Sigmund Freud's Work is Complete Waste of Time (at least for me) (What do you think)

[Rasheed]

I read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Primer-Freudian-Psychology-Calvin-Hall/dp/0452011833

Ken Wilber advised reading this book in his book 'No Boundary'. He has end of chapters his own book recommendations and I decided to read 3 books from each chapter's recommendation. 

I am a psychologist and I am self-educating myself into it therefore, I thought I would read this primer, then Freud's own 'A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis' and then Otto Fernichel's 'Psychoanalytic theory of Neurosis'. I finished this primer and I am not going to read any more of Freud or anything about psychoanalysis because I realized it is complete waste of time. His theory is complete hogwash, nonsense. Completely inaccurate and not only it is inaccurate theoretically, it has 0 practical value. Whole ego-id-superego theme is BS. There is nothing like that in your own direct experience. You can read this book and you won't get any practical benefit, it is way better to pick up simple, normal stage orange self-help book and you are probably going to get better strategies and advice, understanding of psychology than reading Sigmund Freud. 

This was my observation.

What you think?

[Carl-Richard]

36 minutes ago, Rasheed said:

Whole ego-id-superego theme is BS. There is nothing like that in your own direct experience.

That's a stretch. It's easy to view your childhood development as a conflict between lower emotional desires (id) and sociocultural expectations (superego), that most of the conflict is unconscious, and that the "resolution" of that conflict (adulthood) is often not unproblematic. Then you have the need for therapy, and Freudian concepts can be useful for structuring that process. The way that psychoanalysis generally focuses on the past for understanding the present is effective for some conditions more than others (e.g. CBT is generally more "now"-oriented and effective for other conditions). The ACE study is one example of how many problems in the present can be anchored in the past.

[Rasheed]

19 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

That's a stretch. It's easy to view your childhood development as a conflict between lower emotional desires (id) and sociocultural expectations (superego), that most of the conflict is unconscious, and that the "resolution" of that conflict (adulthood) is often not unproblematic. Then you have the need for therapy, and Freudian concepts can be useful for structuring that process. The way that psychoanalysis generally focuses on the past for understanding the present is effective for some conditions more than others (e.g. CBT is generally more "now"-oriented and effective for other conditions). The ACE study is one example of how many problems in the present can be anchored in the past.

But in childhood rational mind is not developed, formal operational appears 11 years and up, therefore entire Freud scheme collapses. In my opinion, childhood years way Freud sees it is completely overblown and out of proportion. Ego itself is illusory, now Freud comes up with id and superego. + look at relativity of concept such as superego, what if your parents are criminals, what happens then? I don’t see superego or id in my own direct experience. 
Honestly, Idk what to make out of this, at least as I see psychoanalysis is hugely overrated and it delivers for me at least no theoretical or practical value. 

[Rasheed]

Also I wanted to add that entire psychoanalysis got built upon study of abnormal men. And what essentially Sigmund Freud is doing is building a picture of an individual based upon his study of abnormal men in suffering and that creates very, very inaccurate and distorted picture. Realizing that, I cannot take any of these concepts seriously and it clearly shows me how they ain't useful.

[Carl-Richard]

1 hour ago, Rasheed said:

But in childhood rational mind is not developed, formal operational appears 11 years and up, therefore entire Freud scheme collapses.

Why?

 

1 hour ago, Rasheed said:

In my opinion, childhood years way Freud sees it is completely overblown and out of proportion.

Well yeah, childhood conflict and trauma is not everything, but it's something. It's fascinating how accurately trauma can predict behavior. There was this one case study of a lady in the ACE study who was a victim of childhood sexual abuse by her grandfather, and she was exclusively working night shifts at an elderly care home, because then all the old people were asleep (and not able to hurt her).

 

1 hour ago, Rasheed said:

Ego itself is illusory, now Freud comes up with id and superego.

Illusions exist. They just aren't what they appear to be.

 

1 hour ago, Rasheed said:

+ look at relativity of concept such as superego, what if your parents are criminals, what happens then?

Even a criminal has to discipline their id.

 

1 hour ago, Rasheed said:

I don’t see superego or id in my own direct experience. 

I experience the superego every day as my voice of conscience ("do the dishes", "take out the trash", "deliver that assignment", "read that chapter" etc.), and id as my impulsive animalistic side ("I want to play videogames, jerk off, eat more food, sleep" etc.). 

[Leo Gura]

Mostly it's a waste of time. You'll get much better understanding of psychology by investing that time observing your own psyche and doing consciousness work.

The work we aim to do here is way beyond anything an academic can fathom.

[Rasheed]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Mostly it's a waste of time. You'll get much better understanding of psychology by investing that time observing your own psyche and doing consciousness work.

The work we aim to do here is way beyond anything an academic can fathom.

 I agree 100%. What do you think about psychoanalysis, Freud and concepts such as ego-id-superego in general? I know you made a video about it, but that was long time ago, that is why I am asking.

[Leo Gura]

4 hours ago, Rasheed said:

 I agree 100%. What do you think about psychoanalysis, Freud and concepts such as ego-id-superego in general? I know you made a video about it, but that was long time ago, that is why I am asking.

It's a bit useful but you can find much better models and teachings.

The question is what's worth your time studying? Don't waste time on low-yield material. There is too much good material out there these days.

[Ulax]

I think Freud's work was brilliant. However, nowadays its outdated, imo. I think there are better things to do in the realm of depth psychotherapy like IFS style parts work approaches, and somatic approaches.

The issue with stage orange work only is that you can't break/ change unconscious cycles effectively. And, for example, if you want to have intimate, healthy relationships you often have to make changes at the unconscious level.

 

[Cireeric]

@Rasheed I agree with you, that there is way more practical advice out there and there are also better models for understanding psychology. You need to evaluate Freud in his historical context. He made some discoveries and useful distinctions that got further used and developed by other psychologists today. I also think that his id-ego-superego is quite useful and has some practical conceptual value for understanding the psyche. Its all about understanding that your psyche has different parts with different agendas, which can be in conflict with each other. The goal is to integrate and bind them.