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Comparison Of Freud And Erikson

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An Evaluation About Freud, Erikson and Their Comparison Freud Freud first started his career as a neurophysiologist. However, he discovered that some symptoms that the patients were showing could not be explained by neurology and they could be explained psychologically. After that, Freud and Breuer studied a patient, Anna O. who suffered from Hysteria. In this first psychoanalytic study, Freud suggested that the feelings and memories of a person conflicts with that persons usual feelings and ideas. As a result of this situation, those memories and feelings take place in a different area of the mind. After that Freud came up with some theories and methods. These theories and methods are: topographical model of the mind, free association, transference …show more content…

Like Freud, Erikson was talking about competence of human, conflict and dialog of opposing in his writings. As cited in Hoare (2005, p.20) because of the absence of his father, Erikson (1975) thought Freud as his mythical father. He agreed that super-ego develops by modeling the super-egos of the parents. Also, Erikson believed that psychoanalysis helps to reveal the truths about unconscious. However, after a while Erikson (1975) started to see that Freud is only concentrated on beginnings and instincts (as cited in Hoare, 2005, p.20). Because of this situation Erikson and second-stage psychoanalysts started to be in a conflict with Freud. As cited in Hoare (2005, p.20), Erikson (1975) said that he could accept six of the seven principles of Freud, these principles are: unconscious, repression, transference, the meaningfulness of the experiences of infancy, the relevance of instinctual and sexual life, mechanisms of resistance. However, he did not accept originological fallacy. Erikson claimed that Freuds’ theories are structural, fixed and every life event is linked to early childhood experiences. Erikson also criticizes the idea of normal and ill mind that Freud has. Unlike Freud, Erikson was interested in going forward, ego investments in adults, developmental direction and health. Freud believed that abnormality was the starting point to understand normality, Erikson believed the opposite. Also unlike Freud, Erikson thought that the history of psychology was focusing on fragmentation not human integration. To Erikson, libido is much more than just a sexual energy and it contains all instincts and motivational forces. As cited in Hoare (2005, p.25), Erikson (1963) thought that Freud underestimated the concept of morality. As a result of that, Freud did not realize the potential to be an evil in humans. Erikson did not talk about evil too but

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