Clinical Psychology - Psychodynamic/Humanistic

Question 1

id

Answer 1

The id is present at birth, and its life (sexual) and death (aggression) instincts are the primary source of psychic energy. It operates according to the pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification of its instinctual needs using unconscious irrational means.

Question 2

ego

Answer 2

The ego develops at about six months of age and operates according to the reality principle. Although it also seeks to at least partially gratify the id’s instincts, it attempts to do so in realistic rational ways.

Question 3

superego

Answer 3

the last aspect of personality to develop. It represents the internalization of society’s values and standards and acts as the conscience. It attempts to permanently block (rather than gratify) the id’s instincts.

Question 4

Freudian defense mechanisms

Answer 4

The defense mechanisms deny or distort reality and operate on an unconscious level, and they include repression, denial, reaction formation, projection, and sublimation:

Question 5

Repression

Answer 5

is the basis of all other defense mechanisms, is involuntary, and involves keeping undesirable thoughts and urges out of conscious awareness.

Question 6

Denial

Answer 6

is an immature defense mechanism that involves refusing to acknowledge distressing aspects of reality. Methods of denial include ignoring, distorting, and rejecting reality.

Question 7

Reaction formation

Answer 7

involves defending against an unacceptable impulse by expressing its opposite,

Question 8

projection

Answer 8

involves attributing an unacceptable impulse to another person

Question 9

sublimation

Answer 9

involves channeling an unacceptable impulse into a socially desirable (and often admirable) endeavor.

Question 10

the process of analysis consists of four steps

Answer 10

(1) Confrontation involves helping clients recognize behaviors they’ve been unaware of and their possible cause. (2) Clarification brings the cause of behaviors into sharper focus by separating important details from extraneous material. (3) Interpretation involves explicitly linking conscious behaviors to unconscious processes. (4) Repeated interpretation leads to catharsis (the experience of repressed emotions) and insight into the connection between unconscious material and current behavior and then to working through, which is a gradual process during which the client accepts and integrates new insights into his/her life.

Question 11

Jung’s personal unconscious

Answer 11

consists of a person’s own forgotten or repressed memories,

Question 12

Jung’s collective unconscious

Answer 12

consists of memories that are shared by all people and are passed down from one generation to the next. The collective unconscious contains archetypes, which are universal thoughts and images that predispose people to act in similar ways in certain circumstances. They’re expressed in myths, symbols, and dreams and include the persona, shadow, hero, and anima and animus.

Question 13

Jung’s individuation

Answer 13

occurs primarily during the second half of life and is “the process by which a person becomes a psychological ‘in-dividual,’ that is, a separate, indivisible unity or whole”

Question 14

Adler’s style of life

Answer 14

to describe the ways in which a person strives for superiority and proposed that a person’s style of life develops during early childhood. According to Adler, people have adopted a healthy style of life when their goals reflect not only concerns for personal achievement but also for the well-being of others. In contrast, they’ve adopted a mistaken (unhealthy) style of life when their goals focus on overcompensating for feelings of inferiority and reflect a lack of concern about the well-being of others.

Question 15

object constancy

Answer 15

which refers to the development of mental representations (introjects) of the self and objects that allow the individual to value an object for reasons other than its ability to satisfy the individual’s needs.

Question 16

The normal autistic stage of object constancy

Answer 16

occurs during the first few weeks of life. During this stage, infants are totally self-absorbed and unaware of the external environment.

Question 17

the normal symbiotic stage of object constancy

Answer 17

during which infants become aware of the external environment but are unable to differentiate themselves from their caregivers.

Question 18

separation-individuation stage of object constancy

Answer 18

begins at about five months of age and continues until the child is about three years old. It consists of four substages during which object constancy gradually develops: differentiation, practicing, rapprochement, and beginning of object constancy.

Question 19

Introjection in gestalt therapy

Answer 19

occurs when people adopt the beliefs, standards, and values of others without evaluation or awareness,

Question 20

projection in gestalt therapy

Answer 20

occurs when people attribute undesirable aspects of themselves to other people

Question 21

Retroflection in gestalt therapy

Answer 21

occurs when people do to themselves what they’d like to do to others

Question 22

deflection in gestalt therapy

Answer 22

occurs when people avoid contact with the environment

Question 23

confluence in gestalt therapy

Answer 23

occurs when people blur the distinction between themselves and others.

Question 24

Normal (existential) anxiety in existential therapy

Answer 24

is in proportion to an objective threat, does not involve repression, and can be used constructively to identify and confront the conditions that elicited it and motivate positive change

Question 25

neurotic anxiety in existential therapy

Answer 25

is disproportionate to an objective threat, involves repression, and keeps people from reaching their full potential.

Question 26

success identity in reality therapy

Answer 26

When a person chooses to fulfill his/her needs responsibly (in positive, constructive ways that don’t infringe on the rights of others), the person has adopted a success identity

Question 27

failure identity in reality therapy

Answer 27

when a person chooses to fulfill his/her needs irresponsibly (in negative, destructive ways that infringe on the rights of others and do not always help the person get what he/she wants), the person has adopted a failure identity.

Question 28

PERMA model in positive psychology

Answer 28

Positive emotions (P) refers to experiencing pleasure, hope, gratitude, love, and other positive emotions. Engagement (E) refers to being truly engaged in situations or tasks and is characterized by being in a state of “flow” – i.e., a state of being totally immersed in an activity accompanied by a high level of joy and sense of fulfillment. Relationships (R) refers to having positive and meaningful interpersonal relationships. Meaning (M) refers to being dedicated to a cause that’s bigger than oneself. And accomplishment-achievement (A) refers to striving to better oneself and accomplish one’s goals.

Question 29

personal constructs in personal construct therapy

Answer 29

which are bipolar dimensions of meaning (e.g., fair/unfair, friend/enemy, relevant/irrelevant) that arise from a person’s experiences and may operate on an unconscious or conscious level.

Question 30

Freudian Psychoanalysis

Answer 30

Freudian psychoanalysis reflects a deterministic and pessimistic view of human nature that views current psychological problems as being due to unconscious unresolved conflicts that arose during childhood. It also assumes that these conflicts cause anxiety and are the result of the divergent demands of the three aspects of personality – the id, ego, and superego. The main goals of Freudian psychoanalysis are “to make the unconscious conscious and to strengthen the ego so that behavior is based more on reality and less on instinctual cravings and irrational guilt”

Question 31

Jung’s Analytical Psychology

Answer 31

The primary goal of analytical psychotherapy is to bring unconscious material into consciousness to facilitate the process of individuation

Question 32

Adler’s Individual Psychology

Answer 32

He also proposed that people are motivated by feelings of inferiority that arise during childhood in response to real or imagined inadequacies and by a striving for superiority to overcome inferiority feelings. The primary goal of Adlerian psychotherapy is to replace the client’s mistaken style of life with a healthier, more adaptive one by helping the client overcome feelings of inferiority and develop a stronger social interest.

Question 33

Object Relations Theory

Answer 33

Therapies based on object relations theory view behavior as being motivated primarily by a desire for human relationships, and they focus on the impact of early relationships between a child and primary caregivers (objects) on the child’s future relationships.The primary goal of object relations therapy is to provide clients with a corrective reparenting experience in order to replace the client’s maladaptive introjects with more adaptive ones and thereby improve his/her current relationships.

Question 34

Roger’s person centered therapy

Answer 34

based on the assumption that all people have an innate drive toward self-actualization, which motivates them to achieve their full potential. According to Rogers, the drive toward self-actualization can be thwarted when a person experiences incongruence between his/her self-concept and experience. The primary goal of person-centered therapy is to help the client become a “fully functioning person” who is not defensive, is open to new experiences, and is engaged in the process of self-actualization.

Question 35

Gestalt therapy

Answer 35

Gestalt therapy is based on the assumptions that (a) people are motivated to maintain a state of homeostasis, which is repeatedly disrupted by unfulfilled physical and psychological needs, and (b) people seek to obtain something from the environment to satisfy their unfulfilled needs in order to restore homeostasis. Gestalt therapists consider gaining awareness of one’s current thoughts, feelings, and actions to be the curative factor in therapy.

Question 36

Existential therapy

Answer 36

These therapies emphasize personal responsibility and choice and are based on the assumption that “each person must ultimately define his/her personal existence” The primary goal of therapy is “to help clients lead more authentic lives … by assisting them in taking charge of their life, helping them choose for themselves the values and purposes that will define and guide their existence, and supporting them in actions that express these values and purposes”

Question 37

Reality therapy

Answer 37

proposes that people have five basic innate needs (love and belonging, power, fun, freedom, and survival) and that the ways a person chooses to fulfill his or her needs determine whether he/she has a success or failure identity. The primary goal of reality therapy is to replace the client’s failure identity with a success identity by helping the client assume responsibility for his or her actions and adopt more appropriate ways to fulfill his or her needs.

Question 38

Positive psychology

Answer 38

“is about valued subjective experiences: well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the past); hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present)”

Question 39

Personal construct therapy

Answer 39

personal construct therapy focuses on how people construe (perceive, interpret, and anticipate) events. It proposes that there are alternative ways of doing so and that people can change the way they construe events to alleviate undesirable behaviors and outcomes.