Sigmund Freud Theories of Human Motivation - Assignment Example

Sigmund Freud psychoanalysis and stages of development Sigmund Freud theories of human motivation and drive have developed throughout his life; he described instincts that are largely attributable to human behavior. The two major theories that he found out to largely influence human behavior include the sexual desires (ethos) and desire for destructiveness (Thanatos). The sexual desires are also known as life instincts while the destructive desires are known as death instincts, all other types of instincts largely fall into one of these categories. Freud in his psychoanalytic theories stated that libido, which is the sex drive in human beings, is responsible for survival and sexual instincts. The level of development of an individual at each stage makes libido focused on a specific area which if properly managed leads to development of a normal and healthy adults. The first stage, which is the oral phase, is the phase whereby a child main mode of interaction is through the oral cavity, a child gets pleasure from oral activities like suckling. Individuals who have issues with their dependency and aggression had a problem in this stage; in addition, eating disorders, nail biting and finger sucking are other disorders that are associated with a fixation in this stage. The second phase of psychosexual development is the anal stage where an individual learns to control his bladder and bowel movement, a conflict in this stage causes individuals to develop a messy, wasteful and destructive personality, in addition, forcing a child to learn bowel movement causes a child to have a rigid, obsessive, orderly and stringent personality. At the phallic stage the focus of libido is the genitals, individuals start to discover their differences with people of the opposite gender. At this stage, male children start seeing their father as a rival towards their mothers’ attention and girls start seeing mothers as rivals towards their mothers’ attention. In girls Freud described the condition as penis envy where the female gender wishes to belong to the male gender, according to this theory, penis envy is the main reason why some women are not very comfortable being women. In the dormant phase, where the libido drive is suppressed as the vigor is engaged to other places that include pursuit of education and group relations which are important in the development of self confidence and communication skills. During the final stage of psychosexual development, individuals develop a strong sexual attraction towards people of the opposite sex, individuals who are at their puberty tend to watch pornographic materials or engage in deviant sexual behaviors such as masturbation and rape if the stage is not well managed In his book beyond the pleasure principle, Sigmund Freud theorizes that the goal of all life is death and that people have an unconscious desire for death, which leads people to have a self-destructive behavior. When this self-destructive behavior is directed externally, it is violence or aggression. The death instinct makes human beings strive towards the inorganic state and it does not appear on its own as it is driven by repetitions and in some cases a combination with the sexual drive. This desire however is compressed by life instincts and some aspects of libido to a later time in one’s life. The desire towards death in form of violence is in most cases driven by the reality principle where individuals are responding to provocation in the external environment (Geyskens and Haute, 2007). This idea was supported by Fechner’s stability principle, which stated that the dominating tendency of mental life is to reduce, keep constant or to remove internal tension resulting from a specific stimulus Question 2 Mental illnesses have for a long time been seen as a product of some genetical mutations, however, sufficient research had not been previously carried out to ascertain the truth of these claims. A study carried out among 60,000 globally to determine the genetical factors behind mental illnesses found out that genes used in major signalling systems in the brain were partly responsible for development of mental illnesses in individuals. However, these genes barely present a minute probability of increasing risk of developing a psychiatric disease. Before this study was carried out, some researchers had carried out other studies on families where psychiatric diseases were very common. They had found that there were some genetic disruptions that caused the diseases, however, they also found out that even though the genetic disruptions were similar among the relatives, the type of psychiatric diseases that they got were different, for instance, one would have a bipolar disorder while the other would have autism. These studies have a great impact on how individuals understand psychiatric illnesses and how they can be treated. While initially it would have been thought that individuals from the same family were likely to suffer from the same psychiatric disorder therefore similar treatment, this has been disproved with research showing that even identical twins that have a similar genetic makeup can have different disorders resulting from similar genetic mutations. Study results showing that calcium channel functioning can be used to treat mental disorders have been around for sometime but extensive research has not been carried out therefore use of calcium channel blocker drugs should not be used without prescription. Question 3 Deinstitutionalization of mental health care facilities has had mixed results for the different groups of people who used them. For the individuals who lived with intellectual and developmental disabilities, deinstitutionalization improved their living standards since it allowed them to live with adequate care within the communities that they belong to. However, for individuals with severe mental illnesses the results were not as pleasing as those for people with intellectual and developmental disorders since their living standards worsened. Deinstitutionalization of these amenities helped to integrate persons with psychological illnesses in to the society. For instance, individuals with intellectual disorders were not allowed to attend public schools or workplaces but after deinstitutionalization, they could easily access them. This wrong perception of people with mental disorders had been made worse by the media perception of people with mental illnesses since most of the people did not have a personal experience with them. The arguments for deinstitutionalization of mental health facilities were based on the improved care that individuals with mental disorders would have and the potential to make huge savings. However, individuals with severe mental illnesses received poorer care after deinstitutionalization as they received less personal attention and poorer professional care. On the issue of cost saving, it was misguided since the facilities that mentally ill persons required in these institutions were the same that they required in any other settings, in addition, any cost reducing measures would not be determined only availability of cheaper facilities but political interests and constraints would also be at play. References Geyskens, T., & Van, H. P. (2007). From death instinct to attachment theory: The primacy of the child in Freud, Klein, and Hermann. New York (N.Y.: Other press. Read More