Chapter 4: Psychoanalytic Theory

Clinical evidence for postulating the unconscious includes the following:

(1) dreams, which are symbolic representations of unconscious needs, wishes, and conflicts; (2) slips of the tongue and forgetting, for example, a familiar name; (3) posthypnotic suggestions; (4) material derived from free-association techniques; (5) material derived from projective techniques; and (6) the symbolic content of psychotic symptoms. For Freud, consciousness is a

Two goals of Freudian psychoanalytic therapy are to

1. are to make the unconscious conscious 2. strengthen the ego so that behavior is based more on reality and less on instinctual cravings or irrational guilt.

shadow

A person's dark side with its primitive impulses such as selfishness and greed.

Projection (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

Attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to another person.

Displacement (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

Directing energy toward another object or person when the original object or person is inaccessible.

Sublimation (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

Diverting sexual or aggressive energy into other channels. For example, aggressive impulses can be channeled into athletic activities, so that the person finds a way of expressing aggressive feelings and, as an added bonus, is often praised.

Object-relations theory

Emphasis is on how our relationships with other people are affected by the way we have internalized our experiences of others and set up representations of others within ourselves.

Oral stage

Freud's 1st stage of development: deals with the inability to trust oneself and others, resulting in the fear of loving and forming close relationships and low self-esteem. 0 - 18 months

Anal stage

Freud's 2nd stage of development: deals with the inability to recognize and express anger, leading to the denial of one's own power as a person and the lack of a sense of autonomy. 18 - 36 months

Phallic stage

Freud's 3rd stage of development: deals with the inability to fully accept one's sexuality and sexual feelings, and also to difficulty in accepting oneself as a man or woman. 3 - 6 years

Instincts are central to the

Freudian approach.`

Identification (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

Identifying with successful causes, organizations, or people in the hope that you will be perceived as worthwhile.

Rationalization (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

Manufacturing "good" reasons to explain away a bruised ego.

psychosocial

Pertaining to a combination of psychological and social factors

There are three kinds of anxiety:

Reality Neurotic Moral

collective unconscious

Referred by Jung as "the deepest and least accessible level of the psyche," which contains the accumulation of inherited experiences of human and prehuman species"

Introjection (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

Taking in and "swallowing" the values and standards of others.

"blank-screen" approach.

The analysts typically assume an anonymous nonjudgmental stance with a client. They avoid self-disclosure and maintain a sense of neutrality to foster a transference relationship.

Anxiety

The feeling of dread that results from repressed feelings, memories, desires, and experiences that emerge to the surface of awareness.

archetypes.

The images of universal experiences contained in the collective unconscious.

dream work.

The process by which the latent content of a dream is transformed into the less threatening manifest content.

Jung wrote that dreams have two purposes.

They are prospective; that is, they help people prepare themselves for the experiences and events they anticipate in the near future. They also serve a compensatory function, working to bring about a balance between opposites within the person.

Resistance,

a concept fundamental to the practice of psychoanalysis, is anything that works against the progress of therapy and prevents the client from producing previously unconscious material. Specifically, resistance is the client's reluctance to bring to the surface of awareness unconscious material that has been repressed. Resistance refers to any idea, attitude, feeling, or action (conscious or unconscious) that fosters the status quo and gets in the way of change.

persona

a mask, or public face, that we wear to protect ourselves.

Latent content

according to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream. content consists of hidden, symbolic, and unconscious motives, wishes, and fears. Because they are so painful and threatening, the unconscious sexual and aggressive impulses that make up latent content are transformed into the more acceptable manifest content, which is the dream as it appears to the dreamer.

The unconscious stores

all experiences, memories, and repressed material. Needs and motivations that are inaccessible-that is, out of awareness-are also outside the sphere of conscious control.

When a child's needs are not adequately met during these stages of development,

an individual may become fixated at that stage and behave in psychologically immature ways later on in life.

Dream analysis

analysis is an important procedure for uncovering unconscious material and giving the client insight into some areas of unresolved problems. During sleep, defenses are lowered and repressed feelings surface. Freud sees dreams as the "royal road to the unconscious," for in them one's unconscious wishes, needs, and fears are expressed.

To avoid misunderstanding and overidentification with clients, the analytic approach requires therapists to undergo their own

analytic psychotherapy.

The ego

attempts to organize and mediate between the id and the reality of dangers posed by the id's impulses. One way to protect ourselves from the dangers of our own drives is to establish a superego. The ego has contact with the external world of reality. It is the "executive" that governs, controls, and regulates the personality. As a "traffic cop," it mediates between the instincts and the surrounding environment. The ego controls consciousness and exercises censorship. Ruled by the reality principle, the ego does realistic and logical thinking and formulates plans of action for satisfying needs. The ego, as the seat of intelligence and rationality, checks and controls the blind impulses of the id. Whereas the id knows only subjective reality, the ego distinguishes between mental images and things in the external world.

relational model

based on the assumption that therapy is an interactive process between client and therapist.

narcissistic personality

characterized by a grandiose and exaggerated sense of self-importance and an exploitive attitude toward others, which serve the function of masking a frail self-concept.

Psychodynamic therapy emerged as a way of shortening and simplifying the lengthy process of

classical psychoanalysis.

Free association

clients are encouraged to say whatever comes to mind, regardless of how painful, silly, trivial, illogical, or irrelevant it may seem. In essence, clients try to flow with any feelings or thoughts by reporting them immediately without censorship.

Transference relationship

clients will make projections onto them, the therapist. This transference relationship is a cornerstone of psychoanalysis and "refers to the transfer of feelings originally experienced in an early relationship to other important people in a person's present environment"

Interpretation

consists of the analyst's pointing out, explaining, and even teaching the client the meanings of behavior that is manifested in dreams, free association, resistances, defenses, and the therapeutic relationship itself.

The functions of interpretations are to

enable the ego to assimilate new material and to speed up the process of uncovering further unconscious material.

Lying on the couch

encourages deep, uncensored reflections and reduces the stimuli that might interfere with getting in touch with internal conflicts and productions. It also reduces the ability of clients to "read" their analyst's face for reactions, which fosters the projections characteristic of a transference.

According to Erickson, a crisis is

equivalent to a turning point in life when we have the potential to move forward or to regress.

Reaction formation (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

expressing the opposite of what one really feels when it would feel too dangerous to express the real feeling (such as acting hateful toward someone you are attracted to)

catharsis

expression of emotion.

Denial (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

forceful refusal to acknowledge an emotionally painful memory

A primary aim of psychodynamic approaches is to

foster the capacity of clients to solve their own problems.

psychoanalytic therapy proceeds

from the client's talk to catharsis (or expression of emotion), to insight, to working through unconscious material.

Ego psychology therapists assist clients in

gaining awareness of their defenses and help them develop better ways of coping with these defenses.

Self Psychology (Kohut)

grew out of the work of Heinz Kohut (1971), emphasizes how we use interpersonal relationships (self objects) to develop our own sense of self.

shadow (archetype)

has the deepest roots and is the most dangerous and powerful of the archetypes. It represents our dark side, the thoughts, feelings, and actions that we tend to disown by projecting them outward.

Ego-Defense Mechanisms

help the individual cope with anxiety and prevent the ego from being overwhelmed. Have two characteristics in common: * They either deny or distort reality, and * They operate on an unconscious level.

psychodynamic

how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts.

free association

in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing. known as the "fundamental rule."

Transference

in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent). the client's unconscious shifting to the analyst of feelings, attitudes, and fantasies (both positive and negative) that are reactions to significant others in the client's past. Transference involves the unconscious repetition of the past in the present. "It reflects the deep patterning of old experiences in relationships as they emerge in current life"

The unconscious cannot be studied directly but is

inferred from behavior.

According to Freud, our behavior is determined by

irrational forces, unconscious motivations, and biological and instinctual drives as these evolve through key psychosexual stages in the first six years of life.

Carl Jung's analytical psychology

is an elaborate explanation of human nature that combines ideas from history, mythology, anthropology, and religion. Jung maintained that we are not merely shaped by past events (Freudian determinism), but that we are influenced by our future as well as our past.

Classical psychoanalysis

is grounded on id psychology, and it holds that instincts and intrapsychic conflicts are the basic factors shaping personality development (both normal and abnormal).

Ego psychology

is part of classical psychoanalysis with the emphasis placed on the vocabulary of id, ego, and superego, and on Anna Freud's identification of defense mechanisms.

Dreams have two levels of content:

latent content and manifest content.

The six basic techniques of psychoanalytic therapy are

maintaining the analytic framework, (1) free association, (2) interpretation, (3) dream analysis, (4) analysis of resistance, (5) confrontation (6) analysis of transference.

psychosexual

of or involving thy psychological aspects of the sexual impulse.

Free association is one of the basic tools used to

open the doors to unconscious wishes, fantasies, conflicts, and motivations.

Among the most important archetypes are

persona, the anima and animus, and the shadow. In a dream all of these parts can be considered manifestations of who and what we are.

In Freud's view, both sexual and aggressive drives are

powerful determinants of why people act as they do.

Traditional analytic therapists make more frequent interpretations of transferences and engage in fewer supportive interventions than do

psychodynamic therapists

Erik Erickson's psychosocial stages

refer to basic psychological and social tasks, which individuals need to master at intervals from infancy through old age.

Psychosexual stages

refer to the Freudian chronological phases of development, beginning with infancy.

Maintaining the analytic framework

refers to a whole range of procedural and stylistic factors, such as the analyst's relative anonymity, maintaining neutrality and objectivity, the regularity and consistency of meetings, starting and ending the sessions on time, clarity on fees, and basic boundary issues such as the avoidance of advice giving or imposition of the therapist's values

If therapy is to produce change, the transference relationship must be worked through. The working-through process consists of

repetitive and elaborate explorations of unconscious material and defenses, most of which originated in early childhood.

animus and the anima

represent both the biological and psychological aspects of masculinity and femininity, which are thought to coexist in both sexes.

Regression (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

reverting to an earlier, less sophisticated behavior (child reverts to bedwetting after trauma)

borderline personality disorder

rooted in the period of separation-individuation. a person has moved into the separation process but have been thwarted by parental rejection of their individuation. Borderline people are characterized by instability, irritability, self-destructive acts, impulsive anger, and extreme mood shifts.

The id

roughly all the untamed drives or impulses that might be likened to the biological component. ID The id is the original system of personality; at birth a person is all id. The id is the primary source of psychic energy and the seat of the instincts. It lacks organization and is blind, demanding, and insistent. Ruled by the pleasure principle, which is aimed at reducing tension, avoiding pain, and gaining pleasure, the id is illogical, amoral, and driven to satisfy instinctual needs. The id never matures, remaining the spoiled brat of personality.

If psychotherapists become aware of a strong aversion to certain types of clients, a strong attraction to other types of clients, psychosomatic reactions that occur at definite times in therapeutic relationships, and the like, it is imperative for them to

seek professional consultation, clinical supervision, or enter their own therapy for a time to work out these personal issues that stand in the way of their being effective therapists.

Compensation (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

striving to make up for unconscious impulses or fears: a business executive's extreme competitiveness might be aimed at compensating for unconscious feelings of inferiority. Masking perceived weaknesses or developing certain positive traits to make up for limitations.

In today's psychoanalytic practice, countertransference is manifested in the form of

subtle nonverbal, tonal, and attitudinal actions that inevitably affect clients, either consciously or unconsciously.

Contemporary psychoanalysis

tends to be based on ego psychology, which does not deny the role of intrapsychic conflicts but emphasizes the striving of the ego for mastery and competence throughout the human life span.

manifest content

the dream as it appears to the dreamer.

Reality anxiety

the fear of danger from the external world and the level of such anxiety is proportionate to the degree of real threat.

Moral anxiety

the fear of one's own conscience. People with a well-developed conscience tend to feel guilty when they do something contrary to their moral code. It is evoked by threats to the "balance of power" within the person.

Neurotic anxiety

the fear that the instincts will get out of hand and cause the person to do something for which she or he will be punished. It is evoked by threats to the "balance of power" within the person.

individuation

the harmonious integration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of personality

According to the Freudian psychoanalytic view, the personality consists of three systems:

the id, the ego, and the superego. These are names for psychological structures and should not be thought of as manikins that separately operate the personality; one's personality functions as a whole rather than as three discrete segments.

The superego

the internalized social component, largely rooted in what the person imagines to be the expectations of parental figures. The superego is the judicial branch of personality. It includes a person's moral code, the main concern being whether an action is good or bad, right or wrong. It represents the ideal rather than the real and strives not for pleasure but for perfection. As the internalization of the standards of parents and society, the superego is related to psychological rewards and punishments. The rewards are feelings of pride and self-love; the punishments are feelings of guilt and inferiority.

libido

the term used by Freud to describe the basic, unconscious, instinctual sexual energy in each individual. He later broadened it to include the energy of all the life instincts The goal of much of life is gaining pleasure and avoiding pain.

Countertransference consists of a therapist's unconscious emotional responses to a client based on

the therapist's own past, resulting in a distorted perception of the client's behavior

psychotherapy

the treatment of mental disorder by psychological rather than medical means.

Perhaps Freud's greatest contributions are his concepts of

the unconscious and of the levels of consciousness, which are the keys to understanding behavior and the problems of personality.

During the Dream Analysis session, therapists may ask clients to

to free associate to some aspect of the manifest content of a dream for the purpose of uncovering the latent meanings.

The ultimate goal of psychoanalytic treatment is to

to increase adaptive functioning, which involves the reduction of symptoms and the resolution of conflicts

The aim of psychoanalytic therapy is

to make the unconscious motives conscious, for only then can an individual exercise choice. Understanding the role of the unconscious is central to grasping the essence of the psychoanalytic model of behavior.

Repression (Ego-Defense Mechanism)

unconsciously pushing threatening memories, urges, or ideas from conscious awareness: a person may experience loss of memory for unpleasant events

countertransference

viewed as a phenomenon that occurs when there is inappropriate affect, when therapists respond in irrational ways, or when they lose their objectivity in a relationship because their own conflicts are triggered.

Freud also postulates death instincts,

which account for the aggressive drive. At times, people manifest through their behavior an unconscious wish to die or to hurt themselves or others. Managing this aggressive drive is a major challenge to the human race.