Erich Fromm's Humanistic Psychoanalysis PDF

HUMANISTIC PSYCHOANALYSIS ERICH FROMM ERICH FROMM ⚫ Born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt, Germany ⚫ Only child and from a middle-class Orthodox Jewish parents ⚫ Father: Naphtali From (father and grandfather are rabbis) - moody ⚫ Mother: Rosa Krause Fromm – prone to...

HUMANISTIC PSYCHOANALYSIS ERICH FROMM ERICH FROMM ⚫ Born on March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt, Germany ⚫ Only child and from a middle-class Orthodox Jewish parents ⚫ Father: Naphtali From (father and grandfather are rabbis) - moody ⚫ Mother: Rosa Krause Fromm – prone to depression ⚫ Studied Old Testament and prominent prophets which highly influenced him in the development of his theory ERICH FROMM ⚫ After war: he concentrated on psychology, philosophy and sociology at the University of Heidelberg where he received his PhD in Sociology ⚫ 1925 to 1930: studied psychoanalysis in Munich , Frankfurt and at Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute with Hanns Sachs, a student of Freud ⚫ 1926 : married to Frieda Reichmann , his analyst who is 10 years older than him and resembled his mother – separated in 1930 ERICH FROMM ⚫ 1934 : emigrated to the US and opened a private practice in New York City and renewed his acquaintance with Karen Horney (15 years older than him and became his mother figure and mentor) ⚫ 1941 : he joined Horney’s Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis ⚫ 1946 : William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology with Harry Sullivan and Clara Thompson ERICH FROMM ⚫ Two significant events that shaped Fromm’s path (suicide and world war) ⚫ 1953 : married to Annis Freeman ⚫ 1957 – 1961 : professor of psychology at Michigan State University ⚫ 1962 – 1970 : professor at New York University ⚫ Taught at Columbia and Yale University towards the end of his career ERICH FROMM ⚫ Later moved to Mexico City: Department of Psychoanalytic Training at the National University of Mexico (also did research about the relationship between economic class and personality types) ⚫ 1968 : heart attack ⚫ 1974 : moved to Muralto, Switzerland ⚫ Died: March 18, 1980 at Muralto, Switzerland  Humanistic Psychoanalysis ∙ “Socio-Analytical Theory” ∙ People have been torn away from their prehistoric union with nature and also with one another yet they have the power of reasoning, foresight and imagination ∙ Emphasis: influence of sociobiological factors , history, economics and class structure; society in general o Humanity’s separation from the natural world has produced feelings of loneliness and isolation (basic anxiety)  Humanistic Psychoanalysis ∙ “Socio-Analytical Theory” ∙ People have been torn away from their prehistoric union with nature and also with one another yet they have the power of reasoning, foresight and imagination ∙ Emphasis: influence of sociobiological factors , history, economics and class structure; society in general >> human behavior o Humanity’s separation from the natural world has produced feelings of loneliness and isolation (basic anxiety)  Humanistic Psychoanalysis ∙ Emphasis: influence of sociobiological factors , history, economics and class structure; society in general >> human behavior o Humanity’s separation from the natural world has produced feelings of loneliness and isolation (basic anxiety) o Since man has created most of his problems, he can solve these problems o Man can unwind what he wound up, but it will take just as long to unwind his problems as it took to wind them up.  Humanistic Psychoanalysis ∙ Fromm believes that, “Man is the only animal who finds his own existence a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape. In the same sense, man is the only animal who knows he must die.”  I. Basic Assumptions ⚫ “Individual can be understood only in the light of human history” ⚫ People were torn away from their union with nature and they have no powerful instincts to adapt in the changing world ⚫ as people have achieved more freedom, they have become more lonely, insignificant, alienated I. Basic Assumptions ⚫ Human Dilemma - ability to reason - it permits us to solve basic existential dichotomies: 1) Life and Death : postulating life after death 2) Complete self-realization : life is too short 3)People are ultimately alone yet cannot tolerate isolation : separate individuals but need to unite with other human beings  I. Basic Assumptions ⚫ Existential needs - emerged during the evolution of human culture, growing out in an attempt to find answer to their existence 1) RELATEDNESS - drive for union with another person or other persons a. Submission b. Power - symbiotic relationship that is driven by desperate need for relatedness / gratifying but lacks inner strength and self-reliance c. Love - involves sharing and communion with another yet allows a person the freedom to be unique and separate (care, responsibility, respect and knowledge) I. Basic Assumptions 2) TRANSCENDENCE - urge to rise above a passive and accidental existence and into the realm of purposefulness and freedom - People can transcend their passive nature by creating life or destroying it - Healthy individual = active and care about the creation - Neurotic individual = destroying and rise above the slain victim I. Basic Assumptions 3) ROOTEDNESS - the need to establish roots or to feel at home again in the world produces feeling of isolation and helplessness - neurotic individual – fixation which is the reluctance to move beyond the protective security provided by one’s mother - healthy individual – able to wean from their mothers and actively and creatively relate to the world and become whole - incestuous desires are universal but not necessarily sexual I. Basic Assumptions 4) SENSE OF IDENTITY - capacity to be aware of ourselves as a separate entity - we have been torn away from nature so we need to form a concept of our self to be able to say “I am I” - primitive people identified more closely with their clan and did not see themselves as individuals existing apart from their group – social role in hierarchy - Healthy individual - less need to conform in order to fit into the society and less need to give up their sense of self - Neurotic individual - attach themselves to powerful people or to social or political institutions I. Basic Assumptions 5) FRAME OF ORIENTATION - Road map to make our way through the world - It enables people to organize various stimuli that impact on them - Object of devotion – final goal ; focuses people’s energies in a single direction and enables us to transcend our isolated existence and confers meaning to our lives  II. Burden of Freedom ⚫ As people acquire more freedom to move on their own (socially and geographically), they found that they were free from the security of a fixed position in the world causing them to be separated from their roots and isolated from one another. III. Psychic Escape Mechanisms/Mechanisms of Escape ⚫ Escapes from the negative aspects of freedom and regaining lost security 1) Authoritarianism - Tendency to give up the independence of one’s own individual self and to fuse one’s self with somebody or something outside oneself in order to acquire the strength which the individual is lacking III. Psychic Escape Mechanisms/Mechanisms of Escape Masochism Sadism - feelings of powerlessness, - More neurotic and socially harmful weakness and inferiority ⚪ Need to make others dependent on - aim in joining a powerful person or oneself and gain power over those institution who are weak ⚪ Compulsion to exploit others, take - disguised as love and loyalty but advantage and use them for own lacks independence and authenticity benefit ⚪ Desire to see others suffer, physically or psychologically III. Psychic Escape Mechanisms/Mechanisms of Escape 2) Destructiveness 3) Conformity - It seek to do away with other people - Giving up their individuality and becoming whatever other people desire - Destroying people, objects or nation in them to be an attempt to restore lost feeling of The more they conform - the more power powerless they feel – conform more ⚫ Positive Freedom – achieved by a spontaneous and full expression of both rational and emotional potential- they act according to their basic natures and not according to conventional rules IV. Character Orientation - a person’s relatively permanent way of relating to people or things ▪ Personality - totality of inherited and acquired psychic qualities which are characteristic of one individual and which make the individual unique ▪ Character - the relatively permanent system of all noninstinctual strivings through which man relates himself to the human and natural world - Substitute for instincts – people act according to their character IV. Character Orientation - People think about consequences of their behaviors - People act according to their character traits – actions will be efficient and consistent - Can be productive or nonproductive - 2 ways to relate to the world: ⚫ Assimilation – acquiring and using things ⚫ Socialization – relating to self and others Nonproductive Character Orientation/Types 1) RECEPTIVE - Source of all good is outside themselves - The only way they can relate to the world is to receive things, including love, knowledge and material possessions - Receiving things passively; more concerned with receiving than giving; they want others to shower them with love, gifts, ideas - negative qualities: submissiveness, passivity and lack of self-confidence - positive qualities: loyalty, acceptance and trust Nonproductive Character Orientation/Types 2) EXPLOITATIVE - Source of all good is outside themselves - They aggressively take what they desire - They use force to take someone else’s spouse, ideas or property - negative qualities: egocentric, conceited, arrogant and seducing - positive qualities: impulsive, proud, charming and self-confident Nonproductive Character Orientation/Types 3) HOARDING - seek to save what they already obtained - they hold everything inside and do not let go of anything - they try to possess their loved one and preserve the relationship rather than allow it change and grow - they tend to live in the past and repel anything new - similar with Freud’s anal character but not a result of sexual drives - negative qualities: rigidity, sterility, obstinacy, compulsivity and lack of creativity - positive qualities: orderliness, punctuality and cleanliness Nonproductive Character Orientation/Types 4) MARKETING - See themselves as commodities, with their personal values dependent on their exchange value, that is their ability to sell themselves - They see themselves as being in demand and make others believe that they are salable and skillful - They adjust their personality depending what is in fashion, play many roles and guided by the motto: “I am what you desire” - negative qualities: aimlessness, opportunistic, inconsistent, wasteful - positive qualities: changeability, open-mindedness, adaptability and generosity Productive Character Orientation WORK THINKING - not as an end but as means - motivated by concerned of creative self-expression interest in another person or object - they use it as a means of producing life’s necessities - viewing others as they are and not as they would wish them to be Productive Character Orientation LOVE - Biophilia: passionate love of life and all that is alive - Desire to further all life – people, animals, plants, ideas and cultures - concerned with the growth and development of themselves as well as others - influence people through love, reason and example - Self-love then love of others V. Personality Disorders NECROPHILIA - attraction to death; life revolves around death, destruction, disease and decay - hates humanity and delights in destroying life - they do not simply behave in a destructive manner rather their destructive behavior is a reflection of their basic character V. Personality Disorders MALIGNANT NARCISSISM - same as with Karen Horney’s neurotic claims – sense of worth depends on their self-image and not on their achievements - when criticized – reacts with anger and rage - if criticisms are too overwhelming, may lead to depression (sense of worthlessness) V. Personality Disorders INCESTUOUS SYMBIOSIS - extreme dependence on the mother or mother surrogate - exaggerated form of mother fixation - inseparable from the host person to whom the personality is blended with such that individual identities are lost - host: can be a human, family, business, church, nation