Anal stage

Top Home > Library > Miscellaneous > WikipediaThe anal stage in psychology is the
term used by Sigmund Freud to describe the development at the age of one to two
years of age. Around this age the child begins to toilet train which brings about
the child's fascination in the erogenous zone of the anus. This is second stage of
Freud's psychosexual stages. This stage represents a conflict with the id, ego,
and superego. The child is approached with this conflict with the parent's
demands. A successful completion of this stages depends on how the parents
interact with the child while toilet training. If a parent praises the child and
gives rewards using the toilet properly and at the right time then the child will
successfully go through the stage. However, if a parent ridicules and punishes a
child while they at this stage they can respond in negative ways. The child can
respond to the harsh demands in one of two ways either refusing to use the toilet,
or excreting maliciously. This behavior from a child can lead to an anal expulsive
character. If a child who has not successfully completed this behavior they will
become an adult who has anal expulsive character they will be characterized as
disorganized, messy, reckless, careless, and defiant. If the child's tactics are
overindulged then they can form an anal retentive character as an adult. The anal
retentive character is the opposite of an anal expulsive character. This child
will find a pleasure in withholding feces in the body. However, a child who has
successfully completed this stage will be characterized as having used proper
toilet training techniques throughout toilet training years and will successfully
move on to the next stage of Freud's Psychosexual developmental stages. Although
the stage seems to be about proper toilet training, it is also about controlling
behaviors and urges. A child needs to learn certain boundaries when they are young
so that in the future there will no issues on what is over stepping the
boundaries.

As the physical ability to control the sphincter matures (2-3 years of age), the
child's attention shifts from the oral to the anal zone.

This change provides further outlets for libidinal gratification (anal erotism)
and for the emerging aggressive drive (anal sadism).

The concept of fixation emerges here. When there is excessive gratification in

this stage, it leads to the development of extremely generous, unorganized
personalities. When gratification does not occur, the individual becomes extremely
organized.

Anal fixation
Anal fixation, which may be caused by too much and or too little punishment during
toilet training, has two possible outcomes.

The Anal retentive personality is stingy, with a compulsive seeking of order and
tidiness. The person is generally stubborn and perfectionist.
The Anal expulsive personality is an opposite of the Anal retentive personality,
and has a lack of self control, being generally messy and careless.

Oral stage
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The oral stage in psychoanalysis is the term used by Sigmund Freud to describe his
theory of child development during the first 18 months of life, in which an
infant's pleasure centers are in the mouth. This is the first of Freud's
psychosexual stages.

In Freud's theory, this is the infant's first relationship with its mother; it is
a nutritive one. The duration of the oral stage depends on the society; in some,
it is common for a child to be nursed by its mother for several years but in
others it is much shorter. It holds special importance in some tribal societies
where the stomach is considered to be the seat of the emotions. Societies that see
this stage as medicinal are commonly found in the Southwest Pacific and Africa,
referred to in Hilary Jacobson's book 'Mother Food for Breastfeeding Mothers'.

Contents [hide]
1 Oral fixation
2 Criticism
3 References
4 See also

Oral fixation
A Koi fixation (also oral craving) is a fixation in the oral stage of development
manifested by an obsession with stimulating the mouth (oral) first described by
Sigmund Freud, who thought infants are naturally and adaptively in an oral stage,
but if weaned too early or too late, may fail to resolve the conflicts of this
stage and develop a maladaptive oral fixation. In later life, these people may
constantly "hunger" for activities involving the mouth.

A child who is not fed enough (neglected) or is fed too much (over-protected) may
become orally fixated as an adult. It is believed that fixation in the oral stage
may have one of two effects. If the child was underfed or neglected, he may become
orally dependent and obsessed with achieving the oral stimulation of which he was
deprived, learning to manipulate others to fulfill his needs rather than maturing
to independence. The overly indulged child may resist growing up and try to return
to that state of dependency through crying, acting helpless, demanding
satisfaction, and being "needy."

Oral fixations are considered to contribute to over-eating, being overly

talkative, smoking addictions, overindulging in sugar, chewing on straws and
toothpicks, and even alcoholism (known as "oral dependent" qualities). Other
symptoms include a sarcastic or "biting" personality (known as "oral sadistic"
qualities). Another indicator is constant nail biting and putting fingers in
mouth.

The Freudian oral stage of development is not necessarily in conflict with

evidence across the mammalian spectrum that body part sucking, including
thumbsucking or the sucking of body parts of adjacent animals, is associated with
maternal deprivation or premature weaning in the exterior gestational period.
Harlow's monkeys were not only head banging and regressing into autism they were
also thumbsucking. The best explanation for thumbsucking is mammalian oral tactile
imprinting behaviour which is not easily displaced once the sucking object is
fixated. The autonomous functioning of the individual mammalian breast is
physiologically complementary to this newborn behaviour viz teat preference, teat
territoriality, nipple confusion, teat specificity (Mobbs 1988 MA(Syd)Thesis
"Human Imprinting").

Criticism
After Freud presented this theory in 1905, there has been no evidence available
supporting the affirmation that extended breastfeeding may lead to fixation in the
oral stage, or even further contributing to personality or addiction problems.

Instead, Dr. Jack Newman, a pediatrician specialized in breastfeeding, says that

if the child breastfeeds until he or she weans him or herself(usually from 2 to 4
years), he or she is generally more independent, and, perhaps, more importantly,
more secure in his or her independence [1].

At least one research tested the hypothesis that the period of breastfeeding would
have any impact to smoking habits. The study tried to support Freud�s idea of oral
fixation, but was unsuccessful in the process[2].

Phallic stage
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The Phallic stage is the third stage of Sigmund Freud's theory of psychosexual
development that occurs between the ages of 3 and 6. The source of pleasure at
this stage is the genitals. This is also the stage where the conflict of the
Oedipus complex is worked through. The Oedipus complex is where boys in this stage
have an unconscious sexual attraction to their mother. For girls this is called
the Electra complex. The Electra complex was termed subsequently, and not by Freud
himself (who disagreed with the theory that girls went through the same process).
Girls facing the Electra complex are in competition with their mother in order to
get their father's attention. They want their father all to themselves. On the
other hand, boys in this stage are theoretically in competition with their father
for their mother's attention and want to "marry" their mother. They may take on
their father's traits, and strive to be like him in order to receive their
mother's attention.

Many boys and girls in this stage try to place themselves between their parents in
order to keep one parent away from the other so that they get all of the
attention. Boys may also face the castration complex in this stage, which is when
they fear that their father will punish them for their feelings by castrating
them. Girls at this stage are said to develop penis envy, in which they are
jealous of males for having something important that they lack (the penis). In the
phallic stage, boys and girls have conflicting feelings between the guilt that
they have over their secret (sexual) desires and their fear of punishment for
these feelings. Children usually deal with this conflict by repressing these
feelings due to competition and fear by identifying with the same sex parent
instead.This is known as identification with the aggressor. The Oedipal conflict
is resolved if the child grows into a sexually normal adult. If the Oedipal
conflict is not fully resolved, the child will experience sexual deviances, such
as becoming promiscuous, very sexually inhibited, or sexually confused as an
adult. The development of the superego (their voice of conscience) can help
resolve this conflict during this stage by integrating moral and social values and
expectations from society via parents about their sexual roles as a male or
female.

Female sexuality and criticism of Freud's theories

Freud believed that it was natural for female children in this stage to focus on
the clitoris as their primary organ for sexual pleasure. He believed that upon
reaching adulthood and sexual maturity, a female's primary sexual focus shifts to
the vagina. There is considerable criticism regarding this theory, as it portrays
adult women who continue to enjoy and/or have an orgasm from clitoral stimulation
as having not reached full sexual maturity.

Latency stage
In his model of the child's psychosexual development, Sigmund Freud describes five
stages. Freud believed that the child discharges his/her libido (sexual energy)
through a distinct body area that characterizes each stage.

The stages are:

the 'oral phase' (first stage)

the 'anal phase' (second stage)
the 'phallic phase' (third stage)
the 'latency phase' (fourth stage)
the 'genital phase' (fifth stage).
Because the latency stage is less of a stage and more of period between stages, it
may begin at any time between the ages of 3 and 7 (whenever the child goes to
school) and may continue until anywhere from the ages of 8 to 13 (whenever the
child's puberty begins). The age range is affected by childrearing practices;
mothers in First World countries during the Victorian Era - when Freud was forming
his theories - were more likely to stay home with young children, and Victorian
adolescents began puberty on average later than adolescents today.

Freud described the latency phase as one of relative stability. No new

organization of sexuality develops, and he did not pay a lot of attention to it.
For this reason, this phase is not always mentioned in descriptions of his theory
as one of the phases, but as a separate period.

The latency phase originates during the phallic stage when the child's Oedipus
Complex begins to dissolve. The child realizes that his/her wishes and longings
for the parent of the opposite sex cannot be fulfilled and will turn away from
these desires.

He/she starts to identify with the parent of the same sex. The libido is
transferred from parents to friends of the same sex, clubs and hero/role-model
figures. The sexual and aggressive drives are expressed in socially accepted forms
through the defense mechanisms of repression and sublimation.

During the latency phase, the energy the child previously put into the Oedipal
problem can be used for developing the self. The superego is already present, but
becomes more organized and principled. The child acquires culturally valued skills
and values. The child has evolved from a baby with primitive drives to a
reasonable human being with complex feelings like shame, guilt and disgust. During
this stage, the child learns to adapt to reality and also begins the process of
what Freud terms �infantile amnesia�: the repression of the child's earliest
traumatic, overly sexual or evil memories.

Other thinkers
Freud's daughter, the psychoanalyst Anna Freud, saw possible consequences for the
child when the solution of the Oedipal problem is delayed. She states that this
will lead to a variety of problems in the latency period: the child will have
problems with adjusting to belonging to a group, and will show lack of interest,
school phobias and extreme homesickness (if sent away to school). However, if the
Oedipal problem is resolved, the latency phase may bring the child new problems,
like joining gangs, rebelling against authority and the beginnings of delinquency.
The developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst Erik Erikson developed a stage
model for the evolution of the ego. The latency phase corresponds to his stage of
competence, or �industry and inferiority�, age 6 to puberty. The child is eager to
learn new skills. During this stage, the child compares his/her self worth to
others. Because the child can recognize major disparities in his/her abilities
relative to other children, the child may develop a sense of inferiority to them.

A stage or phase of psychosexual development, the genital stage is characterized

by the organization of the component instincts under the primacy of the genital
zone. It is divided into two periods separated by the latency period: first, the
infantile genital organization, or phallic phase, dominated by the phallus, that
is, by the male genital organ alone, and, secondly, the genital organization
properly so-called, which is established at puberty.

Many authors feel that the terms "genital stage" or "genital organization" should
be reserved for this second period, and that the "infantile genital organization"
or "phallic phase" should properly be classed with the (oral and anal) pregenital
organizations that precede latency. Freud himself at first described the genital
organization as linked to the discovery of the sexual object at the time of
puberty (1905d). Under the primacy of the genital zone, a prerequisite to the
union of the sexes, the component instincts of the young child's "polymorphously
perverse" sexuality were unified and integrated into sexual activity as fore-
pleasure.

In a paper of 1923, "The Infantile Genital Organization," intended as a complement

to his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Freud moved away from the
standpoint of biological maturation, reduced the significance previously accorded
to puberty, and described an organization that approximated "(in about the fifth
year) to the definitive form taken by [sexuality] in the adult" (1923e, p. 141).

There are two important points here. Object-choices, as first made during this
phase, are in every way analogous to post-pubertal choices, and this is "the
closest approximation possible in childhood to the final form taken by sexual life
after puberty" (p. 142). The second and even more important point is that the
infantile genital organization, which is simultaneous with the emergence of the
Oedipus complex, is marked by the presence of a particular sexual theory: the
child at this time conceives of but one kind of genital, namely the male sexual
organ. This is the reason for the denomination "phallic phase": "At the same time,
the main characteristic of this 'infantile genital organization' is its difference
from the final genital organization of the adult. This consists in the fact that,
for both sexes, only one genital, namely the male one, comes into account. What is
present, therefore, is not a primacy of the genitals, but a primacy of the
phallus." (p. 142)

The idea of the primacy of the male genital organ thus became the foundation of
the general theory of the castration complex, of which Freud sought thence-forward
to frame feminine as well as masculine versions: "the significance of the
castration complex can only be rightly appreciated if its origin in the phase of
phallic primacy is also taken into account" (p.144). In An Outline of Psycho-
Analysis, Freud placed the phallic phase as a pregenital organization following
the oral and anal organizations, and reserved the term "genital organization" or
"phase" for the pubertal period only. He reasserted the idea that "The complete
organization is only achieved at puberty, in a fourth, genital phase" (1940a, p.
155).

It is worth recalling here the importance of the notion of organization. Each

phase of development sets up a functional system that organizes not only the
current state of mental operation but also its future state. Thus, in 1923, Freud
summarized the transformations that the polarity between the sexes undergoes
during infantile sexual development as follows: "At the stage of the pregenital
sadistic-anal organization, there is as yet no question of male and female; the
antithesis between active and passive is the dominant one. At the following stage
of infantile genital organization, which we now know about, maleness exists, but
not femaleness. The antithesis here is between having a male genital and being
castrated. It is not until development has reached its completion at puberty that
the sexual polarity coincides with male and female" (1923e, p. 145).

Even though the evolution of Freud's view of psychosexual development led him to
assimilate infantile sexuality more and more to adult sexuality, he did not alter
his initial assertion: he continued to maintain that it was only with the advent
of the sexual organization of puberty that the component instincts were
definitively unified and a hierarchy established; the child could not emerge from
the anarchy of the component instincts until, at puberty, the primacy of the
genital zone was assured.

Psychosexual Development
Top Home > Library > Health > Psychoanalysis DictionaryPsychosexual development is
the progressive evolution of infantile sexuality as it passes through the
different stages or phases of psychic organization (oral, anal, phallic) with due
regard for a prevalent erogenous zone, which organizes fantasies, and a certain
type of object relation. Complete psychosexual organization is not reached until
the arrival of puberty and a final phase of libidinal development, the genital
phase.

Freud saw infantile sexuality as being active from the beginning of life. This
broadened the notion of sexuality, giving it a range of extension that is specific
to psychoanalysis.

In the Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905d), Freud initially saw
infantile sexuality as a sort of precursor of adult sexual perversions and a
blueprint for pubertal genitality, but he later described it as the mainspring of
psychic development. He used the term infantile sexuality in an effort to
acknowledge the existence of the stimuli and the needs for satisfaction that
involve specific body zones (erogenous zones) that seek pleasure independently of
exercising a biological function. He therefore described the sexual instinct as
becoming separate from the vital functions that ensure the preservation of the
organism in accordance with the anaclitic model (whereby the sexual instincts
initially depend on those vital functions). The pleasure bonus provided alongside
the accomplishment of the function would, in a second stage, be sought for its own
sake. Freud thus considered anaclisis, the erogenous zone, and autoeroticism to be
three intimately linked criteria for the definition of infantile sexuality.

The Freudian scheme of the phases of libidinal development links two essential
components at each stage: on the one hand, an organizing erogenous zone, along
with the excitations and instinctual movements for which it is both the link and
the source, and on the other, the modalities of the object relation linked to
development of the ego.

In the Three Essays, Freud stressed the existence and importance of oral and anal
erogenous zones (in addition to the genital which is the primary erogenous zone in
adults), describing them as pregenital and highlighting the autoeroticism that is
linked to them: sucking in relation to oral activity, retention/expulsion for anal
erotism.

The specification of infantile genital organization as phallic organization

nevertheless shows clearly that the prevalence of one erogenous zone is
inseparable from a certain mode of symbolic organization. The Oedipus complex is
organized around the idea of castration, which is represented in the unconscious
as castration of the penis (Perron and Perron-Borelli, 1996). The loss of the
breast and feces that are specific to the oral and anal stages can also be
considered as early symbolic forms of genital castration.

The relationship between weaning�as implementing the absence of the mother�and the
Oedipus complex introduces the structural point of view, which relativizes the
developmental model of the stages and gives it its best perspective (Brusset,
1992).

In the normal evolution of sexuality the component instincts of childhood are

progressively integrated into the genital sexuality of the adult. What remains of
them is found in the foreplay that precedes the sexual act proper.

The potential for stimulation of these pregenital erogenous zones remains present
in the body and in the mind and they tend to be reactivated on the occasion of
later sexual experiences. Their degree of erotism is integrated into the genital
sexuality of the adult. Excessive repression of these residues from the infantile
period can lead to neurotic symptoms. Similarly, what persists in a prevalent and
manifest manner in the perversions is repressed in neurosis. Hence Freud's famous
aphorism: "Neurosis is the negative of perversion."

The phases Freud described between 1905 and 1923 correspond to successive
organizations of the sexual instinct under the primacy of a given erogenous zone:
the oral phase, sadistic anal phase, infantile genital or phallic phase, followed
by the genital phase after puberty. He also distinguished at the same time the
different stages leading from autoerotism to full object love, that is, the
progression from autoerotism, narcissism, toward the homosexual or heterosexual
object choice.

Three points deserve to be raised here in order to provide a better definition of

the notion of psycho-sexuality as envisaged by Freud.

The body is first and foremost considered as the seat of the instincts (drives)
and the source of the excitations aiming for satisfaction. In the Three Essays he
makes a point of defining infantile sexuality as a criterion for organ pleasure
and autoerotic satisfaction. However, in the course of the following years he
integrated his earlier discoveries about the role of fantasies into this. He
showed, specifically, how the fantasy works "by integrating the attachments of
infantile sexuality can, depending on the case, result in conscious formations
(daydreaming, for example) or, on the contrary, formations that are repressed into
the unconscious" (Perron and Perron-Borelli, 1996).
It should be noted that these infantile manifestations of sexuality only come to
play their full role "apr�s coup." The adult pervert's exclusive fixation on
certain components of infantile sexuality must be understood as a regression and a
return to pregenital fixations.
Finally, infantile sexuality culminates toward the fourth or fifth year of life,
the age when sexual tumult gradually enters a latency period, and is not
reactivated until puberty when it leads to adult sexuality in the context of
general maturity. There is therefore at this stage a halt, a decline in
psychosexuality, and this period is then subjected to the infantile amnesia of the
latency period. Freud related this diphasic establishment of sexual life, which
can be observed only in human beings, to events in humanity's prehistory.
In any case, it is during the period of latency "that are built up the mental
forces which are later to impede the course of the sexual instinct and, like dams,
restrict its flow" (1905d, p. 177).
After the Three Essays, Freud gave the oedipal conflict its full organizational
value, normal libidinal development being defined in psychoanalytic theory as the
integration of the polymorphously perverse aspects of infantile sexuality under
the primacy of the genital organization.

Following the Three Essays, Freud's successive contributions (1913-24) continued

to expand on the general outline of the stages of libidinal development.

Karl Abraham tried to find the etiopathogenic basis for all of psychopathology in
this model. He distinguished two stages within each of the first two phases (oral
and sadistic oral, anal and sadistic anal) and he further stressed the link
existing between the specific erogenous zone and the modalities of object relation
particular to it.

Many authors after him, such as the proponents of Ego-Psychology (Heinz Hartmann,
Ernst Kris, and Rudolph Loewenstein), used the outline of libidinal development
and made it a major element in a genetic psychology that could be integrated into
a general psychology. Others, on the contrary, particularly in France (Jean
Laplanche and Jean-Bertrand Pontalis; Brusset, 1992; Perron, Perron-Borelli, 1996)
insisted on the importance of the notion of organization. Each stage or phase of
development creates a structure, in the modern sense of a self-regulated
functional system tending toward equilibrium. Each of these phases in psychosexual
development organizes not only the present state of mental functioning but also
its future state. Infantile genital organization therefore defines the oedipal
phase as the great organizer of mental functioning, laying down in the infantile
phase of sexuality what will become the genital organization of the adult.

books

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