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[[Psychosexual ]] [[development ]] is the progressive evolution of [[infantile ]] [[sexuality ]] as it passes through the different [[stages ]] or phases of [[psychic ]] organization ([[oral]], [[anal]], [[phallic]]) with due [[regard ]] for a prevalent [[erogenous zone]], which organizes [[fantasies]], and a certain type of [[object ]] relation. [[Complete ]] psychosexual organization is not reached until the arrival of [[puberty ]] and a final [[phase ]] of [[libidinal ]] development, the [[genital ]] phase.

[[Freud ]] saw [[infantile sexuality ]] as [[being ]] [[active ]] from the beginning of [[life]]. This broadened the [[notion ]] of sexuality, giving it a range of extension that is specific to [[psychoanalysis]].

In the [[Three ]] Essays on the [[Theory ]] of Sexuality (1905d), Freud initially saw infantile sexuality as a sort of precursor of [[adult ]] [[sexual ]] perversions and a blueprint for pubertal genitality, but he later described it as the mainspring of psychic development. He used the term infantile sexuality in an effort to acknowledge the [[existence ]] of the stimuli and the [[needs ]] for [[satisfaction ]] that involve specific [[body ]] zones ([[erogenous zones]]) that seek [[pleasure ]] independently of exercising a [[biological ]] function. He therefore described the sexual [[instinct ]] as becoming [[separate ]] from the vital functions that ensure the preservation of the organism in accordance with the [[anaclitic ]] [[model ]] (whereby the sexual [[instincts ]] initially depend on those vital functions). The pleasure bonus provided alongside the accomplishment of the function would, in a second [[stage]], be sought for its own sake. Freud thus considered [[anaclisis]], the erogenous zone, and [[autoeroticism ]] to be three intimately linked criteria for the definition of infantile sexuality.

The [[Freudian ]] scheme of the phases of libidinal development [[links ]] two essential components at each stage: on the one hand, an organizing erogenous zone, along with the excitations and [[instinctual ]] movements for which it is both the link and the source, and on the [[other]], the modalities of the [[object relation ]] linked to development of the ego.

In the Three Essays, Freud stressed the existence and importance of oral and anal erogenous zones (in addition to the genital which is the primary erogenous zone in [[adults]]), describing [[them ]] as [[pregenital ]] and highlighting the autoeroticism that is linked to them: sucking in relation to oral [[activity]], retention/expulsion for anal erotism.

The specification of infantile genital organization as phallic organization nevertheless shows clearly that the prevalence of one erogenous zone is inseparable from a certain mode of [[symbolic ]] organization. The [[Oedipus ]] [[complex ]] is organized around the [[idea ]] of [[castration]], which is represented in the [[unconscious ]] as castration of the [[penis ]] (Perron and Perron-Borelli, 1996). The [[loss ]] of the [[breast ]] and [[feces ]] that are specific to the oral and anal stages can also be considered as early symbolic forms of genital castration.

The [[relationship ]] between weaning—as implementing the [[absence ]] of the mother—and the [[Oedipus complex ]] introduces the [[structural ]] point of view, which relativizes the [[developmental ]] model of the stages and gives it its best perspective (Brusset, 1992).

In the normal evolution of sexuality the component instincts of [[childhood ]] are progressively integrated into the genital sexuality of the adult. What remains of them is found in the foreplay that precedes the sexual act proper.

The potential for stimulation of these pregenital erogenous zones remains [[present ]] in the body and in the [[mind ]] and they tend to be reactivated on the occasion of later sexual experiences. Their degree of erotism is integrated into the genital sexuality of the adult. Excessive [[repression ]] of these residues from the infantile period can lead to [[neurotic ]] [[symptoms]]. Similarly, what persists in a prevalent and [[manifest ]] manner in the perversions is [[repressed ]] in [[neurosis]]. Hence Freud's famous aphorism: "Neurosis is the [[negative ]] of [[perversion]]."

The phases Freud described between 1905 and 1923 correspond to successive organizations of the [[sexual instinct ]] under the primacy of a given erogenous zone: the oral phase, [[sadistic ]] anal phase, infantile genital or [[phallic phase]], followed by the genital phase after puberty. He also distinguished at the same [[time ]] the different stages leading from [[autoerotism ]] to [[full ]] object [[love]], that is, the progression from autoerotism, [[narcissism]], toward the [[homosexual ]] or heterosexual object [[choice]].

Three points deserve to be raised here in [[order ]] to provide a better definition of the notion of [[psycho]]-sexuality as envisaged by Freud.

In any [[case]], it is during the period of [[latency ]] "that are built up the [[mental ]] forces which are later to impede the course of the sexual instinct and, like dams, restrict its flow" (1905d, p. 177).

After the Three Essays, Freud gave the [[oedipal ]] [[conflict ]] its full organizational [[value]], normal libidinal development being defined in [[psychoanalytic ]] theory as the integration of the polymorphously [[perverse ]] aspects of infantile sexuality under the primacy of the genital organization.

Following the Three Essays, Freud's successive contributions (1913-24) continued to expand on the general [[outline ]] of the stages of libidinal development.

Karl [[Abraham ]] tried to find the etiopathogenic basis for all of [[psychopathology ]] in this model. He distinguished two stages within each of the first two phases (oral and sadistic oral, anal and sadistic anal) and he further stressed the link existing between the specific erogenous zone and the modalities of object relation [[particular ]] to it.

Many authors after him, such as the proponents of Ego-[[Psychology ]] (Heinz [[Hartmann]], Ernst [[Kris]], and Rudolph [[Loewenstein]]), used the outline of libidinal development and made it a major element in a genetic psychology that could be integrated into a general psychology. [[Others]], on the contrary, particularly in [[France ]] ([[Jean Laplanche ]] and Jean-Bertrand Pontalis; Brusset, 1992; Perron, Perron-Borelli, 1996) insisted on the importance of the notion of organization. Each stage or phase of development creates a [[structure]], in the modern [[sense ]] of a [[self]]-regulated functional [[system ]] tending toward equilibrium. Each of these phases in [[psychosexual development ]] organizes not only the present [[state ]] of mental functioning but also its [[future ]] state. Infantile genital organization therefore defines the oedipal phase as the great organizer of mental functioning, laying down in the infantile phase of sexuality what will become the genital organization of the adult.

[[Bibliography]]