Metapsychology: what is it and how did Sigmund Freud define it?

Metapsychology is one of the most relevant concepts when it comes to understanding psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalytic theory is very interesting, mystical and often quite confusing. This is not surprising, given that it was one of the first psychological approaches in history and, since the science of the mind was still in its infancy, it was to be expected that the theories related to it still had to be clarified.

Among the most interesting psychoanalytic proposals we have the metapsychology of Sigmund Freuda rich set of proposals on how the human mind is organized and functions, although it could also be said to abuse mysticism and to be unclear.

Next we will try to understand what this metapsychology is, how Sigmund Freud tried to describe the structure of the mind and what energies are behind the psychological functioning.

What is metapsychology?

Metapsychology is the most abstract and theoretical part of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis. It is a very complex theory in terms and, to tell the truth, it could even be considered somewhat mystical. It is the part of Freudian theory that attempts to explain mental functioning, personality and behavior on the basis of general principles..

The term "metapsychology" was developed by Freud himself in 1896, to designate the psychology he founded in its most theoretical dimension. Metapsychology elaborates a set of conceptual modelsThe metapsychological formulations describe mental phenomena in terms of the fictitious psychic apparatus divided into instances, the theory of drives, the process of repression, and so on.

The formulations of metapsychology describe mental phenomena in terms of the fictitious psychic apparatus, and contain references to topographical, dynamic and economic aspects of each phenomenon. The topographical aspects refer to the location of the phenomena within the psychic apparatus, i.e., either in the it, the ego or the superego.

The dynamic aspects refer to the instincts involved, and the economic aspects refer to the distribution of energy within the psychic apparatus.. In addition to the economic, topographical and dynamic view, Freud speaks of other views:

• Structural view: referring to the structure of the unconscious.
• Genetic point of view: talking about biology and genetic inheritance.

Economic point of view

This view qualifies everything that is related to the psychic processes involved in the transport and distribution of an energy that would be the basis of human behavior. This energy, which would explain the drives, would be like any other, i.e., susceptible to increase, decrease and equivalence with respect to other energetic actions of the psyche. The idea of energy put forward by Freud is used to clarify shifts of attention, interest or commitment from one object to another in one activity to another..

The economic approach consists in considering the cathexis (energy attached to a group of representations) in their mobility, their changes of intensity, the oppositions established between them (counter-cathexis). Throughout Freud's work there are economic considerations, for him a complete description of a psychic process would not be possible without appreciating the economy of cathexis.

It must be said that the psychoanalytic idea of energy proposed by Freud is not free from controversy.. While it can be understood as the motivational aspect or a psychologistic representation of action, there are those who would argue that this idea is somewhat mystical, like the rest of Freudian metapsychology.

Dynamic point of view

This point of view refers to psychic phenomena resulting from psychological conflict. This idea has much to do with the Freudian concept of the unconscious, since it would be the most dynamic dimension of the human mind, insofar as its permanent action influences the consciousness, regulates repression and is directly related to psychopathology from the primordial psychoanalytic perspective..

Topographical point of view

When we refer to the topographical aspects of metapsychology we are referring to the theory or point of view that involves a differentiation of the psychic apparatus into a certain number of systems endowed with different characteristics or functions, placed in a certain order.placed in a certain order. This is what makes it possible to consider them, in a metaphorical sense, as psychic places, hence the term "topographic".

The first tomographic conception of the Freudian psychic apparatus is represented in Chapter VII of "The Interpretation of Dreams" (1900), although it already had its origins in "Project of Scientific Psychology" (1895). In this first proposal of the topic he already distinguishes between three systems within the apparatus itself: unconscious, preconscious and conscious. The relationship between these systems and the existence of censorship would be what would determine the person's capacity to remember, especially in relation to psychological trauma.

The topographic division is also given in the form of instances, which would be the following three:

• Ego: pulsional pole of the personality.
• Ego: instance that stands representing the interests of the person (libido).
• Super-ego: instance that judges and criticizes.

It must be said that the topographical idea proposed by Freud can be confused with the anatomical-functional ideas of the brain, strongly popularized in the times of psychoanalysis.which were strongly popularized in the psychoanalyst's time. Thanks to the findings of Wernicke, Broca and other neurologists, the idea that cognitive functions were located in different regions of the brain gained more and more strength.

However, as curious as it may seem, Freud does not put forward the topographical does not posit the topographical point of view as indicating where the conscious, the unconscious, and the preconscious are located in the brain. Rather, he refers to where it is located in a psychic system, of a rather abstract and intangible type.

Freud, in his metapsychology, considers that the unconscious is organized as if it were a filing system, a library even. In his work "Studies on Hysteria" (1895), he describes a conception of the unconscious that is organized in strata, where the memories would be arranged more or less close to a pathogenic nucleus, which would represent the crystallized traumatic memory.

Final Reflection

Freudian metapsychological ideas have been considered a fundamental aspect of early psychoanalysis, although it is not very clear what Freud meant by topographic, economic and dynamic. He tried to explain them further during his lifetime, and other authors have tried to expand on his principles. However, on many occasions, these three aspects have been defined somewhat vaguely, and even some of the ideas proposed by Freud himself overlap between views, especially the economic and topographical.

Bibliographical references:

• Laplanche, Jean LAP Dictionary of psychoanalysis / Jean Laplanche and Jean-Bertrand Pontalis : under the direction of Daniel Lagache.- Ia ed. 6f reimp.- Buenos Aires : Paidós. https://planetafreud.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/guia-freud-04-metapsicologia/
• Iturbide, L. (2016). Dynamic psychology: chapter IX Freudian metapsychology. País Vasco. https://ocw.ehu.eus/pluginfile.php/13440/mod_resource/content/1/La%20metapsicología%20freudiana%20%28texto%29.pdf
• Roudinesco, E.; Plon, Michel (2008). Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. Buenos Aires: Paidós. p. 715. ISBN 978-950-12-7399-1.