Sigmund Freud, the father of Psychoanalysis, has a rule concerning how personality is formed in human beings. In his studies, this development would be linked to the psychosexual stages, and how the child went through each one. This is the theory of Psychosexual Development.

Since sex is seen as taboo in many communities, Freud's proposals have been the target of polemics and controversy. However, one thing is certain: his findings have opened doors for many scholars to develop new and useful theories. Thus, it was and is possible to understand psychoanalysis in a more global way.

In this context, learn more about psychosexual development This is one of the most remarkable studies in psychoanalysis.

Table of Contents

• Stages of psychosexual development
  • Oral Phase - 0 months to 1 year
  • Anal stage of psychosexual development - 1 to 3 years
  • Phallic stage of psychosexual development - 3 to 6 years
  • Latency phase of psychosexual development - 6 years to puberty
  • Genital phase of psychosexual development - From puberty until the end of life
• What does it mean to say that a person is fixated on a sexual phase?
• Controversies
  • Penis envy
  • Concepts of masculine and feminine
• Human Sexuality
  • Fixing
  • The importance of sex education

Stages of psychosexual development

For Freud, these phases are extremely important for the development of the personality. Going through them all in a natural way, respecting them, will contribute to the development of a psychologically healthy adult.

Oral Phase - 0 months to 1 year

The first phase is represented by the mouth, which would be an erogenous zone. After birth, this is an area that receives a lot of attention from the baby. Therefore, the act of sucking and feeding brings pleasure to the child. For this reason, she is constantly seeking oral stimulation.

Because of the care she has in this phase, the baby also discovers in her feelings of comfort and protection.

Anal stage of psychosexual development - 1 to 3 years

The stimulation moves from the mouth to the act of controlling physiological needs in the anal stage. However, although the stage is called this, the act of controlling urination also causes stimulation. The feelings developed are of independence, as the child becomes able to gain control over bodily aspects that they did not have before.

Thus, this ability must be stimulated by parents, who need to be careful not to repress the mistakes. Thus, one should always focus on the successes, on the times when the child did well. This is a positive way to reinforce the experience.

Phallic stage of psychosexual development - 3 to 6 years

Here children begin to perceive the differences between man and woman. This is also the phase in which another aspect of the famous Freudian theory is observed: the Oedipus Complex.

According to Freud, the boy begins to have a rivalry with his father at this age. thus, he would want to replace him in his relationship with his mother. at the same time, he fears punishment in case the father finds out that he is trying to replace him.

In the case of girls, Freud says that there is an envy of the penis, a contradictory theory. In this phase, girls would feel resentful for not having a penis. Therefore, they would feel "castrated" and anxious for not having been born as a man.

Latency phase of psychosexual development - 6 years to puberty

The focus in this period is not on the erogenous zones, but on social development, bonding, and living in society. Thus, there is a repression of sexual energy, which continues to exist, but is no longer a focus.

In this context, getting stuck at this stage can make the adult unable to relate to other people in a satisfactory way.

Genital phase of psychosexual development - From puberty until the end of life

Before, the interests were personal. The child did not feel the need to relate sexually with others. At this stage, the desire to want to relate sexually with other people arises.

Thus, if the individual has gone through all the phases adequately, he will reach the last one knowing how to have balance in several areas of life.

What does it mean to say that a person is fixated on a sexual phase?

Sometimes in psychoanalysis it is customary to associate the problems, disorders, or dilemmas of adult people with a phase of childhood sexual development.

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For example:

• an adult who smokes/drinks to excess could be fixated on oral phase because it is a developmental stage in which the child takes pleasure in sucking;
• an adult who is very controlling or who has difficulty letting go would be fixated on anal phase It is a phase in which the child discovers that it can hold its stool, and this gives it pleasure and allows it to discover control over time and over its body.

It can be that some traumatic event or a sequence of turbulent facts occurs in a phase and this "fixes" a person to that phase. However, sometimes this is complicated, because they are memories of an age that is difficult to recover (and easy to "invent"), or because it can be an exaggerated interpretation by the analyst.

Nothing stops a person from demonstrate traits related to more than one phase For example, a person can be a compulsive smoker and be a control freak at the same time.

The way of understanding the fixation is different from one psychoanalyst to another. It's part of the analyst to look for this kind of counterpoint, but, in our opinion, the most interesting would be to start from the troubles and reports of the analisand and avoid saying to the analisand something like "you're stuck in the oral phase of development". After all, this would be a rather heavy and possibly reductionist label.

The analyst can work on these traits as personality traits and work on this with the analyzer during the sessions, without necessarily looking for a single event or a series of events that link to a particular phase.

Controversies

If today talking about sexuality in childhood already scares so many people, imagine decades ago? It was at the end of the 19th century that Freud divulged his studies, countering society's view that the child is a "pure" and "innocent" being, totally asexual.

Therefore, it is evident that Freud caused great astonishment. However, he managed to open space to develop this field of study in the following years. Being the first, some points were contested by other researchers. However, the development of a theory by followers is no surprise. It is an obvious path of science.

Penis envy

The philosopher Foucault questioned the evidence on which other philosophers based their theories. One of these questions is applied to Freud. So, on what evidence could he say that penis envy exists? Is this evidence real?

This philosopher asked a lot of questions about the construction of knowledge and this questioning was applied to Freud. One of his questions in this regard had to do with the formulation of penis envy. Was it not, at the time, a maintenance of the discourses of power?

According to the theorist, truth and power are intertwined, thus, who is in power, holds the truth, and destroys contrary evidence. Freud was in a social system where power was patriarchal. Since most scholars, professionals, researchers and politicians were men, Freud's evidence was not enough to convince all his followers and successors.

Concepts of masculine and feminine

Semiotics is a science that also makes us question about the construction of what is masculine and feminine. Society has been developing for many years, and with it, concepts have been formulated of what masculinity and femininity mean.

According to Freud, in one of the phases the individual begins to develop his sexual identity, expressing traits of femininity or masculinity. However, to what extent is this instinctive in human beings? And to what extent are children reproducing the meanings they have learned about masculinity and femininity?

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At birth, the biological sex already determines a set of meanings, starting with the color, which differentiates the baby's gender. Therefore, many have questioned this aspect, since one cannot say that this expression of masculinity and femininity is something natural and intrinsic. There is social interference.

Human Sexuality

Much is said about this topic and the concern of parents about "inappropriate content" for their children. However, sexuality is something impossible to disengage from our lives. Sexual energy, called libido, is a driving force for all human beings.

It is connected with a basic instinct, which is that of reproduction and propagation of the species. Just like hunger that makes us need to eat, or like our alertness in a dangerous situation, sexual energy is present in our day.

Through it, we decide what to wear, how to eat, motivate ourselves to take care of our appearance, communicate with other people, and much more. Therefore, it is necessary to keep in mind that To speak of sexual energy is not necessarily to speak of the sexual act or even of conscious sexual attraction.

Fixing

According to Freud, when the child goes through one of the phases and has unresolved issues, he develops a fixation. Therefore, you may end up suffering from a personality problem.

In the first phase, for example, if the child continues to be breastfed when he should be learning to become more independent in the second stage, some problems may result In this context, she can become a dependent adult, on the other hand, she can also develop addictions related to drinking, smoking and food.

Attachment is something that can persist into adulthood, so if it is not resolved, it will remain "stuck" in some respects. A clear example is women, who often have sex without being able to achieve orgasm.

In this context, it is clear that if children are generally considered asexual, girls are even more so. Certain behaviors that are acceptable for boys are condemned to a greater degree for girls. It is no wonder that many feel so repressed that they are adults with relationship problems. This is a social problem that affects the psychological and intimate lives of thousands of women.

The importance of sex education

There are certain things that children are not ready to know. However, according to Psychoanalysis, there are also phases that must be respected Thus, children should learn about the world according to the stages they are in.

In this context, it is worth remembering that sex education helps children to form a healthy personality. In this way, they can deal well with their own bodies and with other people as well. Thus, it teaches them that certain places need limits and cannot be touched by strangers. By acting in this way, it is possible to stimulate the child to develop in a healthy way and even ensure that he or she will be able to develop in a healthy way.free from abusive situations.

We see, therefore, that educating a child sexually does not mean that he has learned what sex is. As he transits from one phase to the next, he will, on his own, discover what is a good feeling or not. Repressing this discovery can cause problems of security and self-confidence, for example. In severe cases, even mental disorders.

Therefore, it is important to emphasize the importance that parents, teachers and people close to the child have a notion of what is happening to him/her. This, however, can only be done through professional psychoanalysis.

If you don't have time to invest in a face-to-face course, enroll in our EAD course on Clinical Psychoanalysis! Here you will learn about psychosexual development and many other interesting topics. One of the advantages of gaining this knowledge is that you can apply it both personally and professionally, so be sure to check out our content!