Psychoanalytical Concepts and psychic structures They mostly have different and even contradictory meanings. How, then, to define these concepts, if they are elastic and depend on each interpreter's perspective? The attempt, therefore, must be to find the main meaning among the many existing concepts.

The concept of Structure, for example, gives the notion of a complex and stable arrangement that needs its component parts to form a whole.

Thus, in relation to psychoanalytic matter, the understanding is that while the psychic structures represent the individual's permanent mode of organization, the clinical structure is formed according to how the subject will deal with the lack of the mother, according to Freud.

In 1900, in "The Interpretation of Dreams", Freud discusses for the first time the notion of structure and the functionalism of personality.

The psychic structures: id, ego and superego

This theory refers to the existence of three psychic systems or instances: the unconscious, the preconscious, and the conscious. More than 20 years later, Freud changes this theory of the psychic apparatus and creates the concepts of id, ego, and superego.

Still talking about psychic structures: for Freud, in the psychosexual development of an individual, when his psychic functioning establishes a certain degree of organization, there is no more variation possible.

ID

The id, according to Freud, is ruled by the pleasure principle and constitutes the reservoir of psychic energy. It is the place where life and death pulses are located.

EGO

Ego is the system that establishes the balance between the demands of the id. It seeks immediate satisfaction for the human drives and the "orders" and restraint of the superego.

It is governed by the principle of reality. Thus, the basic functions of the ego are perception, memory, feelings, and thoughts.

Superego

The superego originates with the Oedipus Complex, from the internalization of prohibitions, limits, and authority. Morality is its function. The content of the superego refers to social and cultural demands.

Then, it becomes necessary to introduce the idea of guilt. It is the repressive structure of the libido, the drive, the instinct and the desire. However, Freud understands that the superego acts on an unconscious level as well.

The relationship between the three concepts of psychic structures

The close relationship between the Id, ego and superego results in behavior of mutual influence between the psychic structures of the individual. Therefore, these three components (id, ego and superego) make up the model of psychic structures .

If the issue at hand is clinical structures, then Psychoanalysis affirms the existence of three of them: neurosis, psychosis, and perversion.

The relationship between neurosis, psychosis and perversion

Freud, unlike some more modern psychoanalysts, believed in the possibility of structure change from treatment.

However, although there is controversy around this issue, what is currently perceived is a possible variation or transit between the neuroses, but never in psychosis or perversion.

Neurosis and psychosis

Neurosis, by far the most common, manifests itself in the individual through repression. Psychosis constructs a delusional or hallucinatory reality. In addition, perversion causes the subject to simultaneously accept and deny reality, with a fixation on infantile sexuality.

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Perversion

The concept of perversion has undergone modifications from the Freudian beginning to our days. We cannot confuse the psychoanalytic perverse structure with the perversions listed by other subjects and by religions.

Perversion is, psychoanalytically speaking, a renegation of castration with a fixation on infantile sexuality. The subject accepts the reality of paternal castration, which, for him, is undeniable.

The pervert gives himself the right to break the law and live according to his own requirements, deceiving people.

Psychic structures and the positioning of the individual

Neurosis, Perversion and Psychosis are, therefore, defense solutions to the castration anxiety and will depend on the actions of the parental figures.

For Freud, structures will form depending on how the subject deals with the lack of the mother. It is the condition after the frustration that will determine the structure.

It is from this position that the subject inserts itself into language and culture, and does so in a unique way.

So, despite presenting a predominant clinical structure, it manifests itself in its own way, based on the individual's life story, origin, events, ways of feeling, interpreting, and expressing himself.

The impact of Freudian theory

This division constituted by Freud was the fundamental step in the history of psychology. Through the creation of psychoanalysis, Freud collaborated enormously for medicine to create several forms of treatments for the most varied mental illnesses.

Some of his successors have enhanced the knowledge and improved the debate about some new ideas that have emerged from brilliant and challenging minds.

However, some were disciples and some were not. Some lived with the creator of psychoanalysis and diverged in some aspects, others not.

Freud's successors

Jung

Jung quarreled with his master for contesting the power of the influence of sexuality in the formation of personality. With his new "analytical psychology," he created the concept of the collective unconscious, a theory that is highly respected among academics.

Anna Freud

Anna Freud (1895-1982), daughter and disciple of the master, advocated throughout her life the need to care for childhood relationships.

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Read Also: Ego, Id and Superego in Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

For her, these relationships were an essential mechanism for her proper development, an area neglected by her father.

Melanie Klein

Melanie Klein (1882-1960) looked at the psychoanalytic movement from a more analytical perspective in her treatment of children. The development in stages, proposed by Freud (oral phase, anal phase, and phallic phase), is here replaced by a dynamic rather than a static element.

Klein believed that the three phases were present in babies as early as the first three months of life. She does not deny this division, but gives them a dynamic hitherto unseen in psychoanalysis.

Winnicott

According to Winnicott (1896-1971), all Freudian psychoanalysis is based on the idea that the patient had an early life where things went well enough that, at worst, he developed a classic neurosis.

This, according to Winnicott, is not always true. Nor would the dream have a special and relevant role, as Freud believed.

Jacques Lacan

The revolutionary French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) shook up the well-behaved norms of psychoanalysis. He created a sophisticated theory, and thus became a legend among his disciples.

Lacan's theoretical greatness gave a philosophical stature to Freud's theory.

Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) in his "The Power of Myth" reinforces the concept of the collective unconscious created by Jung. In addition, he cites mythology as the poetry of life, necessary for mental sanity.

All these great thinkers and many others have refined the studies of the genius Sigmund Freud.

This knowledge keeps psychoanalytic theory alive and dynamic, which continues to help sufferers better understand and relate to the inevitable diseases of the soul.

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