Psychodynamic approaches Flashcards
what are the great demotions?
Copernicus- Earth isn’t centre of universe
Darwin- homo sapians aren’t special biologically
Freud-dethroned our rationality (the motivations that drive our behaviour are unconscious, base and irrational
outline the psychodynamic arguement
Psychopathology results from unconscious conflicts in the individual
personality and psychological disorders are the outcome of a dynamic interaction among mental structures
Emphasises the role of internal mental processes and early childhood experiences
outline the structure of the human mind
1) The conscious mind.
2) The pre-conscious mind: stored info recallable to consciousness.
3) The unconscious mind: A reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories.
the structure of the psyche
Id- primary process thinking
Ego- Characterized by “secondary process thinking” – the development of strategies for solving problems and obtaining satisfaction.
Superego
what is compramise formation
is a key task of the ego - to find a balance between the key demands of motivation, morality, and practicality.
what is the motivated unconcious
Society does not allow the free expression of all our sexual and aggressive instincts:
Incest; Hatred towards siblings, parents, or spouses; Memories of childhood traumas
One way to control these urges is to keep them from entering conscious awareness in the first place.
what did freud say on capragas delusion?
somone close to them replaced with imposter
Enoch and Ball (2001): Capgras delusion resolves ambivalent feelings of love and hatred towards a spouse or close relative.
Capgras & Carette (1924): Capgras delusion represents an attempt to veil forbidden incestuous desires (e.g., a young woman’s incestuous desires for her father).
what were the 3 types of anxiety identified by Freud
Freud A causal role in most forms of psychopathology
Objective Anxiety - Fear of danger from real world - Level is proportionate to degree of threat
Neurotic Anxiety - Fear that instincts will get out of hand and cause someone to do something which they will be punished for
Moral anxiety - Fear of one’s own conscience (e.g., feeling guilty when you do something against your moral code)
is anxiety concious or unconcious process?
Freud argued that objective anxiety was conscious whilst Neurotic and Moral anxiety are unconscious so your ego needs defence mechanisms to protect the mind from this.
outline some important defenece mechanisms identified by freud
repression- Blocking threatening material (impulses, ideas, memories) from consciousness
“Fainting represents… the most massive denial, the refusal or inability to remain conscious in the face of a threat
displacement- Discharging pent-up feelings on safer targets than those arousing the feelings.
Projection-Attributing one’s own unacceptable impulse or action to another. We can then condemn them instead of condemning ourselves
reaction formation- Expressing the exact opposite of an unacceptable desire.
regression -Retreating to an earlier developmental level involving less mature behaviour and responsibility.
undoing- A repetitive action that symbolically atones for an unacceptable impulse or behaviour.
compensation-Making up for feelings of inferiority or perceived limitations developing other positive traits.
sublimation-Channeling frustrated sexual or aggressive energies into different areas, particularly more socially acceptable or even admirable areas (e.g., sport, art, charity).
humour-Dealing with unpleasant ideas and situations with wit and self-deprecation.
outline what Freud said on humour
-Freud: jokes allow the expression of impulses ordinarily held in check, especially aggressive and sexual impulses.
Nevo and Nevo (1983) asked high school students to write funny captions to pictures. The students “used Freud’s techniques as if they had read his writings.” i.e. the students’ responses were filled with aggressive and sexual themes.
outline basically what the stages of psychosexual development is
The emergence of the ego and superego are associated with five stages in personality development.
Each is characterized by a dominant mode of achieving libidinal (sexual) energy. Erogenous zones = bodily areas which are chief focus of pleasure.
If a child fails to resolve a conflict at a particular stage, he or she may get stuck in that stage or become fixated, resulting in a corresponding adult character type.
Each successive stage represents a more mature mode of obtaining sexual gratification.
outline the psychodynamic influence of phobias
Phobias result when unconscious anxiety is displaced onto a neutral or symbolic object (Freud, 1909).
“Little Hans” - developed a horse phobia after seeing a horse fall to the ground and writhe around violently.
Freud – fetishism originates in the (male) child’s horror of castration.
The fetishistic object as a symbolic substitute for the mother’s missing penis
what is the first psychosexual stage, erogenous zone and issues if not fixed?
The Oral stage (birth 18 months).
Erogenous zone: mouth, lips and tongue (sucking, swallowing, exploring objects with the mouth).
Key conflicts are associated with issues of dependency on others. Fixated = alcoholism? Eating disorders? Smoking?
what is the 2nd psychosexual stage? erogenous zone and issues if not fixed?
The Anal stage (18 months 3 years).
Erogenous zone: anus-buttocks region. Child obtains pleasure from first expelling faeces and then, during toilet training, from retaining faeces.
Key conflicts are associated with issues of self-control.
Fixated Anal-retentive: organised, controlled, rigid,
obsessive-compulsive, stingy
Anal-expulsive: disorganised, messy, overly generous
what is the third psychosexual stage, erogenous zone and issues if not fixed?
The Phallic stage (3-5 yrs).
Erogenous zone: genitals.
Key conflicts: The Oedipus and Electra Complexes. Castration anxiety, penis envy.
Sexual desire for opposite-sex parent (and desire to eliminate same-sex parent).
Resolution: identification with same-sex parent and development of superego.
what is the fourth psychosexual stage, erogenous zone and issues if not fixed?
The Latency stage (6 12 years).
Sexual motivations channelled (sublimated) into age-appropriate interests and activities such as sports and hobbies
what is the fifth psychosexual stage, erogenous zone and issues if not fixed?
The Genital stage (puberty adulthood).
Individual driven by two basic motivating forces: sex and aggression.
Healthy individuals release this energy through socially appropriate channels: sexual intercourse with age-appropriate adults, sports, career progression etc.
Outline the goals of Psychoanalytic Therapy
Goal
Insight, the bringing into conscious awareness of formerly unconscious material.
Sufficient for curing psychological disorders.
outline psychoanlaytic therapy tools
Interpretation, suggesting hidden meanings to patients’ accounts of their lives.
Psychoanalysts must overcome resistance of patient.
Neutrality, a distant stance to minimise therapist’s personal influence.
Facilitates transference, whereby patients transfer their feelings about people in their life onto the analyst.
outline transfereance and counter transfereance
Analysts use the transference to aid interpretations, must avoid reacting as the real figure would.
Must also be on guard for countertransference, where their own feelings influence their responses.
(Counter)transference
- Idealization: You are the best.
- Invitation to rescue: Only you can help me.
- Acting the helpless child.
- Naughty behaviour: being late, not turning up, lack of adherence.
- Seeking approval.
what are malan triangles?
Developed to represent transference in psychotherapy
Defence,anxiety, hidden feelings/impulse= triangle of conflict
others, therapist, parents = triagnle of persons
what did freid believe were windows into the unconcious?
Free association- client verbalises whatever comes to mind without censoring. Goal is to reveal unconcious desires
Slips of tongue - the little ‘accidents’ of daily life are often expressions of the motivated unconscious, such as calling someone by the wrong name, missing an appointment, or breaking something that belongs to another.
Nothing actually happens by accident—instead, there is a reason behind every act, thought, feeling, and utterance.
Dreams- Dream analysis - the Royal Road to the unconscious.
outline how dreams revela the unconcious
Dreams- Dream analysis - the Royal Road to the unconscious.
Manifest content.
Latent content.
Relaxation of censorship.
Dream work – the process by which the brain censors dreams.
give a strnegth to freud
+ Revolutionary
Freud’s theories have had a major influence on generations of theorists and on popular culture.
give limitations to freud
-Influence
Some would argue he is more influential outside of psychology (e.g., in literature and film) than within it.
For example… Star wars -> Lack of mother figure for luke, the role falls upon Leia who Luke is also romantically interested in before finding out she is his sister.
Also, lightsaber, phallic symbols, issue with father, castration anxiety, “the force” = libido C3PO= super ego and R2D2= id 86% of classes on psychoanalysis are taught outside of psychology departments (e.g., English, Philosophy, Cultural Studies).
Why?
-Unscientific
A rich source of theorizing – but weak on science?
Universal theory of human behaviour based primarily on observations of wealthy, educated Viennese women.
Freud recorded his interpretations rather than describing actual behaviour.
-Falsifiability
Karl Popper – falsifiability is what distinguishes scientific from unscientific theories.
For a theory to be falsifiable, there must be conceivable empirical outcomes/observations that would prove it to be false.
The criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutability, or testability.
Einstein- No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.
Sexism: Women essentially castrated men thus develop weaker superegos and have weaker moral character
Dubious therapeutic value of psychoanalysis
outline how parisomy limits Freud and give an example
-Parsimony
Freud’s theory convoluted rather than frugal and economical.
E.g. Why do boys take on the values of their fathers?
Parsimonious: Young boys look for guides in the world and choose the most obvious and prominent - their fathers.
Freud: Young boys sexually desire their mothers, but worry that their fathers will castrate them in punishment, so they identify with their fathers in order to vicariously enjoy the mother and lessen the threat from the father.
Schreber believed he suffered from plague, his brain was softening, and that he had no stomach or intestines. He developed the paranoid belief that his psychiatrist, Flechsig, was the cause of all this torment.
Freud (1911): Schreber had unconscious homosexual feelings for his father.
These feelings displaced onto Flechsig (“Schreber loves Fleschig”).
Then projected onto Flechsig (“Flechsig love
Schreber”).
Then transformed from feelings of love into hatred (“Flechsig hates Schreber”).
Outline ISTDP
Intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP
Intensive: aims to help the patient fully experience warded-off feelings
Short-term: tries to achieve this experience as quickly as possible
Dynamic: involves working with unconscious forces and transference feelings
sumerise the pros and cons of Psychodynapic
Pros: Innovative (revolutionary!), rich, insightful. Enduring contributions include insights about unconscious motives and conflicts, importance of early childhood experiences, psychological defences.
Cons: Far-fetched, overly sexualized, sexist and unscientific (unparsimonious and unfalsifiable)
