Fixation at The Anal Stage

According to Sigmund Freud, there are five psychosexual stages: the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital.  During each stage, sexual energy (libido) is expressed in different ways and through different body parts. The erogenous zones associated with each stage serve as a source of PLEASURE. Being unsatisfied or over-satisfied at any particular stage can result in FIXATION. On the other hand, being satisfied can result in a healthy personality.

1. The Anal Stage - The anal stage covers the period of human development from one to 3 years old. In this stage, the child gets most of their PLEASURE from their ANUS which is their erogenous zone at this stage. The child derives great pleasure when defecating and his bowel/bladder control. Around this age, the child begins to toilet train. Same way as the oral stage Freud believed an infant can develop anal fixation if their anal needs were not met and gratified ... or conversely when they are overly satisfied. 

Freudian psychology maintains that infants gain pleasure either from eliminating or "holding" their feces. The development of an anal personality in a person is resultant of his satisfaction with the toilet training he underwent ... or his frustrations when the training is punitive, harsh, and strict.

 A. Anal Stage task -  The toddler's main concern in this stage is the processes of elimination. The anus is an all-absorbing organ of pleasure. The child takes pleasure in controlling and releasing their bowels. So when potty training is introduced in this stage ... everything depends on how parents interact with the child while being potty trained. If the parent praises the child and gives them rewards after doing the job it will help. But when they started to become harsh and ridicule them ... and punish them because they made some bathroom mess and accidents ... then the child will rebel.

The anal stage is the period when the conscience develops in a child. If the mom says "Time to potty train" the id whispers NO to the child while the conscience (superego) says: Follow your mom. The ego (self) decides what he will do.  So potty training or NOT potty training ... that is the question.

B. Anal Stage Erogenous zone - The anus

C. Fixation at the Anal Stage - The infant's anal experience is in the hands of their mother or the mother's surrogate ... and if it is faulty ... like the toilet training was done too early or pre-maturely (may be done in the oral stage of development when the child is not ready for this task) ... or the training was too punitive or strict ... or the training is so remiss, lenient and complaisant ... then expect a child with an anal personality.  In the same way, if the child was left alone to fend for himself or the toilet training was done in the later stage of life (possibly in the phallic stage), don't be surprised... the child whether you like it or not ... will exhibit the anal type of personality when he becomes an adult.

D. Carry-over behaviors in the anal stage.

When parents impose restrictions on WHEN and WHERE the child can defecate ... the child meets his second conflict with the authority ... his parents.  This is where rebellion starts to show its ugly fangs. His experience with authority figures (his mother or the surrogate) will determine the child’s reaction to parental restrictions and control later on ... or his future relationship with all forms of authority ... or the LAW, as an adult.

Indeed the beauty of this post is it lay out the factors that are believed to play a pivotal role in causing it. Unresolved conflicts or issues during the anal stage can lead to problems in adulthood, such as uncontrollable temper, inability to decide, excessive cleanliness, compulsive counting, persistent checking, or a need for control of his emotions such as anger, sexual desires, or libido.

Early or harsh potty training can lead to the child becoming an ANAL-RETENTIVE personality who is overly orderly, strict, meticulous, cautious, and thorough.  You will be walking on eggshells once you live with one of them. They can't stand chaos and mayhem in their house .. they are squeaky clean, rigid & methodical, obsessively tidy, prompt and arrives on time, and obedient and respectful of authority or the laws of the land.  They can be frugal and economical with money and food. 

Further traits and behaviors include being stubborn, rigid, and stingy with money and/or time. Other adjectives used to describe this personality were perfectionistic, detail-oriented, overly self-reliant, and having a passion for organizing, classifying, or collecting objects.

A person with an anal personality will also have an obsessive attention to specifics (even very particular to facets, features, and attributes ... even to unimportant details) to the chagrin of the people around him. Their behavior goes beyond being helpful. For instance, a person with an anal personality might do thorough and exhaustive research on a brand of cell phone before he opens his wallet and buys it. 

The fixation mentioned above is all related to the pleasure of holding on to their feces when toddlers and their moms are on a tug of war with their potty training regimen and the mom insisted the child has to sit on the potty for hours until the elimination process is achieved and consummated!

So why do people COLLECT stamps or girlfriends? Why do people HOARD and collect items that ordinary people find idiotic? Easy ... they are just being anal ... plain and simple. When the child resists bowel training ... he in fact is HOLDING his feces ... which is synonymous with COLLECTING feces. See the correlation? Why are some people "kuripot" or stingy and close-fisted when talking about money? It is all because they want to save and COLLECT.

And why do anal personalities have problems deciding for themselves? Why are they in the habit of asking for a second opinion? It can be traced down to his anal stage ... since the mother decides for him ... whether to potty train or not. It was not all his decision.

Silly as it sounds ...  the ANAL EXPULSIVE, on the other hand, endured a tolerant and permissive toilet-training regime during the anal stage. Toilet training was not done at all ... or the mom is remiss with the training schedule ... or the attitude of the mother surrogate is: "If he did it ... we will clean him ... if he did not ... we will wait until it's done." If the child's parents were inconsistent or neglectful in teaching the child to control their own bowel movements, the child may relieve themselves at inappropriate times and soil their pants in rebellion against using the toilet. 

In adulthood, the anal expulsive is the person who wants to share things with you.  They like giving things away.  In essence, they are “sharing their s**t” with you!” 

They will give you problems and they gladly share them with you ... as if you were the one that started it. They will share with you the burden of paying the money they loaned and borrowed ... and give you more responsibilities in his family as he watched in the sideline. 

An anal-expulsive personality is also messy - where as a child he messed up his training schedule by eliminating his stool only when he wants it ... or when he can not hold onto his stool "he make kalat" and play with his stool or scatter them around. As an adult, he mess up his life big time (see the parallelism?) ... and screwed them up too badly that he feels overwhelmed. 

So what is the significance ... when the child habitually eliminates only when he wants it ... or not according to his toilet schedule ... or as planned?  As a child, he has no control over his anal muscle ... so he unintentionally makes accidents and lets it hang all out at the expense of being humiliated. How many times have you seen a child ... kaharap mo at naglalaro kayo, pero tumatae na pala and before you knew it ... late na bago siya pumunta sa bathroom? If the situation is repeated countless times ... it is not a surprise if he will have problems with self-control (anger, sexual urges, libidinal desires, etc)

Fast-forward to adulthood ... why is ... an uncontrolled temper or anger a carry-over anal behavior?  Easy. He could not CONTROL his temper because he has a defective bladder CONTROL training when he was young and he is used to doing stuff randomly in the anal stage.  No amount of reason can appease the man ... not even reminding him "the neighbors are listening" as he continued his verbal rampage.

And lastly, this is just a piece of advice: the parents have to be patient in the process, especially during the first time teaching the children to defecate using the potty. Children who are TRAINED SLOWLY will possess a PATIENT personality and not get angry easily or rebellious when they become adults.