Chapter 13 Psychoanalysis: The Beginnings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ySsLRwE3Lk Ms. Wilson, MS, LPC

Topics Antecedent Influences on Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and the Development of Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis as a Method of Treatment Psychoanalysis as a System of Personality The Scientific Validity of Psychoanalytic Concepts Criticisms of Psychoanalysis Contributions of Psychoanalysis

The Development of Psychoanalysis Freud believes in three great shocks to the collective human ego: Copernicus: Earth is not the center of the universe Darwin: the theory of evolution Freud: the influence of unconscious forces Psychoanalysis was distinct from mainstream psychological thought: Goals: treat clients labeled as mentally ill Subject matter: abnormal behavior Methods: clinical observation

Antecedent Influences on Psychoanalysis Philosophical speculations about unconscious psychological phenomena Monadology: Leibnitz’s theory of psychic entities, called monads, which are similar to perceptions Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841): theorizing of a threshold of consciousness; conflict develops among ideas as they struggle for conscious realization Fechner: suggested that the mind is analogous to an iceberg; had a great impact on Freud

The Case of Anna O. Anna O. Patient of Josef Breuer; discussed case with Freud 21 yr old Suffered from severe hysterical complaints During hypnosis: while hypnotized she would recall specific experiences that seemed to have given rise to certain symptoms He called this the “cathartic method.” The phenomena which were to be called transference and countertransference, were also observed during this case.

The Sexual Basis of Neurosis In 1885, Freud studied under Jean Charcot who was investigating the usefulness of hypnosis to treat hysteria Freud soon gave up hypnosis Created the technique of free association: a psychotherapeutic technique in which the patient says whatever comes to mind Patient lies on a couch and is encouraged to talk openly and simultaneously expressing every idea Patients thoughts are not random, these are thoughts determined by unconscious conflicts Freud found that his patients’ memories reached back to childhood; many of the repressed experiences they recalled concerned sexual issues

Studies on Hysteria The book considered to mark the formal beginning of psychoanalysis This book contained a number of case studies including Anna O. It had two separate conclusions: Freud’s convinced that sex was the sole cause of neurotic behavior The childhood seduction theory: Freud believed that sex played the determining role in neurosis. Most of his women patients reported traumatic sexual experiences in childhood, often involving family members Later revised to suggest that the childhood seduction experiences his patients described were not real; they had not actually happened This promoted the emergence of infantile sexuality and particularly Oedipus complex.

Dream Analysis Freud had a positivist belief that everything had a cause, including dreams Freud attempts to analyze himself, yet cannot do so using free association The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Dream analysis: a psychotherapeutic technique involving the interpretation of dreams to uncover unconscious conflict Dreams have symbols: Manifest content Latent content

The Pinnacle of Success The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901) Parapraxes; Relatively minor errors in everyday living Freudian slip: an act of forgetting or a lapse in speech that reflects unconscious motives or anxieties Based on Freud’s suggestion that unconscious ideas are struggling for expression and affect our thoughts and actions 1900 to 1910: Freud’s status improved 1920’s: Freud’s fame peaks

Psychoanalysis as a Method of Treatment Goal of therapy: wean patients from this childlike dependency on the therapist and help them assume an adult role in their lives Primary concern was not to cure people but to explain the dynamics of human behavior Patients often react in different ways: Resistance Repression

Freud and Personality Early theory differentiated among: The conscious Those things of which we are aware at a given moment The preconscious Things of which we are not aware but of which we could easily become aware The unconscious Memories which are being actively repressed Later expanded his views with the concepts of id, ego, and superego.

Psychoanalysis as a System of Personality Levels of personality: Id: most primitive and operates on pleasure principle Ego: represents rationality and operates on principles of reality Superego: internalization leads to the development of superego. The conscience The ego-ideal Instincts: mental representations of internal stimuli that motivate personality and behavior Life instinct : The drive for ensuring survival of the individual and the species by satisfying the needs for food, water, sex, and air Death instinct: The unconscious drive towards decay, destruction, and aggression

Psychoanalysis as a System of Personality (cont’d.) Anxiety: functions as a warning that the ego is being threatened Three types of anxiety: objective anxiety; neurotic anxiety; moral anxiety To counter anxiety we use defense mechanisms Defense mechanisms: behaviors that represent unconscious denials or distortions of reality but which are adopted to protect the ego against anxiety

Defense Mechanisms Denial Displacement Projection Rationalization Reaction formation Regression Repression Sublimation Denial Rationalization Reaction formation

Psychosexual Stages of Development Psychosexual stages of personality development: the developmental stages of childhood centering on erogenous zones Oral stage Anal stage Phallic stage Latency stage Genital stage

The Scientific Validation of Psychoanalytic Concepts Research of greater validity was performed on Freud’s theories Support found for: characteristics of the oral and anal personality types; castration anxiety; the notion that dreams reflect emotional concerns; aspects of the Oedipus complex in boys Role of unconscious processes on thoughts and emotions Support found for defense mechanisms No support found for ideas surrounding: symbolism of dreams; the Oedipus complex and male identification with father; women’s issues with body image, identity and superego; personality formation by age five

Criticisms of Psychoanalysis Overemphasis on sex Conclusions draw from case studies of patients (lacks validity and generalizability) Data collection was unsystematic and uncontrolled Freud may have used suggestion, or more coercive procedures, to elicit or implant such memories when no actual seduction had occurred Small and unrepresentative sample of people Freud often contradicted himself

Contributions of Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis is based instead on an intuitive appearance of plausibility Tremendous impact on popular culture and academic psychology Led psychology to revise thinking about the contributing factors to mental illness Freudian psychoanalysis became a vital force in modern psychology