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=Metapsychology=

Introduction

 * Metapsychology is Sigmund Freud's attempt to develop a general model of the mind. His theory relied on the theories previously hypothesized by Brucke and Meyner. Because the nervous system was poorly understood in the 19th century, most of Freud’s theory on metapsychology relied heavily within psychological terms. Freud’s hope was that if he kept consistent with the neurological reaearch from the time that more precise mechanistic findings would coincide with his discoveries. The basis of metapsychology is that the mind is continuously resolving conflicts between internal, external, and moral psychic demands. In 1923 Freud posited these demands into three separate systems. These systems are known today as the Id, Ego and Superego. The conflicts that the mind is continually working to resolve in everyday life can be seen as the basic foundation of metapsychology. Later, Freud, along with his daughter Anna, hypothesized that because of these compromises, we create defense mechanisms for the less dramatic compromises in our lives. Defense mechanisms are a sub-category deriving from the Ego. The two Freud’s hypothesized that we use defense mechanisms in a variety of ways that can be seen and observed in daily life situations.

History

 * Freud first attended the University of Vienna's Medical school in 1873. It was here he met the person he claims to be "the most influential person of his career", Ernst Brucke. This is where Freud's interest in in neurophysiology stemmed from, which also plays a crucial role in the inception of his general theory of the mind, metapsychology. Looking at the threory now, it really encompases all of Freud's theories reguarding hysteria, case studies, psychosexual stages and life and death drives. This was just his way of organizing all of these things into a general and consistent model. Freud seeked out this model so that he could formualte a hypothesis that would explain many of his clinical patients' hysterical symptoms such as convulsions, memory loss and fainting spells.

Freud's original concept

 * He recorded his first ideas in a manuscript entitled Project for a Scientific Psychology. The neurophysiological basis for his theory, however, was short lived. It was soon evident to Freud that neurophysiology was limiting in terms of what he called "psychical localities" which were in no way explained by any anatomical structure, or process. Freud had previously defined these psychical localities in a book titled The ego and the Id. Essentially they are the human mind's “...three kinds of demands that inevitably conflict with one another and that the mind's major function is to resolve those conflicts as best it can" . In short, Freud's theory identified the minds biological instincts, realistic goals, and later still, moral conscience.


 * Freud termed these three demands the Id, Ego and Superego, as touched on in the introduction The Id is associated with unconscious, biological drives, the Ego with conscious, often rational ones and the Superego with moral ones.As eluded to previously, Freud's original idea consisted of just the Id and the Ego. The Id simply representing unconscious, animalistic impulses and therefore not requiring any aditional processing. Freud postulated that the Ego uses a "perception-consciousness system... that conveys information about external reality to the mind." . This process leaves behind memories of perceptions that future consciousness is able to acess. Freud termed this "preconscious" and identified this as the basic functioning of the Superego. The ego is also responsible for managing the demands of both the Id and Superego and producing compromises. As mentioned in the introduction, Freud and his daughter, Anna, hypothesized that the ego manages every day compromises they called defense mechanisms. Many of these mechanisms are still referred to in current practice, including, but not limited to, projection, denial, displacement, and rationalization. Displacement is the redirection of an impulse on a substitute target. Projection is the refusal to recognize unwanted and unflattering traits or tendencies in the self but falsely recognizing them in someone else. Denial subconscious refusal to believe that a specific feeling, trait or past experience exists. Rationalization is the interpretation of socially unacceptable behavior or impulse into a more acceptable one.

Other prominent figures contributions

 * Freud's theory on metapsychology made quite the splash in the academic world. While many scholars openly ridiculed his ideas due, in major part, to their racy nature, Freud had many followers. The Neo-freudian movement that developed in the wake of freud's legacy was a group composed of psychologists that accepted Freud's psychoanalytic psychology but mostly rejected his emphasis on childhood sexuality. For instance, Jean Piaget adapted Freud's Psychosexual theory of development, riding it of all the sexual undertones but still paying close attention to the maladaptive tendencies that can arise due to confliction during certain periods of development. He renamed his revised theory the psychosocial theory of development. Many other Neo-Freudian figures chose to place their emphasis on the importance of relationships rather than sexuaity. I.e. Carl Jung and Karen Horney.

Historical practice

 * Unlike many other practitioners then and now, Freud developed his theories by analyzing his own as well as his patients past experiences. He first derived his method of doing this through the hypnosis of hysterical patients. He later developed his method into what is more recognizable by the general public today, free assiciation. He would have his patients lie down, relax and talk about whatever came to their mind. It was through this long and complicated process of picking apart patients subconscious thoughts, that he created his general theory of metapsychology.

Historical controversies

 * Although Freud’s theory on the mind is extremely well known today, many psychologists of the time dismissed his work in psychoanalysis right away. Among the psychologists that disregarded Freud’s metapsychology in Academic Psychology were Edward Bradford Titchener, William James, Robert Woodworth, Knight Dunlap, John B. Watson, and James McKeen Cattell. William James went as far to say that Sigmund Freud was “a man obsessed with fixed ideas" Within the psychological world many of Freud’s theories were unfavorable, and some of the afore mentioned psychologists even deplored his ideas,even still some of these same psychologists indicated a level of respect for Freud and the basis of his work. Titchener wrote to a friend about Freud’s psychoanalytic psychology and went on to say that it “is antediluvian and his constructions largely precarious, but he… has worked and thought and suffered; and I have no stomach for controversy with him” . By the 1930’s, Freud’s metapsychology slowly began to gain recognition in acedemic psychology. A few younger psychologists believed that his theory should not be dismissed but instead viewed as hypotheses that need further investigation in experimental settings.

Metapsychology today

 * Metapsychology's concepts are still applied and practiced in some circles today, although it is has been modified extremely from Freud's original concept and some might even say it is almost unrecognizable. A major reason for this is because of the neropsychological advancements that have been made in more recent years as well as the experimental disproving of some of Freud's theories. The most constant concept that remains today is Freud's method of psychoanalytic practice. For example an article published in the International Forum of Psychoanalysis presents a case study in which the author uses an adaption of Freud's practical methods rooted in the reflective and dialectal nature he was famous for. The author analyzes their client using terminology that Freud coined like countertransference and other defence mechanisms.

Current controversies

 * While metapsychology and its concepts are still in practice in psychoanalytic psychology today, many still disregard it's practical applications and have turned to other approaches. Reisner, 1991, argues that this is because of the "... narrowed and selective representation of Freud's theory, as codified by his 2nd generation followers." This could very well be, given the length of time that has lapsed since Freud first introduced his ideas to the public in 1900.

Critiscisms

 * Freud believed that metapsychology should rest independent from experimental verification and for this his theory was highly criticized when first released. Since there was no empirical proof for his eccentric conclusions, many psychologists dismissed his theory. It was not until later that some psychologists found that his ideas might hold some legitimacy- as long as they are tested in regards to experimental means. Another criticism found in Freud's methods was the use of himself as a basis of his findings for his theory of childhood sexuality and the interpretation of dreams in terms of latent content.

References:

Fancher, R.E. & Rutherford, A. (2012). Pioneers of psychology: A history. W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 4:482-488.

Reisner, S. (1991). Reclaiming the metapsychology: Classical revisionism, seduction, and the self in Freudian psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 8(4), 439-462. doi:10.1037/h0079296

De Oliveira, L. (2009). Sarah and the camps: Case history, metapsychology and countertransference. International Forum Of Psychoanalysis, 18(3), 158-167. doi:10.1080/08037060902815376