In this book, Freud wrote that society can give us many things, but by imposing heavy dictates on us: insisting that we sleep with only a few, imposing the incest taboo, requiring us to put off our immediate desires, demanding that we follow authority, that we work to earn money. He states that societies function by being neurotic and that it is the reason for wars and other difficulties.

Civilisation and its Discontents - 1930

Freud attempted to invent a treatment for neuroses, namely psychoanalysis. He thought proper analysis could uncover what troubles people and help to adjust reality. He analysed a number of key things.<ul><li>He looked at people's dreams, which he described as wish fulfilment.</li><li>He looked at revealing slips of the tongues, we know as Freudian slips.</li><li>He said we used jokes to relieve our anxiety about topics like death or marriage.</li></ul>

Psychoanalysis as a treatment for neurosis

Freud believed we needed to adjust to the reality principle. There are better and worse kinds of adaptations. The bad ones he called neuroses. Neuroses are the result of faulty negotiations with the pleasure principle.

The reality principle

<ol><li>The ID is driven by the pleasure principle.</li><li>The superego is driven by a desire to follow the rules and do the right social thing.</li><li>The ego has to accommodate the two.</li></ol>

The personality is composed of three elements

Freud helps us understand why our lives and relationships are full of problems and pain. He explains why life is hard and how to cope.  Despite his success in later years, he was often unhappy. He stated during some research he recorded, "The chief patient I am preoccupied with is myself." Perhaps because of this, Freud gained deep insights into the sources of human unhappiness.

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis

Freud proposed that humans are driven by the pleasure principle, which gives people easy physical and emotional rewards and drives them away from unpleasant things like drudgery and discipline. Freud argued that infants were guided by the pleasure principle. However,  indulging in pleasure without constraints will lead to dangerous, reckless things like never doing any work or overeating or sleeping with members of one's own family.

The pleasure principle

To understand the dynamics of the three elements, Freud refers to the origins of our neuroses in childhood in distinct phases. <ul><li>The oral phase: Dealing with the feelings around ingestion and eating. We might pick up on all kinds of neuroses, such as taking pleasure in refusing food, or overeating.</li><li>The anal phase: Testing the limits of authority.</li><li>The phallic phase ends around age 6. Freud insists that children have sexual feelings and direct them towards their parents. He described the Oedipus complex, where children are predisposed towards "being in love with one parent and hating the other."</li></ul>

The origins of neuroses in a child

Sigmund Freud, the inventor of psychoanalysis, appreciated the many ways in which our minds are troubled and anxious. It isn't us in particular: it's the human condition. Find out more about how Freud thought in our 'Great Thinkers': https://goo.gl/toR8m8 If you like our films, take a look at our shop (we ship worldwide): https://goo.gl/7JluX0 FURTHER READING “He described himself as an obsessional neurotic. For although the father of modern psychology told us so much about our inner lives, he was touchingly vulnerable himself....” You can read more on this and many other topics on our blog TheBookofLife.org: https://goo.gl/WtiV8v MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Our website has classes, articles and products to help you think and grow: https://goo.gl/NJ702c More films on PSYCHOTHERAPY in our playlist below: http://bit.ly/TSOLpsychotherapy Do you speak a different language to English? Did you know you can submit Subtitles on all of our videos on YouTube? For instructions how to do this click here: https://goo.gl/fUMMxh SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Mad Adam http://www.madadamfilms.co.uk #TheSchoolOfLife

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Sigmund Freud, the inventor of psychoanalysis, appreciated the many ways in which our minds are troubled and anxious. It isn't us in particular: it's the human condition. Find out more about how Freud thought in our 'Great Thinkers': https://goo.gl/toR8m8
  
If you like our films, take a look at our shop (we ship worldwide): https://goo.gl/7JluX0 

FURTHER READING

“He described himself as an obsessional neurotic.  For although the father of modern psychology told us so much about our inner lives, he was touchingly vulnerable himself....”

You can read more on this and many other topics on our blog TheBookofLife.org: https://goo.gl/WtiV8v 

MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE

Our website has classes, articles and products to help you think and grow: https://goo.gl/NJ702c   

More films on PSYCHOTHERAPY in our playlist below: 
http://bit.ly/TSOLpsychotherapy

Do you speak a different language to English?  Did you know you can submit Subtitles on all of our videos on YouTube?  For instructions how to do this click here:  https://goo.gl/fUMMxh  


SOCIAL MEDIA

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CREDITS

Produced in collaboration with:

Mad Adam
http://www.madadamfilms.co.uk #TheSchoolOfLife

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