening your relationship with the same sex parent because of your
attractiveness to or desire for the opposite sex parent.
The second way the Oedipus complex can interfere with sex is when
you become unable to pair desire and love together in the same relationship.
If whenever you are sexual with someone, you consider it to be wrong,
taboo, or dirty you can severely limit sexual intimacy. These thoughts
make is so the person you're being sexual with is degraded in your mind.
It can be difficult to love and trust a sexual partner when you feel
there is something wrong with them just because they are having sex
with you. If you feel that this dynamic represents a strong conflict
for you, you may want to work on changing your perceptions so you can
be freer to engage in positive adult sexual relationships.
Take Action
| You may not have ever
had conscious thoughts about wanting to marry your opposite-sex parent
and wishing your same-sex parent out of the picture. But it may still
be useful to look back into your childhood, scan through your mind
with no judgment, and see whether you ever harbored a thought like
that. If you find one, assure yourself that it's totally normal and
that you can't hurt a parent simply by wishing that they were out
of the picture. If you don't remember ever having this thought, imagine
someone you really care about, having this conflict. Imagine what
you would say to them and how you would reassure them that there is
nothing wrong with their thoughts and feelings. Imagine telling them
that it is all very normal and healthy to have these ideas. |
Oral Period
When a person is completely fixated in this stage, they far prefer oral
sex to other kinds of sex. If both partners in a romantic relationship
prefer oral sex to other kinds of sex, there will be less conflict around
sexual acts. However, in most cases, this preference will cause an imbalance
and result in disruption of the sexual relationship. When extreme problems
occur surrounding this issue, sexual expression can come to feel like
a routine without variation. This can make sex feel less intimate and
meaningful.
Freud would encourage that to have more "normal" desires
around oral sex, you should make conscious those unconscious conflicts
at the root of the problem. By understanding what underlies your desires,
Freud believed you could change how you approach sex. Therefore, if
you really want to dig deep, you should work to expose any underlying
shame or guilt around oral pleasure. If you were weaned from the breast
very early or were discouraged from sucking your thumb or blanket at
an early age, Freud would say that oral fixation may be something to
examine.
Take Action
| Get some privacy.
Suck your thumb and notice how it feels. Does it feel like you are
doing something wrong? Talk to yourself with reassurances that it
is totally normal to need to do this, that there is no shame in having
that oral need. While you may feel very silly doing this, the idea
is to speak to the child within you who was weaned off sucking a thumb,
pacifier, or blanket too soon. Or, if you were weaned late or sucked
your thumb or pacifier longer than most other kids, ask yourself how
this experiment feels in terms of meeting your needs. Is it really
something that is satisfying, or are you indulging a need that was
created from sucking too long in the first place? |
So now you know some actions you can take to explore how unresolved
conflicts might be affecting your sexuality. But what about looking
more deeply at the other aspects of your life? For that kind of an in-depth
examination, you may want to consider consulting with a professional
psychoanalyst. As mentioned before, you appear to have more of the conflicts
psychoanalysis is designed to resolve than do 66% of people who have
taken The Freud Test. Emode's research team compiled some facts to help
you decide if psychoanalysis is the right thing for you. |
|
Of course, only you can answer this question. However, having the facts
to make an informed decision is a good place to start. The following
section will help you understand exactly what psychoanalysis is, what
it's usually helpful for, and where you can expect to find it.
What is psychoanalysis?
First of all, not all therapy is psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis refers
specifically to Freud's method of therapy. Primarily, psychoanalysis
involves two people talking. As a patient, you're typically instructed
to think aloud and to say whatever comes to your mind. The idea is that
the less interference you have from your therapist when talking, the
faster you'll get to what's important. Psychoanalysis also often involves
the process of "free association," in which you're given a
topic and asked to quickly say whatever comes into your head. Oftentimes
this method will be used to help you understand the deeper meanings
beyond your dreams. Dreams are given great importance as part of the
psychoanalytic process, especially in the beginning years of psychoanalysis.
Free association can also be used to help determine where your psychological
conflicts may lie. For instance, a psychoanalyst might say a word and
ask you to state the first word that comes to mind. Delayed responses,
repeat responses, and unusual content can all indicate that there's
something in your unconscious trying to come to the surface. So this
free association technique helps your psychoanalyst identify areas that
may need to be worked on.
You may have heard of the term transference before. Transference occurs
when a patient unconsciously redirects feelings about a person or situation
onto their therapist. This is another aspect of psychoanalysis that
therapists can use as a tool. To do so, your therapist would note the
way you acted toward them in a therapy session and use that information
as clues to what may be bothering you on an unconscious level. So for
example, if you got repeatedly got angry with your therapist, they might
conclude that really you're mad at one of your parents. You're simply
taking that anger out — transferring it — on to your therapist.
By working with transference, Freud felt that deep issues could come
forth and can be addressed.
In addition to these therapeutic methods, psychoanalysts sometimes
also use hypnosis. It's looked at as a way to get past your conscious
mind to the latent, compulsive tendencies of your unconscious; however,
Freud had doubts of the effectiveness of hypnosis and preferred to work
with most patients without it, especially in the later years of his
career. You may want to note this fact when deciding on an psychoanalyst.
As for where to find an analyst, there may be more psychoanalysts
per capita in New York than anywhere else in the country. Regardless
of where you live, your best bet will be to consult your local mental
health (sometimes called behavioral health) association, a medical association,
or your insurance carrier. Note that because psychoanalysis can be a
lengthy process, your insurance carrier will likely cover only a portion
of such services, if any at all. It will be best to examine the details
of your plan in advance.
Do you need it?
As for whether you need psychoanalysis, it depends both on the severity
of your problems and on the value you would place on this kind of experience.
Generally, the more extreme your unresolved conflicts, the more problems
you're likely to experience in your day-to-day life. However, you may
have unresolved conflicts and still lead a perfectly happy life. In
this case it may be less important to seek psychoanalysis. However,
some psychoanalysts would argue that everyone could use psychoanalysis;
it's simply a tool to help you to understand yourself better.
Woody Allen movies epitomize the result of years of psychoanalysis
— a highly sophisticated understanding of psychological processes
and of your own problems. However, there are critics of Freud's theories
— even from one of his most famous followers, Carl Jung. Jung,
who went on to contribute substantially to the field of psychoanalysis
with his own ideas, felt that you could bring unconscious conflicts
into consciousness, but it didn't necessarily mean you'd be healed.
Jung and Freud, however, both did agree that if any healing was to occur,
bringing unconscious wounds to the surface was the first step.
Other opponents of Freud's theories would argue that no one could
really benefit from psychoanalysis. In fact, some people feel that psychoanalysis
can do more harm than good. Mostly opponents conclude that psychoanalysis
is a time-consuming, expensive process that, for some, produces very
little benefit.
For women, psychoanalysis's usefulness is even more questionable;
there are many feminist theorists who argue that Freud's views were
gender-biased and provide far less insight into the depths of female
sexuality than they do into the depths of male sexuality. Even many
modern followers of Freud find this critique quite convincing. For example,
the Oedipus complex appears to be consistent with studies done on the
folklore and mythology of other cultures — at least as far as
boys are concerned. However, for girls the situation played out in the
Oedipus complex is not part of the mythology and folklore. On the contrary,
it is the father who desires the love relationship with their daughter,
not the other way around. Although folk tales are not proof for or against
Freud's theories, this example does shed light on the way Freud's theories
may or may not pertain to females.
Other forms of therapy
If psychoanalysis doesn't sound like it's right for you, there are
many other forms of counseling. One of the many possible examples is
cognitive-behavioral therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapists focus
mostly on actions and thought patterns that are negatively affecting
you, as well as helping you to change those patterns. These therapists
don't normally try to dig up conflicts from your unconscious or your
distant past. They're more concerned with the present: What are you
doing in your life? What positive feedback are you getting for acting
this way? What is the negative feedback? After determining these things,
they can then work with you to enhance your good behaviors and thoughts
and root out bad ones.
Again, if you feel that you may need therapy, try contacting your
local mental health center, your insurance carrier, or your physician
for a referral. You may also want to rely on friends and family to help
you out. If you are in acute distress, check the yellow pages for a
crisis hotline and get immediate help. Hotlines can usually give you
referrals and may also be able to tell you what kind of treatment you
need.
Note that The Freud Test is not a diagnostic tool and cannot determine
whether you meet criteria for an official psychological diagnosis. This
test was simply meant to give you a snapshot of Freud's most central
theories and how they may apply to your life. If you want to determine
whether you have a disorder of some kind, you'll need to talk to a licensed
mental health professional, preferably one who is accredited in your
area. For further information, you may want to contact the American
Psychological Association (http://www.apa.org). |
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Here are each of the test questions and the percentage of people who
gave each answer.
I can't give the answers.....
that wouldn't be fair!! (go to eM de
and take the test!) |
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The history behind The Freud Test is really the history
of Freud's contributions to psychology. Although this test does not
cover everything that Freud contributed, it does fully explore the psychosexual
developmental stages he identified. The purpose of The Freud Test is
to assess the test taker's personality and link it to particular childhood
experiences based on Freud's theoretical framework.
This test assesses an individual's level of fixation
for each of the developmental stages Freud identified. Fixation is a
term used to describe a person who has so much of their psychic energy
tied to particular childhood experiences — and the unconscious
conflicts related to them — that they're partly stuck in the past.
While fixation is a clinical term usually used to describe the most
extreme cases, each of us is stuck in certain stages to a greater or
lesser extent. Therefore, Emode's The Freud Test looks at the degree
to which individuals are fixated in each stage.
To do this, Emode's researchers evaluated certain
personality traits in conjunction with childhood experiences. This team
examined the number of significant experiences each test taker had,
alongside particular personality traits. These elements were used to
assess a person's level of conflict in each stage.
It's important to note that there is very little evidence
for, or against Freud's theory. Although Freud was a scientist and used
rigorous methods to understand the psyche, he did not perform the equivalent
of a clinical trial to assess either the effectiveness of his techniques
or the applicability of his theories.
Emode's The Freud Test is a unique test, one that
encapsulates Freud's most famous theories and ties them together with
the childhood experiences Freud related to them. If you're interested
in learning more about Freud or the sources that were used as a basis
for this test, feel free to consult the following resources:
Breuer, J., and S. Freud. Studies in Hysteria. Vol.
2 of The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund
Freud. London: Hogarth, 1885.
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents.
Vol. 21 of The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works
of Sigmund Freud. London: Hogarth, 1930.
Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Vols.
4 and 5 of The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works
of Sigmund Freud. London: Hogarth, 1926.
Freud, Sigmund. Three Essays on Sexuality. Vol. 7
of The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund
Freud. London: Hogarth, 1905.
Jung, C.G. Modern Man in Search of a Soul. New York:
Harcourt Brace, 1993.
Kahn, M. Basic Freud.. New York: Basic Books, 2002.
Storr, Anthony. The Essential Jung, Selected Writings.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983.
Some links:
http://www.essaybank.co.uk/free_coursework/544.html
http://psychology.about.com/library/weekly/aa111500a.htm
http://www.fmarion.edu/~personality/clinical/freud/fredthe.htm
http://www.hypnosis.demon.co.uk/old/freud.htm |
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