Psychoanalysis helps you understand the complex motivations of the human mind.
Psychoanalysis is a method used for the study of the mind developed by Austrian writer and therapist Sigmund Freud in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century. The American Psychoanalysis Association defines psychoanalysis as a "comprehensive theory about human nature, motivation, behavior, development and experience. And it is a method of treatment for psychological problems and difficulties in living a successful life." Freud envisioned psychoanalysis as a science, testing its theories through clinical trials and the successful treatment of patients. However, because of his prominent use of narratives like the Greek myths, psychoanalysis is often also applied to texts by literary and film critics.
Instructions
Research
1. Choose a case study or narrative on which to perform your psychoanalysis. If this essay is an English assignment, a novel, film, television series may be suitable. Whatever you choose, make sure that you have a compelling person or character to discuss. The more complex, even contradictory, the problem of the psyche you find, the better your analysis will be.
2. Read some of the work of Sigmund Freud. Freud is the father of psychoanalysis and his theories, though much debated, remain foundational to the field. His theories posit an unconscious, a portion of the mind that cannot be accessed directly but can only be found through an analysis of language, behavior and dreams. Some of Freud's most famous works include "Civilization and Its Discontents," "Ego and the Id," and "Beyond the Pleasure Principle." For beginner psychoanalysts, his book "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis" is a good starting point to pyschoanalytic thought, while "The Freud Reader" also provides a broader snapshot of the development of his theories across his life, with excerpts from all of his major works.
3. Investigate the writings of some of Freud's followers, where appropriate. There is a vast body of writing on psychoanalysis from the last hundred years, so you will have to be careful to limit your reading to those that are most relevant to your paper's focus. Melanie Klein was an English psychoanalyst who wrote primarily using case studies from her work with children, and is much favored by feminist writers. Jacques Lacan was a French psychoanalyst who combined Freud's theories with structuralist work on language to produce his own distinctive form of analysis. Slavoj Zizek is a Slovenian Marxist psychoanalyst who has undertaken, in the words of philosopher Alain Badiou, a "general psychoanalysis," a psychoanalysis of the world that includes politics, literature, philosophy, music and film.
Writing
4. Write your paper applying the theories of Freud and/or his followers to the psyche of a particular person or persons. Be sure to describe and analyze the behavior and motivations of your subject in as detailed a form as possible, with reference to your research where appropriate.
5. Make a diagnosis for your subject. You are trying to pinpoint the source of your subject's problem. Freudian diagnoses may include hysteria, repressed desire, neuroses and psychological trauma.
6. Suggest a psychoanalytic treatment for your subject's mental illness. One popular form of psychoanalytic treatment is dream therapy, which analyzes dreams for their unconscious content and then encourages patients to recognize and confront their own unconscious fears and desires.
7. Check that there is a link between your description of the subject's behavior, your diagnosis of the source of their problem and your prescribed treatment, with a clear psychoanalytic rationale for each. Psychoanalysis is a complex field and it is easy to become lost in the minutiae of detail. Revise your paper as necessary.
