Introduction to Psychoanalysis: A New Edition (Translated from Chinese as part of the Famous Works Series)

Author: Sigmund Freud (Austrian), translated by Gao Juemu
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: Introduction to Psychoanalysis, New Edition consists of seven lectures. Lecture 1 summarizes the key points of dream theory from Introduction, in addition to covering related experimental studies on dreams and introducing several new dream symbols. Lecture 2 explores the mysteries of dreams, delving into topics of "parapsychology" or "spirituality." Lecture 3 introduces the three parts of the personality—Id, Ego, and Superego—and discusses their complex relationships with consciousness, preconsciousness, and unconsciousness. This is Freud's self-psychology or personality psychology and is a crucial chapter in Introduction. Libby and Neil's Modern Psychology states, "Vienna physician Sigmund Freud pioneered the contemporary theory of personality psychology, namely psychoanalytic theory, which has had a profound impact on our understanding of personality psychology, abnormal behavior, child-rearing practices, and even experimental psychology." Lecture 4 revises the theory of anxiety and proposes a new or second theory of anxiety. The old theory suggested that anxiety arises from the repression of the Oedipus complex. The new theory posits that anxiety is a warning signal from the Ego that danger is approaching, specifically the threat of castration or emasculation. When children play with their genitalia, their fathers had threatened them with castration. This is the origin of the castration complex. Therefore, it is not repression that leads to anxiety, but rather anxiety that leads to repression. Fain praises this new theory of anxiety, noting that "Freud's second theory, published in Repression, Symptoms, and Anxiety in 1926, was in fact widely accepted without opposition, merely undergoing refinement from various perspectives."