Genital stage
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The genital stage in psychoanalysis is the term used by Sigmund Freud to describe the final stage of human psychosexual development.[1] The individual develops a strong sexual interest in people outside of the family.
Contents
In Freud and later thinkers
The notion of the genital stage was added to the Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), by Sigmund Freud in 1915. In order, these stages of psychosexual development are the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage, and the genital stage. This stage begins around the time that puberty starts, and ends at death. According to Freud, this stage reappears along with the Oedipus complex. The genital stage coincides with the phallic stage, in that its main concern is the genitalia however—now consciously.
The genital stage appears when the sexual and aggressive drives have returned. The source of sexual pleasure expands outside of the mother and father.[2] If during the phallic stage the child was unconsciously attracted to the same-sex parent then homosexual relationships can occur during this stage.[3] During the genital stage the ego and superego have become more developed. This allows the individual to have more realistic way of thinking and establish an assortment of social relations apart from the family.[4] The genital stage is the latest stage and is considered the highest level of maturity.[5] In this stage the adult becomes capable of the two signs of maturation, work and love.[6]
The stage is initiated at puberty,[7] but may not be completed until well into the adult years.[8] Otto Fenichel considered genital primacy was the precondition for overcoming ambivalence and for whole-object love.[9]
In 1960, Robert W. White extended Freud’s genital stage to not only include instinctual needs but effectance. His stage extension included one beginning to decide what role one will play in society and dating for social and sexual satisfaction.[10]
Prognoses
The degree to which an individual has reached the genital level was seen by Freudians as inversely correlated with susceptibility to neurosis;[11] conversely, fixation on earlier psychosexual levels will hamper the development of normal sexual relationships.[12]
It is important to note that although oral, anal, and genital are all distinct stages they can occur simultaneously and indefinitely.[13] Freud argued that an individual could become stuck in any of these stages if overindulgence or underindulgence occurs. If the adult did not successfully complete a stage, fixation may occur later in life.[6]
Criticism
While the normal genital character was theoretically recognised as an ideal construct,[14] in practice the concept of the genital level could be fetishized into an addictive goal or commodity, not an experiential reality.[15]
Jacques Lacan wrote of "this absurd hymn to the harmony of the genital"[16] in vulgar Freudianism.
See also
- Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
- Life Against Death
- Vaginal versus clitoral orgasms
- Regression
- Wilhelm Reich
References
- ↑ Sigmund Freud, On Psychopathology (PFL 10) pp. 78–9
- ↑ Colman, Andrew. (2008). A Dictionary of Psychology.
- ↑ Pastorino, Ellen. & Doyle-Portillo, Susann. (2013). What Is Psychology? Essentials
- ↑ Louw, D. A. (1998). Human Development
- ↑ The Development Stages of the Ego
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ P. T. Brown, 'Sexual Development' in R. Gregory ed., The Oxford Companion to the Mind (1987) pp. 706–7
- ↑ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) pp. 84 and 496
- ↑ Fromm, Donald. (2010). Systems of Psychotherapy
- ↑ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 265
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The Development Stages of the Ego
- ↑ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis (1946) p. 496
- ↑ Erik Erikson, Childhood and Society (1973) p. 257
- ↑ Jacques Lacan, Ecrits (1997) p. 245
Further reading
- Karl Abraham, 'Character Formation on the Genital Level of Libidinal Development', in Selected Papers (1927)
