Problem 7 Flashcards
Sigmund Freud
Was a german neurologist who started psychological treatment of his patients
–> initiated Psychoanalysis
Psychological Treatment
Freud
Treatment of mental health problems consisting of conversations between the patient + therapist
- -> uses introspection + case studies
- -> alternative to medical + educational treatments
(Talking cure)
Psychoanalysis
Refers to the name given to Freuds theory + therapy, that is based on the idea that :
Peoples actions are controlled by their unconscious mind
–> provided a coherent theory of Psychopathology
Case study
Refers to the intensive study of an individual patient within the context of his/her own world + relations
- -> aims to understand + help the patient
- -> used by Freud
In which way differs Freuds interpretation of Introspection from Wundt’s + James’ view ?
According to Freud the patients don’t have access to their own conscious drives
- Therefore, the therapist has to be attentive to occasional slips during the conversation
- The therapists then has to reinterpret the contents of the introspection according to the psychoanalytic theory
Psychopathology
Refers to the scientific study of mental disorders
Neurologist
Physicians who were interested in the treatment of milder forms of mental problems outside the asylum
- -> specialists of the NS
- -> Charcot was a forerunner, Freud one of the first
Asylum
16th century
Institutions for the insane, modeled after prisons, later after hospitals
–> aim was to re-educate them as good, productive members of society
Cathartic method
Breuer
Method by which the patient was hypnotized then asked to try to recall the first time she had experienced a physical sensation like one of her symptoms
- -> revealed the long suppressed emotions
- -> used to treat hysteria
Hysteria
Refers to a condition of emotional distress often accompanied by physical symptoms for which no origin could be found
Pathogenic ideas
Refer to memories of emotionally charged experiences that have been somehow “forgotten” + placed beyond the reach ordinary consciousness
–> are disease-producing
Why did Freud + Breuer refer to many hysterical symptoms as “conversions” ?
Emotional energy is conversed into physical energy (symptoms)
Franz Brentano
Friend of Freud from medical school, that promoted “Act psychology”
–> introduced young freud to psychology
Ernst Brücke
Director of the Universitys physiological institute + founder of the “New physiology”
–> rejected vitalism + sought mechanistic explanations for all organic phenomena
–> Freud worked for him
Theodor Meynert
Was a brain anatomist + teacher of Freuds
–> supported Freud for a traveling grant to work for Charcot in Paris
Why did Freud eventually open his own practice to treat patients with hysteria ?
After returning from Paris and having worked with Charcot, many of his views/theories were frowned upon, even by his former mentor Meynert
–> he decided to augment his income this way and sought to find a more WIDELY APPLICABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR HYPNOSIS in the cathartic method
Pressure technique
Freud
- Patients lay on a couch with their eyes closed like for hypnosis but were awake
- Asked to recall earliest experiences of their symptoms
–> if they failed to get to pathogenic ideas
- Therapist presses hand on forehead + confidently assures that further memories will follow
Free Association
Freud
Encouraging patients to let their thoughts run free + treating everything the patients report as potentially significant even if it might seem unimportant
–> more developed version of “Pressure technique”
Overdetermination
Occurs when a single-observed effect is determined by multiple causes, any one of which alone would be sufficient to account for (“determine”) the effect
–> there are more causes present than are necessary to cause the effect
Repression
Is evidence for the fact that pathogenic ideas have not simply been “forgotten”, but were willfully but unconsciously repressed
Intrapsychic conflict
- Suffering from the symptoms + wanting to cooperate
BUT
- Resisting the treatment unconsciously, because the emotional pain coming with a successful treatment is too much to bear
–> slows down the progress of the treatment
Seduction theory
Freud
All hysterics must have undergone sexual abuse as children
Defenses
Symptoms function as defenses against the pathogenic ideas
–> symptoms are unpleasant but less anxiety arising thanks the pathogenic ideas themselves
Manifest content
Refers to the consciously experienced content of a dream
–> symbolizes the latent content, but in a “safe” way, with the images being less distressing
Latent content
Refers to the content that originally inspired the dream but which emerged in consciousness only after free association
–> dreamers will resist its uncovering, just like pathogenic ideas
Dream work
Refer to the 3 processes that transform the series of latent thoughts/ideas into manifest content, while asleep
a) Displacement
b) Condensation
c) Concrete representation
Displacement
Occurs when the psychic energy of the highly charged latent content is being displaced into the more neutral ideas of the related manifest content
Condensation
Refers to the idea that two or more latent thoughts sometimes “condense” onto a single manifest dream image
–> related to overdetermination
Concrete representation
Refers to the idea that the manifest content typically represents latent ideas by means of concretely experienced sensations/hallucinations
e.g.: real sounds, sights, feelings, etc.
Primary processes
Refer to the unconscious mode of thought
- -> characterized by the processes of the “Dream work”
- -> explains seduction theory
Secondary processes
Refer to the conscious mode of thought
Fulfillment of wishes
All dreams represent some element of the fulfillment of wishes
–> contained by the latent content, event when the manifest content seems the opposite of a wish fulfillment
What is are the differences/similarities between manifest dreams + hysterical symptoms ?
- Can both represent several unconscious ideas simultaneously with single images/symptoms
- Both give concrete representation to ideas through subjectively real sensory or physical experiences
- -> created uncosciously + involuntarily
BUT:
Dreams are stimulated by latent WISHES
Symptoms are stimulated by sexual MEMORIES
Oedipus complex
Freud
Refers to unconscious sexual desire, in young children, for the parent of the opposite sex and wish to exclude the parent of the same sex
- -> Universal, emerges at the age of 5
- -> never destroyed, just repressed
Polymorphous perversity
Theory that stated that an infant is born in a state, where he/she is capable of taking sexual pleasure from the gentle stimulation of any part of the body
–> one then develops erogenous zones
Erogenous zone
Areas where the infant experiences satisfaction + sensual pleasure
- Oral zone
- Anal zone
- -> begins with toilet training, finding pleasure in voluntary control over bodily functions - Genital zone
- -> as there’s fuller control over ones body
=> children go through these stages to become “civilized”, by learning to control their sexual drives
Latency stage
Characterized by positive feelings towards the same sex parent that dominate consciousness, facilitating a positive identification with the parent
- -> results from repressed Oedipus complex
- -> lasts until physical maturation of puberty
Freudian character types
Develop as a result of differing emphasis on the 3 stages, due to fixation
–> Oral, Anal, Genital character
Anal Character
Is orderly, parsimonious and obstinate
Oral character
Is interested throughout life in “oral” activities
ex.: eating, drinking, smoking
Genital character
Is relatively curious + competitive
Transference feelings
Patients tend to transfer attributes of important people from their past lives, that are implicated in their symptoms, onto the therapist
–> become part of the resistance, thus hinder therapeutic progress
Freuds Theory of Metapsychology
The human mind is constantly beset by 3 kinds of demands, that inevitably conflict with one another
–> the minds major function is to resolve the conflict
a) Instinct
b) External reality
c) Moral demands
Instinct/
Wish
Demand that arises from within the body, in biologically based urges
ex.: need for warmth, nourishment, etc.
External reality
Learning to manipulate the environment to
a) avoid physical dangers
b) obtain objects necessary to satisfy instincts
Moral demands/
Conscience
Impinges on the mind independently of instincts + external reality
–> conscience conflicts with both wishes + reality
ID
Refers to the repository of the unconscious impulses + energies from the INSTINCTS
Pcpt.-cs./
External perception system
Conveys information about the EXTERNAL REALITY to the mind
–> produces immediate consciousness + leaves behind memories
Superego
Refers to a separate agency within the psyche, which is where MORAL DEMANDS arise
Ego
Receives all the differing demands by the
a) external perception system
b) superego
c) ID
then sorts them out to achieve a sort of COMPROMISE among them
What are common Defense mechanisms ?
- Displacement
- Projection
- Intellectualization
- Denial
- Rationalization
- Identification
Projection
Occurs when one doesn’t directly acknowledge ones unacceptable impulses but reverses the bus by attributing them to someone’s instead
–> den Fehler bei jemand anderem suchen
Intellectualization
Impulse- and emotion-charged subject is directly approached, but in a strictly intellectual manner that avoids emotional involvement
Denial
Occurs when a person believes + behaves as if an instinct driven event had never occurred
Rationalization
Occurs when people act because of one motive but explain the behavior on the basis of another
ex.: spanking a child, then saying it was for its own good
What was Watsons attitude towards Psychoanalysis ?
Its was always paradoxical + ambivalent
–> first tried to explain in terms of the CONCEPT OF HABIT
Jungs association method + James habit theory
–> then in terms of classical CONDITIONING
“Little Albert”
–> then emerged as an ANTI-FREUDIAN, primarily to introduce Behaviorism
In which way did Freud influence Watsons work on Behaviorism ?
Some key concepts that he now describes as behavioristic had been assimilated from psychoanalysis into behaviorism
–> transference, dreams, wishfulfillment + the unconscious, etc were used to create own concepts
ex.: Theory of emotional development
Watsons “Little Albert” experiment in relation to Freud
Was inspired by Freuds ideas about emotional development of personality
–> but decided to use behavioral observations which to him were more scientific
–> confirmed Freuds prediction that affect can be transferred from one object to another
