Chapter 3 - Psychosocial Theories and Therapy

Psychoanalytic Theory

• Supports the notion that all human behavior is caused and can be explained (deterministic theory)

  • Developed by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th and 20th centuries in Vienna, where he spent most of his life

  • He developed his initial ideas and explanations of human behavior from his experiences with a few clients, where all of them are women who displayed unusual behaviors

  • These behaviors had no physiologic basis, so Freud considered them to be “hysterical” or neurotic behavior of women

  • After several years of working with women, he concluded that many of their problems stemmed from childhood trauma or failure to complete tasks of psychosexual development

Personality Component | Id

• Part of one’s nature that reflects basic or innate desires such ass pleasure-seeking behavior, aggression, and sexual impulses

  • Seeks instant gratification; causes impulsive, unthinking behavior; and has no regard for rules or social convention

Personality Component | Ego

• The balancing or mediating force between id and superego

  • It represents mature and adaptive behavior that allows a person to function successfully in the world

  • Freud believed that anxiety resulted from the ego’s attempts to balance

Personality Component | Superego

• Part of a person’s nature that reflects moral and ethical concepts, values, and parental and social expectations

  • It is in direct opposition to id

Conscious

Refers to the perceptions, thoughts, and emotions that exist in the person’s awareness

Preconscious

Thoughts and feelings that are not currently in the person’s awareness, but he or she can recall them with some effort

Unconscious

• Realm of thoughts and feelings that motivate a person, even though he or she is totally unaware of them

  • Includes most defense mechanism and some instinctual drives or motivations

Freudian slip

• A term we commonly use to describe slips of the tongue

  • Freud believed these “slips” were not accidents or coincidences; rather, they were indications of subconscious feelings or thoughts that accidentally emerged in casual day-to-day conversation

  • Freud believed that much of what we do or say is motivated by our subconscious thoughts or feelings

Dream Analysis

A primary method used in psychoanalysis that involves discussing a client’s dreams to discover their true meaning and significance

Free Association

• Another method used to gain access to subconscious thoughts and feelings

  • The therapist tries to uncover the client’s true thoughts and feelings by saying a word and asking the client to respond quickly with the first thing that comes to mind

Defense Mechanism | Compensation

Overachievement in one area to offnet real or perceived deficiencies in another area

Defense Mechanism | Conversion

Expression of an emotional conflict through the development of a physical symptom, usually sensorimotor in nature

Defense Mechanism | Denial

• Failure to acknowledge an unbearable condition

  • Failure to admit the reality of a situation or how one enables the problem to continue

Defense Mechanism | Displacement

Ventilation of intense feelings toward persons less threatening than the one who aroused those feelings

Defense Mechanism | Dissociation

Dealing with emotional conflict by a temporary alteration in consciousness or identity

Defense Mechanism | Fixation

Immobilization of a portion of the personality resulting from unsuccessful completion of tasks in developmental stage

Defense Mechanism | Identification

Expression of an emotional conflict through the development of a physical symptom, usually sensorimotor in nature

Defense Mechanism | Intellectualization

• Failure to acknowledge an unbearable condition

  • Failure to admit the reality of a situation or how one enables the problem to continue

Defense Mechanism | Introjection

Ventilation of intense feelings towards persons less threatening than the one who aroused those feelings

Defense Mechanism | Projection

Dealing with emotional conflict by a temporary alteration in consciousness or identity

Defense Mechanism | Rationalization

Immobilization of a portion of the personality resulting from unsuccessful completion of tasks in a developmental stage

Defense Mechanism | Reaction Formation

Acting the opposite of what one thinks or feels

Defense Mechanism | Regression

Moving back to a previous developmental stage in order to feel safe or have needs met

Defense Mechanism | Repression

Excluding emotionally painful or anxiety-provoking thoughts and feelings from conscious awareness

Defense Mechanism | Resistance

Overt or covert antagonism toward remembering or processing anxiety-producing information

Defense Mechanism | Sublimation

Substituting a socially acceptable activity for an impulse that is unacceptable

Defense Mechanism | Substitution

Replacing the desired gratification with one that is more readily available

Defense Mechanism | Suppression

Conscious exclusion of unacceptable thoughts and feelings from conscious awareness

Defense Mechanism | Undoing

Exhibiting acceptable behavior to make up for or negate unacceptable behavior

Stage of Psychosexual Development | Oral (Birth to 18 months)

• Major site of tension and gratification is the mouth, lips, and tongue; includes biting and sucking activities

• Id present at birth

• Ego develops gradually from rudimentary structure present at birth

Stage of Psychosexual Development | Anal (18-36 months)

• Anus and surrounding area are major source of interest

• Acquisition of voluntary sphincter control (toilet training)

Stage of Psychosexual Development | Phallic/Oedipal (3-5 years)

• Genital focus of interest, stimulation, and excitement

• Penis is organ of interest for both sexes

• Masturbation is common

• Penis envy (wish to possess penis) seen in girls

• Oedipal complex (wish to marry opposite-sex parent and be rid of same-sex parent) seen in boys and girls

Stage of Psychosexual Development | Latency (5-11/13 years)

• Resolution of oedipal complex

• Sexual drive channeled into socially appropriate activities such as schoolwork and sports

• Formation of the superego

Stage of Psychosexual Development | Genital (11-13 years)

• Final stage of psychosexual development

• Begins with puberty and the biologic capacity for orgasms

• Involves the capacity for true intimacy

Transference

Occurs when the client displaces onto the therapist attitudes and feelings that the client originally experienced in other relationships

Countertransference

Occurs when the therapist displaces onto the client attitudes or feelings from his or her past

Transference Patterns

Automatic and unconscious in the therapeutic relationship

Psychoanalysis

• Focuses on discovering the causes of the client’s unconscious and repressed thoughts, feelings, and conflicts believed to cause anxiety and helping the client to gain insight and resolve these conflicts and anxieties

  • The techniques or analytic therapist uses the free association, dream analysis, and interpretation of behavior

  • It is still practiced today but on a very limited basis.

  • Analysis in lengthy with weekly or more frequent sessions for several years

  • It is costly and not covered by conventional health insurance programs; thus, it has become known as therapy for the wealthy.