Theories of counseling - Terms (Test 2)

Thanatos

Death, destructive

Eros

Life preserving, survival drive, involved the libido

Id

Operates under the pleasure principle

Ego

Operates under the reality principle

Superego

Operates under the morality principle

Conscious

Part that holds what you’re aware of

Preconscious

Ordinary memory

Unconscious

A dump box tied to urges, feelings, and ideas that are tied to anxiety, conflict, and pain

Reality anxiety

Danger from the external world

Neurotic anxiety

Fear that the instincts will get out of control and cause you to do something that is punishable

Moral anxiety

Fear of your conscience, guilt when you violate a moral code

Love & trust

Loving others, forming relationships, trusting self and others

Negative feelings

Recognizing and expressing powerful feelings (e.g., hate, anger, fear)

Sexuality

Accepting and enjoying maleness or femaleness, sexual feelings

Defense mechanism

Distortion of reality

Repression

Banish threatening feelings or thoughts out of awareness

Regression

Retreat to younger developmental stage in order to handle threatening thoughts and feelings

Reaction formation

Substitute or cover over threatening feelings and thoughts for something more acceptable - actively express the opposite impulse

Rationalization

Excuse-making

Displacement

Divert threatening feelings or thoughts to a safer object

Sublimation

Transform threatening feelings or thoughts into something productive

Projection

Attribute threatening feelings or thoughts onto another person

Goals of psychoanalysis

1. Make the unconscious conscious

2. Strengthen the Ego

Blank screen approach

Very little disclosure, sense of neutrality

Transference

Client projects onto therapist

Analytical framework

Uses blank screen, makes every meeting regular and consistent

Free association

Unfiltered thoughts expressed

Life goal

Plan of life or lifestyle

Fictional finalism

Refers to an imagined central goal

Fiction

Image of a perfect position

Finalism

Ultimate nature of person’s goal

Compensation

The process of overcoming real or imagined inferiority through effort and practice

Lifestyle

A psychological map of self and world that becomes our guide for action

Ruling type

Movement against; little to no social interest, dominates others

movement against self

Sub category of ruling type; self-harm, self-defeating behavior

Getting type

Movement toward; dependent on others

Avoiding type

Movement away; self-absorbed, daydreams and creates fantasies

Socially useful

Considered healthy; copes with life’s problems, cooperates with others

Historical trauma

Amassed emotional and psychological distress

gemeinschaftsgefuhl

German word for “community feeling,”

Firstborn

Likes order and authority, tend to be high achievers and have high needs to affiliate

Second born

Never experience powerful position of firstborn, are competitive and ambitious, not concerned with power

Last born

Never dethroned, develop at a remarkably fast rate, may come to believe they cannot do anything for themselves

Only born

Never lose position of power, mature early, like being center of attention, and do not share well

Assessing family constellation

Noting family environment impacting client’s development

Existential

referring to being, centered on the present and personal responsibility

Phenomenological

refers to the focus on the client’s perception of reality

Introjection

Swallow, undiscerningly, others’ belief and standards

Projection

Disown aspects of self by assigning them to the environment

Retroflection

Turn back to self what we want to do to others

Deflection

A distraction from sustained contact

Confluence

Blurring boundary between self and others

Avoidance

To keep from facing unfinished business & from experiencing uncomfortable emotions associated with unfinished situation

Unfinished business

Unresolved issues that are manifested by unexpressed resentment, rage, hatred, pain, anxiety, guilt, & abandonment

Phoney layer

Reacting stereotypically; inauthentically

Phobic layer

Avoid emotional pain connected to darker side

Impasse

Can’t help self; manipulate environment to get out

Implosive level

Experience one’s deadness (starting point toward growth)

Explosive level

Movement toward personal growth; let go of phony roles and release energy used to pretend

Goals of Gestalt

1. Increase self-awareness

2. Become responsible

Internal dialogue exercise

Disowned parts talk

Empty chair

Client talks to imagined significant other in an empty chair to bring closure

The reversal exercise

Being the opposite

The exaggeration exercise

Exaggerate a movement or gesture that is done repeatedly