Explores the psychological factors that influence literature and cultural practices.
Freudian theory: This is the foundation of psychoanalytic criticism. Sigmund Freud's theories on the human psyche, such as the conscious and unconscious mind, the id, ego, and superego, and defense mechanisms, are essential to understanding this approach.
Psychoanalytic literary criticism: This is the application of psychoanalytic theory to literature. It involves exploring the characters, themes, and symbols in works of literature through a psychological lens.
The uncanny: This concept refers to the feeling of unease or discomfort that arises when something seems familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. Psychoanalytic criticism often seeks to explore this feeling and its meaning in literature.
Jungian theory: Carl Jung's theories about the collective unconscious, archetypes, and the importance of mythology are also relevant to psychoanalytic criticism. Jungian analysis can be used to explore certain works of literature.
Lacanian theory: Jacques Lacan's theories about language, the unconscious, and the role of the ego are also used in psychoanalytic criticism. His emphasis on the power of language and its effects on the psyche can be applied to literary analysis.
Masculinity and femininity: Psychoanalytic criticism often examines gender roles in literature and how they relate to masculine and feminine identities.
Trauma and repressed memories: The concept of trauma and how it affects an individual's psyche is also explored in psychoanalytic criticism. Trauma and repressed memories can be analyzed when reading works of literature.
Oedipus complex: This refers to the theory that young boys desire to possess their mothers and see their fathers as rivals. The oedipus complex is often interpreted in literature, and psychoanalytic criticism explores this theory.
Dreams and their interpretation: Psychoanalytic criticism often looks at dreams and their significance in understanding an individual's psyche. It can also use dream analysis to interpret the symbolism in literature.
Libido and sexual desire: Freud's theory of the libido and its impact on an individual's psyche is also relevant to psychoanalytic criticism. This approach examines the role of sexual desire and repression in literature.
Freudian Psychoanalysis: Developed by Sigmund Freud, this theory is based on the assumption that the psyche is divided into three components: ID, Ego, and Superego. Freudian psychoanalysis is a psychological approach that aims to explain human behavior by analyzing the unconscious mind, the relationship between conscious and unconscious thoughts and how these impact behavior.
Lacanian Psychoanalysis: Jacques Lacan altered Freud's work to formulate a different approach to psychoanalysis. For Lacan, the unconscious was structured like language itself, with the individual's self-identity and desires in constant flux. This approach emphasizes the importance of language and emphasizes the symbolic order and how this is central to the development of the psyche.
Jungian Psychoanalysis: Carl Jung's model of psychoanalysis is concerned with the analysis of the collective unconscious, which is made up of experiences shared by all human beings, such as archetypes. Archetypes are figured with a consistent set of behaviors and patterns which are repeated throughout history and offer insight into the dynamics of the psyche.
Object Relations Psychoanalysis: Object relations psychoanalysis is concerned with how we form relationships with others, and how early childhood experiences shape these patterns. Object relations theorists explain that our earliest relationships with our mothers and caregivers shape our ability to form later relationships with other individuals.
Kleinian Psychoanalysis: Melanie Klein’s theory of psychoanalysis is based on their developmental stages of infancy, including how the infant's relationship to the mother shapes the development of the psyche. This approach pays particular emphasis on how mental representation and fantasy play a crucial role in regulating aggression and anxiety.
Self Psychology: According to Self-Psychology, psychological well-being, and meaningfulness are found only by asserting or maintaining an accurate self-definition that is, constructing one's identity. Self-psychology views the self as something that is constructed, altered, and maintained through human interaction and the establishment of relationships with others.
Post-Jungian Psychoanalysis: Post-Jungian Psychoanalysis reinterprets Jungian psychoanalysis, attempting to offer an altered form of guidance consistent with contemporary thought. It focuses more on understanding the individual's relationship with the world, offering more new insights into the fields of art, literature, and film.
Ego Psychology: Ego psychology is based on the work of psychoanalysts such as Heinz Hartmann, Erik Erikson, and Anna Freud. It focuses on the role of the ego in relation to the psyche's components – the Id and the Superego – in the formation of human behavior, rather than emphasizing the unconscious.
Eco-psychoanalysis: This psychoanalysis argues that reducing the environment to the mineral, plant, animal, and human constituents and activities increasingly objectifying and abstracting the environment from our lives. Eco-psychoanalysis attempts to address this by speaking about the relationship between humans and nature by focusing on the unconscious as a medium through which we understand and relate to the natural world.
Relational Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Relational psychodynamic psychotherapy rests upon nascent theories centered around the early experiences of infants and young children with their primary caregivers. It is a branch of psychotherapy that aims to enhance the patient's capacity to be intimate, to develop self-identity, and to relate to others.
Freudian-Lacanian Psychoanalysis: This approach seeks to integrate aspects of Freud and Lacanian theory to offer a fresh theoretical framework. It places a greater emphasis on the function of language and its role in structuring unconscious thought processes.
Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Contemporary psychoanalysis integrates a range of theories and approaches, faced with challenges posed by contemporary culture and the human condition. By combining traditional analytic theories with newly developed techniques and concepts and trying to integrate social and cultural contexts, the contemporary psychoanalysis approach aims to serve a broader range of individuals.