Freud Developmental Theory

Excerpt

Freud's developmental theory on psychosexual development was among the first attempts to bring psychology under the same scientific structure and methodology of medicine. This unification was accomplished by first defining normative human sexual development. Freud organized psychosexual maturation into 5 distinct phases. Each stage symbolizes the concentration of the libido or instincts on a different area of the body (i.e., erogenous zones). In order to mature into a well-functioning adult, one must progress sequentially through each of the aforementioned psychosexual stages. When libidinal drives are repressed or unable to be appropriately discharged, the child is left wanting and unsatisfied. Freud identified this dissatisfaction as fixation. Fixation at any stage would produce anxiety, persisting into adulthood as neurosis. This dynamic formed the foundational bedrock for Freud's psychoanalytic sexual drive theory.