Lecture 5: Psychoanalysis Flashcards
what are 2 common beliefs about psychoanalysis
1) our experiences/actions are influenced by unconscious psychological processes
2) these unconscious processes are kept out of awareness to avoid psychological processes
explain fantasies and their function
they play an important role in psychic functioning and in regulating self-esteem/affect, feelings of safety and mastering trauma
explain the difference between primary and secondary processes
in primary processes, there is no distinction between the past/present/future, its a raw/primitive form of psychic functioning (normal in infants
in secondary processes, psychic functioning is associated with consciousness and it is logical, sequential and rational
explain defense as a concept and 4 forms of it
defense = intrapsychic process to avoid emotional pain by pushing things out of awareness
- intellectualization = talking about something threatening but keeping an emotional distance from the feelings
- projection = attributing a threatening feeling/motive onto another person
- reaction formation = denying a threatening feeling and claiming the opposite
- splitting = (Kleinian theory) when the “good” image of someone is in danger of being contaminated with negative feelings, you may split the representation of the other in two –> ability to integrate both good/bad parts is a developmental achievement
explain transference
transferring templates from the past (relationships) onto the present situation, Freud believed this was a way of providing opportunity to understand how past relationships are influencing present emotions
explain the shift from one-person to two-person psychology
one-person = therapist is neutral/objective and patient projects transference onto them
two-person = both the therapist and the client are co-participants who have mutual influence at both conscious and unconscious levels
give the three kinds of theories of personality
- conflict theory
- object relations theory
- developmental arrest models
explain conflict theory
personality differences can be understood as resulting from underlying core wishes and characteristic styles of defense to manage these
explain object relations theory
internal representations (= internal objects) influence the way you perceive others/choose people around you/shape relationships
explain developmental arrest models
psychological problems arise from parents not being able to provide “good enough”/optimal environment; infant starts to believe mother will satisfy every wish, when this eventually fails they develop false self which allows them to maintain relatedness but also protect themselves, can eventually make them feel alienated from themselves
explain optimal disillusionment
when needs are sufficiently gradually dissatisfied so the infant accepts limitations without being traumatised
what are 6 important aspects of psychoanalytic psychotherapy
- therapeutic alliance = strength depends on goal/task agreement and quality of the bond
- transference = provides opportunity for therapist to help client gain insight into how experiences with others in the past have resulted in unresolved conflicts that influence current relationships
- countertransference = counterpart of therapist to client’s transference (result of own unresolved conflicts) –> these days; totality of the therapist’s reactions to the client
- resistance = resisting change/undermining therapeutic process
- intersubjectivity = dialogue between client/therapist produces a new product (analytic dyad)
- enactment = process of collaborating to see how both contribute to scenario’s (enactments) allows client to see how their relational schemas contribute
what are 6 mechanisms of psychoanalytic psychotherapy
- making the unconscious conscious
- emotional insight = combining the conceptual with the affective so it has an impact on the client’s daily functioning
- creating meaning and historical construction = explaining the symptoms and link it to childhood dysfunction, can make client become more accepting/tolerant towards self
- increasing and appreciating the limits of agency = more understanding into connections between symptoms and own contribution to them which leads to increased sense of agency
- containment = attending to own emotions (as therapist) and cultivate ability to tolerate/process painful/disturbing feelings in a non-defensive manner
- rupture and repair = transitions from coordinated to uncoordinated states and back happen often, understanding how to work through misunderstandings/disruptions
what are 4 processes of psychotherapy
- empathy
- interpretation; convey info that’s outside of the client’s awareness
- clarification, support and advice
- termination
what are 6 tools for listening
- Anxiety; where is anxiety, resistance and defence –> at which moments in speech is something left out to talked over, where are things avoided by laughing/cheap words etc
- Identification; with what words and images does the patient identify, where do they come from, are they in conflict with lust, fantasies, etc
- Transference; how does it develop, how does the patient position the therapist and vice versa, what fantasies and desires transpire in the unconscious, to what extent to memories and experiences from the past recur
- Associations; what associative chains develop, what kind of associative paths can you hear, where does someone make a slip or unintended associative move
- Desire; where does desires appear and disappear, can we recognise it in speaking, what happens to it
- Repetition; what is being repeated in the words, phrases, interpersonal situations or therapeutic relation
