The title about Froid is a joke on the way people usually spell the name of the father of Psychoanalysis. Froid is the incorrect spelling, Freud is the correct one.

The article will seek to inspire you to see Freud's importance as a psychoanalyst and as a philosopher. Freud's theory has influenced countless scholars and artists. Stay with me until the end and you will agree: Freud is Froid!

Understanding Froid

Psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud's concepts have become popular in the cultural industry. The concepts of libido, sexuality, and unconscious drives drew popular attention. In the society of the late 19th and early 20th centuries there was already a certain collective desire and impetus to talk about these topics, still considered taboo at the time.

First we will contextualize the term psychoanalysis, which has the assumption of explaining the intricate human mind, through, as the name implies, an analysis of the mental processes and influences on the individual's daily life. It is a method for the patient to get to know himself better, intimately.

Within oneself, one seeks knowledge of one's individual reality. With this concept in mind, two fundamentals stand in the psychoanalytic theory of Freud's time: First, the mental processes and consequent acts that result operate for the most part in the unconscious; the conscious part is only a small fraction.

Froid and the psychic processes

Second, these unconscious psychic processes are driven by sexual impulses and tendencies. That is, we act on impulses of which we are for the most part not conscious, and they are governed by very basic, being redundant, sensory sensations. Freud, to explain this individual way of acting, then goes on to analyze human relations - in the public or personal sphere, on the bias of sexual tendencies and impulses, baptized by him with the expression libido.

The libido in Freud's view brings a sexual energy, a power that pervades all relationships at all ages. Therefore, it is present in all human manifestations, social or individual. Pleasure provokes desires and the search for new satiations or "satiations". The baby that suckles, the nudge and the hug, the fight and the reconciliation. The mouth that suckles brings sexual pleasure, a hug or cuddle too. An act that generates pleasure starts to generate another.

What happens is that these manifestations of pleasure and desire generate conflicts between the libido and social relations: the rules, concepts, labeling, and social limitations impose barriers and brakes on our impulses. Because of these repressed desires, these internal conflicts between fulfillment and impediments, dreams become important and constant escape valves. They are symbolic, deformed representations of reality, but connected to it and to the desires of the libido. And they are also a powerful indication of what the mind has "hidden" from the individual. Either the mind hides it, or it sublimates it.

Froid's sublimation

If the desire can be transferred to satiation through other actions, it is called sublimation. The sexual nature is transferred to other points of a non-sexual nature, such as art, religion, gardening. These compensations are ways of suppressing and replacing the original repressed impulse with other actions not originally related to the original sexual potency.

A common fact in today's society is the large number of television viewers who spend hours in front of their televisions watching soap operas, watching the characters live out romances and adventures that they are not allowed to live out in their own lives. What can also happen is that other far more dangerous mental disorders can arise due to sublimations. One of the ways to reveal, to bring to the surface these hidden or repressed desires is with the use of psychoanalysis.

Through the "broad and unrestricted" conversation, the patient begins to bring into conscious awareness themes and approaches that were not perceptible. There is an awareness of these previously unknown facts and a consequent understanding of the elements that remain, It is like a deep pond, to make an analogy, where events that are deeper down can be "fished out" through an evaluation of the hints and clues given, until they reach the surface.

The "mental illnesses"

By interpreting this information, these indicators of a possible reality, these mental "diseases" can be mapped, known, interpreted, and confronted on a conscious level. By identifying the origins of the problem, a cure can be achieved. These concepts of Freud and the psychotherapeutic approach strongly influenced the society of the early 20th century This had an influence on the arts, philosophy, and religion.

These concepts and approaches were either accepted or rejected, but hardly ignored. The way Freud presented answers and formats to everything through determining concepts was the most critical point of his studies. At the same time, the fact that it instigates deeper studies in the search for understanding the mind and personal problems arising from the mind was very present. As a consequence, Freudian studies were continued by new theorists and new approaches.

The facts approached in a sexual interpretation, brought to the discussion of society at a time when they were still taboo, the psychic processes that can go far beyond chemical brain disorders and the proposal itself of psychoanalytic treatment, form the three most outstanding contributions of Freud's study and the structuring of psychoanalysis.

Froid and the concept of libido

When the concept of libido and sexual drive was described, it was initially rejected by scholars of the human mind because it was understood as a simplification of everything related to sexuality. However, a broader understanding was later reached, where libido becomes much broader than facts linked to erogenous zones, or the sexual act itself. This enabled a better understanding of this sexual "potency" that originated from the impulses.

The impulse is generated by previous pleasure and its relation to the need for satisfaction. If the baby takes pleasure in sucking the mother's breast, Various physical and mental correlations are built in the baby's conscious and unconscious for the search of these sensations in the future.

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The fact that psychoanalysis "separates" the patient from psychiatric disorders has brought relief to many patients. With gentler treatments, it has made it possible to bring the patient's consciousness into the treatment. This point has perhaps been, in the long run, the most striking transformation at the societal level.

Conclusion

Today, part of the responsibility for the "end" of the hospices, can be credited to the psychoanalytic approach, more transformative and less invasive, more correlative than imperative. Stopping to listen to the patient with hypotheses and "hints" of paths to be taken by the analysis and possible treatment, was transformative.

It is not Freud's isolated credit, but certainly a highlight for a well-determined kick in the historical path. Psychoanalysis thus becomes an opportunity to construct a new reality for the patient, a reality based on personal facts, arising from interpretations and debates on interpretational paths. So, do you agree that Freud is Froid?

This article on Froid or Freud was written by Alexandre Machado Frigeri, especially for the blog of the Training in Clinical Psychoanalysis course.