Critical Analysis of Freud's Psychosexual Development Although Freud's psychosexual development is not widely used in today's society, he was thought to be highly educated and knowledgeable when Freud introduced this theory for the first time. Psychosexual development is biological and predictive of the appearance of certain behaviors. There are a total of five stages in psychosexual development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Adequate development should take place unless individuals suffer from traumatic experiences that prevent satisfaction of libidinal energy. Libidinal energy comes from sexual impulses. If the individual undergoes a traumatic experience at a specific stage, he becomes obsessed with that stage. Once an individual becomes obsessed at a certain stage, they develop certain character types that are a result of their fixation (Ryckman, 2013). Monica Geller-Bing, a character from the popular television series Friends, is obsessed with Freud's anal stage of psychosexual development. The stages of psychosexual development will be analyzed, critiqued, and used to interpret Monica Geller-Bing.Psychosexual DevelopmentThe first stage of psychosexual development begins at birth and continues until the age of one and a half years. The erogenous zone of this stage is the mouth in which food and water are satisfied. Too much or too little attention to the infant can cause problems. There are two types of characters that result from individuals being obsessed at the oral stage; receptive oral character and aggressive oral character. The oral receptive character comes from too much attention, they become dependent on others for the satisfaction of their needs. In contrast, oral aggression...... middle of paper ...... final stage due to the difficulty she had with toilet training. The series has flashbacks to his teenage years, but it does not show his problems in early childhood and childhood. Therefore, Monica's character and personality traits could result from something other than potty training. Since Monica's traits cannot be assumed to be the result of potty training, there could potentially be other aspects that lead individuals to settle on the anal stage and develop anal characteristics . This reveals a potential flaw in Freud's psychosexual development. The anal fixation that develops certain character traits fits perfectly with Courtney Cox's portrayal of Monica Geller-Bing. Analyzing characters from novels, television shows, and films through personality theories allows individuals to fully connect with the characters and understand them to a higher degree..