The Psyche

In 1923 Freud described his constructs of the Id Ego and the superego.

The life instinct is called eros while the death instinct is called thanatos. The energy for this mechanism is libido.

According to Freud, the ego lives in the conscious mind and the id and superego are in the area of our unconscious. Freud argued that our personality should be in a state of dynamic equilibrium (balance) and if there is too much id, superego or a weak ego then an individual will become unbalanced and possibly suffer from psychological difficulties. This is the basis of the psychoanalytic explanation of mental illness.

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Id: You are born with this; this is the animal part of the psyche and is controlled by drives like food, drink and sex. The Id likes to get its own way, and when it doesn’t it becomes aggressive.

Ego: You develop this in the late stages of the Oral stage. This part of the personality is aware of reality and is in contact with the outside world. It is the part that considers the consequences of an action and deals with the demands of the id and superego.

Superego: contains our social conscience and through the experience of guilt and anxiety when we do something wrong, it guides us towards socially acceptable behaviour that our parents would approve of. You develop this after going through the Oedipus complex. 

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