Freudian psychoanalysis uses a mixture of clinical technique and interpretive strategy. The analysis also employs developmental theory (De Sousa, 2011). Freudian psychoanalysis was put forward by Sigmund Freud. The analysis insists on the importance of the unconscious mind in determining one’s behavior. Freud opined that the human mind was composed of id, ego and the superego. Most of the observations made by Freud in his analysis were based on clinical cases and case studies. This comes out as a problem when it comes to generalizing his findings.

The psychoanalysis mostly involved studying a single case. An in-depth study would be carried on a single person, and a theory developed based on the findings of the study (De Sousa, 2011). The study involved analyzing every aspect of the subject’s life with an aim of finding patterns and cause for behavior. The assumption here was that the findings gotten from studying a single case could be generalized to represent a larger population. The downside to this is that such cases turn out to be too subjective for the findings to be generalized for a wider audience.

Freud’s psychoanalysis takes the conscious mind to mean everything that one is aware of. Whatever one can think of and express rationally is considered part of the conscious (Hall, 2009). The psychoanalysis also talks of the ego having a defense mechanism to protect against anxiety. Freud was of the idea that such a mechanism prevents the body against thoughts and feelings that are too tough for the body to bear. It also prevents such thoughts from finding their way into the conscious mind.

Freudian psychoanalysis focused on one’s early childhood as a way of understanding his current behavior. This relied on the premise that most mind related problems develop in childhood. He was of the opinion that understanding one’s childhood could help in treating psychological disorders.

The psychoanalysis defines id as the personality component that seeks to satisfy basic urges, needs and desires. The superego is the component of personality made of ideals that one has gained from interacting with the rest in the society. Id demands that one behave as per the expected morals as opposing to acting realistically (De Sousa, 2011). Ego is the component of personality that mediates between superego, id and reality. Ego maintains a balance between idealistic and moral standards. Freud psychoanalysis also takes note of unconscious. These are feelings thoughts or memories that are not within one’s conscious awareness. Most of the thoughts in the unconscious are those thoughts that are unpleasant to an individual. Freud points out that such thought influence one’s behavior even though one is unaware of the thoughts.

Psychoanalysis has a number of strengths that have contributed greatly to developments in the field of psychology as a whole. Psychoanalysis played a key role in changing the way people view mental illness (Hall, 2009). Through psychoanalysis, it was discovered that one could reduce stress by talking about the problems to a professional. Psychoanalytic ideas have contributed greatly to the development of experimental psychology.

Despite its strengths, psychoanalytic analysis has several flaws that make it a weak way of analyzing a behavior (Freedman et al., 2010). Most concepts in psychoanalytic analysis are difficult to quantify and measure. This reduces its practical applicability. Most of the findings of psychoanalytic analysis are as a result of observations, as opposed to empirical research. This makes the findings questionable. Critics have complained that psychoanalytic analysis lays too much emphasis on the unconscious mind at the expense of the other components of personality.

Orthodox Freudian Psychoanalysis has been accused of employing a method that is too rigid as well as leaving little room for theoretical growth. Critics point out that the psychoanalytic analysis depends on ambiguities to acquire data; not empirical evidence. These include things like dreams and free association. Despite staying in use for several years, orthodox Freudian psychoanalysis has not managed to set standards on how cases can be treated.

Analyses done by Freud were based on a poorly selected sample. Most of his subjects were homogenous in that they all came from a similar social background (Freedman et al., 2010). This made Freud focus too much on sex as a component of personality. In his studies, Freud spent many sessions that went for several years with a client. It is highly unlikely that a modern day client can afford to pay for sessions that span several years without going to seek alternative solutions. Hence, cost limits the applicability of orthodox Freudian psychoanalysis in modern times.

In orthodox Freudian Psychoanalysis, there used to be a huge distance between the client and the therapist (De Sousa, 2011). In some instances, the two did not face each other during sessions. This has changed, and therapists now interact more with the clients. Early childhood received a lot of attention in orthodox Freudian psychoanalysis, but this too has changed. In recent times, therapists focus more on the current problems of the client, as opposed to his childhood. Hence, the subject matter of the Freudian psychoanalysis has changed.

Orthodox Freudian psychoanalysis saw disorders as occurring within a person’s enclosed system. This to a large extent ignored the impact of the surroundings on an individual. Freud was of the opinion that retrieving repressed memories was the best treatment (Hall, 2009). Today more emphasis is placed on transference and creation of relationships. Although the general process of orthodox Freudian analysis gives useful information on understanding the human mind, it cannot be of much help in the treatment of people nowadays. People now rely more on empirical findings, as opposed to methods used in the orthodox Freudian analysis.