Introduction to Psychoanalysis

Chapter 42 Perspectives on Development and Degeneration—Etiology (2)
The libido is often attached to a special way out and a special object remains unchanged, so it is called the "attachment" of the libido.The attachment of libido appears to be an independent factor, which varies from person to person, whose decisive conditions are not fully known, but whose importance in the etiology of psychosis is unquestionable.Their interrelationships are also extremely close.In many cases the libido of normal people is similarly attached, for reasons which are not yet known.Before the emergence of psychoanalysis, Biener discovered that in the memories of some people, those perverted instinctive tendencies or object selection scenes in childhood can often be clearly recalled, and then the libido is often attached to it, and it cannot be shaken off throughout life.The impression has such a high degree of attraction to the libido that it is often impossible to explain it clearly.Here I will cite an example, which I have directly observed.A man expresses indifference to female genitals and other allurements, but only a particular pattern of shod feet arouses his irresistible sexual desire; he remembers that at the age of six, something made him At that time, he was sitting on the stool next to the nanny and learning English with her.The nanny is a very ordinary elderly woman with moist blue eyes and a flat nose. She was wearing woolen slippers because of her foot injury that day. She put her feet on the mat and her legs were hidden behind her dignifiedly. .When he reached puberty, after a surreptitious taste of normal sex, he made sexual objects resembling the lean but powerful feet of a nurse; bigger.However, this attachment to libido does not make a person sick, it just makes him a psychosexual.He became a foot worshipper.Therefore, you can know that although excessive and immature attachment to libido is an indispensable condition for mental illness, its influence goes far beyond the scope of mental illness, but this condition alone does not necessarily cause illness. The same is true of sexual deprivation.

From this, the origins of psychosis seem to be more complicated.In fact, our psychoanalytic studies have uncovered a new factor, which has not yet been mentioned in my etiological theory, which is easy to detect only in persons who suddenly lose their health through psychosis.These people often show symptoms of opposing desires or spiritual conflicts.One part of his personality supports a certain desire, while another part shows resistance.This paradox is bound to exist in all mental illnesses.As if there is nothing special about it, you should know that there are conflicts in people's spiritual lives that have yet to be resolved.Therefore, before this contradiction is enough to cause disease, there seem to be special conditions waiting to be realized, and now we have to ask, what are they?What forces in the psyche are involved in these pathogenic conflicts?And how are these conflicts related to other etiologies?

Brief though it may be, I still hope to come up with a decent answer to these questions.This kind of contradiction is caused by the deprivation of sex. Because of the dissatisfaction of the libido, other outlets and sexual objects must be sought.But these outlets and objects repulse a part of his personality.Under the compulsion of the situation, the new satisfaction is of course impossible to achieve.This is the point of departure from which the symptoms are formed, and this will be discussed later.Sexual desire, when forbidden, proceeds in a tortuous way, and in order to break resistance one must go through various disguises.The detour refers to the formation of symptoms, which are new or substitute gratifications due to sexual deprivation.

Another way of expressing the meaning of psychic conflict is that, in order to cause disease, external deprivation must be supplemented by internal deprivation.If the two complement each other side by side, the external deprivation and the internal deprivation must have different outlets and different objects are related to each other; the external deprivation makes the first possibility of satisfaction disappear, while the internal deprivation makes the second possible. Satisfied may also be cancelled.Therefore, it is these two that become the crux of the spiritual contradiction.I make this statement here on purpose, that is, in the early stages of human development, inner barriers were originally caused by external barriers in reality.

But where does the force necessary to restrain the libidinal impulse, or another set of contradictions that cause the disease, come from?Broadly speaking, we can call them some non-sexual instincts, which can be summed up in the category of ego instincts.In the analysis of transference psychoses we have not previously had sufficient opportunity to investigate these instincts further, and at most we have only seen their nature in general in the analysis of the patient's resistance.It can be said that the contradiction between self-instinct and sexuality is the contradiction that causes disease.In numerous cases there also seems to be a contradiction between the various purely sexual impulses; but the two sexual impulses which give rise to the contradiction are often the one for self-approval and the other for self-rebellion, and in the final analysis are still same thing.Therefore, we still call it the contradiction between ego and sex.

When psychoanalysis put forward the point of view that psychological journey is an expression of sexual instinct, scholars have repeatedly expressed their anger and protested, thinking that in addition to sexual instinct and interest in spiritual life, there must be other instincts and interests; Not all events can be traced to sex, and so on.In fact, there is a real joy in being able to agree with the naysayers.Psychoanalysis has never forgotten the existence of non-sexual instincts. Psychoanalysis is originally based on the strict distinction between sexual instinct and ego instinct. No matter how others object, what it upholds is not that psychosis originated from sex, but that psychosis originated from sexuality. The contradiction between self and sexuality.Although it studies the place of sexual instinct in disease and normal life, it never denies the existence or importance of ego instinct.The difference is that psychoanalysis takes as its most important work the study of the sexual instincts, which are also most easily studied in transference psychosis, and that psychoanalysis studies phenomena which are neglected by others.

Therefore, we cannot think that psychoanalysis does not discuss the non-sexual part of personality at all.From the distinction between ego and sex, it is clear that a significant development of the ego-instinct must depend on, and have no adverse effect on, the development of the libido.We know far less fully about the development of the ego than we do about the libido, and it is only after we have studied the narcissistic psychoses that it becomes possible to gain some insight into the structure of the ego.However, Ferenczi also tried to theoretically measure several stages of self-development, and there are at least two points that we can use as a solid basis for further research on self-development.We by no means believe that a man's libidinal interests and those of self-preservation are in conflict with each other from the outset; in fact, at every stage, each stage of ego development seeks to be reconciled with a corresponding stage of sexual organization in order to achieve adapt.The continuation of the stages of libidinal development may have a definite program, but this program is also influenced by the development of the ego.We may also suppose that between the stages of ego-development and libido-development there is a parallel or correlation which, when disrupted, becomes the causative factor.The following question is of particular importance: If the libido is stubbornly attached to an earlier stage in its development, what is the attitude of the ego?Maybe it will tolerate this kind of attachment and form a perverted and naive phenomenon; however, the self can also resist this kind of attachment to the original desire.

So far we can conclude that the third factor in the pathogenesis of psychosis is the susceptibility to conflict, which is as much related to the development of the ego as it is to the development of libido; our view of the causes of psychosis thus has yet another extension.First, sexual deprivation, which is the most universal condition; second, the attachment of libido; third, the development of the ego against the specific impulse of libido, which produces conflicting sensibility.These facts are not as mysterious and incomprehensible as you might imagine.However, we have not been able to complete our work in this area, and there are many new facts to be added, and some known events to be analyzed in depth.

I shall now give an example of the influence of ego-development on the tendency to conflict and its psychosis.Although this example is out of imagination, it is not necessarily impossible to happen.I named it after a Nestro burlesque: Upstairs and Downstairs.Suppose a servant lives downstairs and a wealthy master lives upstairs.They all have children, and if the owner allows his little girl to play freely with the servant's little girl without supervision, the content of their games is more likely to become "naughty", that is, sexual; they play the role of father and mother, interact with each other Peeping, defecating or changing clothes, stimulating sexual organs.The servant's daughter was probably dressed as a seductive woman, and although she was only five or six years old, she knew a lot about sexual affairs.Their play was brief enough to arouse the sexual excitement of both children, and after the play was over, years of masturbation ensued.Two children have the same experience, but the results are not the same.The servant's daughter may continue masturbating until she begins to menstruate, at which point she will have no difficulty in stopping masturbation; after a few years, find a lover or have a child; run around in life to find a way out, and may eventually become a famous actress, as in The noble lady lived her whole life.Maybe she wasn't famous in her lifetime, but she wasn't traumatized by that immature sexual activity anyway, she wasn't psychotic, she lived comfortably.It was very different about the owner's daughter.She quickly felt guilty and struggled to get rid of the masturbation after a while, but she remained unhappy.When you grow up and understand sexual intercourse, you can't help avoiding it in horror, hoping it's best to never know about it.Maybe she can't stop masturbation, but she doesn't want others to know.And when she becomes available for marriage, the psychosis will flare up, giving her an aversion to marriage and the pleasures of life.If we understand the course of this psychosis through psychoanalysis, we can find that this well-educated, intelligent, and idealistic woman has completely suppressed her sexual desires; On top of some wicked experiences shared with playmates.

These two girls have the same experience, but the ending is very different.This is so because one woman's ego has a development that the other woman does not have.For the servant's daughter, sexual activity is natural and harmless, both in childhood and in old age.But the master's daughter has received a good education, so she restrains herself by the standard of her education.Her ego, after that stimulation, formed an ideal of femininity and asceticism, incompatible with the act of sex;In her ego, the development of high morality and reason contradicts the demands of sex.

As far as the development of libido is concerned, there is another aspect that we want to discuss today. It not only broadens our horizons, but also proves that the strict but difficult-to-understand boundary between our ego instinct and sexual instinct has a profound meaning. Reasonable.Now, when we discuss the development of ego and libido, we must pay attention to an aspect that has been neglected. Frankly speaking, both of them are of genetic origin, which epitomizes the evolution of human beings in ancient and prehistoric times.For the development of the libido, it is not difficult to find the characteristic of the origin of this phylogenetic history.Imagine that the reproductive organs of some animals are closely related to the oral cavity, the genitals of some animals have no boundary with the excretory organs, and the genitals of some animals are part of the movement organs; therefore, due to the form of sexual organization of animals, there are various Deep-rooted perverted behavior.As for man, this feature of germline development is insignificant, both because nearly all hereditary properties are learned anew by the individual, and also because the conditions which originally gave rise to these learnings still exist and affect the individual.I thought it would generate a new reaction, but now it has a tendency.In addition, the established development path of each individual may be changed by external influences.But the force which has necessitated this development of man and which has remained constant until now, is what we have come to know, the deprivation which reality demands; if we were to give it a scientific name, we might call it need, or The struggle to survive.Need, like a strict female mentor, has taught us many things.Mentally ill patients are also the evil result of this strictness, no matter what kind of education is not free from this risk.This is a doctrine whose evolutionary drive is the struggle for survival, and need not diminish the importance of "inherent evolutionary tendencies," if such tendencies exist.

It is worth noting that the sexual instinct and the instinct of self-preservation behave differently when they meet the needs of practical life.The instinct of self-preservation is as easy to control as all instincts belonging to the ego, accepts the domination of needs early, and adapts its development to the will of reality.This is of course understandable, if they do not obey the will of "reality", they will not be able to obtain the objects they need, and the individual will die after they do not have these objects of need.The sexual instincts are more difficult to control, they never feel the lack of objects.They seem to be parasitic, attached to other physiological functions, and at the same time satisfying themselves, so they are not initially affected by the education of this "real" need.For most people, the sexual instinct can remain this kind of obsession or irrationality for life without being influenced by the outside world.A youth's educability probably comes to an end at the moment of sexual desire.Educators are well aware of this and know how to deal with it; however, they may be able to accept the influence of psychoanalytic theory and shift the focus of education to the nursing infancy.Children often become fully-fledged creatures at the age of four or five, and only later do they manifest their endowed talents.

If we are to fully understand the meaning of the two instincts, we must digress a little to include those aspects which may be called "economic", which is one of the most important and yet the most difficult and most difficult aspects of psychoanalysis. the obscure part.We might be able to ask the following question: Is there a main purpose to the work of the psychic apparatus?Our answer is: the purpose is to seek pleasure.Our whole mental activity seems to be fully determined to seek pleasure and avoid pain, and is automatically regulated by the "pleasure principle".What we would most like to know is what are the conditions that cause pleasure and what are the conditions that cause pain, but we lack such knowledge.We have no choice but to figure out that a reduction or disappearance of the stimulus in the psychic apparatus is sufficient to induce pleasure; conversely, an increase or enhancement of the stimulus is sufficient to induce pain.There can be no doubt that the most intense pleasure a human being can possess is that of sexual intercourse.Since this kind of pleasure depends on psychic excitement, we call this situation "economic."In addition to this pursuit of pleasure, we can describe the behavior of the psychic apparatus in other, more common words.At this point, we can say that the psychic organ is used to control or release the amount of stimulation or pure energy imposed on itself.The development of the sexual instincts has obviously always been aimed at gratification; this function remains unchanged forever.The ego instinct is like this at first, but because of the influence of needs, I immediately know how to replace the "pleasure principle" with other principles.It believes that the work of avoiding pain is as important as the work of pursuing happiness, so the self will abandon the immediate satisfaction, and delay the enjoyment of gratification, endure some pain, and even give up some sources of happiness.After receiving this kind of special training, the ego becomes "reasonable", gets rid of the control of the pleasure principle, and obeys the "reality principle".The ultimate purpose of this reality principle is also the pursuit of happiness, but only for a delayed and diminished happiness, which is adapted to reality and does not easily disappear.

The transition from the pleasure-principle to the reality-principle is one of the most important and crucial advances in self-development.We have already seen that the sexual instinct also reluctantly passes through this stage; we will soon know what the satisfaction of human sex life will be if we have a little grasp of this weak basis of reality.Now, we can add a sentence to this question in the conclusion: If the evolution of the human ego is similar to that of the libido, then you should not be surprised to hear that the ego also degenerates, but It should be expected to see how the regression of the ego to early stages of development holds place in the study of psychosis.

(End of this chapter)