Structure of personality,Identity

Meaning, Narrativity

PsychoanalysisSigmund Freud – mental life is devided into two

levels: Unconsciousness and consciousness.Unconsciousness contains all drives, instincts and

urges, that are beyond our awarness, but motivates most of our actions, feelings and actions.

We are aware of our overtly behaviour, but we has no insight into the origins of certain compulsive or compensatory behaviour.

We can prove it indirectly through dreams, imaginations, artifacts, projections, somatic symptoms etc.

Consciousness – those mental elements, that are directly available in any given point in time. They can be reflected by an individual.

Structure of personality Id - core of personality, completely unconscious. Strives

constantly to reduce tension, to satisfy instinctual desires. Lack of morality. Life instinct is called Libido – source of energy for ego

Ego – it decides what is possible – what fits in with reality. Through communication with external world, we get to contact with reality. We estimate our limits and possibilities. Ego makes wishes of Id and Superego compatible with reality. Balances two enemies, subsequently becomes anxious. Then it uses defense meachanisms. Id impulses are not appropriate for civilized society, so society try (with social norms) to modify the pleasure principle in favour of the reality principle; that is, the requirements of the external world.

Superego – moral, or ethical sphere of personality. It serves toward perfection according internalized social norms. We have clear consciousness when we fulfill expectancies of people from our group of reference. The superego consists of two structures: the conscience, which stores information about what is "bad" and what has been punished and the ego ideal, which stores information about what is "good" and what one "should" do or be.

Sturcture of psyche

Object relations theoryEgo-self exists only in relation to other objects, which

may be external or internal. The internal objects are internalized versions of external objects, primarily formed from early interactions with the parents.

There are three fundamental "affects" that can exist between the self and the other: AttachmentFrustrationRejectionThese affects are universal emotional states that are major

building blocks of the personalityThis area is rooted in Attachment theory, which was

developed by Sir John Bowlby and which remains the primary theory of infant mental health. Studies have shown that children who are raised by abusive parents are at risk to abuse their children in some way when they grow up. Children who grow up in abusive families tend to have poor quality attachments to their parents.

Defense mechanismsdefence mechanisms are psychological

strategies brought into play by individuals, groups and even nations to cope with reality and to maintain self-image.

Healthy persons normally use different defences throughout life.

An ego defence mechanism becomes pathological only when its persistent use leads to maladaptive behavior such that the physical and/or mental health of the individual is adversely affected.

The purpose of the Ego Defence Mechanisms

To protect the mind/self/ego from anxiety, social sanctions or to provide a refuge from a situation with which you cannot currently cope.

When anxiety becomes too overwhelming it is then the place of the ego to employ defence mechanisms to protect the individual.

The term "defence mechanism" is often thought to refers to a to several types of reactions following loss or traumatic experiences.

Level 1:The mechanisms on this level, when predominating,

almost always are pathological. We loose contact with realityHowever, they are found in dreams and throughout childhood as healthy mechanism.Denial: Refusal to accept external reality because it is

too threatening; arguing against an anxiety provoking stimuli by stating it doesn't exist; resolution of emotional conflict and reduce anxiety by refusing to perceive or counsciously acknowledge the more unpleasant aspects of external reality.

Distortion: A gross reshaping of external reality to meet internal needs.

Delusional Projection: delusions about external reality, usually of a persecutory nature

Types of Defence mechanisms

Level 2 Defence MechanismsThese mechanisms are often present in adults and

more commonly present in adolescence. These mechanism lessen distress and anxiety provoked by threatening people or by uncomfortale reality. People who excessively use such defences are seen as socially undesirable in that they are immature, difficult to deal with and seriously out of touch with reality. These are the so-called "immature" defences and overuse almost always lead to serious problems in a person's ability to cope effectively. In adolescence, the occurrence of all of these defences is normal.Fantasy: Tendency to retreat into fantasy in order to

resolve inner and outer conflictsPassive aggression: Aggression towards others

expressed indirectly or passively

Projection: Projection is a primitive form of paranoia. Projection also reduces anxiety by allowing the expression of the undesirable impulses or desires without becoming consciously aware of them; attributing one's own unacknowledged unacceptable/unwanted thoughts and emotions to another; includes severe prejudice, severe jealousy, hypervigilance to external danger, and "injustice collecting". It is shifting one's unacceptable thoughts, feelings and impulses within oneself onto someone else, such that those same thoughts, feelings, beliefs and motivations as perceived as being possessed by the other.

Hypochondriasis: The transformation of negative feelings towards others into negative feelings toward self, pain, illness

Acting out: Direct expression of an unconscious wish or impulse without conscious awareness of the emotion that drives that expressive behavior.

Level 3 Defence MechanismsThese mechanisms are considered neurotic, but fairly

common in adults. Such defences have short-term advantages in coping, but can often cause long-term problems in relationships, work and in enjoying life when used as one's primary style of coping with the world.Displacement: Defence mechanism that shifts sexual or

aggressive impulses to a more acceptable or less threatening target; redirecting emotion to a safer outlet; separation of emotion from its real object and redirection of the intense emotion toward someone or something that is less offensive or threatening in order to avoid dealing directly with what is frightening or threatening

Dissociation: Temporary drastic modification of one's personal identity or character to avoid emotional distress; separation or postponement of a feeling that normally would accompany a situation or thought.

Intellectualization: A form of isolation; concentrating on the intellectual components of a situations so as to distance oneself from the associated anxiety-provoking emotions; separation of emotion from ideas; thinking about wishes in formal, affectively bland terms and not acting on them; avoiding unacceptable emotions by focusing on the intellectual aspects

Repression: Process of pulling thoughts into the unconscious and preventing painful or dangerous thoughts from entering consciousness; seemingly unexplainable naivete, memory lapse or lack of awareness of one's own situation and condition; the emotion is conscious, but the idea behind it is absent

Level 4 Defence MechanismsThese are commonly found among emotionally healthy adults

and are considered the most mature. These defences help the users to integrate conflicting emotions and thoughts while still remaining effective. Persons are viewed as having virtues.Altruism: Constructive service to others that brings pleasure

and personal satisfaction and is not compensatoryAnticipation: Realistic planning for future discomfort – hope

and faith that world is a good place to be in.Identification with someone else´s values: The

unconscious modelling of one's self upon another person's character and behavior

Suppression: The conscious process of pushing thoughts into the preconscious; the conscious decision to delay paying attention to an emotion or need in order to cope with the present reality; able to later access uncomfortable or distressing emotions and accept them

Only succesfull DM – accept reality as it is

Sublimation: Transformation of negative emotions or instincts into positive actions, behavior, or emotion; acting out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way; refocusing of psychic energy away from negative outlets to more positive ones; sublimation is the process funneling the unacceptable into social useful achievements. Sublimation is instrumental to developing culture and civilization.

SelfRepressed pain divides the self in two and each

side wars with the other. One is the real self, loaded with needs and pain that are submerged; the other is the unreal self that attempts to deal with the outside world by trying to fulfill unmet needs with neurotic habits or behaviors such as obsessions or addictions. The split of the self is the essence of neurosis and neurosis can kill.

SelfThat pain is the result of needs and feelings

that have gone unfulfilled in early life. Those early unmet needs create what I call Primal Pain. Coming close to death at birth or feeling unloved as a child are examples of such Pain. The Pain goes unfelt at the time because the body is not equipped to experience it fully and deal with it. When the Pain is too much, it is repressed and stored away. When enough unresolved Pain has occurred, you lose access to your feelings and become neurotic.

PersonalityThe sum of total of the typical ways of

thinking, acting and feeling that makes each person unique – different from each other. (some people are typicaly shy, or extraverted)

Axis of life – we are similar and we are different according to morfogenetic principle of Rupert Sheldrake