Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development

The theory of psychosexual development, proposed by Sigmund Freud, states that successful completion of the 5 psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stages) results in a healthy personality. A newborn baby is born with psychosexual energy or libido. The child's libido centers on behavior affecting the primary erogenous zone (mouth, anus, genitals) of his age; he cannot focus on the primary erogenous zone of the next stage without resolving the developmental conflict of the immediate one . At each stage little libido is deposited, the stage is resolved and the child moves on to the next stage. Overindulgence in a stage is called fixation, where a large amount of libido is deposited. The child becomes fixated at that stage until he is able to resolve it and move on to the next. Fixating on a particular stage, determines the method of obtaining satisfaction that will dominate and affect his adult personality . The oral stage begins at birth through 18 months. According to the pleasure principle, the id dominates this stage, as the ego and superego have not yet been developed and the infant has no personality (identity) . The erogenous zone or focus of libidinal gratification is the mouth. Infants derive pleasure from feeding from the mother’s breast and from exploring their environment by placing objects in their mouths. Because the infant is entirely dependent upon adults (who are responsible for the child’s basic needs, such as feeding), the infant also develops a sense of trust and comfort through this oral pleasure. To resolve this stage, the child must become less dependent upon caretakers (weaned). A person who is orally fixated and “stuck” at this stage may be over-dependent on others and may seek oral stimulation through smoking, drinking, or eating . The anal stage is from 18 months to 3 years. This is called the anal stage because Freud believed the erogenous zone moved from the mouth to the anus and that infants got