Psychoanalytic Therapy

Psychoanalytic Therapy

KEY CONCEPTS VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE  Behavior is determined by irrational forces, unconscious motivation and biological and instinctual drives as these evolve through key psychosexual stages in the first 6 years of life.  Life instincts: serve the purpose of the survival of the individual and the human race that oriented toward growth, development and creativity, which included all pleasurable acts.  Death instincts: account for the aggressive drive and manifest though their behavior an unconscious wish to die or to hurt themselves or others.

STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

ID PLEASURE

EGO REALITY

SUPEREGO MORAL

INBORN

EXECUTIVE

LEARN FROM PARENTS & SOCIETY

UNCONSCIOUS

CONSCIOUS

ID  the primary source of psychic energy and the seat of the instincts.  Ruled by pleasure principle  Aimed at reducing tension, avoiding pain and gaining pleasure  Largely unconscious or out of awareness.

Ego 

The “executive” that governs, controls and regulates the personality.

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Mediates between the instincts and the surrounding environment

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Ruled by reality principle

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Does realistic and logical thinking and formulates plans of action for satisfying needs.

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Check and control the blind impulse of the id.

Superego 

person’s moral code

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Serve as the judicial branch of personality

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Represent ideal rather than reality

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Strive for perfection but not pleasure

CONSCIOUSNESS AND UNCONSCIOUSNESS

  3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Keys to understanding behavior and the problems of personality. Unconscious cannot be studied but inferred from behavior, such as: dreams, which are symbolic representations of unconscious needs, wishes and conflicts; Slips of tongue and forgetting; Posthypnotic suggestions; Material derived from free-association techniques and Projective techniques The symbolic content of psychotic symptoms.

ANXIETY

1.

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

2.

Neurotic anxiety is the fear that the instincts will get out of hand and cause one to do something for which one will be punished.

3.

Moral anxiety is the fear of one’s own conscience.

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Neurotic and moral anxiety are evoked by threats to the “balance of power” within the person.

EGO-DEFENSE MECHANISMS

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Help to cope with anxiety and prevent the ego from being overwhelmed

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characteristics: deny or distort reality

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Operate in unconscious level to reduce anxiety and lower tension

1. Repression 

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Selective exclusion of painful experiences of the past from conscious awareness Freud: “ an involuntary removal of something from consciousness” Most of the painful events of the first 5 years of the life are so excluded, yet influencing later behavior

2. Denial 

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Distortion of reality by pretending that undesirable or unacceptable events are not really happening “Closing one’s eyes”

3. Reaction formation  

To actively express the opposite impulse Do not have to face the anxiety by doing so

4. Projection  self-deception consists of attributing to others one’s own unacceptable desires and impulse 5. Displacement  Rechanneling of energy from one object to another, especially from a threatening object to a “safer target

6. Rationalization 

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Making good (logical) reasons to explain away a bruised ego Help softening the blow connected with disappointments

7. Sublimation 

Diverting sexual or aggressive energy into socially acceptable channels

8. Regression 

The retreat to an earlier stage of development because of fear

9. Introjection 

Taking in and “swallowing” the values and standards of others

10. Identification 

Enhances self-worth and protects one from a sense of being failure

11. Compensation 

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Masking perceived weaknesses or developing certain positive traits to make up for limitations Can have direct adjustive value

DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY Comparison of Freud’s Psychosexual Stage and Erikson’s Psychosocial Stage

PERIOD OF LIFE

0~1

FREUD

ERIKSON

Oral Stage

Infancy: Trust VS Mistrust

1~3

Anal Stage

Early Childhood: Autonomy VS Shame and doubt

3~6

Phallic Stage

Preschool age: Initiative VS Guilt

6~12

Latency Stage School age: Industry VS Inferiority

12~18

Genital Stage

Adolescence: Identity VS Role Confusion

18~35

Genital Stage Continues

Young Adulthood: Intimacy VS Isolation

1. Oral stage(0-1) 

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Mouth and lips are sensitive erogenous zones, sucking produces erotic pleasure for the infant Lacking of enough food may lead to greediness and acquisitiveness Fear of reaching out to others, rejection of affection Fear of love and trusting, low self-esteem and isolation

2. Anal stage(1-3) 

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Children find pleasure both in withholding and in expelling feces These pleasures come into conflict with parents who are attempting toilet training The child’s first experience with imposed control Anal-aggressive personality Anal-retentive personality

3. Phallic stage(3-6)      

Children begin to derive pleasure from fondling their genitals They observe the differences between male and female Begin to direct their sex impulses toward their parent Oedipal complex Castration anxiety: boy fears his father will retaliate by castrating him Electra complex

4. Latency stage(6-12) 

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New interests replace infantile sexual impulses Socialization take place, major structure of personality are formed Sexual drive is sublimated to some extent to activities in school, hobbies, sports, and friendship with members of the same sex

5. Genital stage (12-60+) 

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Adolescents develop interest in the opposite sex Engage in some sexual experimentation move out of adolescents and into mature adult responsibilities

THERAPEUTIC PROCESS THERAPEUTIC GOALS 

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

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Oriented toward achieving insight, but not just an intellectual understanding.

THERAPIST’S FUNCTION AND ROLE

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Blank screen approach Analysis and interpreting Putting the pieces of a puzzle together

CLIENT’S EXPERIENCE IN THERAPY

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Intensive therapeutic process Agree to talk Not encouraged to make any radical changes in their lifestyles during the period of analysis Achieved success from analytic therapy as an understanding of their symptoms and the functions they serve An insight into how their environment affects them and how they affect the environment, and reduced defensiveness

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THERAPIST AND CLIENT 

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transference: the unconscious shifting to the analyst of feelings and fantasies that are reactions to significant others in the client’s past Countertransference: the reactions therapists have toward their clients that may interfere with their objectivity. it occurs when there is inappropriate affect, when therapists respond in irrational ways, or when they lose their objectivity It allows clients to understand and resolve their ”unfinished business” from past relationship

TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES

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Maintaining Analytic Framework Free Association Interpretation Dream Analysis Analysis and Interpretation of Resistance Analysis and Interpretation of Transference

CONCLUSION Contributions 

Provide counselors with a conceptual framework for looking at behavior

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Provide a framework for a dynamic understanding of the role of early childhood events

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The impact of these experiences on the contemporary struggles faced by clients

Limitation & Criticism 

Time consume

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Lack of problem solving skill

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Lack of external forces, eg. Society, culture