Download Psychoanalytic Therapy Notes

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Psychoanalytic Therapy
Topics in Psychology
Types of Psychotherapies
Therapy
Psychoanalysis
Humanistic Therapy
Cognitive Therapy
Behavior Therapy
Psycho-physiological
Therapy
Main Technique
Free association
Dream analysis
Transferences
Active listening
Acceptance
Support – unconditional
positive regard
Rational Emotive
Behavior Therapy
Beck’s cognitive therapy
Counter-conditioning,
operant conditioning
Diagnosing biological
problem
Main Goal
Reduce anxiety and guilt
over unconscious urges
Means of Achieving Goal
Verbal processes
Help see and fulfill one’s
potential
Verbal processes
Unite behaviors and
thought
Mental training
Change one’s abnormal
Behavioral training
or unwanted behaviors
and acquire desirable
behaviors.
Decreasing or eliminating Medication
symptoms
Psychoanalytic Therapy
 Therapy aimed at making patients aware of their unconscious motives so that they can gain control
over their behavior.
Freud’s Idea of the Mind’s Structure:
Conscious
Thoughts, sensations,
perceptions, moods,
emotions that we are
aware of.
Preconscious – thoughts,
feelings, wishes, and
memories located outside
awareness but are
accessible.
Unconscious – the
thoughts, wishes,
feelings, and memories of
which we are unaware.
Repression – forcible
blocking of unacceptable
passions and thoughts
from our consciousness
because they would be
too unsettling to
acknowledge.
If we are unaware, why does the unconscious matter? According to Freud, these unconscious
feelings and ideas powerfully influence us, sometimes gaining expression in disguised forms – the
work we choose, the beliefs we hold, our daily habits, our troublesome symptoms (he did, after all,
study neurotic patients).
Freud’s Personality Structure
Ego – part of the personality
that is in touch with reality
and strives to meet the
demands of the id and
superego in socially
acceptable ways.
Superego – part of
personality that is the source
of conscience and inhibits
the socially desirable
impulses of the id.
Moral part of the personality.
Operates based on Reality
Principle – checks the
Pleasure Principle; still seeks
pleasure and avoids pain, but
is realistic.
Operates based on the
Moral Principle – the
conscience.
Has extremely high ideals
and can create conflict; can
be overly harsh.
Gradually forms in children in
ages 2-3
Id – portion of unconscious personality that contains
needs, drives, instincts, and repressed material.
 Fun, lustful, drive-run part of unconscious

Id and Superego conflict

Id and Superego both conflict
with reality
Operates on Pleasure Principle
 Instant gratification over deferral
Infants are completely id.
Id = wants to do; ego = can do; superego = should do
Free Association
A method used to examine the unconscious; the patients are instructed to say whatever comes
to his or her mind first.
Since the therapist is typically trying to uncover painful memories and feelings, the patient
often experiences resistance – the reluctance of a patient either to reveal painful feelings or to
examine long-standing behavior patterns.
Dream Analysis
A technique used by psychoanalysts to interpret the content of patient’s dreams.
Transference
The process, experienced by the patient, of feeling toward an analyst or therapist the way he
or she feels or felt toward some other important figure in his or her life.
Projective Tests – personality tests to uncover hidden emotions. Therapist presents vague
stimuli and the patient “projects” hidden feelings onto test.