Psychoanalysis: The family romance

Psychoanalysis is a theory that deals heavily with the human psyche, starting from the early stages of infancy and following throughout childhood.

One of the first stages in psychoanalysis theory that needs to be understood is that of the Id, Ego, and Superego. Each of these represents a part of the unconscious mind and the way it operates.

Id: The Id is the most selfish of all three sections. The Id is the section of the brain that is concerned with oneself and only oneself. This section of the mind contains things such as sexual desires, need for satisfaction, and the fulfillment of biological desires.

Ego: This section of the brain is the closest to the conscious mind. This section deals with reality and works to keep the Id in check. Without the Ego, the Id would be off demanding anything and everything it wanted. The Ego, however, keeps the Id behaving in a socially acceptable manner.

Superego: The Superego works off of guilt. This is the section of the brain that works as a conscience and holds on to morals and values.



These are the basic terms on which the mind works off of. Once these are understood, one can dive deeper into the world on psychoanalytic.

One aspect of growing up that every child must go through to reach a healthy point of adult hood is that of developing feelings for his or her parents. Boys and girls are also presented with an envy and fear of wanting to be the other gender.

For girls, this comes across as penis envy.
For boys, castration complex.

When a young girl realizes that nature has not given her the same body as a boy, she beings to envy for a penis so she can be more like the central male figure in her life; her father. As she grows older, this want turns into that for a baby, which ultimately turns into a want for another man.

As for boys, when they realize that girls do not have the same parts that they do they begin to worry that this means the penis is detachable. This develops into a fear of castration, which ultimately develops into a fear of losing wholeness and control in one's life as the boy grows older.

These aspects focus largely on gender, just as the feminism theory does. However, this theory focuses on gender in a much different way, applying it more to the psyche and how this effects those growing up and through these stages.


Citations:
"File:Structural-Iceberg.svg." - Wikimedia Commons. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2015. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Structural-Iceberg.svg>.