Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development

According to Sigmund Freud, there are 5 different stages in the psychosexual development of a child. These stages are covering the ages from birth to the adolescence of the child. They are called: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital Stage.


Oral Stage
The oral stage generally starts at the birth and keeps until the 1st year of the child. In this stage the oral body part, like mouth, lips and tongue, of the child has the most important role in the development. The baby uses usually the mouth, especially the method of sucking to discover the environment. The relationship to the mother is also very important, especially at times when the baby is sucking to her breast. The baby learns trust and mistrust.

Anal Stage
The anal stage is the second step of Freud's psychosexual stages a child is going through. In this stage the importance is on the anal area of the body, this means shortly the anus. It occurs between the 1st year and 3rd year of the child. In this stage the child the relationship between parents and child is important, because the parents need to be successful in toilet training and need to balance of control it.

Phallic Stage
This stage occurs between 3 to 6 years. The important body part is the penis. Altough girls do not have a penis, both sexes give are focussed on this body part. Girls think about the idea, why they do not have this body part, while boys do have one. This stage allows the children to think about their sexual identification. Important to mention is that in this stage according to Freud children use to feel sexual desires to their parents (Oedipus Complex)

Latency Stage
The latency stage occurs between 6 years and stays until the puberty. In this stage the child identifies its sex more efficient. Furthermore it recognizes that the sexual desires to their parents can't be satisfied, so they decide to think the opposite, that means they repress these kind of feelings. Important is to mention also, that the children try to identify themselves with the same sex parent.

Genital Stage
The genital stage is the last psychosexual stage of Freud's theory. It occurs from the beginning to the end of the puberty. All genitals do have an influence in this stage. Now the child is aware of its own genitals and desires The social life is influencing the child, especially in the development of his character.  It develops interest in the opposite sex and starts to make relationships.