M1: Additional Readings Flashcards
What is the focus on emotion principle proposed by Shelder
Helping the person articulate their emotional life and experiences they may have not paid attention to.
What are the 7 principles of psychoanalytic psychology according to the video with Shelder
- focus on emotion
- study the avoidance
- identify themes
- focus on development
- focus on relationships
- focus on the the therapy relationship itself
- exlore fantasy life
What does the principle, STUDY THE AVOIDANCE, emphasize?
Understanding why there is avoidance of an issue to help the person become aware of it.
What is the focus of the principle FOCUS ON DEVELOPMENT according to Shelder?
Looking at the past to understand the present without dwelling on it.
What is the concept of Unconscious Mental Life?
It involves avoiding certain thoughts because they are threatening or dissonant.
Psychoanalytic theory works to expand awareness in the “here and now” to increase freedom and choice.
Is psychoanalytic therapy focused on uncovering repressed memories?
False
It’s about gaining mindfulness in current experiences.
What does Shelder mean by using psychological difficulties as past solutions?
That current issues patients are facng arise from old coping mechanisms that are no longer effective.
People continue using outdated coping mechanisms because they’re familiar, even when they don’t work anymore!
What does inner conflict mean?
holding conflicting feelings or thoughts, creating inner dissonance.
Ex. having hateful and loving feelings towards someone.
Ambivalence and conflict are terms for these inner contradictions.
We may try to resolve conflict by excluding certain feelings from conscious awareness, but they still “leak out” (like driving with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake).
Psychoanalysis introduced the concept of inner conflict (which is universal to all psychological struggles)
How does the past influence the present in psychoanalytic therapy?
We view the present through the lens of past experiences!
Psychoanalytic therapy tries to “loosen the grip” of past expereinces to create new possibilities in the present.
What is transference?
The client projecting past relational templates (ex. from caregivers, relationships, etc.) onto the therapist.
Understanding transference and countertransference (therapist’s emotional reactions) is central to psychoanalytic therapy - these patterns help identify and address underlying issues!
What are defense mechanisms?
Actions taken to avoid facing unsettling thoughts or feelings.
What does resistance refer to in psychoanalytical therapy?
Defensive processes that impede progress in therapy.
People may resist therapy because change threatens their psychological equilibrium (homeostasis).
What is the technique of Free Association?
Encouraging patients to express thoughts without judgement to reveal unconcious and deeper connections!
Ex. using free association to discover a woman is binge eating because she feels her husband doesn’t deserve a thin wife - a symptom connected to deeper feelings about her marriage.
What is Psychic Determinism?
The idea that no mental event is random; everything has a cause.
Psychoanalytical theory feels that everything has meaning linked to broader experiences, memories, and thoughts.
What does therapy as a collaborative process mean?
Psychoanalytic therapy is done WITH the patient, not just TO them.
The therapeutic relationship is where transference, defenses, and other dynamics are explored.
Why is therapist self-reflection important?
To prevent their own defenses from interfering with patient care.
What does PDM attempt to characterize?
An individual’s full range of functioning
PDM aims to improve understanding of the brain’s functioning and development.
What is PDM based on?
Current neuroscience, treatment outcome research, and other empirical investigations
PDM integrates findings from various fields to inform its framework.
What does framework formulated from the PDM systematically describe?
Healthy and disordered personality functioning, individual profiles of mental functioning, and symptom patterns
These components help clinicians understand a patient’s mental health comprehensively.
What does PDM add to existing diagnostic systems?
A needed perspective that allows clinicians to describe and categorize personality patterns and unique mental profiles
This includes considering both biological and psychological origins of mental health.
What is the rationale for the PDM?
To address limitations in mental health capacities and the complexity of mental functioning
This includes recognizing that observable symptoms alone (like the DSM) do not capture the full picture.
What is problematic about the categorical way of defining mental problems?
Reliability and validity for many disorders are not as strong as desired; symptom patterns are often described without understanding internal experiences
This leads to an incomplete diagnosis and treatment plan.
What does PDM aim to change about the DSM process?
It aims to include a full description of the patient’s internal experience of symptoms
This is crucial for effective therapeutic outcomes.
What has research shown about psychodynamic models?
They are more predictive of outcome than any designated treatment approach!
Therapies rooted in the DSM usually have short-lived results and often cause re-addmission later.
Demonstrates the effectiveness of understanding patient dynamics in therapy.
How does PDM approach mental functioning?
It uses a multidimensional approach, starting with personality patterns, then mental functioning profiles, and finally considering symptom patterns
This comprehensive method is designed to capture the complexity of mental health.
What is the focus of Dimension 1 in PDM?
Personality Patterns & Disorders (P AXIS)
Placed 1st because symptoms cannot be understood without an understanding of the patient’s mental life.
This dimension assesses the person’s functioning from healthier to more disordered AND how the patient organizes mental functioning and engages in world.
What does Dimension 2 of PDM assess?
Mental Functioning (M AXIS)
This includes a deep description of emotional functioning and mental capacities like information processing and self-regulation.
What does Dimension 3 of PDM start with?
DSM-IV-TR categories
It then describes affective states, cognitive processes, and relational patterns associated with each category!
It approaches symptom clusters with descriptors.
Dimension 3 presents systom patterns in terms of the patient’s personal experience of their difficulties.
True or False: PDM focuses solely on symptom patterns without considering personal experiences.
False
PDM emphasizes the patient’s personal experience of their difficulties.
