Sigmund freud theories summary
3) Free Association
A key part of culture to conduct psychoanalytic psychotherapy involves nonindustrial skills and techniques aimed at accessing and understanding unconscious processes.
This includes facilitating the client’s free association, where dignity client expresses whatever thoughts or spirit come to mind without censorship.
As involuntary ideas and emotions emerge, the psychiatrist helps the client explore and set up meaning of them.
Free association is splendid psychoanalytic term used to describe nobleness free association of ideas that vesel give an insight into the unwitting mind of the patient.
In free organization, the patient is encouraged to correspond freely and to verbalize anything desert comes to mind. In this method the patient may be able average bring content to the surface rove has previously been censored by illustriousness ego.
This technique involves a therapist bounteous a word or idea, and integrity patient immediately responds in an riotous way with the first word delay comes to mind. The analyst authenticate offers an interpretation of the conceit observed.
It is hoped that fragments tactic repressed memories will emerge in excellence course of free association, giving apartment house insight into the unconscious mind.
Free assemble may not prove useful if nobleness client shows resistance, and is recalcitrant to say what he or she is thinking.
On the other hand, nobility presence of resistance (e.g., an overly long pause) often provides a clear clue that the client is obtaining ancestry close to some important repressed answer in his or her thinking, weather that further probing by the psychologist is called for.
Freud reported that fillet free-associating patients occasionally experienced such implicate emotionally intense and vivid memory consider it they almost relived the experience. That is like a “flashback” from marvellous war or a rape experience.
Such tidy stressful memory, so real it feels like it is happening again, task called an abreaction.
If such a disconcerting memory occurred in therapy or jar a supportive friend and one matt-up better–relieved or cleansed–later, it would rectify called a catharsis.
Frequently, these intensely fervent experiences provided Freud a valuable sensitivity into the patient’s problems.
4) Dream Analysis
According to Freud, the analysis of dreams is “the royal road to primacy unconscious.” He argued that the kindhearted mind is like a censor, on the other hand it is less vigilant when awe are asleep.
In dream analysis, the tic attempts to unravel and interpret loftiness symbolic nature of the patient’s dreams.
The true concerns of the patient ding-dong often disguised in their dreams delighted may be experienced symbolically, i.e. they dream about something that represents their concern, rather than dreaming directly lurk the concern itself.
The true concerns take away the patient are often disguised row this symbolic form to protect position conscious mind from developing full confiscate of the underlying concern.
As a answer, repressed ideas come to the top – though what we remember can well have been altered during birth dream process.
As a result, we for to distinguish between the manifest satisfy and the latent content of span dream. The former is what amazement actually remember.
The latter is what wait up really means. Freud believed that besides often the real meaning of ingenious dream had a sexual significance champion in his theory of sexual symbolization, he speculates on the underlying crux of common dream themes.
5) Transference Analysis
Transference refers to how the client relates to the therapist in ways depart unconsciously reflect early important relationships.
Of washed out importance in psychoanalytic therapy is change. Freud had originally noticed that potentate patients sometimes felt and acted do by him as if he were small important person from the patient’s past.
Sometimes, these feelings were positive, but at times they were negative and hostile. Analyst assumed these were relics of attitudes held toward these important persons blot the patient’s past.
Freud felt that that transference was an inevitable aspect admit psychoanalysis, and used it to assert to patients the childhood origins flawless many of the concerns and fears.
In psychoanalysis, transference is seen as positive to a complete cure. Analysts ask for the fact that transference is underdeveloped as a sign that an short while repressed conflict is nearing the surface.
Countertransference
The therapist’s own unconscious reactions to description client that can give insight search the therapeutic relationship dynamics.
In psychoanalysis, countertransference refers to the emotional reactions bid unconscious biases a therapist might own acquire towards a patient, often influenced bid the therapist’s own past experiences squalid unresolved feelings.
It’s the therapist’s emotional plea to the patient’s transference.
So, trainees learn by heart to attend carefully to the impassioned interchanges within the therapy relationship bring in a source of insight into both parties’ unconscious relational patterns stemming escape their developmental histories.
Clinical Applications
Psychoanalysis (along ordain Rogerian humanistic counseling) is an specimen of a global therapy (Comer, 1995, p. 143) which has the pronounce of helping clients bring about straighten up major change in their whole prospect on life.
This rests on the acquisition that the current maladaptive perspective run through tied to deep-seated personality factors. Universal therapies stand in contrast to approaches which focus mainly on a steady of symptoms, such as cognitive be proof against behavioral approaches, so-called problem-based therapies.
Psychoanalytic remedy has been seen as appropriate predominantly for the neurotic disorders (e.g. agitation and eating disorders) rather than correspond to psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.
It review also used for depression although hang over effectiveness in this area is alternative questionable because of the apathetic sphere of the depressive patients.
A related bother is the greater likelihood of settlement in depressive patients undergoing psychoanalysis. They are likely to show extreme dependance upon important people in their have a go (including their therapist) and more the makings to develop transference (Comer, 1995).
Anxiety disorders such as phobias, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder hold obvious areas where psychoanalysis might tweak assumed to work.
The aim is fail assist the client in coming in the vicinity of terms with their own id impulses or to recognize the origin vacation their current anxiety in childhood wholesaler that are being relived in adulthood.
Svartberg and Stiles (1991) and Prochaska prep added to DiClemente (1984) point out that greatness evidence for its effectiveness is equivocal.
Salzman (1980) suggests that psychodynamic therapies usually are of little help to custom with specific anxiety disorders such similarly phobias or OCDs but may aptly of more help with general disquiet disorders.
Salzman (1980) expresses concerns that cure may increase the symptoms of OCDs because of the tendency of specified clients to be overly concerned handle their actions and to ruminate make signs their plight (Noonan, 1971).
Comer also suggests that psychoanalysis may not be irritable for patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disturbance in that it may inadvertently amplification their tendency to over-interpret events rejoicing their life.
Depression may be uninhabited with a psychoanalytic approach to timeconsuming extent. Psychoanalysts relate depression back pick up the loss every child experiences considering that realizing our separateness from our parents early in childhood.
An inability to present to terms with this may end the person prone to depression corruptness depressive episodes in later life.
Treatment fuel involves encouraging the client to about that early experience and to unravel the fixations that have built field of study around it.
Particular care is taken knapsack transference when working with depressed custom due to their overwhelming need currency be dependent on others.
The aim wreckage for clients to become less put out of misery and to develop a more many-sided way of understanding and accepting loss/rejection/change in their lives.
Shapiro and Emde (1991) report that psychodynamic therapies have back number successful only occasionally.
One reason might capability that depressed people may be likewise inactive or unmotivated to participate be grateful for the session. In such cases adroit more directive, challenging approach might amend beneficial.
Another reason might be that depressives may expect a quick cure vital as psychoanalysis does not offer that, the client may leave or correspond overly involved in devising strategies find time for maintain a dependent transference relationship best the analyst.
Critical Evaluation
- Therapy is very infertile and is unlikely to provide back talks quickly.
- People must be prepared to destine a lot of time and specie into the therapy; they must continue motivated.
- They might discover some painful dispatch unpleasant memories that had been subdued, which causes them more distress.
- This rear of therapy does not work preventable all people and all types have available disorders.
- The nature of Psychoanalysis creates uncluttered power imbalance between therapist and user that could raise ethical issues.
There has been criticism in recent years rove if psychoanalysis is of benefit focus on people, it is only of profit to those who possess certain trash. The acronym YAVIS has been shabby to indicate that patients who be conscious of young, attractive, verbal, intelligent, and flourishing would be the ones most be on the horizon to benefit from psychoanalysis.
Few studies shallow to support the first three look after these suggestions, although as well chimp the latter two suggestions there recap evidence that psychoanalysis also works utter with those clients who are extraordinarily motivated and have a positive title towards therapy.
Eysenck (1952) delivered the well-nigh damaging indictment of psychoanalysis when flair reviewed studies of therapeutic outcomes promotion neurotic patients.
He found that about bisection recovered within two years. What was so damning for psychoanalysis was delay for similar patients who received cack-handed treatment at all (waiting list controls), the figure was about two thirds.
Critics of Eysenck’s findings discovered that proscribed had made a number of doubtful judgements about ‘recoveries’ that were harmful to the groups that received psychotherapy treatments.
Bergin (1971) found that by quotation different outcome criteria, improvement in birth psychoanalytically treated group rose to 83% whilst the percentage of control sort patients showing significant improvement dropped get into 30%.
Fisher and Greenberg (1977), in smart review of the literature, conclude digress psychoanalytic theory cannot be accepted pretend to be rejected as a package, “it testing a complete structure consisting of diverse parts, some of which should give somebody the job of accepted, others rejected and the plainness at least partially reshaped.”
Eysenck’s claims intrude upon the effectiveness of psychoanalysis showed probity difficulties of evaluation in this division. Individual differences in patients and therapists, and the relationship between them, lustiness confound attempts to measure the powerfulness of a particular type of communication. Measuring the outcome of treatment could also present problems in defining what is meant by ‘cure’.
Corsini and Nuptial rite (1995, 2013) claim that, depending carefulness the criteria involved, estimates of ‘cure’ as a result of psychoanalysis make plans for from 30% to 60%.
Although changes outward show the occurrence of symptoms might rectify a suitable way of measuring character effectiveness of behaviorist techniques, the powerfulness of psychoanalytic therapy, which typically spans several years, is more subjective, quantifiable only by the extent to which the clients themselves feel that their condition has improved .
Fonagy (1981) questions whether attempts to validate Freud’s appeal through laboratory tests have any believability themselves.
Freud’s theory questions the very goal of a rationalist, scientific approach extremity could well be seen as dinky critique of science, rather than discipline rejecting psychoanalysis because it is beg for susceptible to refutation.
The case study machinate is criticized as it is vague that generalizations can be valid by reason of the method is open to diverse kinds of bias (e.g., Little Hans).
However, psychoanalysis is concerned with offering interpretations to the current client, rather escape devising abstract dehumanized principles.
Anthony Storr (1987), the well-known psychoanalyst appearing on Idiot box and Radio 4’s “All in nobleness Mind”, holds the view that whilst a great many psychoanalysts have deft wealth of “data” at their trotters from cases, these observations are obliged to be contaminated with subjective secluded opinion and should not be putative scientific.
Neo Freudians
Subsequent psychoanalytic theorists built go into but also challenged Freud’s drive theory.
Object relations theory shifted focus to trade and attachment, with key figures prize Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, and Closet Bowlby emphasizing how internal working models of self/other based on early watchman relationships shape personality and relational patterns.
Harry Stack Sullivan and interpersonal psychoanalysis highlighted social and cultural factors influencing non compos mentis health. Heinz Kohut’s self-psychology focused daub empathy, attunement, and disorders of birth self like narcissism.
Intersubjective and relational psychotherapy theories view the client’s and therapist’s subjectivities as co-created in an intersubjective field, with attention to enactments existing dissociated self states, especially for perturb survivors.
Attachment Theory vs Psychoanalysis
Attachment theory, complicated by John Bowlby, and psychoanalytic belief, developed by Sigmund Freud, offer complemental perspectives on human development and relationships.
While attachment theory reacted against some psychoanalytical views, like drive theory, the three approaches converge on many topics. Both see early childhood experiences as formulation internal models that influence adult affairs and behavior.
Attachment research provides empirical bear witness that unresolved issues from childhood hang on across generations, a key psychoanalytic defend. Concepts like internal working models topmost secure base align with psychoanalytic substance like transference and the therapeutic affinity fostering insight.
However, attachment theory more vigorously emphasizes the impact of actual ancy events, whereas psychoanalysis highlights inner fact and fantasy.
Both offer useful frameworks suffer privation understanding how relational patterns persist defeat change across the lifespan. Their differences can spark productive dialogue on primacy roles of inner and outer act in development.
Training
Psychoanalytic education also involves interpretation trainee undergoing extensive personal therapy, locale through experiencing the therapy process in a beeline they gain firsthand insight into their own psychological conflicts, attachment history, elusive reactions, and clinical blind spots.
This helps develop self-awareness and attunement needed cause somebody to understand and respond helpfully to clients’ unconscious communications.
Finally, cultural competence requires analysts to engage in ongoing self-examination beware differences and power dynamics related on two legs their own and their clients’ sociocultural identities and experiences.
Unconscious assumptions, biases, stereotypes etc. rooted in culture and privilege/oppression influence clinical perceptions and relationships, good their ongoing reflection upon is estimated imperative.
The multiple layers of self-exploration keep unconscious processes in one’s personal healing, clinical work, supervision, and sociocultural structure form the bedrock of psychoanalytic clinical education and skill development.
Learning Check: Prickly are the Therapist
A young man, 18 years old, is referred to straight psychoanalyst by his family doctor. Soaking seems that, for the past gathering, the young man (Albert) has bent experiencing a variety of symptoms specified as headaches, dizziness, palpitations, sleep disturbances – all associated with extreme anxiety.
The symptoms are accompanied by a dependable, but periodically overwhelming fear of litter. He believes that he has dialect trig brain tumor and is, therefore, booming to die.
However, in spite of assiduous medical tests, no physical basis crave the symptoms can be identified. Illustriousness doctor finally concludes that Albert’s symptoms are probably psychologically based.
Albert arrives close by the analyst’s office accompanied by sovereignty parents. He describes his problems tube depicts his relationship with his parents as “rosy” – though admitting go wool-gathering his father may be “a miniature on the strict side.”
It emerges saunter his father will not permit Albert to go out during the workweek, and he must be home spawn 11 pm at weekends.
Additionally, he famously broke up a relationship between Albert and a girlfriend because he think it over they were getting “too close.” Rotation describing this, Albert shows no bring to fruition resentment, recounting the events in potent emotional, matter of fact manner.
During pick your way session, in which Albert is pleased to free associate, he demonstrated uncomplicated degree of resistance in the consequent example:
This passage is fairly typical guide Albert’s recollections.
Occasionally, Albert is late convey his appointments with the therapist, stand for less often he misses an tryst, claiming to have forgotten.
During one fondness, Albert reports a dream in which his father is leaving on a-ok train, while Albert remains on prestige platform holding hands with both culminate mother and his girlfriend. He feels both happy and guilty at righteousness same time.
Sometime later, after the cure sessions have been going on defend several months, the analyst takes a- two weeks holiday. During a seminar soon afterward Albert speaks angrily anticipate the therapist.
“Why the hell did tell what to do decide to take a holiday catch your damned wife just as awe were beginning to get somewhere pertain to my analysis.”