PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

SIGMUND FREUD

by Leila Zaim & Najah Choucair 2015

SIGMUND FREUD : •May 6, 1856 – Sigmund Freud was born in Freyberg town, Czech republic. •1881 – he graduated from medical faculty, university of Vienna.•1896 – Sigmund Freud was officially recognized.•1900 – he released ‘interpretation of dreams’.•September 23, 1939 –Freud passed away in Hampstead.

Sigmund Freud ‘s contributions

Sigmund Freud explored the human mind more thoroughly than any other who came before him.

Freud was one of the most influential people of the twentieth century and has influenced not only psychology, but art, literature and even the way people bring up their children.

Father of Psychoanalysis Freud was the founding father of psychoanalysis a theory which explains human behavior and a method for treating mental illness .

Psychoanalysis is often known as the talking cure. Typically Freud would encourage his patients to talk freely (on his famous couch) regarding their symptoms, and to describe exactly what was on their mind.

Aim of Psychoanalysis Therapy

• The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e. make the unconscious conscious.  “Gaining insight”

• Psychoanalysis is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders.

• Treatment focuses on bringing the repressed conflicts to conscious, where the client can deal with it realistically and maturely

features of the mind’s structure and function.

Freud’s topographical model of the mind

Levels of the mind 1. CONSCIOUS

•Immediate Awareness

•communicates to the outside world and the inner self through speech, pictures, writing, physical movement, and thought

• Only level of mental life that are directly available to us

• This is seen as the tip of the iceberg. For example, you may be feeling thirsty at this moment and decide to get a drink.

2.PreconsciousAccessible memories

It exists just below conscious. The preconscious contains thoughts and feelings that a person is not currently aware

of, but which can easily be brought to consciousIf you were asked what you watched last night or what you had for breakfast this morning, you would be pulling

that information out of your preconscious.

Gatekeeper between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. It allows only certain pieces of information to

pass through and enter conscious awareness.

3.UNCONSCIOUS

Unconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see. Storehouse of all significant and disturbing memories and experiences which we need to keep out of awareness because they are too threatening to acknowledge fully. This is called Repression It’s these memories and experiences that our beliefs, habits, and behaviors are formed. Freudian theory is that the unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect.

Psychoanalysis Assumptions Psychoanalytic psychologists see

psychological problems as rooted in the unconscious mind.

Manifest symptoms are caused by hidden disturbances.

They are a result of unresolved issues during development or repressed trauma.

Principal concepts of Freudian Theory

1. Structural concept : Id, Ego ,Super Ego.

2. Dynamic concept : Instincts , Energy, Restrain and Anxiety .

3. Developmental concepts : Defense Mechanisms

Psychosexual stages

1.Structural ConceptThe human personality

Freud believed human behavior resulted from the interaction of three important parts of the personality: the id, ego and superego.

Ego, Superego have all the mind levels

Id has only the unconscious level

13“The Psychic Apparatus”

Freud (1923) later developed a more structural model of the mind id, ego and superego These are not physical areas within the brain, but rather hypothetical conceptualizations of important mental functions

The Structure of Personality

The Id – Reservoir of Psychic Energy-Meeting Basic Needs

Most primitive part of the mind; what we are born with. Operates on PLEASURE PRINCIPAL – to gain pleasure, avoid pain

Driven by sexual and aggressive urge The id is the most basic part of the personality, and wants instant

gratification for our wants and needs. If these needs or wants are not met, a person becomes tense or anxious.

Sally was thirsty. Rather than waiting for the server to refill her glass of water, she reached across the table and drank from Mr. Smith’s water glass, much to his surprise

The Structure of Personality

The Ego- Executive of Personality-Dealing with Reality

The balance between Id and Superego –Reality principal The ego develops from the id during infancy. (2_3) trying to meet the desires of the id in a way that is socially acceptable it operates in both the conscious and preconscious mind. The ego recognizes that other people have needs and wants too, and

that being selfish is not always good for us in the long run. Sally was thirsty. However, she knew that her server would be back

soon to refill her water glass, so she waited until then to get a drink, even though she really just wanted to drink from Mr. Smith’s glass.

The Structure of Personality

The Superego- Upholder of Values and Ideals

The superego develops last during early childhood and is responsible for ensuring moral standards are followed. The superego operates on the MORALITY PRINCIPLE and motivates us to behave in a

socially responsible and acceptable manner.

Sarah knew that she could steal the supplies from work and no one would know about it. However, she knew that stealing was wrong, so she decided not to take anything even though she would probably never get caught

The id, ego and superego work together in creating a behavior. The id creates the demands, the ego adds the needs of reality with the superego adds morality to the action which is taken.

3. Dynamics concept

Instincts : motivates human behavior Libido : energy created by survival and

sexual instincts work Cathexis : directing the energy to satisfy

needs Anticathexis: the force ego exerts to

block impulses from id Anxiety : conscious state where a

painful emotion is produces by internal or external

interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the personality. Id vs. superego; Individual vs.

society Restrain expression of all drives Surplus energy results in anxiety

3.Developmental Concepts

• The ego, driven by the id, confined by the superego, struggles in bringing about harmony among the forces

• The ego protects its self from overload of pressure , anxiety and depression with a defense mechanism.

• The defense mechanism provides a short term relief but distort

reality creating more long term problems

• The Ego employs a range of defense mechanisms.  Defense mechanisms operate at an unconscious level and help get rid of unpleasant feelings .

Why do we need defenses?Defense mechanisms are invented by the Ego in an attempt to resolve the conflict between Id and Superego – so that personality can operate in a healthy manner.

•unwanted Memories banished to the unconscious, do not disappear.  They continue to exert a powerful influence on behavior.

•Defense mechanisms help keep urges, thoughts, and memories that cause anxiety in the unconscious.

•If it is used once in a while, the purpose of using it is to reduce stress.

•But if it is used frequently, it means the individual are trying to avoid facing reality

22EGO’S DEFENSE MECHANISMS The forces, which try to keep painful or socially undesirable

thoughts and memories out of the conscious mind

•DENIAL: refusal to acknowledge its existence.•REPRESSION: pushing it out of awareness. •PROJECTION: attributing it to someone else.•REACTION FORMATION: overemphasizing its opposite.•REGRESSION: retreating to an earlier (immature) stage of development.•IDENTIFICATION: identifying oneself with a feared person.•RATIONALIZATION: giving excuses for it.•INTELLECTUALIZATION: distancing oneself from it by ‘studying it’

How can we understand the unconscious mind?

In psychoanalysis (therapy) Freud would have a patient lie on a couch to relax, and he would sit behind them taking notes while they tell him about their dreams and childhood memories.  Psychoanalysis would be a lengthy process, involving many sessions with the psychoanalyst.

Due to the nature of defense mechanisms and the inaccessibility of the deterministic forces operating in the unconscious, psychoanalysis in its classic form is a lengthy process often involving 2 to 5 sessions per week for several years. 

Psychoanalytic Counseling Methods Lengthy Therapeutic Techniques

The primary goal of counseling within a psychoanalytic frame of reference is to make the unconscious conscious.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Basic principals To become a practitioner of psychoanalysis, one must

complete a long training process of many years, which is open only to M.D.’s and PhD's.

Id, Ego, Superego and intrapsychic conflicts: Psychological symptoms are self-defeating patterns brought on by internal struggles.

The past: Current problems stem from unresolved issues that occurred in early childhood.

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General Principles

Help the person to tell his or her story.

Establish a solid working alliance.

Deal with resistance.

Gather background information and history.

Select the problem or issue to be worked on.

Explore the precipitating events.

Detachment: The therapist is detached, objective and neutral so that the client can project onto the therapist things from the client’s unconscious.

Psychoanalytic Therapy

Basic Techniques: Catharsis: The release of pent-up emotion. A Corrective

Emotional experience. The therapist helps clients alter their self-perceptions and behavior.

Freud , along with Breuer, first discovered the benefits of catharsis through hypnosis where hysterical patients were able to verbalize an early precipitating causal event.Unfotunately,many of his patients could not remember the origin of their symptoms even on command. So, he developed free association and interpretation to bring everyone to the emotional state of catharsis that was necessary for their cure.

Free Association: The client lies on a couch and the analyst sits at the head of the couch beyond the client’s line of vision. The analyst then orders the client to say whatever comes to mind. Through this method the unconscious thoughts and conflicts are given freedom to reach the conscious mind.

The fundamental rule of psychoanalysis counseling requires clients to tell the counselor whatever thoughts and feelings into their minds, regardless of how personal, painful or seemingly irrelevant.

The counselor must remain patient and nonjudgmental and insists the client to continue.

The counselor must look for continuity of thoughts and feelings, rational patterns of speech.

The counselor must pay attention to the affect or feelings behind the client’s verbalization, noting the client’s gestures, tone of voice and general body language during free association.

At this point the counselor offers some interpretations of the client’s statements to try open another door for free association.

Interpretation: Three major areas of interpretations are dreams, Parapraxia, and Humor.

In Dreams, Freud( 1901/1952,1965a) believed dreams expressed wish fulfillment. for Freud dreams are the royal road to the unconscious. As the individual matures, the wish, as exposed the dream becomes distorted and disguised. The ego fights the initial conscious wish, which thus is pushed back to the unconscious mind. When sleeping repressive are weaker, and forbidden desires and feelings can find an outlet in dreams. The counselors role is to listen to the client’s dream and help the client interpret the dream’s symbolism in free association technique.

Certain objects in dreams were universal symbols for Freud: e.g. car symbolizes analysis or direction of life/ jewel cases and purses=vaginas/ peaches and twin sisters=female breasts/ nb3=male genitals….

The key for understanding one’s dream is identifying the basic theme by stripping away details as names ,places, and things; leaving only the action.

Freud believed every dream to be a confession and a by-product of repressed anxiety producing thoughts or unfulfilled sexual desires which expressed the superego’s guilt and self-punishment. Nightmares result from the desire for self punishment.

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Parapraxia: or Freudian slips of a tongue are consciously excused as harmless mistakes but through them the ID pushes the unconscious material through to the conscious .

According to psychoanalytic thinking everything we do for ex: forgetting a person’s name, cutting a finger while peeling potatoes- has unconscious motivation. The analyst must take all these unconscious mistakes and arrange them into a conscious pattern.

Humor: Jokes, puns, and satire are all acceptable means for unconscious urges to gain access to the conscious; they simultaneously disguise and reveal repressed thoughts which are generally generated from the ID and Superego e.g.: sexual thoughts are usually repressed forming aggressive thoughts expressed in humor, satire ,and witticisms.

Analysis of Transference:Transference generally is a product of unfinished business with a

significant person from the client’s childhood. Clients commonly transfer their feelings, thought, and expectations about the significant other to the counselor. Counseling provides a stage for re-enacting unresolved conflicts with the counselor, who can help client’s deal with them in more effective and functional ways.

Transference relationships can become a real battle ground when love feelings directed toward the counselor are rejected and the client in turn rejects the counselor by resisting his every effort to be helpful.

Counter transference occurs when the counselor begins to view a client as someone other than a client. In such case referral to another professional is recommended.

Analysis of Incomplete Sentences:This procedure maybe especially useful in acquainting counselors with

children and in establishing better rapport with those who are anxious, fearful or reluctant to talk: ex:

-The things I like to do the most is

-The person in my family who helps me the most is

-My friends are

-I feel saddest (or happiest) when

-When I grow up, I want

-My teacher is

-I wish my parents would

-Mom is

Biblio counseling: That is reading and discussing books about children similar to themselves; it can help clients in several ways. Those who are unable to verbalize their thoughts and feelings, may find themselves in books.

Directed reading can lead to expressions of feelings, attitudes, behavior, or environment:

1. Teaches constructive and positive thinking.

2. Encourages free expressions concerning problems.

3. Helping clients analyze their attitudes and behaviors.

4. Looking at alternative solutions.

5. Encouraging the client to find a way that is not in conflict with society.

6. Allows clients to see the similarity of their problems with those of others.

Biblio counseling is also a means of educating children about certain areas of concern such as physical disabilities, divorce, and deaths.

Storytelling:- Richard Gardner developed the mutual storytelling

techniques as a therapeutic means for working with children to help them understand or cope with their own thoughts and feelings and to communicate meaningful insights, values, and standards of behavior.

- The counselor sets the stage for the child and it is recorded. (The story should have :beginning, middle, end)

- The counselor clarifies same points of the story finished. - The counselor then prepares a similar story using a

similar theme, setting, and significant figures from the child’s story. However, he provides the child with better alternatives or responses to the situation.

Play Therapy: It is used to make the child feel at ease and the analyst discovers clues about his inner life(fantasies, dramatization, make-believe world ; it is a natural mode of communication for children who have limited verbal ability.

Play is first: the emergence and integration of the dissociated self states, symbols, and recognition.

Second: renegotiation of relationships with self and others. Goals: resolve fixations , regression, developmental deficiencies, and

other impediments to the child’s normal developement. From a Freudian view, play provides the medium for moving through

the five psychosexual stages and the corresponding development of the ego and super ego superstructures from the ID structure. Exercise of the pleasure principle, such as hitting, biting, pushing others, and doing what the child pleases gradually comes up against the reality principle, which tells the child that games have rules and that sometimes it is necessary and even best to postpone pleasurable act.

Psychoanalytic Therapy Process

General Principles

Help the client behave more effectively.

Provide feedback and confront discrepancies.

Negotiate with the client regarding homework assignments.

Remind the client of the termination date.

End therapy as agreed upon with the client.

Schedule follow-up as needed.

Psychoanalytic Therapy Process

Limitations

Doesn’t take all the client’s needs into consideration. (e.g. sometimes clients have a need to be alone or regress.)

Psychoanalysis isn’t for everyone and it is still long in duration compared to more brief theories.

The writings of some psychoanalytic theorists (Freud and Jung In particular) are technical and hard to read.