Module 6: Classical and Contemporary Psychoanalytic Theories Flashcards
Most psychologists describe their therapeutic approach as electric. What does this mean>
Means that they incorporate techniques from diverse theoretical schools
What are 2 key assumptions that psychoanalysts tend to make?
- Maladaptive behaviours stem from unconscious and unresolved conflicts from the patient’s childhood
- All behaviours are meaningful for understanding the unconscious (aka psychic determinism)
What are 3 important ways that modern psychoanalysis differs from the early approaches (i.e., Freud)?
- More collaborative and emphasizes the importance of therapeutic alliance
- Often time-limited and focus on a particular problem
- Analyst is more active and contributes more to helping the patient resolve their problem
Dr. Otto Kernberg contends that there are 4 components that define the psychoanalytic technique:
- Interpretation
- Analysis of transference
- Analysis of countertransference
- Technical neutrality
Interpretation generally focuses on…
defence mechanisms
Interpretation can involve 3 things:
Clarification
- analyst asks questions to clarify the patient’s perspective on their conscious experience
Confrontation
- the analyst highlights nonverbal components of the patient’s behaviour bringing them into the patient’s conscious awareness
Interpretation
- analyst shares a hypothesis about the patient’s behaviour
When the client repeats or “plays out” conflicts about their past with the analyst
Transference
What tends to predominate during transference?
Defence mechanisms
The analyst’s reactions to the patient and what they are saying and/or doing
Countertransference
Countertransference is influenced by…
What is going on in the patient’s and analyst’s lives
Remaining neutral with respect to the patient’s internal conflicts; not imposing own values or ideas; analyst acts as a mirror that reflects back the patient’s assumptions, behaviours, etc.
Technical neutrality
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development is based on the concept of epigenesis which is the assumption that:
development happens in clearly defined, sequential stages
Erikson proposed that when people successfully resolve a psychosocial task, they emerge from the stage with a ___________. If they do not successfully resolve a psychosocial task they emerge with a ________________ or a ___________________
virtue; malignancy; maladaptation
What stage (aka psychosocial task) characterizes age 0-2? What is the associated virtue, significant relationship, existential question, and examples?
Trust vs. Mistrust
Virtue: Hope
Relationship: Mother
Existential question: Can I trust the world?
Examples: Feeding, abandonment
What stage (aka psychosocial task) characterizes age 2-4? What is the associated virtue, significant relationship, existential question, and examples?
Autonomy vs. Shame
Virtue: Will
Relationship: Parents
Existential question: Is it ok to be me?
Examples: Toilet training, dressing oneself
What stage (aka psychosocial task) characterizes age 4-5? What is the associated virtue, significant relationship, existential question, and examples?
Initiative vs. Guilt
Virtue: Purpose
Relationship: Family
Existential question: Is it okay for me to do, move, and act?
Examples: Exploring, using tools, making art
What stage (aka psychosocial task) characterizes age 5-12? What is the associated virtue, significant relationship, existential question, and examples?
Industry vs. Inferiority
Virtue: Competence
Relationship: Neighbours, school
Existential question: Can I make it in the world?
Examples: School, sports
What stage (aka psychosocial task) characterizes age 13-19? What is the associated virtue, significant relationship, existential question, and examples?
Identity vs. Role confusion
Virtue: Fidelity
Relationship: Peers, role models
Existential question: Who am I? What can I be?
Examples: Social relationships
What stage (aka psychosocial task) characterizes age 20-24? What is the associated virtue, significant relationship, existential question, and examples?
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Virtue: Love
Relationship: Friends, partners
Existential question: Can I love?
Examples: Romantic relationships
What stage (aka psychosocial task) characterizes age 25-64? What is the associated virtue, significant relationship, existential question, and examples?
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Virtue: Care
Relationship: Household, co-workers
Existential question: Can I make my life count?
Examples: Work, parenthood
What stage (aka psychosocial task) characterizes age 64+? What is the associated virtue, significant relationship, existential question, and examples?
Ego integrity vs. Despair
Virtue: Wisdom
Relationship: Humankind
Existential question: Is it ok to have been me?
Examples: Reflection on life
Malignancies occur when…
a person receives too little of the positive aspect of the task and too much of the negative aspect
Which is worse, malignancies or maladaptations?
Malignancies
Maladaptations occur when…
a person receives too much of the positive aspect of the task and too little of the negative
Freud believed that there were strong innate forces that provided all the energy in the psychic system and he called these forces __________
instincts
Freud developed two instincts:
Libido (life) instinct and Thanatos (death) instinct
Freud contended that most symptoms of mental illness are caused by unconscious motivations. Hysterical symptoms for example, did not occur by chance, rather they were physical expressions of repressed traumatic experiences. What is this called?
Psychic determinism
Freud’s Anna O case study demonstrates:
the “talking cure”
Bringing a traumatic memory into conscious awareness removes the symptoms associated with it