Chapters 9 Psychoanalytic Theories

Question 1

What is a theory

Answer 1

A model that counsellors use as a guide to hypothesize about the formation of possible solutions to a problem.

Question 2

What do theories help counsellors do?

Answer 2

Theories help counsellors:
organize counselling data
make complex processes coherent
provide conceptual guidance for interventions
help determine what you see in counselling

Question 3

Five Requirements of a good theory

Answer 3

1. Clear, easily understood and communicable
   It is coherent and not contradictory
2. Comprehensive. It encompasses explanations for a wide variety of phenomena
3. Explicit and heuristic. It generates research because of its design.
4. Specific in relating means to desired outcomes. It contains a way of achieving a desired end product (pragmatic)
5. Useful to its intended practitioners. It provides guidelines for research and practice.

The ultimate criterion for all counselling theories is how well they provide explanations of what occurs in counselling.

Question 4

What is the importance of theory

Answer 4

Theory is the foundation of good counselling.
Challenges counsellors to be caring and creative
Without theoretical backing, counsellors operate haphazardly in a trial-and-error manner and risk being ineffective and harmful.
assists counsellors in predicting, evaluating and improving results.

Question 5

Boy & Pine point out six functions of theory that practically help counsellors. What are they?

Answer 5

1. Find unity and relatedness within the diversity of existence
2. compels counsellors to examine relationships they would otherwise overlook
3. give counsellors operational guidelines by which to work and help them evaluate their development as professionals
4. helps counsellors focus on relevant data and tells them what to look for
5. helps counsellors assist clients in the effective modification of behaviour
6. helps counsellors evaluate both old and new approaches to the process of counselling it is the base from which new approaches are constructed.

Question 6

eclectic

Answer 6

Use various theories and techniques to match clients needs - with an average of 4.4 theories making up therapeutic work with clients. (60-70% identify as eclectic)

Question 7

Style-shift counselling

Answer 7

As needs change, counsellors depart from a theory that are using to another approach.

e.g. a client who is not developmentally aware of his or her environment may need an approach that focuses on emotions, the body and experiences of the here and now.

Question 8

Pros & cons to eclecticism

Answer 8

Pro: ability to draw on various theories, techniques and practices to meet client needs
con: eclectic approach can be hazardous to counselling process if the counsellor is not thoroughly familiar with all aspects of the theories involved.

Question 9

Three levels of eclecticism according to McBride and Martin

Answer 9

1) syncretism - sloppy, unsystematic process of putting unrelated clinical concepts together
2) traditional - incorporates an orderly combination of compatible features from diverse sources into a harmonious whole - more thought out than syncretism, and theories are examined in greater depth
3) theoretical integrationism - requires that the counsellor master at least 2 theories before trying to make any combinations. Different from traditional in that no mastery of theory is expected in traditional
4) technical eclecticism - arnold Lazarus and his multimodal approach to counselling, assessing the 7 elements of a clients experience. The idea that techniques not theories treat clients

Question 10

Theortetical Integrationism

Answer 10

Requires that the counsellor master at least 2 theories before trying to make any combinations.

problem with this is that it assumes equality between theories which may not be true

Question 11

Arnold Lazarus and technical eclecticism

Answer 11

a Multimodal approach which assesses what lazarus calls the seven elements of a client’s experience. summarized in BASIC ID
B - behaviour
A- Affect
S- Sensations (hearing smelling touching etc)
I - Imagery
C - Cognitions (beliefs and values)

I - Interpersonal Relationships
D - Drugs (concerns about health, including drug use, fitness or diet)

Procedures from different theories are used without necessarily subscribing to the theories that spawned them.

Question 12

Cavanagh’s Approach to Eclectic Counselling

Answer 12

1) counsellors have a sound knowledge and understanding of counselling theories used
2) basic integrative philosophy of human behaviour that brings disparate parts of differing theories into a meaningful collage
3) flexible means of fitting the approach to the client and not vice versa

Question 13

Transtheoretical Model (TTM)

Answer 13

another eclectic approach.

Developmentally based and has been empirically derived over time

Alternative to technical eclectic approaches that tend to be inclusive to the point that various components are poorly held together. Direction focused and proposes five stages of change.

Allows for a macroscopic approach and personal adaptation rather than personal adjustment

Question 14

Five levels of change according to transtheoretical model (TTM)

Answer 14

1) Symptom/situation problems
2) maladaptive cognitions
3) current interpersonal conflicts
4) Family system conflicts
5) Intrapersonal conflicts

Question 15

psychoanalysis

Answer 15

Developer: Freud (Sigmund & daughter Anna)

View of human nature: Dynamic with the transformation and exchange of energy within the personality. People have a conscious, preconscious and unconscious mind

Role of the counsellor: expert. talk about whatever comes to mind, especially childhood experiences. client often lies down. transference is encouraged to help clients deal with subconscious material. Consellor interprets.

Goals: mainly focus on personal adjustment. become more aware of unconscious aspects of his or her personality to work through current reactions that may be dysfunctional. Also to work through a developmental stage that may be unresolved.

Question 16

conscious mind

Answer 16

attuned to an awareness of the outside world

Question 17

preconscious mind

Answer 17

contains hidden memories and forgotten experiences that can be remembered.

Question 18

unconscious mind

Answer 18

contains instinctual, repressed and powerful forces

Question 19

Frueds personality parts

Answer 19

Id - comprised of amoral basic instincts, operates according to pleasure-seeking

Ego-conscious decision-making “executive of the mind” operates according to the reality principle

Superego - the conscience of the mind that contains the values of parental figures and operates according to the moral principle

Question 20

ID

Answer 20

Id - comprised of amoral basic instincts, operates according to pleasure-seeking

Question 21

ego

Answer 21

Ego-conscious decision-making “executive of the mind” operates according to the reality principle

Question 22

Superego

Answer 22

Superego - the conscience of the mind that contains the values of parental figures and operates according to the moral principle

Question 23

Pscyoanalysis is built on psychosexual developmental stages which are:

Answer 23

1) oral stage - mouth is chief pleasure zone, gratification from biting and sucking
2) anal stage - delight in either withholding or eliminating feces
3) phallic stage - zone of pleasure is sex organs and both sexes must work through their sexual desires
4) latency period - energy focused on peers and personal mastery of cognitive and physical skills
5) genital stage - if all has gone well each gender takes more interest in the other and normal heterosexual patters of interaction appear.

Question 24

defense mechanisms

Answer 24

a way of coping with anxiety on the unconscious level by denying or distorting reality

Question 25

Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms

Answer 25

Repression - unconscious - repress painful thoughts and memories
Denial - preconscious or conscious -deny or refuse to accept problems
Regression - less mature way of behaving under stress
Projection - attributes thoughts, motives or feelings to someone else
Rationalization - intellectual reason to justify a certain action
Reaction formation - behaves in a manner opposite of how he or she feels, acting nice to someone you really dislike for example.
Displacement - redirecting the emotional response to a safe target rather than the person connected with their feelings.

Question 26

Techniques of Psychoanalysis

Answer 26

Free Association, Dream Analysis, analsyis of transference, analysis of resistance, interpretation

Question 27

Dream analysis

Answer 27

Freud believed that dreams were a main avenue to understanding the unconscious. Saw dreams as an attempt to fulfill a childhood wish or to express unacknowledged childhood desires.

Clients are encouraged to dream and remember dreams. Pay attention to two aspects:
1) manifest content (obvious meaning)
2) latent content (hidden but true meaning)

Question 28

Strengths & Contributions of Psychoanalysis

Answer 28

• Emphasizes the importance of sexuality and the unconscious in human behaviour
• lends itself to empirical study, it is heuristic, has generated a tremendous amount of research
• provides theoretical base for a number or diagnostic tools
• continues to evolve and recently emphasized adaptive processes and social relations
• effective for those who suffer a wide variety of disorders - narcissism, ocd, character disorders, anxiety, phobias, sexual difficulties
• stresses importance of developmental growth stages

Question 29

Limitations of Psychoanalysis

Answer 29

• Time consuming and expensive
• does not lend itself to working with a variety of clients . Clients tend to be middle aged men and women wanting to overcome futility and find meaning in life.
• claimed almost exclusively by psychiatry
• approach is based on many concepts that are not easily communicated or understood (id, ego, superego) Overly complicated terminology
• Deterministic - freud attributed limitations to women as a result of gender
• does not lend itself to most individuals who seek professional counselling, it is most appropriate for people with major adjustment difficulties or want to explore the unconscious

Question 30

Adlerian Theory

Answer 30

Focuses on Social interests as well as purposefulness of behaviour and importance of developing a healthy style of life. Also known as individual psychology

founder: Alfred Adler

Differed from Freud in that freud saw the importance of biological drives as primary motivating force and Adler saw the importance of subjective feelings and social interests and primary motivation. His theory is more hopeful.

emphasized birth order, family atmosphere and 3 main life tasks (society, work, sexuality)

Question 31

Individual Psychology

Answer 31

emphasize the holistic indivisble nature of people. (adlerian psychology)

Question 32

Human Nature according to Adlerian theory

Answer 32

People are motivated by social interest (being connected to society with an active interest and empathy with others and a willingness to contribute to the social good).

People with social interests take responsibility for themselves and others and are cooperative and positive about their mental health.

Those who are failures, including neurotics, psychotics, and criminally oriented, are failures because they lack social interest.

Adler holds conscious aspects of behaviour rather than unconscious is central to the development of personality. People strive to become successful through a process called striving for perfection. Each person initially feels inferior, if this is not overcome, they will have an inferiority complex - if not unchanged it becomes the basis for the way they define themselves. Can overcompesnate with a superiority complex (neurotic fiction)

Question 33

Inferiority complex

Answer 33

not overcoming the feeling of inferiority to others and letting it define the personality

Question 34

Superiority complex

Answer 34

overcompensating for an inferiority complex - neurotic fiction and is unproductive

Question 35

Role of Counsellor in Adlerian theory

Answer 35

Diagnosticians and teachers
model in the egalitarian relationships they establish with clients

assess by gathering information on family and clients memories.

counsellor shares impressions, opinions and feelings with the client and concentrates on promoting the therapeutic relationship

share hunches. directive.

Question 36

Goals in Adlerian Theory

Answer 36

Helping people develop healthy, holistic lifestyes.

educating about such lifestyles and helping to overcome feelings of inferiority.

Inappropriate forms of behaviour stopped

Client ultimately in charge of deciding whether to pursue social or self interests

Question 37

Techniques in Adlerian Theory

Answer 37

establishment of counselling relationship.

Counsellors develop warm, supportive, empathic, friendly and equalitarian relationship with clients.

Collaborative effort .

Counsellors actively listen and respond.

After relationship established, counsellor concentrates on analysis of clients lifestyle - including family constellation, early memories, dreams and priorities.

Look for themes from early childhood consistent with his or her present view of self/others and the world

Counsellors try to help clients develop insight especially by asking open-ended questions and making interpretations.

the counsellor must feel what it is like to be the client before zeroing in on reasons for clients present behaviours

Question 38

Specific Techniques in Adlerian Theory

Answer 38

• Confrontation - challenges client to confront their own private logic.
• Asking “The Question” - what would be different if you are well
• Encouragement - implies faith in a person, state their belief that change is possible, key to making life style choices in learning and living
• Acting “As if” - client acting as if they are the persons they want to be. The ideal person they see in their dreams
  *Spitting in the client’s soup - points out certain behaviours to clients and thus ruins the payoff of the behaviour.
• Catching oneself - clients learn to become aware of self-destructive behaviours or thoughts
• Task Setting - clients initially set short-range attainable goals and eventually work to long-term realistic goals
• Push button - clients are encouraged to realize they have choices about what stimuli in their lives they pay attention to. Creat the feelings they want by concentrating on their thoughts. Pushing a button in that clients can choose to remember negative or positive experiences.

Question 39

Strengths and contributions of Adlerian Thoery

Answer 39

1) fosters an egalitarian atmosphere, rapport & encouragement are valued. Educational orientation and optimistic outlook.
2) Versatile over the lifespan - Play therapy up through all ages and segments of society
3) useful in treatment of disorders including conduct, antisocial anxiety, affective of personality disorders
4) contribute to other helping theories and to the public knowledge of human interactions - many of Adlers approaches have been integrated to other theories
5) can be employed selectively in different cultural contexts

Question 40

Limitations of Adlerian Theory

Answer 40

*lacks a firm supportive research base
*vague in regard to some terms and concepts
*may be too optimistic about human nature and neglects the unconscious
* may not work with all cultures because of the democratic family structure ideal i.e. traditional Arab Americans
*relies heavily on verbal erudition, logic, insight and may be limited with clients that are not intellectual.

Question 41

Jungian Theory

Answer 41

Includes synchronicity, archetypes, collective unconscious, introversion, extraversion…main point of counselling was to help people indidivuate - become whole through becoming increasingly conscious of unconscious images

Founder: Carly Jung

View of Human Nature: positive view of human nature, people are predisposed to make a positive difference in the world. Included personal and collective unconscious

Question 42

personal unconscious

Answer 42

analogous to Freud’s concept of the unconscious mind, which can be accessed through dreams, free association, active imagination and exploration of all 3, one can learn to understand his or her archetypes.

Question 43

collective unconscious

Answer 43

ancestral warehouse of archetypes, myths and symbols that are inborn and represent universal ways of seeing the world

Question 44

Archetypes

Answer 44

images of universal experiences contained in the collective unconscious. Example: mother, father, family, child, hero, maiden, wise old man, trickster, warrior, goddess

Question 45

parts of the personality, according to Jung

Answer 45

persona - mask one wears in public
shadow - negative aspect of ones personality
anima - feminine side of male psyche
animus - masculine side of female psyche

Question 46

dream interpretation according to Jung

Answer 46

causality - what caused the person to have this particular dream and purpose…what is the purpose? He believed the meaning of the dream was specific to the person having the dream - in contrast to Freud’s fixed interpretations.

Question 47

introvert

Answer 47

derived and replenished energy by focusing inward thereby becoming contemplative and aloof to varying degrees

Question 48

extravert

Answer 48

derived and replenished energy by focusing outward, thereby becoming outgoing, talkative, and friendly to varying extents

Question 49

Synchronicity

Answer 49

two related events that are not linked causally occur at about the same time. e.g. a man dreams that his mother dies and the next day it happens. Or a friend calls at the exact moment we were thinking about them.

Question 50

Role of the counsellor in Jungian Theory

Answer 50

help clients uncover their archetypes and symbols through dream work, free association, active imagination and to make the unconscious conscious. Become aware of all aspects of self, including the shadow, and clients learn to integrate and accept these aspects.

Question 51

Goals of Jungian Theory

Answer 51

bring conscious and unconsciou aspects of one’s psyche into blanace, facilitating individuation.

psychological symptoms occur when the psyche is fragmented, unbalanced, ill-adapted to reality

Question 52

Techniques of Jungian Theory

Answer 52

a) explication
b) amplification
c) active imagination

Question 53

4 Stages of Jung’s analytical Treatment according to Hill

Answer 53

1) confession - release problems and emotions
2) explanation - consciousness raising new possiblities
3) education
4) tranformation

Question 54

Strengths and contributions of Jungian Theory

Answer 54

Mystical and spiritual
appeals to therapists and clients who value dream interpretation and use of imagination
first to suggest differences in personality (introversion/extraversion)
MBTI came from theory

Question 55

Limitations of Jungian Theory

Answer 55

Many have trouble with Jung’s theory

unscientific

what makes his theory attractive to spiritual leaders makes it unattractive to scientist practitioners, including psychologists

unavailable and unaffordable to many