Psychotherapy Flashcards
What is repression?
Unacceptable ideas, memories and thoughts pushed into the unconscious
What are paraprexes?
Return of repressed materials that slips out as words during conversation
What gives us clue to the unconscious?
Paraprexes
Dreams
Free association
What are dreams made up of?
Unconscious mental matter
Residues from the day
Stimuli experienced during sleep
What does dream work do?
Turns latent content into manifest content
Processes of dream work
Condensation
Diffusion/Irradiation
Displacement
Symbolic representation
What happens in condensation
Two or more unconscious impulses are combined into a single image.
What happens in diffusion?
One unconscious impulse is represented by several images
What happens in displacement in dream work?
Energy invested in one object or idea gets transferred to another
What happens in symbolic representation?
Innocent or less highly charged image is used in place of something that is potentially overwhelming
According to Freud, why did the mind develop?
To manage our instincts
What leads to anxiety according to Freud?
Pressure that arises from our two instincts pressing to be fulfilled
What does the Topographical model consist of?
Unconscious
Preconscious
Conscious
What does the unconscious contain?
Repressed memories, sensations, impulses
What governs the unconscious?
Pleasure principle
What characterises the thinking in the unconscious?
Primary process thinking
Defies logic
Not restricted to reality
What characterises the conscious?
Secondary process thinking
Bound by time and space
What does the preconscious do?
Maintains a repressive barrier than censors unacceptable wishes and desires
What are the aspects of the structural model of the mind?
Id
Ego
Superego
What is the Id?
Full of the instinctual aspects of the individual, unconscious
What is the ego?
Executive organ of the mind, linked with reality
What is the superego?
Internalised morals and values
Psychosexual stages of development
Oral
Anal
Phallic/Oedipal
Genital
What age does the oral stage occur?
0-18 months
What age does the anal stage occur?
18 months - 3 years
What age does the Oedipal stage occur?
3-5 years
What is the focus of the infant in the oral stage?
Mouth and sucking
What can fixation on oral phase lead to later in life?
Alcoholism
Excessive eating
What happens in the anal phase?
Infant becomes able to control the function of the anal sphincter.
What does the term anally retentive mean?
Sense of power and control
What happens if fixation on the anal phase continues into adulthood?
OCD
What becomes of interest in the oedipal stage?
Genitals
What occurs once the oedipus complex is resolved?
Formation of the superego with introjection of parental values
Name some Neo Freudians
Melanie Klein
Carl Jung
Winnicott
Fairbairn
What did Melanie Klein propose?
Aggressive and destructive forces were central components of early development
What positions did Melanie Klein introduce?
Paranoid-schizoid
Depressive
What happens in the paranoid-schizoid position?
World is split into good/bad
Infant has destructive feelings and thoughts about a bad mother and fear that the bad mother will punish the infant (paranoid).
One way for the infant to deal with this is by retreating and cutting off (schizoid)
What happens in the depressive position?
Once an infant is able to integrate good and bad and see the mother as having both qualities, the infant may feel guilt
Who founded the school of Analytic Psychology?
Carl Jung
What are archetypes part of?
Collective Unconscious
What are archetypes?
Representational images of universal symbolic meaning
What does the personal unconscious consist of?
Complexes
What are complexes?
Sets of ideas and feelings triggered by interpersonal interactions
What is anima?
Unconscious feminine aspect of a man
What is animus?
Unconscious masculine aspect of a woman
What did Winnicott suggest?
Child’s psychological development occurs in the transitional zone - between reality and fantasy.
What is Winnicott’s theory of multiple self organisations?
Parental control and impositions can lead to development of a false self different from the real self
What is the transitional object?
AN object invested with special meaning given to an important person (mum) but which is under the childs control
What is a good enough mother?
A mother who adequately fulfils her caring role but who allows for gradual disillusionment, helping the child develop independence
What is holding according to Winnicott?
The affective disposition of the therapist which helps in restraining oneself from retaliating in negative transferences
Who created the concept of containing?
Bion
What ic containing?
Cognitive capacity of the therapist to maintain objectivity and focus on selected facts during discourse
What did Fairbairn propose?
Libidinal, antilibidinal and ideal parts of an object, extended to the ideal self
What is psychic determinism?
The idea that developmental psychopathology is the source of adult life difficulties.
What do psychodynamic therapies emphasize?
Idiosyncrasy
Uniqueness of an individual
What are the three parts of the therapeutic relationship?
Therapeutic alliance
Transference
Countertransference
What is the therapeutic alliance?
Unwritten implicit contract between doctor and patient
What types of issues may occur in the process of psychotherapy and establishment of therapeutic alliance?
Continuity
Acting in
Acting out
What is continuity?
Not immediate threat of termination but may affect progress
What is acting in?
Enactment within a session
What is acting out?
Enactment outside the session
Examples of continuity
Absence
Lateness
Breaks
Impasse
Examples of acting in
Physical contact
Persistent questions
Presents/gifts
Silence
Examples of acting out
Suicide
Self injury
Alcohol and drug abuse
What is interpretation?
Expression of therapists understanding of the meaning of feelings, attitudes, defense mechanisms and behaviours exhibited during therapy.
Importance of interpretation
Sheds light on an unconscious process in the patient, making it accessible to the conscious mind
What is transference>
Feelings, thoughts and attitudes given to a person in the present (e.g. therapist) that do not befit the person but originate from a person in the patients past
What does it mean that transference is bidimensional?
Includes replaying past experiences and seeking new relationship with the therapist
Is transference conscious?
No
Importance of transference
Can be considered a communication of a patients needs than cannot be expressed verbally
Factors that increase transference reactions
Vulnerable personality e.g. BPD features
Patients appraisal of being in a needy and vulnerable position
Frequent contact with therapist
What did Kohut divide transference into?
Mirroring
Idealizing
Twinship
What is mirroring transference?
Due to significant mirroring failures from parental figures. Child feels inadequate and compensates by being perfect.
How does mirroring transference occur in therapy?
Patient is in constant need of a therapist to assure their self-esteem
What is idealizing transference?
Poor self-esteem is not troublesome as long as the individual can be attached to a person with power.
Through the idealization of and identification with external objects, preservation of self-esteem is maintained
What is twinship transference?
Patient feels comfortable only when the self-object has the same thoughts, values and appearance.
What is countertransference?
The therapists’ spontaneous feelings and emotions that are evoked when they tune into the patients unconscious communication.
Importance of countertransference
Analysing countertransference can provide insight into a patients psychic state
What is resistance?
The means by which aspects of reality are rejected by the patient and are kept unconscious
What is repression resistance?
Patients difficulty in gaining access to certain ideas and emotions
What is transference resistance?
Patients unconscious wish to keep therapeutic relationship similar to past relationships.
What are termination reactions?
Temporary setbacks that occur when sessions enter termination phase due to dependence of patient on the therapist
What is negative therapeutic reaction?
When a step in the right direction may be followed by a backward step
What did Freud consider the negative therapeutic reaction was due to?
Thanatos and aggressive impulses
What is acting out in therapy?
Performing an action to express unconscious emotional conflicts via actions rather than words.
What is repetition compulsion?
When a person repeats a traumatic event.
What did Freud suggest repetition compulsion was a result of?
Id vs superego conflicts where Id overrides the superego and presents itself
What is working through?
Process of unlearning prior misconceptions and learning new constructions
Who suggested the term corrective emotional experience?
Franz Alexander
What is corrective emotional experience?
Processes that take place during therapy which give the patient an opportunity to reflect on past experiences and make necessary behavioural, cognitive or emotional changes to reduce ones difficulties
What is regression in psychotherapy?
Activation of parts of the persons personality which are usually hidden may occur.
What can trigger the use of a defence mechanism?
Anxiety about internal conflict over a wish or impulse
What do defence mechanisms help with?
Help manage interface between unconscious wishes/impulses and external reality
Who divided defence mechanisms into three groups?
Vaillant 1977
What are the three types of defence mechanisms?
Immature
Neurotic
Mature
What are the immature defence mechanisms
Acting out
Regression
Denial
Splitting
Idealisation and Denigration
Projection
Projective Identification
Why are immature defence mechanisms so named?
Frequently employed in infancy
What happens in acting out?
Unconscious wish or impulse is expressed
Who described the Psychotic defence mechanisms?
Melanie Klein
What are the psychotic defence mechanisms
Splitting
Idealisation and Denigration
Projection
Projective Identification
What happens in Idealisation and Denigration?
When splitting occurs, one side is idealised and the other denigrated
What is projection?
An unwanted aspect of oneself is located to the other
What is projective identification?
Projection is received and taken in by the other person to whom it is directed and they act as if it were their own quality.
What are the neurotic defence mechanisms?
Repression
Intellectualisation
Rationalisation
Reaction Formation
Undoing and magical thinking
Displacement
What happens in repression?
Unwanted aspects of internal reality are kept out of consciousness but patient may experience some emotions of the repressed memory
What happens in intellectualisation?
Focus on abstract, theoretical concepts and distancing from emotions
What happens in rationalisation?
Justification is made to explain away a thought or feeling which would rather be kept out of awareness