Chapter 14: Early Approches To Psychotherapy: Psychodynamic and Client-Centered Perspectives Flashcards
Psychoanalytic theory
foundation of Sigmund Freud’s psychotherapy; it forms the basis for psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
psychodynamic approaches
What did psychoanalytic theory start with?
-treating hysteria
-hypnosis used: symptoms would disappear but client developed attachment to therapist
-Freud moved to free association (what comes to mind)
Psychic Determinism
a major assumption in Freudian theory
– Expressed through mundane behavior, bizarre behavior, dreams, slips of the tongue
– All behavior is meaningful and goal directed
– These are unconscious, unknown to consciousness
– Problems arise from unconscious motivations
• Therapist (analyst) uncovers unconscious mind
Types of instincts
-Life
-Death
What are instincts
Instincts provide unconscious energy for human functioning
Life instincts (Eros)
initiate positive constructive
behavior
Death instincts (Thanatos)
destructive behavior
• Freud: All behavior is instinctual
Personality structures
Personality composed of three basic structures:
• Id: deep, inaccessible, urges immediate
gratification; obeys pleasure principle
• Ego: executive; organized, rational and obeys
per reality principle
• Superego: develops from ego during childhood
when Oedipus complex is resolved
Psychosexual Stages
Person goes through psychosexual stages,
marked by focus on an erogenous body zone
– Oral stage: 0–1 year; satisfaction through mouth
– Anal stage: 6 months–3 years; attention on excretion
– Phallic stage: 3–7 years; source of gratification are
sexual organs
– Latency: 5–12 years; period of sexual calm – Genital stage: adolescence to adulthood; matureexpression of sexuality; all conflicts resolved
Defense mechanisms
Are unconscious pathological ego defenses to resolve conflicts between id and superego
Repression
basic ego defense preventing offending
material from reaching consciousness
Fixation
remaining in present level of psychosexual
stage
Regression
returning to a prior gratifying stage
Reaction Formation
expression of opposite behavior
Projection
attribution of expressed feelings to
another
Dream analysis
Dreams are “royal road to the unconscious”
(Freud, 1955)
• Ego defense mechanisms relaxed during sleep
• Expressed through two levels of dream content
Manifest content
actual description of dream
Latent content
underlying meaning of dream
– Is unacceptable to consciousness; needs to bedisguised
Interpretation of psychoanalysis
Uncovering findings of free association and
dream analysis that client kept away from
consciousness
Resistance of psychoanalysis
Defense mechanism resist involuntarily as
defiant behaviors
– Disagreeing with the analyst, being late for therapy sessions, missing them entirely, evading some topics
Transference
falling in love with analyst
• Countertransference: Analyst’s conflicts get
transferred onto client
– Attraction or anger toward client
– Clinicians to work through own conflicts for benefit of therapy
– Brings client’s unconscious thoughts to
consciousness
– Discussed and resolved; promote change
– Important part of psychoanalysis
Countertransference
Analyst’s conflicts get
transferred onto client
– Attraction or anger toward client
– Clinicians to work through own conflicts for benefit of therapy
Interpersonal psychotherapy
successful for those with depression and suicidal ideation
Who came up with client centered therapy
Carl Roger’s
phenomenological theory
-Basic human urge is to preserve and enhance
phenomenal self, experience of “I”
– Psychological problems arise when this is threatened,
or in danger
– A threat for one person may not be a threat for
another
– An individual’s experience best known to him/her,
making them best information source for self
– Verbal self-report is primary source of information
Self-actualization
is a human tendency
- The fulfillment of one’s talent and potential producing a forward movement of life, on which therapy relies
What are the major features that
characterize client-centered therapists?
Empathy
• Convey to clients
a sense of being
understood by
being sensitive to
feelings, needs,
circumstances
• Creates strong
client–therapist
bond
Unconditional Positive Regard
• Respect for clients as human beings
• Sets aside preconceived notions
• Conveys trust to clients of ability to achieve inner
potential
• No place for evaluative judgments
• Atmosphere conducive for client’s personal
growth
Congruence
• Also known as genuineness
• Therapists communicate genuine feelings about
client
\• They express feelings, not judgments
• Clients respond favorably to honesty and
congruence
Research indicates:
– Less effective than CBT
• Change from client-centered therapy more from common factors than specific ones
• An association between self-actualization and psychological well-being
• Client-centered therapy is associated with distress reduction, increase in well-being
• Specific problems, depression, relationship and interpersonal difficulties, appear to respond to client- centered approaches
