Freud's Lectures on Psycho-Analysis

     I do not know how to explain my feeling towards Freud. He is absolutely insane, there is no doubt about that, but that does not mean there is no truth behind what he has learned and taught about psychoanalysis. The first example of how I can see a relation between Freud’s beliefs and myself is the Oedipus complex. Before you make any rash assumption, I do not want to kill my mother nor do I want to marry my dad. This being said, I do have the most problems with my mom and a great relationship with my dad. This holds true for a lot of girls my age, and it no way means I want to end her life, whatsoever. Also, I find striking similarities between my current boyfriend and my dad. I was not initially attracted to him because he was like my father, these are just things I notices as are relationship continued. For example, both cannot hold a phone conversation, exhibit horrible road rage, and are very protective. Are these things I look for in a man? No, but still the two male figures in my life have these characteristics.

     The biggest problem I struggled with while reading Freud’s Lectures was his interpretation of dreams. This is a topic in which I, in no way, agree with him. Freud believes our dreams are “unconscious wishful impulses” which we cannot have in real life, and therefore obtain in our sleep. This struck a personal chord with me, because I am plagued with bad dreams. Being a freshman in college, it was a big change moving out and away from my parents. Even now, in my spring semester, I am still haunted by dreams of my family at home being hurt by an intruder and there is nothing I can do. I have to watch as the gruesome acts take place against my beloved parents. This keeps me from sleeping many nights. Is Freud trying to say that somewhere tucked in my unconscious I want my parents to be murdered? That is absurd. He completely disregards nightmares in all of his lectures on dreaming, which makes him an unreliable source of information on the topic.

     I see a lot of truth behind Freud’s analysis of children. He talks about them as sexual beings, which turns many people off. It is understood that children are not capable of having sex, he uses this term very lightly. Children go through phases in which they learn by pleasure and exploration of themselves. Many of Freud’s patients’ problems can be rooted back to their childhood. Of all of his research, the most evidence supports this topic and it is, in some twisted way, logical. It is common knowledge that we are the most impressionable on at an early age, and the basic skills stay with us an entire lives. If a baby is deprived from being breast fed, they may yearn for sucking (or any action of the mouth) in their adult life – such as smoking cigarettes. In the phallic stage, children explore their body, which includes their genitalia. I am sure no one likes to see that little boy out shopping with his mom with his hand awkwardly in his pants, but this is part of maturing and needed, within a certain extent, to develop properly.