Psychoanalysis (freud)

philosophical underpinnings

based on newtonian view of the world, conservation of energy, forces, and deterministic cause and effect

function of the psyche

• psyche = the totality of mental life

• determinism (every manifestation of a person’s psyche is determined)

• psychic or psychological energy = energy potentiating mental life

• energy is animating force, closed system, always present in fixed amount

• satisfaction of its innate biological needs

• experience needs an unpleasant tension (drive)

• pleasure principle = maximize pleasure, minimize pain

• two fundamental drives (life drives (libido), death drive (aggression))

• anxiety = conflict within the psyche

structure of the psyche

topographical model : conscious, preconscious, unconscious

• preconscious - must be able to represent in language, must not be too painful

• unconscious - most vast, humans dont know who they really are

structural model: id, ego, superego

• energy is distributed among id, ego, and superego. one energy decides behavior

• id - we only have the id at birth

• ego - formed from id as it has contact with outer realized

• superego - formed from the ego through moral instructions

• dreams - ego fantasizes a fulfillment of id and ego related wishes in order to avoid activation of drives to protect sleep

anxiety - results from repressed material

• reality - fear of danger from external world

• neurotic - fear id will get out of hand and person will ne punished

• moral - fear of ones own conscience- guilt

defense mechanisms: used by ego to manage anxiety (1. distort or deny reality and 2. operate unconsciously)

role of environment

• privation - desired object unavailable

• deprivation - desired object available but withheld or withdrawn

• trauma - internal drives from id or external drive excitations from environment produce more energy that ego can manage

-people powerfully influence the objects of substitution in displacment, compensation, and sublimation by sanctioning certain object-choices and prohibiting others; moral instruction

-ego and superego are formed through familial training and education and identification a=with significant others, then extrafamilial influences

interaction of human nature and environment

• if innate drive could be given free expression, no anxiety but perpetually primitive

• cannot happen - id has opposing drives, external reality, moral training

• psychosexual development stages

healthy functioning

• innate disposition: normal cognitive abilities and absence of propensity for excessive anxiety

• dangers in environment must not be incapacitating or unstimulating. must have moderate gratification to experience discharge of tension and moderate frustration to encourage development of strategies to obtain objects appropriately

• ego meets its goal with minimum of anxiety. minimal reliance on defense mechanisms

• capacity to strive relatively successfully for happiness through work and love

unhealthy functioning

neurosis - impaired functioning and/or chronic subjective distress with an underlying presence of anxiety and an observable presence of self defeating behaviors; weakened ego that cannot effectively manage id, reality, and superego; ego relies exclusively on defenses in order to avoid disintegreation back into id

psychoses - more severe loss of contact with outer reality

normal —> neurosis —> psychoses

personality change process

Change occurs with insight; unconscious becomes conscious; become conscious of underlying conflicts; unlikely to occur in normal course of life; must strengthen ego

clients role

seek counseling to maximize pleasure and minimize pain; person is in significant pain due to subjective dynamics rather than objective circumstances; must be strongly motivated and have financial resources; role is to free associate and be open to therapist interpretations

resistance

ego is seeking to protect itself from the threat of painful frustration or guilt that would occur if unacceptable impulses and their associated conflicts became conscious

counselors role

must undergo own analysis; empathy; suspend judgment (objectivity); intuition; introspection; interpret free associations with effective timing; awareness of countertransference; collaborative; anonymity

stages

Opening Phase – 1^st 3-6 months; establish constructive therapeutic relationship; begins to understand client’s personality dynamics; explains how analysis works; lies on couch where cannot see therapist’s face - vulnerability, regression, relaxation

Transference – 3-6 months after assuming couch; client begins to have feelings for and expectations of analyst that are excessive, unwarranted, and inappropriate; transference offers client opportunity for lasting, healing insight

Working Through – repeatedly revisit themes in their pervasive manifestations; using good timing, analyst empathizes, intuits, free associates, and provides interpretations that the client receives

Resolution – goals achieved, agree on date to terminate

psychoanalysis not appropriate for …

Minor difficulties (insufficiently motivated for depth of work), impulsive, willful, highly narcissistic, basically dishonest, psychopathic, pathological liars, psychotic

techniques

• Free association - because neither the client or therapist knows where the keys to the client’s problems will come from; relax defenses to reveal unconscious material

• Interpretation – timing is essential

• Dream analysis and interpretation 

• Analysis and Interpretation of Resistance - respectfully

• Analysis and Interpretation of Transference

addressing resistance

Responds to avoidance by acknowledging it; responds to disbelief in interpretations by discontinuing and watching for opportunities to restate interpretation.