Intro to Counseling Mod 6

Classical psychoanalysis

Learning Objectives Roadmap

• examine core assumptions, structures of the mind, and psychodynamic forces shaping human behavior.

Defense Mechanisms

Learning Objectives Roadmap

• Identify unconscious processes and ego defenses deployed to manage anxiety and intrapsychic conflict.

Adlerian Therapy

Learning Objectives Roadmap

• Analyze individual psychology, lifestyle analysis, birth order, and goal-directed human striving.

Core Epistemology of Carl Jung

Expanding on Psychodynamic Principles

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate”

Unconscious Determinism

The Psychodynamic Paradigm

• behavior is deeply influenced by hidden motives, archaic conflicts, and unconscious desires operating outside conscious awareness.

Developmental Continuity

The Psychodynamic Paradigm

• Early childhood experiences and familial constellations form the foundational blueprint for adult personality structure.
  

Psychic Determinism

Classical Psychoanalysis : Sigmund Freud

01. Nothing happens by chance, every thought, slip of the tongue, and symptom has a deep psychological root.

Instinctual Drives

Classical Psychoanalysis : Sigmund Freud

• human behavior is motivated by fundamental biological forces—primarily Eros (life/libido) and Thanatos (destructiveness).

Intrapsychic Conflict

Classical Psychoanalysis : Sigmund Freud

• personality emerges from permanent dynamic struggle between Id, Ego, and Superego seeking balance.

Conscious

Freud’s View of the Mind : The Iceberg Metaphor

(Above the waterline)

• Immediate awareness, thoughts, perceptions, and sensation experienced in the present moment.

Preconscious

Freud’s View of the Mind : The Iceberg Metaphor

(Just below surface)

• memories and stored knowledge that can be easily retrieved and brought into conscious awareness with attention.

Unconscious

Freud’s View of the Mind : The Iceberg Metaphor

(Deep submerged abyss)

• repressed urges, primal drives, traumatic memories, and unacceptable wishes operating entirely outside awareness.

Transference

Major Psychoanalytic Concepts

• client unconsciously redirects feelings, expectations, and attitudes from significant early figures (parents) onto the therapist.

Countertransference

Major Psychoanalytic Concepts

• therapist’s own unconscious emotional reactions, unresolved conflicts, or subjective biases triggered by the client.

Dream Work

Unconscious Processes & Manifestations

• manifest content (what is dreamed) masks latent content (hidden unconscious wishes and repressed desires).

Freudian Slips

Unconscious Processes & Manifestations

• parapraxis unintentional verbal errors or slips revealing true underlying thoughts or forbidden impulses.

Free Association

Unconscious Processes & Manifestations

• Unfiltered verbal expression allowing the client to bypass critical ego censorship and tap unconscious material.

Primary purpose

Defense Mechanism : Purpose & Function

• To protect the conscious ego from overwhelming anxiety, guilt, and internal conflict generated by clashes between Id and Superego.

Operates unconsciously and distorts reality to maintain psychological equilibrium.

Unconscious Operation

Defense Mechanism : Purpose & Function

• defenses are deployed automatically without the individual’s deliberate intent or awareness.

Reality Distortion

Defense Mechanism : Purpose & Function

• they alter how an event, impulse, or memory is perceived to render it psychologically tolerable.

Repression

6 Major Defense Mechanisms

• unconsciously pushing threatening thoughts or painful memories out of conscious awareness.

Projection

6 Major Defense Mechanisms

• attributing one’s own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or motives onto another person.

Displacement

6 Major Defense Mechanisms

• redirecting impulses (anger) from a dangerous target to a safe, substitute target.

Scenario : Workplace frustration

An employee berated by their boss comes home and harshly scolds family members or kicks a piece of furniture.

Denial

6 Major Defense Mechanisms

• refusing to accept external reality or traumatic facts that are too threatening to process.

Rationalization

6 Major Defense Mechanisms

• creating logical, self-justifying explanations for behaviors driven by unconscious impulses.

Scenario : Rejected Goal

A student failing to get into a top-choice university claims “that school was overrated and pretentious anyway”.

Sublimation

6 Major Defense Mechanisms

• channeling unacceptable primal impulses into socially valued, productive outlets.

Scenario : Aggressive Impulses

An individual with intense combative urges channels that energy into competitive martial arts or rigorous surgery.

Teleological View

Adlerian Therapy : Alfred Adler Individual Psychology

• 01. behavior is goal-oriented and future-driven, guided by our subjective perceptions and lifestyle choices.

Social Interest

Adlerian Therapy : Alfred Adler Individual Psychology

• 02. Gemeinschaftsgefühl : the fundamental innate need to belong, cooperate, and contribute to society’s welfare.

Holistic Person

Adlerian Therapy : Alfred Adler Individual Psychology

• 03. humans are indivisible, integrated social beings rather than collections of warring internal drives.

Inferiority Feelings

Inferiority, Striving, & Birth Order

• universal human starting point, feelings of inadequacy inspire striving for mastery, growth, and superiority.

Striving for perfection

Inferiority, Striving, & Birth Order

• the master motive pushing individuals to move upward from felt minus situations to imagined plus goals.

Birth Order Dynamics

Inferiority, Striving, & Birth Order

• firstborns, middle children, youngest, and only children develop distinct psychological niches based on family dynamics.

Therapeutic Goal

Lifestyle Analysis & The Life Tasks

“To reconstruct mistaken beliefs, enhance social interest, and shift clients from self-defeating goals to cooperative living.” - Alfred Adler on Psychological Reorientation

The Life Style

Lifestyle Analysis & The Life Tasks

• our cognitive map, convictions, and behavioral style established by early childhood (age 6).

Three Life Tasks

Lifestyle Analysis & The Life Tasks

• building friendships (social), establishing intimacy (intimacy), and contributing meaningfully (work).

Sigmund Freud

Classical Psychoanalysis vs. Adlerian Therapy

• Core Driver : Biological libido & aggressive instincts.

• Time Orientation : deterministic, past-focused (childhood psychosexual stages).

• Structure : Id, Ego, Superego conflict

Alfred Adler

Classical Psychoanalysis vs. Adlerian Therapy

• Core Driver : Social interest & striving for superiority.

• Time Orientation : Teleological, future-oriented (goals and lifestyle)

• Structure : Holistic, social individual.