psychosexual development and the social work exam Let's review some Freud. Take a look here to brush up on Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development:

Better yet, don't review and answer this social work licensing exam-style question from memory:

A mother brings her 11-year-old son to treatment because she is worried about what she describes as his "morbid fascination with dragons, orcs, and 'The Lord of the Rings.'" According to Freud's theory of psychosexual development, what stage is the boy MOST likely to be in?

A) Anal

B) Latency

C) Phallic

D) Oral

How'd you do?

There are lots of charts that will sum things up for you. The stages go in this order: Oral (birth - 1 year), Anal (1 - 3 years), Phallic (3 - 6 years), Latency (6 - puberty), Genital (puberty - death). So an 11-year-old is most likely in Latency stage. His focus on LOTR makes it all the more clear. Here's Wikipedia again:

Freud described the latency phase as one of relative stability. No new organization of sexuality develops, and he did not pay a lot of attention to it. For this reason, this phase is not always mentioned in descriptions of his theory as one of the phases, but as a separate period.

The latency phase originates during the phallic stage when the child's Oedipus complex begins to dissolve. The child realizes that his/her wishes and longings for the parent of the opposite sex cannot be fulfilled and will turn away from these desires.

He/she starts to identify with the parent of the same sex. The libido is transferred from parents to friends of the same sex, clubs and hero/role-model figures. The sexual and aggressive drives are expressed in socially accepted forms through the defense mechanisms of repression and sublimation.

So, answer: B!

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January 6, 2016
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