Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is not only a form of therapy but is also the theory of the mind and a theory that can be applied to other objects and processes. This can be a way of catergorising and understanding certain desires, motivations and dreams. We ourselves are not controlled by logical or even reasonable thought, there is far more to it than that and our unconscious mind will play a big part in our everyday lives.

Sigmund Freud created this idea in the late 1890's, he used psychoanalysis as a form of treatment for hysteria patients. Through psychoanalytic theory Freud came up with the dynamic conscious, this would be created through infancy to protect our conscious selves from events, ideas and thoughts that would be unsuitable otherwise. Our unconscious is chaotic in a way, it has no order or language yet makes itself present through slips and tricks - Freudian Slip - accidentally saying something but not consciously planning to. Freud looked into how the child goes through stages of development in order to become a fully conscious being. The child must experience and overcome mixed feelings and misconceptions that come under psycho-sexual identity through the Oedipus Complex of 'to want' vs 'to be wanted', the Castration Complex and Penis-envy, all of which can possibly create negative feelings but they must overcome this.

Freudian Models layout the Id, Ego and Superego. Id being the unconscious where our fears and irrational wishes lie. It is our primary process thinking, our instinctual part of ourselves. Ego is the conscious, our thoughts and perceptions, our own personalities and secondary process thinking. The Superego being the social order where things have to be acceptable, no irrational wishes. The Pre-conscious is all of our memories and stored knowledge, it all happens naturally like language, it is our subconscious.

After Freud's Death Jacques Lacan presented his own brand of psychoanalysis where he re-conceptualized Freud's findings. The child must identify itself outside of his self, but because of this identification the child will become split and alienated so the Ego is created to fill this gap, it creates personality and an identity for ourselves. There are other theories and models Lacan came up with such as the 'orders of reality' where it goes over the 'real', 'imaginary' and 'symbolic' which can refer to our conscious, subconscious and unconscious selves.

There are so many parts that come under psychoanalysis, different theories and models, some that are easier related to subjects than others. You can use psychoanalysis to help understand the human mind, how better to sell things, advertising/promotion wise. The Uncanny is something that is unnatural yet has a sense of familiarity to it. The boundary between fantasy and reality breaks down. Films have used the Uncanny, mainly in the Horror genre, they would use the essence of familiar but the overall feel would be foreign. There have also been films that reference psychoanalysis and the theories behind it.