Freud’s concept of personality theory and psychoanalysis suggests that understanding a personality requires examining various aspects of the individual, including whether unresolved childhood traumas affect adult behavior, and whether repressed thoughts, wishes, or unconscious motives shape a person’s future actions.
This concept defines personality as consistent pattern of thoughts, feelings and actions. Personality theory defines individual differences describing how and why individuals are similar.
Psychoanalysis is both the personality theory and therapeutic approach. The personality approach underscores importance of unconscious desires and childhood traumas in personality. Freud says buried emotions, desires and childhood traumas are the pivotal points in personality determination. . These emotions never die, buried alive and will come forth later in uglier way.
Freud psychoanalysis therapeutic approach involves uncovering unconscious mind of a person as he claims all the repressed thoughts, emotions and desires lie in the unconscious mind. This specific part of mind holds all the unacceptable anxiety producing thoughts and memories.
Therapy process involves identification and treatment of past anxiety producing factors. By gaining insights to those repressed motives and traumas one could better understand one’s behavior. Hence, the psychological issues can be addressed appropriately.
After having insights to Freud’s work, we can easily relate these perspectives with our surrounding precedents. Considering a six-year-old child who witnessed divorce and separation of her parents. She is neglected by her single busy mother. When single mother frequently forgets to pick her from school and unable to join the annual prize distribution – this will give aggregate child’ sense of isolation, low esteem, self-doubt and anger. When she grows up – she may develop with an imbalanced personality, like attachment issues, insecurity, people pleasing behavior and trust issues.
Similarly, a student who dreamed to join army but parents forced him to secure engineering profession – will face such experiences. Buried desires will cause aggression, dissatisfaction, lack of interest, loss of self-identity and passion.
A child who is told he is ugly, useless, untalented will grow up with these labels showing unacceptable actions. He may become what he is told about. His childhood trauma as a nightmare will last with him till his last breath of life. The buried wishes may appear as his overt enemies.
The need of the hour is to analyze, evaluate and interpret such personality ruining factors. We have to break the cycle by thinking out of the box. Most of the childhood span is influenced by parenting. Parents must be aware of that childhood repressed desires and unresolved traumas will shape a negative future personality.
Not only parents but also the close ones (like relatives, family friends and teachers) should provide supportive environment to grow up a healthier personality. Developing positive relationship builds up self-esteem, confidence, self-awareness, and emotional resilience in child. Empathetic thinking by knowing ‘what’ behind anyone’s behavior can make a peaceful environment.
Navigating the complexities of modern life, embracing psychoanalytic wisdom can leads toward greater self-awareness, healing and positive personality for prospective societies around the globe.
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The writer is an undergraduate student in Psychology and can be reached at shanzashadab@yahoo.com
