According to the father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, anxiety is something that is present in all people from the moment we are born. This is because when we are in our mother’s womb, it can be said that we are safe, protected from any external element and situation, however when we are born, this changes radically.
In this PsychologyFor article, we are going to explain in detail the concept of anxiety in psychoanalysis, which consists of each of the types of anxiety according to Freud
The moment we are born, we find ourselves exposed to all kinds of situations and things around us, some of which are painful and overwhelming. Especially because as children we are quite defenseless and we have been thrown into a world in which we do not really know what can happen and what type of experiences we are going to have throughout our lives.
Our first encounter with anxiety is when, during the early stages of our lives, our instincts and desires are not satisfied< From there, a certain fear begins to arise that will generate negative emotions of fear and anxiety that another type of annoying or painful situation will happen to us again, regardless of its intensity.
Anxiety about reality or objective
This type of anxiety, as its name indicates, occurs in the face of an objective reality. It refers to when we feel anxious when faced with certain situations or objects that are tangible in reality because we can all see, hear and feel them. For example, when we are afraid because we are in the middle of a fire, when we are close to one or more wild animals, when an earthquake occurs, among many other situations where we see each other. exposed to real danger<
This type of anxiety, according to Sigmund Freud, has a very important function in our lives since thanks to it, people can react to danger, causing our anxiety to appear. survival instinct< If we did not feel this type of anxiety, when we found ourselves in danger we would not fear for our lives and we would not choose to carry out a certain action to try to protect ourselves, so we would not care whether we were safe or not and it would be more difficult for us to make the decision. at least try it.
Neurotic anxiety
This type of anxiety, which is very common and that almost all of us have, originates from a young age and refers to the It and the impulses that arise by instinct< For example, when we are punished as children when we get angry and show our aggressive impulses or when we express a sexual impulse and parents or caregivers punish us by telling us that what we are expressing is inappropriate. From there our fears begin to arise, especially about the consequences that our actions would have if we carried them out and that generates this type of anxiety in us.
So we unconsciously live with the fear of being punished for manifesting certain behaviors driven by the id. This creates conflict for us since somehow to be socially accepted we have to learn to dominate certain basic impulses and carry out behaviors that lead us to obtain more satisfactory results. That is, in the event that I am angry with a person and my It or my most primitive and basic impulses tell me that I should go directly to hit him/her, I finally decide to repress those impulses, put a stop to it and try to dialogue better. with that person to reach an agreement or simply yell at him but not come to blows.
Moral anxiety
The Superego or Superego is what causes this type of anxiety according to Freud, it makes us feel guilty for not having done “the right thing”, because the Superego is the one in charge of letting us know and reminding us what is good and what is wrong. bad. That is, our moral anxiety that is created by the Superego originates from what society dictates to us regarding what “we should” and “we should not” do< If we are not complying with those orders dictated by the Superego, we will feel extremely rejected and we may even tend to punish ourselves for not acting as we are supposed to.
For example, a person who has a sexual preference for people of the same sex, if they live in a restrictive society that considers this fact as something extremely negative, if the person is not sufficiently prepared to face this situation, they can become experiencing this type of anxiety and feeling like you are violating the rules that have been imposed on you. She may feel a lot of guilt and may even punish herself by deciding to get better involved with people of the opposite sex even though it is not really what she wants. This is just one of countless cases where people could experience this type of anxiety, however, experiencing it in everyday life is very common.
This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Types of anxiety according to Freud we recommend that you enter our Cognitive Psychology category.
