Types of anxiety according to Freud

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 find ourselves in our mother's womb, it can be said that we are safe, protected from any element and external situation, however when we are born, this changes in a way radical.

In this Psychology-Online article, we are going to explain in detail the concept of anxiety in psychoanalysis that each of the types of anxiety according to Freud.

Index

1. Anxiety in psychoanalysis
2. Anxiety about reality or objective
3. Neurotic anxiety
4. Moral anxiety

At the moment we are born, we are exposed to all kinds of situations and things that are around us, some of these being painful and overwhelming. Especially since as children we are quite helpless and have been thrown into a world in which we do not we really know what can happen and what kind of experiences we are going to have throughout our lifetime.

Our first encounter with anxiety is when, during the early stages of our life our instincts and desires are not satisfied. From there, a certain fear begins to arise that will generate us negative emotions of fear and anxiety for another type of annoying or painful situation to happen again, regardless of the intensity.

This type of anxiety, as its name implies, is presented before an objective reality. It refers to when we feel anxious when we are 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 let's see exposed to real danger.

This type of anxiety according to Sigmund Freud has a very important function in our life since thanks to it people can react to danger by causing our survival instinct. If we did not feel this type of anxiety, when we were 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 it would not matter to us whether or not to be safe and it would cost us more to make the decision of at least try it.

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 some sexual impulse and parents or caregivers punish us by indicating that what we are expressing is inadequate. From there our fears begin to arise, especially the consequences that our actions would have if we carry them out and that generates this type of anxiety.

So we unconsciously live with that fear of being punished for displaying certain id-driven behaviors. 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 results satisfactory. That is, in the event that I am angry with a person and my Id or my most primitive and basic impulses tell me that I should go directly to hit him, I finally decide to repress those impulses, stop and try to talk better with that person to reach an agreement or simply yell at him but not reach the hits.

The Superego or Superego is what causes this type of anxiety according to Freud, it makes us feel guilty for not having done "what correct ”, because the Superego is the one in charge of letting us know and reminding us what is good and what is bad. That is, our moral anxiety that is created by the Superego originates from what society dictates to us as to what "We must" and "we must not" do. In case we are not complying with those mandates dictated by the Superego, we will feel highly rejected and we may even tend to punish ourselves for not acting as we are supposed to. do it.

For example, a person who has a sexual preference for people of the same sex, if he lives in a restrictive society that considers this fact as something extremely negative, if the person is not sufficiently prepared to deal with this situation, they may experience this type of anxiety and feel that they are breaking the rules that have been set for them. imposed. She can feel a lot of guilt and can even punish herself by deciding to get better involved with people of the opposite sex even if 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, in Psychology-Online 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.

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