What Was Freud's Theory Of Horse Phobia?

Freud (1909) most known study was about a little five years old boy, called Hans, who suffered from horse phobia. Freud explained, his behaviour was related to the Oedipus conflict that develops between the age of three and six and drives a love towards the mother. In Freud’s theory, the horse symbolizes the father and because the boy unconsciously worried about the father punishing him, the phobia of horses developed. The boy recovered from his fear, after the reason for the phobia became conscious the father assured him, he would not punish him (Freud 1909).

In summary, psychodynamics believed that behind all human conduct, particularly a typical behaviour, is a hidden reason, that if detected, the disorder of behaviour can be treated and
fully recovered from. The theory cannot be measured scientifically because the unconscious thoughts cannot be seen. Observable through only case studies, the popularity of this theory has meant that the case studies have become popular too. On the other hand, those studies were often based on one person, it is not possible to generalise the results to general population. The approach is deterministic due to ignoring human free will, stating that behind all behaviour is a cause that develops from the early childhood-parent relationships. In the same time, Freud revealed the importance of childhood experiences.
Overall, these three different approaches, with their different explanations of the human behaviour, all provide successful treatment for mental health disorders. This fact proves that there is space for different explanations when analysing human behaviour, because it must not be forgotten that, all the objects in the universe, the human brain is the most complex. Scientist have still not discovered everything about the brain. For that reason, psychologists should not try to explain the human behaviour with one approach, a wider view and evidences of the different approaches should be used.