The pillars of Freud's work structure very well his therapeutic proposal, even though in his time his ideas were not so successful. This is because the medical class did not look kindly on the ways he presented to treat internal wounds. Today we will make a summary of Five Lessons in Psychoanalysis and condense the knowledge written here.

Introduction: Freud's five lessons of Psychoanalysis

Five Lessons in Psychoanalysis is a synthesis made from five meetings Sigmund Freud gave in September 1909 He made himself available to bring to the public the main concepts of his psychoanalytic work, even in the face of harsh criticism. It all happened at the Clark University Foundation Celebration for a non-medical audience.

Since most doctors denied his vision, the audience was almost entirely ordinary people. With this, Freud brought an accessible and clear language to better reach these people and flow the conversation. The main concepts of his initiative explained about the cases of psychoanalytic treatment regarding the " evils of the spirit ".

In this, Freud divided the work of these lectures into five parts to explain what is psychoanalysis and also the origin and history of Psychoanalysis The psychoanalyst elaborates very well the clinical cases and reports accurately on the therapeutic process. That is why he systematically narrates the development from the theoretical part to the practical application.

First lesson: Hysteria

The first part of the Five Lessons in Psychoanalysis analyzes a case of a young woman whose diagnosis resulted in Hysteria .

The patient presents with a series of unusual symptoms that manifested simultaneously and without a proven cause. To treat her, Josef Breuer one of the founders of psychoanalysis as we know it today, induced her with hypnosis to associate the words spoken in moments of hysteria with her ideas and fantasies.

Gradually, the young woman's states of confusion eased when she was exposed to a large amount of experiences. So much so that this patient was relaxed and had more control over her conscious life. It was concluded that well-being would only come after personal fantasies are revealed and worked on during therapy .

Through this case, it became apparent that this young woman's symptoms stemmed from traumas she had experienced in the past. These traumas in turn were mnemic parts resulting from emotional moments of great frustration. In this case, her reports showed the link between her traumas and the guilt over her father's death.

Some conclusions about the case

• When there is a symptom, there is also a void in the memory in which its filling diminishes the conditions that lead to the symptom.
• Thus, the symptom is in evidence, but its cause is omitted, in the unconscious.
• The hysteria system can be caused by various events, and various pathogens (i.e., agents causing the disorder) can result in various traumas.
• The cure would happen when the psychic traumas were reproduced in the reverse order in which they happened; that is, from the symptom the trauma was discovered, and from the trauma the causative agent was discovered.
• To become aware the causative agent, the patient could understand and process the problem, attributing new meaning to it, and healing would result.

Second lesson: Repression

The second of the Five Lessons in Psychoanalysis comes with the abandonment of hypnosis and the initiative of mass memory capture. In this, Freud recommended that individuals consciously recall as many memories as possible to make association to the problem. However, there was a blockage that prevented this rescue of the traumas, the repression .

On 5 Lessons in Psychoanalysis Thanks to the moral demands of the external environment, there is a movement to bury everything that is not well seen socially. However, since there is no means to work the load of desire, our psyche moves the idea from the conscious to the unconscious leaving it inaccessible.

When this resistance is broken and the content returns to consciousness, the mental conflict is over, as well as its symptom. It should be noted that repression aims to avoid the individual's displeasure so that his personality is protected. pleasure principle is involved here, aiming for what is pleasurable and avoiding what causes displeasure.

Lesson Three: Jokes and Faulty Deeds

On 5 Lessons in Psychoanalysis We also find that content that has been repressed, but that can resurface. However, it ends up suffering deformation thanks to resistance, and the higher it is, the higher its deformation will be. The joke becomes a substitute for these deformed elements to take the focus off the original trauma This theme was also dealt with by Freud in his work Jokes and their relation to the unconscious.

By working on this, the individual is invited to speak openly about whatever he wants, because his speech will not cause escape. With this, the free association can reach the repressed content, even without causing pain in the exposure of the traumas. In this, the interpretation, including of dreams, leads us to the patient's excess of resistance, but also to his repressed and hidden desires.

Furthermore, the failed acts Not only are they easy to interpret, but they also have a direct relationship with our repressed traumas.

The ways in which a painful repressed content can express itself indirectly from the unconscious (becoming conscious) would be:

• by symptoms ,
• by chystes and flawed acts ,
• by dreams e
• by therapeutic analysis using free association method .

Summary about the third lesson

Opposition

I want information to enroll in the Psychoanalysis Course .

The mental representation of trauma cannot be equated or compared to the symptom because they are different. While one struggles for the consciousness to remember what has been forgotten, the other tries to prevent it from reaching the consciousness In this way, the symptom alludes to what is being sought, but never the same.

Resistance

As the resistance increases, the deformation relative to what is being sought also increases. And thanks to this the forgetting would be conscious without deformation. In this, if the deformation is somewhat smaller it is easier to understand what is being forgotten.

Symptom and Thought

Both arise instead of repressed desire, and being fruits of repression, they have the same origin. With the opposition cited above, what is shown as thought would be a disguise for the repressed desire.

Lesson Four: Symptoms and Sexuality

In the fourth of Five Lessons in Psychoanalysis Freud gives an opening for connecting morbid symptoms with our erotic life. According to Freud, our erotic life and the repressions made to it eventually trigger pathological pictures. However, in analysis, it is difficult to do a treatment thanks to the patients' difficulty in opening up about their sex life .

However, understanding about the morbid symptom can be complicated when investigating the patient's history.Freud himself states that misinterpretations of his theory can lead to inaccurate and erroneous searches about the problem.Let us keep in mind that the psychoanalytic examination aims to understand how traumas have become fixed in the psyche and not to link symptoms to sexuality.

Here we have an opening for one of Freud's polemic points, the theory of infant sexuality and its developmental stages from infancy Even against society's wishes, the psychoanalyst indicated that child development in this phase would determine the adult phase. With time, this area is being unraveled and unlocking specific aspects that went through initial conditioning and repression.

Lesson Five: The Recapitulation and Transfer

Finally, the last of the Five Lessons in Psychoanalysis revisits the main concepts of Psychoanalysis worked up until then. This includes child sexuality, as well as the relationship with the Oedipus Complex With that, people can get sick if they are deprived of satisfying their needs .

One of the elements included in repression is the intent, running away from reality while unconsciously regressing the psyche to inner levels. On this path, regression can be temporal, as the libido And formal, since it uses primitive and original psychic means in order to manifest this need.

Furthermore, during treatment it is common for neurotic patients to have a symptom called transference in psychoanalytic therapy In short, the individual directs to the therapist various feelings that mix fantasies, hostility, and also affection. This can occur in any human relationship, but is very evident in therapy, and is valuable for symptom identification.

Introduction and impact of the 5 lessons of Psychoanalysis

Revisiting the Five Lessons in Psychoanalysis it is possible to connect the theories directly with Freud's impressions and life. For the time, every idea presented was outrageously inconceivable for the current period. Still, each work is enriched with meanings and reflections, opening the door for inquiries and further studies about .

I want information to enroll in the Psychoanalysis Course .

Read Also: The Interpretation of Dreams: a brief analysis of Freud's book

However, the changes in the social field, including the conception about sexuality end up embarrassing some ideas to the present. Still, such changes also occurred thanks to Psychoanalysis' contribution in society and science. Regardless of the content, other fields of study have changed their way of looking at life thanks to psychoanalytical means.

Concluding remarks on Five lessons in Psychoanalysis (Freud)

The work Five lessons in Psychoanalysis became a rich and interesting compilation to map the development of Psychoanalysis socially Freud had an incredible memory, which made the literary production identical to what had been said before, so we have an easily accessible reading to introduce us to Psychoanalysis with simple language.

While many ideas have been repudiated over time, they also gave a new perspective to the same problems. This ended up putting specialized attention where it was needed and not treating cases of urgent help with neglect.

To expand your view on Five lessons in Psychoanalysis and your life, enroll in our online course on Clinical Psychoanalysis With its help, you will be able to stabilize yourself both emotionally and intellectually, ensuring better fluidity thanks to the developing self-knowledge. Not to mention that you will have access to your power of initiative and full personal transformation.