Psychoanalytic Therapy

KEY CONCEPTS

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.

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.

Death instincts: account for the aggressive drive and manifest though their behavior an unconscious wish to die or to hurt themselves or others.

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

ID EGO SUPEREGO

PLEASURE REALITY 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.

Mediates between the instincts and the surrounding environment

Ruled by reality principle

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

Check and control the blind impulse of the id.

Superego person’s moral code

Serve as the judicial branch of personality

Represent ideal rather than reality

Strive for perfection but not pleasure

CONSCIOUSNESS AND UNCONSCIOUSNESS

Keys to understanding behavior and the problems of personality.

Unconscious cannot be studied but inferred from behavior, such as:

1. dreams, which are symbolic representations of unconscious needs, wishes and conflicts;

2. Slips of tongue and forgetting;3. Posthypnotic suggestions;4. Material derived from free-association techniques and5. Projective techniques6. 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.

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

EGO-DEFENSE MECHANISMS

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

characteristics: deny or distort reality

Operate in unconscious level to reduce anxiety and lower tension

1. Repression 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 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 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 Masking perceived weaknesses or developing

certain positive traits to make up for limitations

Can have direct adjustive value

DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

PERIOD OF LIFE

FREUD ERIKSON

0~1 Oral Stage Infancy: Trust VS Mistrust

1~3 Anal StageEarly 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 StageAdolescence: Identity VS Role Confusion

18~35Genital Stage Continues

Young Adulthood: Intimacy VS Isolation

Comparison of Freud’s Psychosexual Stage and Erikson’s Psychosocial Stage

1. Oral stage(0-1) 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) 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) 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+) 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.

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

THERAPIST’S FUNCTION AND ROLE

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

CLIENT’S EXPERIENCE IN THERAPY

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

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

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

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

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

Limitation & Criticism

Time consume

Lack of problem solving skill

Lack of external forces, eg. Society, culture