What is psychosexual development

Being afraid to talk about sex is a concept in the past. Now, due to the openness of sex, many men, including many women, are no longer afraid to talk about sex. Therefore, many men, including many women, want to fully understand what sexual psychological development is. In order for you to have a comprehensive understanding of what sexual psychological development is, you can take a look at the detailed introduction below as soon as possible.

Psychosexual development is a concept proposed by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a core concept in psychological theory. It consists of 5 stages: oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage, and genital stage.

Freud believed that the energy of human mental activities comes from instinct, which is the internal driving force behind individual behavior. There are two types of most basic human instincts: one is the instinct of life, and the other is the instinct of death or attack. The instinct of life includes sexual instinct and individual survival instinct, and its purpose is to maintain the reproduction of the race and the survival of the individual. Freud was a pansexualist. In his eyes, sexual desire has a broad meaning, referring to all desires of people for happiness. Sexual instinct is the internal driving force of all human psychological activities. When this energy (Freud called it libido) accumulates to a certain level, it will cause tension in the body, and the body will seek ways to release the energy. Freud divided human sexual development into five stages:

① Oral stage;

②Anal stage;

③ Sexual bud stage;

④Incubation period;

⑤Reproductive period. Newly born babies know how to suckle, and the friction of the nipple against the oral mucosa causes pleasure, which is called oral stage sexual desire. After one and a half years old, children learn to urinate and defecate on their own. The friction of feces on the rectal and anal mucosa produces pleasure, which is called anal stage sexual desire.

After the age of three, children understand the difference between the two sexes and begin to feel attached to the opposite-sex parent and jealous of the same-sex parent. This stage is called the budding period, which is full of complex contradictions and conflicts. Children will experience the Oedipus complex (also known as the mother complex) and the Electra complex (also known as the father complex). This kind of emotion has more sexual significance, but it is only psychological sex rather than physical sex. Only after a latent period and reaching puberty when the gonads mature does one develop adult sexual desire.

The mature sexual desire of adults takes genital intercourse as its highest form and its purpose is to reproduce offspring, which means they have entered the reproductive period. Freud believed that the basic components of adult personality have been basically formed in the first three stages of development, so children's early environment and early experiences play an important role in the formation of their adult personality. Many adults' abnormal psychology and psychological conflicts can be traced back to traumatic experiences and repressed complexes in their early years.

In his later years, Freud proposed the death instinct, or thanatos, which is the force that drives humans to return to the non-life state before life. Death is the end of life and the final stable state of life. Only at this time does life no longer need to struggle to satisfy physiological desires. Only at this time, life is free from anxiety and depression, so the ultimate goal of all life is death. The death instinct gives rise to all destructive acts such as attack, destruction, and war. When it turns inward, it leads to self-blame and even self-harm and suicide. When it turns to the outside world, it leads to attacks, hatred, murder, etc. on others.

What is sexual psychological development? First of all, sexual psychological development is divided into many stages. From childhood to adulthood, everyone will have great sexual psychological changes, so the development of sexual psychology will continue to change with one's growth. The above content has given a comprehensive introduction, so for you who want to have a comprehensive understanding, you can understand sexual psychological development through a comprehensive understanding of the above content.