my theses on the role of sexuality in the etiology
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Psicoanalisis FREUD
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MY THESES ON THE ROLE OF SEXUALITY
ON THE ETIOLOGY OF NEUROSES
Sigmund Freud (1906 [1905])
Summary:
I think that the best way to understand my theory about the importance of the sexual factor in neuroses is to follow its evolution.
I do not deny that it has changed over time, which shows that it is based on continuous and profound experiences, rather than on
instantaneous speculations. Initially, I focused on neurasthenia and anxiety neurosis, noting the frequent presence of sexual
disorders in neurotics. As I investigated these disturbances, I discovered that they were closely related to the way in which the
disease manifested, which led me to attribute to sexual factors a prominent role in the etiology of neuroses.
At the same time, together with Josef Breuer, we investigated psychoneurosis, such as hysteria, and concluded that hysterical
symptoms were the result of unresolved psychic traumas, often related to childhood sexual experiences. This connection between
psychoneuroses and simple neuroses demonstrated the crucial importance of sexual experiences in the genesis of both.
In short, my theory holds that sexual experiences, especially in childhood, have a profound impact on the development of neuroses
and psychoneuroses. Although it may seem strange that trivial childhood events can cause chronic neuroses, this idea highlights
the need to pay attention to the aftermath of childhood experiences, which have been underestimated until now.
I reserve for later to go into more detail on whether childhood sexual experiences are the cause of hysteria and obsessive neurosis.
For now, I return to the form my theory took in short publications of 1895 and 1896. At that time, highlighting the etiological factors
made it possible to contrast common neuroses, caused by current factors, with psychoneuroses, whose root was in past sexual
experiences. The doctrine culminated in the idea that, given a normal sex life, neurosis was impossible.
However, in ten years of research, I have greatly exceeded my initial point of view. I realized that I had overestimated the frequency
of childhood sexual trauma, and I learned to distinguish between patients' fantasies and actual memories. This led to an
amendment in my theory: sexual traumas were replaced by the concept of "infantilism of sexuality." I also abandoned the idea
that the choice of neurosis was determined by childhood sexual experiences.
Instead of focusing on accidental influences, as I hoped to solve the problem of neurotic choice, I now recognize the primacy of
constitutional and hereditary factors. In my doctrine, the "sexual constitution" replaced the general neuropathic disposition. In my
recently published Three Essays on Sexual Theory, I attempted to describe the many aspects of this sexual constitution and the
various organic sources that contribute to it.
Within the framework of the modified conception of "infantile sexual traumas," my theory evolved in a direction that I had already
pointed out in publications from the years 1894 to 1896. At that time, before attributing to sexuality its proper position in etiology,
he had pointed out that the pathogenic efficacy of an experience depended on whether it was intolerable to the ego and provoked
a defensive effort. I called this defense "repression" and associated it with psychic cleavage in hysteria.
Further research on normal people revealed that their childhood sexual histories did not differ essentially from those of neurotics,
and that the role of seduction was similar in both cases. This made the accidental influences retreat even further before those of
repression. Thus, what was crucial was not the childhood sexual experiences themselves, but the individual's reaction to them:
whether he responded with repression or not. The repression of infantile sexuality often interrupted its natural development,
leaving a quota of "sexual repression" that manifested itself in adult life, especially in situations of conflict between libido and
sexual repression, giving rise to neurotic symptoms.
To better understand this part of the theory, I refer to my Three Essays on Sexual Theory, where I attempted to shed some light on
the nature of sexuality and repression. In short, the repression of certain infantile sexual impulses forms the basis of the adult
sexual norm, while perversions and neuroses arise from disturbances in this process of repression. Neurosis may be regarded as
the "negative" of perversion, since the perverse impulses, repressed in the neurosis, are the same as those which form the neurotic
symptoms.
I consider it important to emphasize that, in my conceptions of the etiology of psychoneuroses, I have always maintained two
fundamental points of view: the importance of sexuality and infantilism. Although I changed other aspects, such as replacing
accidental influences with constitutional factors and "advocacy" with organic "sexual repression," I never abandoned the idea that
sexuality plays a crucial role in these diseases.
The psychoanalytic examination of neurotics has been instrumental in confirming the importance of sexual factors in
psychoneuroses. Neurotic symptoms have been shown to be closely related to patients' repressed sexuality, even when the
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