Tuesday, May 25, 2010

036: Interview Worksheet Gone Digital

I want to get out of my interview stories about patients and experiences while my interviewee was in school. I need to get a real life feel for my topic and become more attached to it. I think this way, I'll want to do it more and put more love and effort into the final outcome.

possible interviewees;
keith coppage
psychologist from hospital
dcc counselers

035: Powerpoint

Monday, May 24, 2010

033: update

I converted my powerpoint digitally. So I am going to post that soon.
I posted everything else. I am very pleased with how things turned out ^^ So, I hope everyone else is too.

it's been a long quarter, and I couldn't be happier with the results of my project :D

Sunday, May 23, 2010

032: Essay

In this adventure I call my Senior Thesis, I have found out some interesting things about a man named Sigmund Freud, one of the many fathers of psychoanalysis. He was one to add sexuality into his theories and research. It's very apparent in his Narcissism, Oedipal, Anxiety and Eros theories, which I studied in depth. Freud had survived the Holocaust, was addicted to Cocaine and had most of his theories disproved. I never thought this man would be so controversial. His ideas pulled me in as I read those words of that “Oedipus Complex” essay. “...Incestuous desires and murderous intent.” ( “Oedipal Complex” A DARKLING PLAIN, pg.102) Wouldn't you be fascinated to know what that means too? I guess it was just me, then. My head wrapped around these words, these theories with a strong fascination my Junior year that I knew EXACTLY what I was going to do my thesis on: Freudian Psychoanalysis. Easy right? Well, I thought so too.
I read the essays with an intent to educate the world (or my classroom) of things they never knew about the human mind. I read the award winning papers with a new found mind, open and porous like a sponge. Did you know Haitian Zombies were related to Freud's theory of Mourning and Melancholia? Neither did I. I surfed the internet, day after day and hour after hour, reading others' thoughts and feelings on Dr. Sigmund Freud. I could go on for weeks, but won't. You'll just have to find out for yourself.
Freud's theories base from the idea of infantile sexuality& unconscious desire as a child. He believed life and human unconscious is just sexual tension dammed up by either repression or a mental wall we set up ourselves or are traumatized to do such. Once humans learn of their unconscious desires and unconscious thoughts, we act on them and find out what they are. As humans, we're curious creatures. We thrive on our impulses to eat, sleep and fornicate to continue our line. Also to continue the cycle of thought. Freud also mentioned our impulses ran on “incestuous desire and murderous impulses” ( “Oedipal Complex” A DARKLING PLAIN, pg.102) against or towards other humans.

Psychoanalysis
The process of psychoanalysis is taking apart a person's unconscious and figure out their needs in personal definition. Textbook wise, psychoanalysis is “a method of investigation of the mind and the way one thinks; a systematized set of theories about human behavior; a method of treatment of psychological or mental illness.” (Psychoanalysis Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis) This is true. Freud was a neurologist experimenting on patients with cerebral palsy or psychotic problems of their mental health. He turned to the psychoanalysis field of psychiatry. Psychoanalysts' interventions with their patients consist of comforting and piecing together the patient's guilt, fears, tearing apart dreams that seem odd and clarifying them. There are various approaches to psychoanalysis. Possibly twenty-two different variations of probing the human mentality, one of them being childhood development. Freudian psychoanalysis is another variation of this field.

Narcissism
Narcissism is a unconscious, unnoticeable attraction to oneself. Another form of narcissism is as simple as a parent praising and loving their child, showing them affirmation of their actions. Child and Parent are the most apparent form of narcissism. As a child, humans strive to show our parents everything and to gain acceptance from them as we grow older. Jeremy Holmes, author of a “Narcissism” essay found in “On A Darkling Plain” had written “narcissism starts from mirrors- from the mirroring mother, whose gleaming eye and responsive smile reflects delight in her child.” (“Narcissism”,pg173) The main idea behind Freud's theory was a human's self-centered desire, love and lust for itself stems from the over-affectionate parents or overbearing parents.
If one loves themselves too much, the affectionate fans of that person become led on and hurt. This is the honey-sweet face of a narcissist. These humans seduce, lure and “love at a distance” the fans or love object that wants them. Holmes mentioned that narcissists are “withdrawn from the external world and reinvested in themselves.” They form object relationships with others who love them for their looks, talents or other afflictions of lust or adoration. Though, the narcissist pushes the object away, in rejection for it not being enough, and loves himself.

Eros/Thanatos
Eros and Thanatos are Freud's theories of 'Life' and 'Death'. They tend to work together, Eros being the driving force to be alive while Thanatos creeps up snipping at the heels of man closer to death. Eros is known as the drive that is libido, survival, sex and thirst. To push the humans to live and thrive. Eros is the drive that pushed to preserve and create. Thanatos was the exact opposite.
Freud realized that life instincts are the base of human life and that death was some part of it. Even though sex and libido provided continuation and creation, the cycle didn't seem complete. Death completes the cycle of struggle, libidimal desire and life. There are struggles along the road of living, Freud thought, and so death (or thanatos) ends the challenge.


Oedipal Complex
The Oedipal Complex, and Electra Complex for female children, is a unconscious attraction to the opposite sex parent and murderous or jealous intent for the other, same sex parent. Oedipus Rex was the main example. But he was unknowing of his killing his father and marrying his mother until it had all happened. It is one of the most known cases in myth and reality, as well as Electra. In the case of Oedipus Rex, his family hears from a prophet that their new born child was going to grow up and kill the king, Oedpius' father, and marry the queen, his mother. Even though the parents tried to turn fate, Oedipus did end up following through the prophecy and marrying, even birthing a family, with his mother and destroying his father, at a crossroad.

Mama's Boy/Daddy's Girl
The terms “Mama's Boy” and “Daddy's Girl” are stemmed from the Electra and Oedipal complex. In these, the child is in unconscious romantic inclinations and lustful intentions for the opposite sex parent and murderous feelings toward the same sexed parent. The complex stemmed from the mythological story of Oedipus Rex who killed his father and married his mother, unknowingly, as he fulfilled a prophecy that was heard when he was first born. The female equivalent to this is the Electra story/Electra complex.

Incestuous Desire & Infantile Love Objects
Through each level of developing as a human, the stages of psycho-sexuality also come into play.
While aging the first three years of life a child becomes fixated on its' oral and anal zones. This is the time of a child's life where it becomes knowledgeable of its' mouth pleasure zone and sucking, along with its' intestinal zone as they become knowledgeable of its' fecal matter. During the ages of three to five for the child, the phallic stages. Five years of age into its' puberty, the child is in its' latency phase. This is the phase where the child has dormant sexual feelings unconsciously. From here, a child becomes into its' genital stage, where in this time of a human's life, its' sexual interests and urges mature while it grows.


Anxiety
Anxiety is the product of fear. In Freudian terms, there are three types of anxiety and a multitude of defense mechanisms that follow. One form of anxiety is Reality Anxiety. This form stems from rational fears of something like a dog bite happening or a physical accident. One of the ways these fears can be put to bed is by being removed from the the situation that causes the anxiety. Another form of anxiety is Moral Anxiety. This form stems from violating moral codes or societal guidelines. This outlet of fear can also be seen as guilt or shame. The last form of anxiety is Neurotic Anxiety. This form of Anxiety arises from an unconscious phobia that the libido of the ID (ego) will take control at the most convenient time. This form of anxiety is driven by a fear of consequence that will result from expressing the ID's desires without proper sublimation (the spirit of libido formed).
With anxiety, the brain goes a few ways to respond and distract oneself from the fear. The brain tries to problem solve, and this mechanism works harder or the full on defense mechanisms come into play. Defense mechanisms react in two parts: they operate unconsciously and they can shift, distort, or change reality in some way or form. The several types of defense mechanisms are:
Repression, also known as Defensiveness. This can be conscious but is mostly unconscious to the person at hand. This type of mechanism can help stifle memories and the like.

-Denial. This type practically makes the event or events that took place seem like they never took place.
(these are the two main used defense mechanisms)

-Projection. In this form of defense, the anxiety is reduced by attributing repressed or fearful thoughts to someone else.

-Rationalization, an after the face defense mechanism. This mechanism allows for a logical seeing or reasons for actions that aren't as logical or excusable.

-Intellectualization is the type of mechanism where one thinks about events in hard, cold, rational terms.

-Regression is when all mature logical reasoning skills disappear and one uses child-like tactics to fix a problem.

-Displacement is when one shifts targets, especially when the main target is threatening.


Dream Theory
Freud's dream theory was based on unconscious sexuality in dream objects such as caves, snakes, and rhythmic activities. He said certain objects represented different parts of the human body and different parts of human life. Dancing and moving in a rhythmical way is associated with sexual reproduction or masturbation. Snakes, reptiles, canes and cannons represent phallic symbols of male genitalia. Caves or anything empty that can be used as a holding vessel represents the female genitalia. Falling into water represents birthing. Most of Freud's theories on dreams revolved around objects.

The Future for Psychoanalysis
Since the 1900's, psychoanalysis has become an ever-growing psychological field and research topics. Through out the 1900-1920's, Freud had founded a few theories and achieved a few things with them. One being his publishing of his theory of sexuality. Another involved finding that in Narcissism, the question of energy verses self directed at others is called carthexis. Carthexis is the process of investment of emotional or mental energy in a person, object, or idea.
Also, in the late 1940's-2000's, people have challenged most of Freud's theories. There are approximately 35 psychoanalysis training institutes in the U.S.A accredited by the A.P.A (American Psychoanalytic Association). About 3000 graduates are practicing in the States. The IPA (International Psychoanalytical Association, the mother association to APA, also accredits training centers throughout other worldly places such as Germany, Italy, and Serbia. The future for psychoanalysis seems to be taking a turn for the better. The big boom in interest during the 1950's after Freud's death paved the way to others now.

Personal Experience
I chose Freudian Psychoanalysis due to finding a book of essays called On A Darkling Plain: Journeys into the Unconscious. I read the book my junior year and I was hooked. I enjoyed the ideas and opinions the authors of these essays said and elaborated on about Freud's theories on his Oedipal Complex, Eros, Narcissism and Anxiety. I wanted to know more about why or how the ideas bounced around inside of some of the authors. In example Jeremy Holmes mentioned in his “Narcissism” essay that it “starts with mirrors”. I wanted to know what he meant, and kept reading. He began to explain that this “mirror” was a mother admiring her child too much or too less, causing them to turn into something that thrives on the admiring attention of a thousand fans when he really just destroys their hearts in the end. Trippy, right?
During this project, I thought I had a Freudian awakening. Turned out to be me being paranoid. After I read into Freud's head more and more, I started to notice bits and pieces of his ideas coming into my head and mind's eye. It got a little bit scary. I felt like I was going crazy. Thank the self-reality checks.

031: Mini Interview with M.T.S

5/23/10; 12:57PM; His Home

what were your experiences with psychoanalysis or anything involving the field.
MS: uhm...(thinks) the counselors seemed to ask questions of vague importance. nothing that seemed to get into how your feeling...uhm. so the counselors themselves were really superficial. and the tests I've taken uhm, they seemed too easy to break apart. you can lie basically on them to make it seem you are or are not crazy intentionally.

what did your therapists/doctors/psychoanalyst say about your brain?

MS: One said if I ever made a movie about the inner workings of my mind that it would cause temporary insanity. one quack told me I was chronically depressed, that i was bipolar, that i was schizophrenic and none of them seemed to agree.

how was your experience with therapy or psychoanalysis.
MS: they seemed like a waste of time. I mean, you can look at yourself and say hey I'm depressed. you don't have to go to counseling sessions or bullshit like that. Now thinking about it, having a counselor telling you what to think about yourself is kind of angering (did I tell you that I seen 19 psychiatrists?)

Thursday, May 20, 2010

030: Works Cited

Mon, May 17, 2010 8:50 am

http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Death_instinct
(life/death drive)

http://nosubject.com/Desire
(desire, look for incestuous desire)

http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ijp.086.1661a
(infantile sexuality)

http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Oedipus_Complex
(oedipal complex)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anxiety
(anxiety)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eros_(Freud)#Eros_and_Sigmund_Freud
(eros [concept])


http://www.faqs.org/childhood/In-Ke/Infant-Sexuality.html
infantile sexuality


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosexual_development
stages of psychosexual deveolpment


http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/78543/theories_of_human_development_freudian.html

theories of human development

5/20/10

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-daddys-girl.htm
oedipus section

http://www.rpi.edu/~verwyc/defmech.htm
anxiety (freud)

March 22, 2010
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#Freud.27s_legacy
(wiki page, obviously)

- 'on a darkling plain: journeys into the unconscious' edited by ivan ward
(book of essays)

- http://www.anthro.uci.edu/forms/2009%20Benedict%20Award%20Winning%20Paper.pdf


March 25, 2010

Psychoanalytic Theory, University of New Mexico Psychology Course (http://www.unm.edu/~jka/courses/archive/freud.pdf)


April 1, 2010

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/psychoanalysis/concepts/life_death_drives.htm

029: Interview With A Pro.

Drama Room, Keith Coppage & I, 3:32PM, (DATE FORGOTTEN)

1)So tell me your experiences with your schooling in this field, such psychoanalysis or psychology.

KC: “Well, when I was at Cal I went back and forth between English and Psychology. I ended up with both, mostly English. In Psych, I ended up loving it because of the experiments. In the lower division courses, all you do is experiments… on PEOPLE (Hysterical laughter). I took a bunch of courses, and they all dealt with what is normal, what is abnormal, and in a way it was like, who’s to judge? There weren’t a lot of answers, so it was fun.”

2)(Giggles) Do you have any interesting stories involving what you did after schooling such as with patients, or others, such as other students, in your field?

KC: “Well, since I ended up doing English as a major and Psych as my minor, essentially, I left the field. But we had a couple of situations where things had to be dealt with after school, a problem that I heard about when we were doing hypnosis. There was a problem with someone from Cal who had a post-hypnotic suggestion that made the news. At first I laughed it off. But then I got a call from this girl who was in on the project with me, and there were things that came up in that session, things neither one of us will discuss to this day. And we realized that this person was exhibiting, or like showing off, behaviors and stuff that were a direct result of the hypnosis session. So we had to call up the professor and get in touch with other people to remember what was said and done. Eventually some professionals had to be brought in… and what it told me was, woah, you can really be traumatized by the smallest stuff. Hypnosis, that was cool, and the most fun. The longest lasting memories of my psych period was from that.”


3)Please elaborate on if you agree or disagree with Freud’s theories, why or why not. Do you think they can be proven again.

KC: Well, as someone who had a difficult relationship with his mom, I can say that I paid close attention to his Oedipal theories, and while the sexual tension that he thinks is everywhere isn’t always present in THAT kind of relationship, I can say that yeah, some of his points were valid, but then it was stressed to me in college and elsewhere that Freud himself wasn’t always meant to be taken literally. That’s why there’s so much discrediting of him today. I don’t know how much of it still hangs. But this is true: it’s all about the mom. I agree. Word for word, no. But your relationship with your mom has more potential to damage. And its regardless of sex, although they find that moms screw up their sons more than their daughters, and dads screw up their daughters more than their sons, HAHAHAHA. Where his theories are difficult, again, is what’s normal. Is it normal to live with your mom til you’re 35. He had definite timelines, ages where you should do this or that. Now, ordinary, no. You want to talk about loving your mom, well, I think it’s among that’s the most complex relationships, sure. Erotic, well, God, I man you want to stop a conversation go right up to someone and ask how often they think about their mom in a sexual way! No, I don’t believe that to be universal at all. If you wanna talk normalcy, there’s nothing really wrong with living with your mom til your 35, but he doesn’t allow that kind of flexibility. The other guys who came after him were, well, they were hella open-minded by comparison. Jung was that way. Adler too.

4)Can you (laughs) tell me your thoughts toward studying Freud in depth, if you did in depth.
KC: Okay the thing about that is, sometime in the 1970’s, people began sort of dissing him right and left. Attaching everything to sex and all that. So when I got to college it was kind of at the end of that kind of thinking. He wasn’t the father of modern psychology anymore… maybe the stepfather HAHAHAHA. But my professors were starting to look at his theories and felt that maybe he had good stuff, but that the sexuality ruined him, or at least ruined him for modern audiences. I believe that the sexual emphasis became kind of disproved in the 70’s and early 80’s. I remember my professor saying one time, “we’re in an age where one has sex with everything that moves, so how can we know what is right and wrong or normal and abnormal.” And then also homosexuality kind of came out too. “Came out” HAHHAHA. Anyway, Freud would cite these case studies of how the reason Mr. Smith acted this way was that he was secretly having fantasies about his priest. And now… well, hell it seems like everyone has fantasies, including the priests HAHAHAHA.. but yeah. It was more Jung then, I mean he was seen as the successor, but the theorist that I related to the most, and the one that I sort of clung to then and now was Gestalt.

Okay here it is in a nutshell. In Freud, everything means something but only because it represents something. And it’s pretty iron clad. Red means this, and birds mean that. In Gestalt he took Freud’s theories and kind of opened them up. And then existentialism too kinda made it seem like who are we to have absolutes. I kind of think modern psychology is more influenced by Jean Paul Sarte and guys like that than Freud.


5)So let’s talk about his partner Jung. Did you study and or research him at all. (sighs) If not, why not.

Well, poor Jung… when they threw out Freud… and by the way, he’s back in style, I have a friend who teaches at Stanford and she says there’s books and classes on him once again… but at the time, no, and since Freud was being de-emphasized when I was in college, Jung was kind of… well, tainted. We didn’t deal with him much at all.

6)Have you ever considered being seen by a psychoanalyst? (Giggles) Why or why not?
KC: Jeez, probing kinda deep aren’t we? HAHAHAHAHA Well no, I never did it nor did I consider it… now, what I’ll say is that I was in counseling for ten years. Didn’t do a bit of good, I’m still a mess huh? HAHAHAHAHAHA Anyway I learned a great deal about myself and my counselor because one of the best buds I’ve ever had. He became a high school principal in the district. Psychiatry or analysis you know is often when there’s some real trouble, something that won’t fly. And you know what? It’s more expensive! People don’t talk about it but there’s a major difference between a counselor and a shrink, and that’s that the counselor can’t prescribe drugs and they charge more!

Plus a shrink couldn’t do a damn thing for me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, Too late!

7)What are you feelings toward psychoanalysis, positive, negative, or neutral.

KC: Oh, positive, all the way. And its vital, and we need to not be afraid of it. Conservative people are scared spit-less but who cares. In class I did some experiments and, well, I learned more about myself and the world around me, or like, how I, you know, how I perceive it.. Changed my perspective.

8)What makes you a qualified person to answer my questions?

KC. K. I was a psychology major at the University of California Berkeley, and while I did leave the major, the kind of questions you’re asking, well, most psych people can answer them. So there. HAHAHAHAHAH

9)I did some reading on his Eros Theory and his Thanatos theory. Do you agree with his ideas?

KC: Eh. Again you’re dealing with absolutes. In Eros, you’re dealing with absolutes, that we all have the desire to construct and be creative. I can buy that to a degree but again are you talking every single human being? But I’d go with that. Less for Thanatos, which is, well, the theory is that they war against each other, Eros and Thanatos. That I don’t believe at all. Eros, when you kinda look at it coldly, isn’t really that revolutionary a thought. It’s actually kind of Judeo-Christian an idea. Being from that tradition it makes sense to me, but I think it goes beyond psychology.

10)I also did reading on his narcissism, Oedipal complexes as well. How do you feel about them, or your opinions on them.

KC I think I kinda answered the Oedipal idea… and his theory on narcissism… that is something that, no, I don’t buy. Again with Freud there’s an awful lot that seems cause and effect, no questions asked. Maybe it was the cocaine that influenced him HAHAHAHAHA but while I think we’re always dealing with our moms, it’s not that cut and dry. Now you know a lot of people think Freud wrote his On Narcissism to kind of go up against Jung, you know he takes Freud’s theorys and de-sexes them. That’s probably another research paper on your part huh? HAHAHAHAHAHAH/

Monday, May 17, 2010

027: Update

I am finishing up my essay. I am 1040+ words behind the minimum and then I am DONE!! :D I did a good 13 pages of reading to finish it, and will post the links up soon. I need to finish my powerpoint and get that done too..


It's due next week and I am nervous. Really nervous. I don't know why.
OH well...

-Fey

Sunday, May 16, 2010

028: Last Minute Reading

http://www.human-nature.com/rmyoung/papers/pap136h.htm
-LOVE: FROM LIBIDO THEORY TO OBJECT LOVE By Robert M. Young
[12 pages]



notes:



vocab:
un-coerced
"This is not surprising, since choosing a life partner or spouse is probably the most externally un-coerced and most committed choice we make in our lives"

vicissitudes
"Heaven knows I have had my vicissitudes and failed relationships"

Thursday, May 13, 2010

026: Update`

Didn't get any work done today, i was out all afternoon
Read about 40 pages of stuff the past few weeks
11 paragraphs away from finishing an essay
about 6 slides away from my powerpoint
Stressing about this entire thing
Got other projects due in Gov. so I got to dedicate some time to that as well.
Excited for presenting and Graduation.

-FEy

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

025: Update

I'm slowly but surely finishing up these last bits of my project.
I need to finish my powerpoint and essay.
Everything else is pretty much done.
Tweaked my satruation report, finished my product, notes are a done, last bits of reading are a done too.
so I think i'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished in the past eleven weeks.
I'm kinda scared I won't finish in time.
Wish me other wise!\

Sunday, May 2, 2010

024: Reading Up On Freud

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/freud.html
SIGMUND FREUD 1856 - 1939; Dr. C. George Boeree

http://www.freudfile.org/
Sigmund Freud, Life & Work

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

023: Saturation Report

Saturation Report
[A day reading with Freud.]

When I first started to read on Freud, I didn't think the words or images placed on the paper before me would make my small hairs stand on end. I anticipated something interesting, fast-paced, and full of new doors to be opened in the recesses of my mind, causing me to tingle from head to toe. I got my wish. I read papers on Haitian Zombies, essays, web pages and all of them make me cringe and shake with excitement. My blood began to bubble and my heart began to beat faster as I read more and more, taking it in like a sponge. The book i bought the year before, "On A Darkling Plain. Journeys Into The Unconcious", opened my eyes to something greater. Something more fascinating then the Undead themselves.

As I read these essays in that book while sitting in math class, i felt tingles in my brain like little ants crawling against the creases. Massaging it to wake up and realize: This is your Thesis topic. Don't screw it up. My mind was right. I kept reading them, Oedipal Complex page after The Unconcious to Narcissism. "Incestuous Desire"...that image rang clear into my head while reading that first essay. Oedipus Complex, you did this to me. Causing me to wrack my brain with goregous words of ideas from psychologists, and Frued himself. Infantile love objects were in everything I read, saw and thought of. You were like a cancer I never wanted treatment from. A disease. I wanted to learn more. I wanted to fill my cranium to the top with these words. While reading the stained pages full of words, my eyes caressed each and every line like it was oxygen to my brain. Making my mind open wider and wider, gasping in each letter and syllable like it was rice to a starving mouth.

These soft, prickly pages fed my fingers and my curiosity. I turned page after page of the "Oedipus Complex", my fingertips danced of the purous edge of the thin, needle like page. Almost like they were dancing an intricate tango. My voice was as quiet as the midnight moon on a cloudless sky. Nothing came from those lips unless it was a sigh of warm breath or a sharp, rowdy cough. It was like a sugar rush to my brain.

And I did, as soon as this thesis was assigned. I couldn't get enough reading those lush, body shiver causing pages of Eros, the life theory. Sexualized words made me think more and more about our life force. Thanatos, the death drive. Cold and harsh. Anxiety. how even our sweat causing fears have a reason. The list goes on, and my head still spins and shivers at the thought of it. Freud was a cocaine addict. I can only picture the smell and his face after he snorted that line of snow white powder. His pulse racing faster then his breath. Beads of sweat rolling off his cheek....It's enough to make me want to faint.

Further into my studies, I found out more about Freud and his space-out-there theories, I began to notice a pattern: they all were sexualized to the point of no return. He was practically making love to his ideas and spurting them out of his cranimum like they were children themselves!! I was in a state of middle ground. I wasn't too freaked out by this, but at the same time, I was intrigued. Mentally disgusted by the infantile perversion my research topic gave me, I trudged onward and learned more, fed my brainchild of narcissistic, oedipal, anxious and lust infestation.

Yeah, Freud gets me going...In the brain.

Monday, April 26, 2010

022: Update

Anything with UPDATE as the title is a journal entry, as clarification.

Product:
I recorded my song and placed it up here. So, that is out of the way.

Essay:
I started my essay the past two days (4/25-4/26) and the first two paragraphs are completed.

Satruation Report:
I started this today, and I think I'm doing great so far. i am on the ball with everything, and I feel really good.

Vocab:
Need to finish this; I'm half way done with it and really want to get these out of the way.

Powerpoint:
Need to start.

Notes + Quotes:
Need to finish these as well.

Interview:
SET UP AND GOOD TO GO IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS!

Now that the show is done, I have no excuses to procrastinate.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

021: Update

I got my interview set up and plan on doing it sometime this week. I'm interviewing Mr. Coppage. He told me he was a Psyche major for a while, so I am using that to my advantage. I can't wait to hear his stories about going through that time in his life!! It sounds really excited, fun and mysterious.

I also have been practicing my song for this project. I need to get some of the lyrics memorized. I started my essay, and started working some more on my personal vocabulary for this too. I got a lot of words from "ON A DARLKING PLAIN" while doing my reading.

Monday, April 19, 2010

020: Interview

Here is the interview transcripts with Keith Coppage, Drama Teacher At Mount Diablo & Previous Psyche Major:

019: Product.

"Ode To Freud", By Fey Absinthe.
(Copyright, 2010)
[note, please don't mind the itching & the coughs & the craptastic voice. recorded on the day after the show was over.]

018: Vocabulary #2

From "ON A DARKLING PLAIN: EDITIED BY IVAN WARD"

"Narcissism" Essay:

"Eros" Essay:

"Anxiety" Essay:

"Oedipus Complex" Essay:

017: Update/Journal

So, I have been slacking off in my research. Due to other things such as my upcoming show, other projects and forgetting to read the rest of these essays I need to finish so I can start work on MY essay, the rest of the vocabulary, the powerpoint and the rest of what I need to do to make this project a little better a day at a time.

I need to finish and turn in ASAP my interview workshop (which I haven't started.) so I don't get too behind and slack. I don't want to fail.

-Fey

Thursday, April 15, 2010

016: Journal

Product:
I've finished my song for this project in five days in about 7.5 accumulative hours. It took two days (3 hours each day) to research theories for my essay and to practice the new chords. A total of 6 hours to write the whole thing, and twenty minutes to finish the ending. The rest of my hours will come from rehearsing and showing off my song to get it better.

Essay:
I plan on starting my essay this weekend. I have enough to start the first few paragraphs of it.

Interview workshop:
I need to finish this, so I can have my interview planned out when it happens. I have some connections to talking to psychotherapists from hospitals through a friend of mine. So that should be fun.

Research: total hours...6.5 over the past two weeks
I've been reading and highlighting information I can use for my essay, powerpoint and presentation. I'm almost done with reading the book. I have enough internet notes to keep me at bay and alright with info.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

014: Notes.

Theory of Personality, 2 pages:
-"the psyche also is composed of three structures: the id, ego, and superego"; some operate unconsciously, others while we are fully aware.
-the human mind has an id when we are born and is our base of primitive instinct including the sexual and aggressive drives
-the id is illogical and tries to find pleasure without thinking of the negatives.
-the id influences our behavior and is not a "conscious" effort
-

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

013: Update

I found ON A DARKLING PLAIN a few nights ago and I plan on reading that. I have a couple essays bookmarked and want to finish them. The book has essays on Anger, Lust, the Oedipus Complex, Narcissism and a few other theories Freud had. I want to take a break from reading internet articles as well.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

012: Vocabulary.

Haitian Zombies:
"...virtually all social scientists would agree that the impact of bereavement may be profound and manifest itself in unusually nonsensical behavior."
Words: Nonsensical, Bereavement

Nonsensical

Def. 1:absurd: incongruous;inviting ridicule
Def. 2:crazy; ridiculous

Bereavement
Def. 1:the state or fact of being bereaved; especially : the loss of a loved one by death
Def. 2:intense mourning of a lost dead loved one.

"Metraux, who talks about “how hard is the life of the average peasant and worker. Isolation, economic stagnation, administrative fecklessness, ignorance—all help to explain the misery which is to be found among the masses” (Metraux 1959: 60)."
Words: Stagnation, Fecklessness

Stagnation
Def. 1:a state of inactivity (in business or art etc)
Def. 2:inactivity in one way, shape or form

Fecklessness
Def. 1:*Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective.
*Careless and irresponsible.
Def. 2:insufficient

"...as long as they may be labeled as servile laborers, a tag with which the once-enslaved Haitians are quite familiar."
Word: Servile

Servile
Def. 1: *1. Abjectly submissive; slavish.
*2.a. Of or suitable to a slave or servant.
*2b. Of or relating to servitude or forced labor.
Def. 2: having the attributes of a slave.

"Hundreds of thousands of slaves were imported from West Africa and subjugated to extremely harsh treatment in Saint-Dominque."

Word: Subjugated
Def. 1:*1. To bring under control; conquer.
*2. To make subservient; enslave.
Def. 2: to make submissive and enslave

Bereft
Source: Indeed, it is not simply grieving individuals but the nation as a whole that is bereft
Definition 1:v.
A past tense and a past participle of bereave.
adj.
1.
a. Deprived of something: They are bereft of their dignity.
b. Lacking something needed or expected: "Today's graduates seem keenly aware that the future is bereft of conventional expectations" (Bruce Weber).
2. Suffering the death of a loved one; bereaved: the bereft parents.
Definition 2: Intense Need or lack of something

From Freud Wiki:

1)Caul
Source Sentence: Freud was born with a caul, which the family accepted as a positive omen.[3]
Def.1: A portion of the amnion, especially when it covers the head of a fetus at birth. Also called pileus.
Def. 2: something that covers the part of a fetus' head.

2)catalytic
Source Sentence: [Jean Martin Charcot] was later to remember the experience of this stay as catalytic in turning him toward the practice of medical psychopathology...
Definition: Of, involving or acting as a catalyst.
Definition 2: being a part of the catalyst

3)Amnion
(see caul definition)
Def 1: A thin, tough, membranous sac that encloses the embryo or fetus of a mammal, bird, or reptile. It is filled with a serous fluid in which the embryo is suspended.
Def 2: The sac that covers the baby inside of a animal, lizard or bird.

4) Serous
(from amnion definition)
def 1: Containing, secreting, or resembling serum.
def 2: Looks, feels, leaks serum.

Vocabulary from ON A DARKLING PLAIN, Edited by Ivan Ward
Source for all: "Narcissism By Jeremy Holmes"

"...If selfishness' persists into adult life, it is maladaptive and liable to be frowned upon. Here consideration for others and altruism are contrasted...."

Maladaptive:
Def. 1: Marked by faulty or inadequate adaptation
Def. 2: Unable to change

Altruism:
Def. 1: Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness.
Def. 2: Generous to the human race

"...disregard for others, preoccupation with personal relationships...and lack concern about social cohesion."

Cohesion;
Def.1: the act or state of cohering; tendency to unite
Def.2: Coming together as one unit.

"People so described (no doubt not without a streak of puritanical envy) might be the 'me generation' ..."

Puritanical:
Def.1: Rigorous in religious observance; marked by stern morality.
Def.2: Strict guidelines to oneself.

"Ronald Britton calls this state of psychic withdraw into the self 'libidinal narcissism'."

Libidinal:
Def.1: Manifestation of the sexual drive.
Def.2: Revolving or based around sexual energies or drives.

"...Self-love and object-love not as lying on a continuum, but as two distinct developmental lines..."

Continuum:
Def.1: A continuous extent, succession, or whole, no part of which can be distinguished from neighboring parts except by arbitrary division.
Def.2: A forever, blending section.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

011: Reading & Notes.

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/psychoanalysis/concepts/life_death_drives.htm
(Life & Death drives)

NOTES:
-Eros (the life drive/instinct, libido) is concerned with the preservation of life and the preservation of the species, It thus appears as basic needs for health, safety and sustenance and through sexual drives. It seeks both to preserve life and to create life.

-Thanatos (the death drive/instinct, mortido, aggression) appears in opposition and balance to Eros and pushes a person towards extinction and an 'inanimate state'.
Freud saw drives as moving towards earlier states, including non-existence.
‘The aim of all life is death...inanimate things existed before living ones’ (Freud 1920)
Thanatos is associated with negative emotions such as fear, hate and anger, which lead to anti-social acts from bullying to murder (perhaps as projection of the death drive).

-Eros and Thanatos interact and one can turn into the other, such a flipping of love and hate, crying and laughter. Eating preserves life but destroys that which is eaten.

-Freud's drives are often misunderstood. Eros is seen as simple sexuality and hence as morally perverse, casting the human as base and primitive. The death drive is also unacceptable as it opposes the idea of the sanctity of life and can be seen as excusing or even encouraging suicide.

-Melanie Klein disagreed with Freud in that she believed that we are born with a fragile, brittle, weak and unintegrated Ego, and that the most basic human fear is that of disintegration and deat


NOTES ON ID, SUPEREGO, & EGO:
(from a chat with my friend Max X., New York)
"Basically, the id represents the most base instincts and primal desires of the mind
(10:23:49 PM): the desire and thought processes that involve the desires for food, comfort and sex
(10:24:05 PM): The Ego is the mostly conscious capacity for logic and planning, "higher" thought, what have you
(10:24:21 PM): The Superego is the force that mediates between the two, and is the strongest force in the human mind."
(these will be looked up, but I needed his rough outline to know what I was looking for. He is keen on Freud.)

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

010: Quotes & Vocab

Wikipedia Article, Section "Psychotherapy":
-Ethan Watters and Richard Ofshe wrote, "The story of Freud and the creation of psychodynamic therapy, as told by its adherents, is a self-serving myth"
-Freud's contributions to psychotherapy have been extensively criticized and defended by many scholars and historians.

Vocabulary from the 2009 Benedict Award Winning Paper, "Haitian Zombie"
-Bereft
Source: Indeed, it is not simply grieving individuals but the nation as a whole that is bereft
Definition 1:v.
A past tense and a past participle of bereave.
adj.
1.
a. Deprived of something: They are bereft of their dignity.
b. Lacking something needed or expected: "Today's graduates seem keenly aware that the future is bereft of conventional expectations" (Bruce Weber).
2. Suffering the death of a loved one; bereaved: the bereft parents.
Definition 2: Intense Need or lack of something.

Monday, March 29, 2010

009: Page Log #3

As of Sunday & Monday Of 3/28-3/29:

*2 pages of Freud wiki article.
(as of now on psychotherapy.)

*1 1/2 pages of Haitian Zombie paper.
(On page 6 right now.)

MUST READ:
everything listed as TO BE READ in []'s in a latter post.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

008: Video Evidence #2


(IGNORE MUSIC >.< that was my Player giving me background noise.)

Friday, March 26, 2010

007: Status Update/Journal

Well, this is a slight disappointment.
I'm procrastinating on some reading I need to finish. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to scan my comic, the driver for my scanner isn't working. But on the bright side, I have alot of information at the moment so i think I can start trying to draft my essay; I can start looking for vocabulary and I can start focusing my attention to what theories I'd want to use in my PowerPoint or which ones I have to put in a dual slide (this meaning I have to combine two theories in one slide, to save time and get main points in ^-^ )

That's all for now,
New video soon.

--Fey

Thursday, March 25, 2010

006: Reading Up On Freud #2

- http://www.ibe.unesco.org/publications/ThinkersPdf/freude.pdf
(SIGMUND FREUD(1856-1939)
Bernard Jolibert)
[read]
- http://library.thinkquest.org/C005545/english/text/dream/freud.htm
(Freud's Dream Theory)
[read, 1.5 pages]
- http://changingminds.org/disciplines/psychoanalysis/concepts/life_death_drives.htm
(life and death drives)
[read, using]
-http://www.unm.edu/~jka/courses/archive/freud.pdf
(Psychoanalytic Theory)
[to be read]

005: Page Log #2 & Minor Notes/Quotes

7 slides of Psychoanalytic Theory, University of New Mexico Psychology Course (http://www.unm.edu/~jka/courses/archive/freud.pdf)
Notes:
*"pessimistic view of human nature
emphasis on nature, biological forces
early experiences shape personality (age 5)
universal developmental stages" (slide 3)

1 1/2 pages of Freud's Dream Theory
(link in previous post.)
Note:
*Most dreamic symbols Freud had dipicted were of sexual nature, or of birthing nature.
*Caves represented the female genitalia, snakes and branches for the male.

+.5 pages more of Haitian Zombiism
Notes:
*Freud's theory of melancholia was one idea of zombies.
*"The role of bereavement in the construction of Haitian zombies can be explored in terms of Sigmund Freud’s trademark theories on melancholia."

*"Essentially, Freud describes melancholia as the inability to cope properly with an irretrievable loss by failing to complete the usual, natural process of mourning."

*"Difficulties with severed relationships and loss have a profound impact on an individual’s psychological wellbeing and can lead to irrational and even pathological behaviors."

*"The loss leaves a gap within the self that must be healed through comfort, gratification, or the formation of new attachments to replace what has been lost or severed (Freud 1917: 241-244)."

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

004: Page Log #1

As of saturday, sunday and monday of March 21-23:
EDITED ON 3/29/10, THE RESEARCH NOTES.

2 1/2 pages of Sigmund Freud Wiki Article
RESEARCH NOTES:
-Freud believed there were two driving forces "Eros" and "Thanatos" or LIFE and DEATH.
-"Freud's description of Cathexis, whose energy is known as libido, included all creative, life-producing drives."

4 pages of Constructing the Haitian Zombie: An Anthropological Study Beyond Madness
Monica Murtaugh
RESEARCH NOTES:
-Freud's theory of melancholia and its' affect on the ego are thought to be part of zombie.
-Since Haiti is a depressing colony, Melancholia is evident in the culture. Depression is everywhere.

Monday, March 22, 2010

003: Reading up on Freud (Notes) #1

Used As Of Now, sources used/found/in need of using:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#Freud.27s_legacy
(wiki page, obviously)r,u
- 'on a darkling plain: journeys into the unconscious' edited by ivan ward
(book of essays)re
- http://www.anthro.uci.edu/forms/2009%20Benedict%20Award%20Winning%20Paper.pdf
(haitian zombism, and freud.)re,u
R= To Be Read
RE=Reading/read
U=Using


Vocabulary from reading the wikipedia page:

1)Caul
Source Sentence: Freud was born with a caul, which the family accepted as a positive omen.[3]
Definition:

2)catalytic
Source Sentence: [Jean Martin Charcot] was later to remember the experience of this stay as catalytic in turning him toward the practice of medical psychopathology...
Definition:

3)
Source Sentence:
Definition:

002: Video Evidence.

a vlog update on what i'm doing,
enjoy readers.
-Fey

Sunday, March 21, 2010

001: Starting the research

I created the blog so I can post my videos when the time comes. As of now, I just want to make sure the readers of this blog know what it's for:
Noting sites, progress of my products and videos of my research. I finished my proposal, and hopefully can get a scanner working so I can show the process of my comic i plan on doing. So everything can fall into place. I found my book that got me interested in this doctor, so I need to start finishing up that. Need more information on the guy.

--Fey