Psychoanalytic and Interpersonal Foundations Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory states human behavior is driven by unconscious, repressed desires. He identified three personality components: the id (impulsive, pleasure-seeking), the superego (moral values), and the ego (the mediating force). To protect the ego from emotional pain, humans use unconscious ego defense mechanisms like denial, projection, and rationalization. Freud defined transference, where clients displace feelings from past relationships onto the therapist, and countertransference, where therapists displace their past feelings onto clients. Building on Harry Stack Sullivan’s interpersonal theories, Hildegard Peplau established the four phases of the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship: orientation, identification, exploitation, and resolution. Peplau crucial ...