The psychosexual development theory was conceived by Sigmund Freud in which he suggested that everyone should pass through a number of stages during their childhood. Pleasure-seeking urges from children are focused on a different area of the body, which is known as the erogenous zone. Freud (1905) believed that life was built round tension and pleasure. He theorized that there are five stages of psychosexual development; the Oral stage, the Anal, the Phallic, the Latency and lastly, the Genital. (Boundless Psychology). The Genital stage is focused on years of puberty to adulthood. According to Lumen, Freud believed that at this stage there is a sexual reawakening as certain urges from childhood resurface. During the genital stage young persons have the desire to be in sexual relations with persons of maturity. The blind side to this stage is that if you were not fixated at a younger age then you would have a normal adult life, but in the event that you were fixated then you would release these urges during the aforementioned period of your life.
When I was in a vocational institute, immediately after high school, I started dating a young man who at the time was eight (8) years older than I was and living a few blocks from my house. I would normally communicate with him daily over the phone and I made it a top priority to meet him at least three times per week before or after school; at his house or he would come and pick me up in any of his three (3) vehicles. After having conversations over phone and meeting him for a little over a month, I found myself having mixed feelings towards him, I found myself thinking about love and marriage. I would normally sneak out the house or leave school a little earlier just so I could meet him; where we would entertain each other in a sexual way which resulted in pleasure.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
At the genital stage there is a reemergence of sexual energy and renewed interest in the genitals.
Adolescents have sexual experimentation and settle down in a loving one to one relationship with someone. (McLeod, 2008). Within this stage sexual feeling is directed to heterosexual pleasure in comparison to self-pleasure in the phallic stage. He believed that the right vent of the sexual feeling in adults was through heterosexual intercourse. This may be prevented by fixation and conflict which may result in sexual perversions.
Adolescents also develop crushes on older adults of the opposite sex and tend to rebel against parents and authority figures. I was only seventeen years old during that phase of my life where I was having strong sexual instinct and desire for a much older person of the opposite sex. Based on the fifth stage in Freud theory, my experience can be supported because it is within this stage that adolescents and adults start to develop sexual instinct for someone of the opposite sex outside of the family. According to Heffner, adolescents direct their sexual desire onto the opposite sex and the primary focus has been pleasure from the genitals. Being disobedient and going out of my way to meet the person is also in support by Freud’s theory where he stated that adolescent’s rebel against parents and authority figure during the genital stage. Eventually, becoming more mature, I realized that it is a normal situation for majority of adolescents and adults to develop sexual instinct for someone of the opposite sex because it is at this stage the period of sexual reawakening where the focus of sexual pleasure becomes a particular someone outside the family. Hence, the reason for my behavior of having great interest in someone of the opposite sex which resulted in me yearning for sexual pleasure. In concluding it can be seen that the events of my late teenage years were primarily linked to the fifth (5Th ) stage of Freud’s theory due to the fact that as mentioned before individuals in this stage tend to gravitate towards persons that are mature or of resemblance to their other-sex parent.
References
- Fisher, S., & Greenberg, R. P. (1996). Freud scientifically reappraised: Testing the theories and therapy. John Wiley & Son
- Freud's Psychosexual Theory of Development. Boundless Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology- textbook/human-development-14/theories-of-human-development-70/freud-s-psychosexual- theory-of-development-267-12802/
- Heffner. (n.d.).Chapter 3: Section 4: Freud’s stages of Psychosexual Development. Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/psychology101/sexual_development/_
- McLeod, S.A. (2019,July 18).Psychosexual stages. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/psychosexual.html
Did you like this example?
Make sure you submit a unique essay
Our writers will provide you with an essay sample written from scratch: any topic, any deadline, any instructions.
Cite this paper
-
APA
-
MLA
-
Harvard
-
Vancouver
Reflective Essay on Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development.
(2022, July 14). Edubirdie. Retrieved December 22, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/reflective-essay-on-freuds-stages-of-psychosexual-development/
“Reflective Essay on Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development.” Edubirdie, 14 Jul. 2022, edubirdie.com/examples/reflective-essay-on-freuds-stages-of-psychosexual-development/
Reflective Essay on Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development. [online].
Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/reflective-essay-on-freuds-stages-of-psychosexual-development/> [Accessed 22 Dec. 2024].
Reflective Essay on Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development [Internet]. Edubirdie.
2022 Jul 14 [cited 2024 Dec 22].
Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/reflective-essay-on-freuds-stages-of-psychosexual-development/
copy
Stuck on your essay?
