rable sensations in the mouth. Later, according to Freud, similar pleasures are experienced in the anus during bowel movements, and finally these erotically tinged pleasures are experienced when the sexual organ is manipulated. Thus psychosexual development progresses from the oral through the anal to the phallic stage. During the height of the phallic phase (about ages three to six), Freud notes that these drives focus on the parent of the opposite sex such as in the relations between mother and son or between father and daughter. These drives are known as the so-called Oedipus and Electra complexes. These complexes may also spread to other relationships, such as Lisa’s viewing of the love affair between her mother and uncle. However, most societies strongly disapprove of the sexual interests of children, and Lisa never spoke of what she saw to anyone but Freud. She also, in the event of her mother’s death, fell subject to a withdrawn father who did not meet her needs for affection and attention as a growing child. This may have helped lead to her repressed sexual “rage.” Also, taboo on incest rules almost universally. Parents, therefore, influence children to push pleasurable sensations and thoughts out of their conscious minds into the unconscious by a process called repression. Repression is what Lisa learned most about in her childhood. In this way the mind comes to consist of three parts known as the ego, id, and superego. The ego is mostly conscious and comprises all the ordinary thoughts and functions needed to direct a person in his or her daily behavior. The id is mainly unconscious and contains the instincts and everything that was repressed into it. And finally, the superego is the conscious state that harbors the values, ideals, and prohibitions that set the guidelines for the ego, and punishes the person through feeling of guilt.Strong boundaries between the three parts keep the ego fairly free from...
