Post-Freudian Theories

Question 1

What are the three main Freudian notions of personality?

Answer 1

The id, ego and superego

Question 2

Explain the Freudian Id.

Answer 2

The id is the ‘impersonal’ part of personality. It is biological and operates on fulfilling and satisfying basic urges, needs and desires.

Question 3

Explain the Freudian Ego.

Answer 3

The ego is our conscious sense of self. Our self-aware decision making processes.

Question 4

Explain the Freudian Superego.

Answer 4

The superego is the ethical component of one’s personality and is concerned with right and wrong, good and bad. It also focuses on what is ‘ideal’.

Question 5

What part of Freudian personality does Post-Freudian theory tend to put emphasis on?

Answer 5

Currently, there is a focus on the ego rather than the Id. This focus has brought about the field of Ego Psychology.

Question 6

Do Post-Freudian theories focus on drives or relationships?

Answer 6

Post-Freudian theories focus on relationships, as highlighted through object-relation theory.

Question 7

What is a Post-Freudian development in psychology associated with relationships?

Answer 7

Attachment theory, which focuses on mentalisation and theory of mind.

Question 8

What is Neuropsychoanalyis?

Answer 8

Neuropsychoanalysis uses neuroscientific methods to study people and their personalities.

Question 9

What plays a central role in the theory of Ego psychology?

Answer 9

In ego psychology, the ego plays a central role, but id theory is still accepted but not emphasised.

Question 10

What does ego psychology focus on?

Answer 10

It focuses on the ‘here and now’ as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the ego’s function.

Question 11

What are three major theories that have steamed from this field in psychology?

Answer 11

• Anna Freud theory of the ego and mechanisms for defense
• Erik Erickson’s theory of stage development. It examines ego development throughout the lifespan.
• Heinz Hartmann’s theory regarding the ego’s functions and adaption

Question 12

Briefly describe Hartmann’s theory of personality.

Answer 12

Hartmann developed a theory of personality in which the ego drives or control’s the id. It has a greater focus on conscious processes and on normal, rather than pathological development.

Question 13

What is the function of the ego in Hartmann’s theory?

Answer 13

The ego’s function is to adapt a person’s internal needs to their environment.

Question 14

What are the main differences concerning the ego between Freud’s theory and Hartmann’s?

Answer 14

Unlike Freud, Harmann’s suggests we are born with an ego, which has innate capacities that allow for adaptation to an individuals environment.

Freud never outlined an ideal or healthy ego in his theory. In Ego psychology, a healthy ego is considered to be a conflict-free sphere, where one may act without conflict or judgement.

Question 15

What is one of the main critiques of ego psychology?

Answer 15

Many people question the ego’s motivation and it’s decision-making processes.

Question 16

How do therapy and ego psychology interact? What are the goals of therapy?

Answer 16

Therapy would involve strengthening the go by aligning internal and external pressures.

Question 17

What has the ego been viewed as most recently?

Answer 17

The ego has been viewed as a biopsychological processing system.

Question 18

Briefly describe object-relational approaches to personality.

Answer 18

These theories focus on relationships and the mind, with the idea of the ‘object’ being anything that a person may use to satisfy a drive, including food, love and objects.

Our early relationships shape the mind and personality.

Question 19

Describe the cupboard love theory.

Answer 19

A key theory within object-relational approaches claims that a child forms a relationship with their caregivers because they provide them with gratification and protection.
Here their parents become their objects.

Question 20

What was Fairburn critical of in his object-relational approach?

Answer 20

Fairnburn was critical of biological psychology and rejected the notion of the id, the impersonal drive.

Question 21

Briefly explain Fairburn’s approach.

Answer 21

He claimed that the ego was the source of motivation rather than the id. He also believed that the libido/sex-drive as object seeking. This means that people want relationships with objects, not simply to just use the object to gratify an impulse.

Question 22

What did Fairburn believe personalities primary aim was?

Answer 22

He classified the primary aim of personality was to form relationships.

Question 23

What did Fairburn classify as a central ego? Describe it.

Answer 23

Fairburn thought we were all born with an ego, which he termed the central ego.
The central ego attempts to build relationships with caregivers, however, if it is rejected it may lead to wider issues.

Question 24

Using Fairburn’s model, explain the process of being rejected as a child.

Answer 24

As a result of being rejected and experiencing repression, a child may deny their own needs, causing their central ego to spilt into a libidinal-ego (which is very needy) as well as an anti-libidinal ego or internal saboteur which rejects their own neediness.

Question 25

What does Fairburn believe will happen if the anti-libidinal ego attacks the libidinal ego?

Answer 25

Schizoid states can arise which is characterised by the abandonment of all relationships.

Question 26

What view of our parents does Fairburn think we hold?

Answer 26

We maintain a subjective perception of our parents in our own mind.

Question 27

What are fragmented ego and internal objects in terms of object relations theory?

Answer 27

Object relations theory is based on the dynamic interplay of an individual’s unconscious internal object relations with their current personal experiences.

Question 28

What do fragmented ego and internal objects focus on as a theory?

Answer 28

It is largely intrapersonal, focusing on one’s internal processes.

Question 29

What is mentalisation?

Answer 29

The capacity to understand ourselves and others in terms of mental states.

Question 30

What does mentalisation and object relations theory tell us?

Answer 30

Relationships are essential in understanding our own mind, and other’s minds.

Question 31

What is the intersubjective origin of self?

Answer 31

We find our own minds int the mind of our caregivers.

Question 32

What is mirroring and what is its purpose?

Answer 32

Mirroring is the behaviour where non-verbal cues are copied from one person to another,
For children, it helps organise their experience and know what is being felt.
Eg. Anxiety, fear, joy

Question 33

What does mirroring help develop?

Answer 33

• The development of subjectivity

- The development of self-object differentiation

Question 34

Describe containment.

Answer 34

Containment involves the presence of another being who not only reflects the infant’s internal state but re-represents it as a manageable image, as something that is bearable and can be understood.

Question 35

What is containment vital for?

Answer 35

Containment is important in the development of self-regulation.

Question 36

What is the deficit model of psychopathology and mentalisation?

Answer 36

That is where there is a caregiver insensitivity. As a result, the child has a fear of abandonment and it impairs their mentalisation.

Question 37

What are some deficits that can be experienced, if mentalisation is lacking?

Answer 37

• Deficits in processing social-emotional information
• Deficits in self and identity regulation
• Self-object confusion
• Deficits in affect regulation

Question 38

What is one abnormal psychological diagnosis that could be explained in terms of the deficit model of mentalisation?

Answer 38

Borderline Personality Disorder (DSM VI)

• Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment
• Unstable and conflicted interpersonal relationships characterised by alternating between extremes of idealisation and devaluation (‘splitting’).
• Identity disturbances (unstable self-image)
• Impulsivity
• Affect instability (including intense anxiety and anger)

Question 39

What does mentalisation therapy focus on?

Answer 39

Focuses on the here and now and encourages patients to understand the way in which they think and others think..

Question 40

What is the therapists ‘purpose’ in this type of therapy?

Answer 40

The therapist becomes an object of mirroring and takes a mentalising stance for the patient to copy/understand.

Question 41

Explain how mentalisation therapy works?

Answer 41

Through the process of therapy, the patient finds out about themselves by exploring how the therapist mirrors emotions.

Question 42

Does research support mentalisation therapy?

Answer 42

After 5 years of mentalisation therapy, suicide attempts, hospital visits and medication use decreased rapidly.