Psychodynamics I & II Flashcards
The fundamental hypotheses of psychoanalytic theory includes psychic determinism and consciousness is an exceptional psychic process. Explain.
1) psychic determinism: everything has a meaning!
2) if consciousness can’t reveal why you have certain feelings/do certain things, then dig into your unconscious that is always there (asleep or awake) to find the answer
Explain the topographic models of:
1) conscious
2) pre-conscious
3) Unconscious
1) conscious: currently aware
2) preconscious: easily recalled
3) unconscious: repressed thoughts and feelings
define what freud meant by everyone is born with a libido
a life force that includes anything (sexual, aggressive) that makes you want to do something. Not only sexual!
List the 5 phases in psychosexual development and timeframe
1) Oral -birth –> 1 & 1/2 yrs: sucking, dependent (paradise!!)
in adults: enjoy food, chew gum, etc
2) Anal -1 & 1/2 –> 3 yrs: crawling/exploring, terrible twos, paradise is lost
in adults: neat, on time, correct, organized, careful w/ money, controlled
3) Phallic -3-5/6 yrs: called oedipal complex in boys and electra in girls, interested abt sex differences, and close to parent of opposite sex
4) Latency -6yrs - adolescents: will play/stick with their own gender (“cooties”)
5) Genital -adolescent –> adults: capacity for true intimacy
What is fixation and regression in terms of psychosexual stages of development?
fixation: extra investment of libido in one phase (phases: oral, anal, phallic, latency or genital)
regression: reversion to earlier phase under stress (seen in a lot of really sick patients)
Define ID, superego and ego and what determines personality.
ID -born w/ it like how you’re born with a libido; this has to do with FUN/GRATIFICATION/PLEASURE often manifested as “I want now”
Superego -starts developing it at 5 years old; this has to do with rules, morals, values often developed based on inputs from parents, teachers, societal norms, etc often manifested as “Thou shalt not”
Ego -always evolving/growing to develop an “I,” gets inputs from ID, superego and reality to determine what “I will do” defining personality
What happens when ego is under stress?
person can’t deal with it and develops anxiety which will be relieved by different ego defense mechanisms to decrease distress and make reality better, but these defense mechanisms are not necessarily good.
There are 4 levels of defense mechanism. Level 1 is the worst. Why? Level 1 involves which 3 delusions?
Level 1 defense mech known as Psychoitc mechanisms is the worst b/c it changes perception of reality. It’s common in healthy individuals before age five and common in adult dreams and fantasy
1) delusional projection: delusions abt external reality, usu of a persecutory type either perception of one’s feelings in another person and then acting on it or perception of other people or their feelings literally inside oneself (deveil is devouring my heart)
2) psychotic denial: delusion that you’re yourself, and that you’re someone else like Jesus Christ
3) Distortion: reshaping external reality to suit inner needs (e.g. delusional superiority, denial of personal responsibility for one’s own behavior)
In level 1 defense mechanisms, how does the affected person perceive himself? How does society perceive the person?
The affected individual will have altered reality while others will view the person as crazy
There are four levels of defense mechanism. What does level II involve? HOw does the affected person perceive himself and how does the beholder perceive the person?
Level II aka Immature mechanisms are common in healthy individuals ages 3-15 and are seen in personality disorders. The problem is the individual is asking “what should I do to force you to care about me?”
affected individual: alter distress due to the threat of interpersonal intimacy or loss
beholder find the individual socially undesirable
What are the 4 types of behaviors in level II defense mechanisms aka immature mechanisms?
1) Projection: attributing one’s own unacknowledged feelings to others that may lead to paranoid personality; this will forge a negative connection
2) somatiziation: somatic complaints w/o physical findings to get people to care for him due to feeling ignored; can result/manifest in hypochrondriasis; psychosomatic d/os
3) Acting out: don’t like how you’re feeling so do something else rather than feel; delinquent or impulsive act includes chronic use of drugs, failure, perversion or self-inflicted injury; can lead to antisocial personality disorder
4) Splitting: seeing ppl as ALL good or ALL bad; will quickly switch btw these 2 extremes; can lead to borderline personality disorder
There are four levels of defense mech. What is level 3? How does a person who use this feel; what about the person who is being done to feel?
Level III aka Neurotic defenses are common in healthy individuals ages 3-90 and in neurotic disorder and in acute stress.
the user: applying these defense mech will cause the user to alter private feelings or instinctual expression
the beholder: view them as quirks or “hang-ups”
List the 10 features of level III defense mech aka neurotic defenses
1) denial -unable to accept (commonest seen in med practice)
2) displacement -angry at someone, but take it out on someone else or something else that is a safer target; also seen in most phobias and have some prejudice
3) dissociation - temporary but drastic change of one’s character or of one’s sense of personal identity to avoid emotional distress (happens in acute rxn to trauma, more chronic is multiple personality d/o)
4) identification - unconscious patterning of one’s behavior after a powerful, influential person (extreme version is stockholm syndrome)
5) intellectualization - thinking abt instinctual wishes but not acting on them, use (seen in OCD)
6) Isolation of Affect - intellectural knowledge and understanding of a negative event w/o experiencing the feelings
7) rationalization -provide superficially reasonable accounts to explain away negative feelings
8) reaction formation -behaving opposite to an unacceptable instinctual impulse like loving a hated rival or duty, hating something you really like.
9) regression: appearance of child-like behavior during periods of stress
10) Undoing: protecting against a negative past event by acceptable corrective behavior
What are level IV mechanisms called? How is the user perceived? The beholder?
Level IV aka mature mechanisms are common in healthy individuals ages 12-90. Level 4 is good for you and society
user –> integrate reality, interpersonal relationships, and private feelings
beholder –> appear as convenient virtues
What are the 5 features of Level IV defense mechanisms?
1) altriusm
2) sublimation -ex. if you want to hurt ppl, you can invest in boxing classes so you’re not really hurting ppl; express anger thru playing video games, sports
3) anticipation - realistic anticipation of or planning for future inner discomfort
4) suppression -deliberately postponing but not avoiding
5) humor -overt expressions of ideas and feelings w/o individual discomfort or immobilization and w/o unpleasant effects on others
