Psychodynamic Therapy
Key Concepts View of Human Nature > deterministic > deterministic > libido - sexual drives - source of motivation > life instincts - goal of much of life - gain pleasure & avoid pain > death instincts - aggressive drives
Key concepts cont'd Structure of Personality three systems: three systems: id - original system of personality pleasure principle ego - the executive reality principle superego - judicial branch of personality traditional values and ideals of society
Key concepts cont'd Consciousness and the unconscious Consciousness is a thin slice of the total mind. The larger part of the mind exists below the surface of awareness. The unconscious stores all experiences, memories, and repressed material. Needs and motivations that are inaccessible are also outside of the sphere of conscious control.
Key concepts cont'd The aim of psychodynamic therapy is to make the unconscious motives conscious. Unconscious processes are the root of all forms of neurotic symptoms and behaviors.
Key concepts cont'd three kinds of anxiety: reality anxiety - feeling of dread that results from repressed feelings, memories, desires, and experience that emerge to the surface of conscious awareness three kinds of anxiety: reality anxiety neurotic anxiety moral anxiety
Key concepts cont'd Ego-defense Mechanisms two characteristics: deny or distort reality operate on an unconscious level
Key concepts cont'd Importance of early development Development of Personality Importance of early development > Freud's psychosexual stages oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage, genital stage > Erikson's psychosocial stages trust vs mistrust, autonomy vs shame and doubt, initiative vs guilt, industry vs inferiority, identity vs role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, integrity vs. despair
The Therapeutic Process Therapeutic Goals two goals: to make the unconscious conscious to make the strenghten the ego
Therapeutic process cont'd Therapist's function and role > Blank screen approach * transference relationship - refers to the feelings originally experienced in an early relationship to other important people in a person's present environment.
Therapeutic process cont'd > help clients acquire the freedom to love, work, and play > assissting clients in achieving self-awareness, honesty, and more effective personal relationship > assists in dealing with anxiety in a realistic way > assists in gaining control over impulsive and irrational behavior
Therapeutic process cont'd > establish a working relatioship with a client > do a lot of listening and interpreting > teach clients the meaning of unconscious materials and the processes of uncovering them so that they are able to achieve insight
Clients experience in therapy > free association - fundamental rule in psychoanalysis > understanding of their symptoms and the functions they deserve > an insight into how their environment affects them and how they affect the environment > reduced defensiveness
Relationship bet Therapist & Client > Transference positive transference negative transference > Countertransference
Application: Therapeutic Techniques and Procedures Maintaining the Analytic Framework - refers to a whole range of procedural sylistic factors, such as the therapist's relative anonymity, the regularity and consistency of meetings, and starting and endingnthe sessions on time. Free association - Interpretation - includes therapist's pointing out, explaining, and even teaching the client the meanings of behavior that is manifested in dreams, free association, resistances, and the therapeutic relatioship itself
Therapeutic techinques cont'd Dream analysis - uncover disguised meanings by studying the symbols in the manifest content of the dream. Analysis of resistance - help clients become aware of the reasons of the resistance so that they can deal with them. Analysis of transference - allows clients to achieve here-and-now insight into the influence of the past on their present conditioning.