Lecture 75: Models of the Mind Flashcards
High yield sentence about models of the mind:
Everything you say and do is filtered through your unique prior experiences, which themselves are constructed of conscious and unconscious templates and schemas that are accrued over a lifetime
Freud believed the adult mind is controlled by (2)
Unconscious life and childhood experiences
Id
It –> drives, pleasure principle, unconscious
Ego
I, me –> executive moderator, unconscious + conscious
Supergo
Above me –> morals, conscience, self-criticism, unconscious + conscious
Conflicting needs breaks down to…What do we need to do?
Approach (desire) vs avoidance (of pain); make choices/balance
Describe self homeostasis
What we do to avoid dissonance/emotional overload
Transference (def)
Transfer of past relationships onto someone/something in the present
Effects of transference on treatment (2)
Restrict patient’s responses/choice; alter judgement and insight of patient and doctor
T/F: Transference to medications exists
True! Placebo/nocebo effect
Countertransference
Pt’s affective/emotional cues activate associational networks in the doctor
Countertransference: Empathy
Doctor experiences patient’s feelings
Countertransference: Role responsiveness
Doctor experiences feeling similar to what other people in the patient’s life have felt in response to the patient
Defense mechanisms: psychodynamic model and definition
Self homeostasis; one’s mind unconsciously distorts or avoids certain perceptions/thoughts/feelings to preserve the self
Are defenses pathological?
Not necessarily, pathology is related to rigid use of limited defenses AND/OR immaturity of defenses
Repression (def: how it works)
Distressing mental contents may cause problem –> blocked from entering awareness –> reduced distress
Health markers of repression (2, broad)
Stress heart and immune system
Altruism as a defense…
To avoid guilty/distressing feelings of awareness of own satisfaction
T/F: Humor can be a defense
True
Suppression is unique in that…Definition:
It is the only CONSCIOUS defense mechanism; conscious pushing away a thought or feeling
Sublimation (definition and example)
Expressing unacceptable feeling or thought in an acceptable way (example: man with murderous impulse enters military)
Displacement (def)
Directing one’s feelings to a safer object/person (taking out)
Rationalization (def)
Offering acceptable reasons for why you do what you do or feel what you feel
Intellectualization (def)
Focus on abstract logic/thinking to minimize distressing feelings about an event
Isolation of an affect (definition and example)
Remaining aware of descriptive details of an event but losing connection with feelings about the event (example: trauma surgeon cutting off a leg)
Identification with the aggressor (definition and example)
Reversing the power roles so that you are not the object of the threat, end up making the threat (example: throwing away stuffed animals when Daddy doesn’t come home)
Reaction formation (definition and example)
Behaviors, thoughts, feelings are the complete opposite of your unconscious desires (example: being very nice to someone you don’t like)
Somatization (def)
Locating intolerable thoughts/feelings in the body
Immature defenses (7 and brief description)
Acting out (action not reflection), splitting (all-good, all-bad), projection (projecting feelings onto another person), projective identification (target of projection begins to take on what is projected), denial (dismissing obvious, difficult realities), withdrawal (retreating into one’s own world), dissociation (temporary changes in personality, memory, consciousness)
Characteristics of immature defenses
Distort reality and are global: all this or that, no mixed feelings
What is the extreme of splitting
Dissociation
Who uses defenses?
Everyone!
