Theories Flashcards
main assumptions of Freudian psychoanalysis
-Human behavior is motivated largely by unconscious processes.
-Early development has a profound effect on adult functioning.
-The goal of psychotherapy is to gain insight into the unconscious.
personality theory (Freud)
formed during childhood. Freud’s psychoanalytic system is a model of personality broken down into 3 components: id, ego, superego
id
follows the pleasure principle; based on instinct; satisfying biological needs; primary source of psychic energy; unconscious.
ego
follows the reality principle; in contact with the external world; controls and regulates the Id; protects from dangers of the environment. conscious
superego
conscious; represents moral goals of society; how to behave properly becomes internalized.
preconscious (can become conscious)
Freud’s developmental theory
emphasis on the sexual drives of the id; personality is determined due to experiences during the 5 predetermined psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital
oral stage
(first year of life): mistrust and rejection issues (depressive personalities per McWilliams); needs nurturance and gratification.
anal stage
(ages 1-3): personal power issues; needs independence and ability to express negative emotions.
phallic stage
(ages 3-6): unconscious desires for opposite-sex parent (later sexual attitudes) (i.e., Oedipal/Electra complex); needs assurance that they are competent/confident.
latency stage
(ages 6-12): a time of socialization; sexual interests are replaced by interest in school, friends, sports, etc.
genital stage
(ages 12-60): sexual energies are invested in life; sexual energy and engaging socially.
repression
an involuntary removal of threatening or painful thoughts/feelings from consciousness (forgotten).
reaction formation
used to keep threatening impulses from being expressed; form opposite attitude/behavior as protective barrier.
sublimation
channeling sexual/aggressive impulses into socially acceptable activities.
displacement
redirection of feelings on to a more acceptable or “safer” object.
denial
protect self from unpleasant realities by denying they exist.
rationalization
try to justify behavior as logical or rational to make acceptable.
projection
blaming others for one’s own problems or attributing one’s own unacceptable impulses to others.
regression
reverts to earlier stage of development.
introjection
internalization of the beliefs/values of other people into self.
psychopathology in psychodynamics
stems from unconscious, unresolved conflict that occurred during childhood.
goal in psychodynamic therapy
bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness.
techniques in psychodynamic therapy
-Primary technique: analysis
-Techniques: free association, dreams, resistances, transference, confrontation, clarification, interpretation, working through, countertransference.
trust vs mistrust (erikson)
(first year): basic physical and emotional needs are either met or not met; success in this stage leads to the virtue of hope (infancy).
autonomy vs. shame and doubt (erikson)
(1-3): basic struggle is between a sense of self-reliance and a sense of self-doubt; child’s capacity to deal with the world successfully is hampered if parents promote dependency; success in this stage leads to the virtue of
will (early childhood)
initiative vs guilt (erikson)
(3-5): basic task is to achieve a sense of competence; if children are
given freedom to select personally meaningful activities, they tend to develop a positive view of self and follow through with their projects; if they are not allowed to make their own decisions, they tend to refrain from taking an active stance and allow others to choose for them; success in this stage leads to the virtue of purpose (preschool age).
industry vs. inferiority (erikson)
(6-12): child needs to expand understanding of the world; continue to develop an appropriate gender-role identity and learn the basic skills
required for school success; basic task is to set and attain personal goals; success in this stage leads to the virtue of competence (school age).
identity vs role confusion (erikson)
(12-18): a time of transition between childhood and adulthood; a time for testing limits, breaking dependent ties, and establishing a new identity; major conflicts center on clarification of self-identity, life goals, and life’s meaning; success in this stage leads to the virtue of fidelity (adolescence).
intimacy vs isolation (erikson)
(18-35): developmental task at this time is to explore relationships that lead to long-term commitments; success in this stage leads to the virtue of love
(young adulthood).
generativity vs stagnation (erikson)
(35-60): there is a need to go beyond self and family and be involved in helping the next generation; a time of adjusting to the discrepancy between one’s dream and one’s actual accomplishments; success in this stage leads to the virtue of care (middle age).
integrity vs despair (erikson)
(60+): a time when individuals reflect back on their life and whether they have achieved their goals; if we see our lives as unproductive, feels guilty about our past, or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied
with life, often leading to depression and hopelessness; success in this stage leads to the virtue of wisdom (later life).
general information about Adler’s psychotherapy (teleological approach)
-All behavior is purposeful and motivated by an individual’s future goals (teleological approach).
-Therapy is viewed as teaching, informing, and encouraging.
-The therapeutic relationship is looked at as a collaborative partnership.
inferiority feelings (adler)
can be normal; are usually the cause of all improvements; we strive for superiority.
inferiority complex (adler)
maladaptive attempts to compensate for abnormal inferiority feelings; preoccupation with achieving personal power and a lack of social interest.
superiority complex (adler)
individual builds false sense of significance, devoid of social interest; feel they are inferior and are using these behaviors to escape their
problems.
style of life/lifestyle (adler)
self or ego; personality; developed by age 5-6; guides our entire life including our perceptions or actions; lifestyle is the child’s way of adapting to the circumstances around them; all behavior is purposeful;
2 qualities of goals in lifestyle (adler)
every lifestyle has a goal with 2 qualities:
1) Individual is unaware of it.
2) it is a fiction (not based on external reality, but rather created by the individual).
social interest (adler)
an individual’s attitude toward and an awareness of being a part of a human community (empathy and social connectedness).
fictional finalism (adler)
internally held idealistic belief about the future.
mental disorders in Adler therapy
represent a mistaken style of life, which includes the maladaptive attempts to compensate for feelings of inferiority, a preoccupation with achieving personal power, and a lack of social interest.
therapy goals and techniques in Adler
therapeutic relationship is collaborative and through that, the client must identify and understand their style of life (e.g., gathering life history data—family constellation, early recollections, personal priorities).
6 basic mistakes in adler therapy
there are six classes of erroneous beliefs that can lead to problems in living:
1) Distorted attitudes about self (I am worthless)
2) Distorted attitudes about the world and people (the world is hostile)
3) Distorted goals (I must rule all)
4) Distorted methods of operation (overdoing)
5) Distorted ideals (the “real man”)
6) Distorted conclusions (pessimism)
fictional goals (adler)
we are more strongly motivated by the goals and ideals that we create for ourselves and more influenced by future possibilities than by past events such as childhood experiences (contrast to Freud); we behave as if the world would be here tomorrow; the fiction lies in the future yet influences our behavior today.
use of encouragement (adler)
important to do once we have established empathy, collaborated enough to understand the client’s lifestyle and pattern; used to help them gain insight and to reorient them toward new lifestyle choices.
Jung’s analytical theory
Jung believed that behavior is determined by both past and future goals and aspirations and like Adler, Jung has a broader view of personality.
personality theory (Jung)
personality is the consequence of both conscious and unconscious factors.
-The conscious is governed by the ego.
-The unconscious is made up of the personal conscious and the collective unconscious.
-The personal unconscious contains experiences that were once conscious but are now repressed or forgotten.
-The collective unconscious contains latent memory traces that have been passed down from generation to generation. Includes archetypes.
individuation (Jung)
the harmonious integration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of personality.
collective unconscious (Jung)
we all share an accumulation of inherited memories and experiences of human and prehuman species.
archetypes (Jung)
images of universal experiences contained in the collective unconscious.
Persona (jung)
your public personality; aspects of yourself that you reveal to others.
shadow (jung)
represents the animal side of human nature; our dark side; the thoughts, feelings, and actions that we tend to disown by projecting them outward.
anima (jung)
feminine archetype in men.
animus (jung)
masculine archetype in women.
therapy goals and techniques (jung)
to decrease the gap between the conscious and the personal/collective unconscious; offer interpretation; express the unconscious material in symbols; and use an analysis of transference.
object relations psychotherapy
Emphasizes child’s early relationships with objects (others), as an inborn drive.
introject (object relations)
child’s early representations of objects and object relations.
psychopathology in object relations
Psychopathology is the result of abnormalities in early object relations.
goals and techniques in object relations therapy
provide a corrective experience through the acceptance, support, of a real and therapeutic relationship.
what are Mahler’s 6 phases of development (object relations)
normal autism
symbiosis
differentiation
practicing
rapproachment
object constancy
normal autism
(birth to 2 months): periods of sleep outweigh periods of arousal.
symbiosis
(2-5 months): mother-infant perceived as single fused entity; developing perceptual abilities gradually enable infants to distinguish inner from outer world.
differentiation
(5-10 months): distinctness from mother is appreciated; progressive neurological development and increased alertness draw infant’s attention away from self to outer world.
practicing
(10-18 months): the ability to move autonomously increases the child’s exploration of the outer world.
rapproachment
(18-24 months): children move away from their mothers and come back for reassurance; as they slowly realize their helplessness and dependence, the need for independence alternates with the need for closeness.
object constancy
(2-5 years): children gradually comprehend and are assured by the permanence of mother and other important people, even when not in their presence.
how did Otto Kernberg see dysfunction (object relations)
saw dysfunction as stemming from a lack of integration of object representations
borderline personality disorder (otto kernberg)
(vs. neurotic and psychotic) involves harboring a lot of negative affect, mostly aggression, which is intolerable and must be split off.
aggression (otto kernberg)
aggression can stem from inherited or environmental experiences and results in negative emotional tenor that dominates interpersonal relationships, and thus, negative objects are internalized.
-Object representation can’t be integrated into the self thus resulting in identity diffusion—the self is fragile and constantly shifting between good and bad states.
-Leads to chronic emptiness, contradictory self perceptions, contradictory behavior that can’t be integrated in an emotionally meaningful way, shallow and flat perceptions of others.
Otto Kernberg treatment goal (object relations)
integration of the parts-objects within the self, and the resulting abilities to maintain a continuous sense of self and others, empathize with them, and reflect one one’s own experience.
ronald fairbairn (object relations)
(father of object relations theory): pure shift away from the relational structural model; we are relationship seeking; saw drives as being directed at objects, not simply at the pleasure of expressing the drive (Freud); pleasure is a pathway to relate; erogenous zones are used for relatedness; no separation between the id and the ego; the id is not part of the model; all energy is directed toward objects; development is the process of resolving the twin pulls of individuation and attachment to others.
internal objects (robert fairbarin)
substitutes/solutions for unsatisfactory relationships with real external objects; in a perfect world there would be no compensatory internalized objects (they are failures in relationships); we are healthy at infancy and then corrupted by our environment.
treatment goal (robert fairbairn)
the client to develop new ways of relating to others, ways not tied to faulty patterns the client brought to therapy.
Melanie Klein (object relations)
accepted the traditional drive theory but emphasized the importance of psychic representations of relationships and primitive fantasy; focus on aggressive instincts; believed that neurosis was seated much earlier in development (oral phase); characterized the earlier stages of development as scary; the early world is a chaotic mix of internalized images and parts of people; an infant is inherently aggressive, sadistic, and opportunistic creature who becomes frightened by their own aggression; in order to protect the self, they split objects into good and bad.
phantasy (melanie klein)
infant’s unconscious world of the “unreal world”; world of imagination
projective identification (melanie klein)
infant projects scary feelings outward toward breast or mother.
internalization (melanie klein)
outside is uncontrollable so relate to it by taking it back inside the self.
positions (melanie klein)
self-involved fears take 2 forms; normal part of development; can go back and forth.