W9: Psychodynamic psychotherapy

Question 1

What are the goals psychodynamic psychotherapy?

Answer 1

1. Good therapeutic relationship
2. Change to personality and character structure
3. Help bring forward important unconscious material to the conscious
4. Supportive or Exploratory

Question 2

What are the 3 Vehicles for change in psychodynamic psychotherapy?

Answer 2

1. Observation - (arguably most important bc it is the driving factor of everything else), Interpretation (helps person understand Triangle of Adaptation), and Confrontation
2. Transference - (therapist treated like other people in patient’s life)
3. Resistance - (it’s not the patient being obstinate/oppositional, it’s about their fear and learned behaviors/behaviors they are used to that they will have to go against)

Question 3

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What are the 5 main themes of contemporary psychodynamic thinking according to Drew Westen (1998)?

Answer 3

Behavior is shaped by:

1. Existence of unconscious processes and thus Defense Mechanisms
2. Emphasis on Conflicts in life - wishes, desires, fears
3. Emphasis on Early Childhood experiences
4. Transference - therapist/patient relationship
5. Emphasis on Ego mechanisms - thoughts and biology

Question 4

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Regression?

Answer 4

A defense mechanism; reacting to conflict or distress in an immature way - typical of a younger patient.

Question 5

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Repression?

Answer 5

A defense mechanism; exclusion of thoughts, wishes, fears or desires from consciousness/awareness.

Question 6

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Denial?

Answer 6

A defense mechanism; not accepting or acknowledging parts of an experience that is painful for the individual.

Question 7

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Reaction formation?

Answer 7

A defense mechanism against disturbing impulses and thoughts by behaving in a way that contradicts the impulse.

Question 8

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Isolation of affect?

Answer 8

Avoiding pain/stress by detaching emotionally from a painful/stressful experience.

Question 9

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Undoing?

Answer 9

Similar to Reaction formation; a defense that causes one to behave in a way that opposes anxiety-provoking feelings in an attempt to reverse/undo the affect of that feeling.

Question 10

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Projection?

Answer 10

Attributing/projecting unacceptable or distressing thoughts, impulses, or desires of the self to others.

Question 11

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Introjection?

Answer 11

Attributing to the self the attributes, thoughts, or feelings of others.

Question 12

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Displacement?

Answer 12

Displacing feelings/thoughts to another thing bc of the difficulty of accepting the actual source.

Question 13

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Reaction formation (reversal)?

Answer 13

Transforming a socially unacceptable impulse into its opposite (a socially acceptable one). Kind of like making up/or going overboard to prove to yourself you don’t have that unacceptable thought (still not adaptive behavior).

Ex. A mother who bears an unwanted child, for example, may react to her feelings of guilt for not wanting the child by becoming extremely solicitous and overprotective to convince both the child and herself that she is a good mother.

Question 14

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Turning against the self (self-harm)?

Answer 14

Hurting oneself to turn aggressive impulses originally directed at others internal.

Question 15

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Sublimation?

Answer 15

Redirecting unacceptable impulses into adaptive and acceptable forms of behavior.
Like Reaction formation, except it’s adaptive behavior.

Ex. A songwriter using those feelings to write an amazing song.

Question 16

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Self Psychology and how is it different from Freud’s Ego psychology and Object relations?

Answer 16

The basic assumption of this theory was that humans’ basic motivation is not satisfying sexual and aggressive inner drives but rather maintaining their self-esteem.

Question 17

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Relational Theory and Therapy?

Answer 17

The theory that humans’ primary motivation is to
be in a relationship.
The relational model consists of three dimensions:
the self, the object, and the interaction between them in a psychic space, which creates one’s subjective experience.

In relational therapy, the therapist is encouraged to use self-disclosure and honesty, and to share his or her own subjective experience with the patient in order to explore
issues of power, mutuality, symmetry, and asymmetry
in the patient’s relationship with the therapist
and with significant others

Question 18

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is short-term dynamic psychotherapy (STDP)

Answer 18

In contrast to long-term models, in STDP the therapist
takes a more active stance in general, define with the patient a focus for the therapy, and formulates specific goals that will be attainable in a short period of time.

Question 19

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Supportive–expressive therapy (SET)

Answer 19

SET emphasizes the use of expressive techniques

and supportive techniques.

Question 20

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]
True or false: Patients tend to perceive therapists of their
own race/ethnicity somewhat more positively, and thus treatment outcome with race matched therapist and patients are better.

Answer 20

False; although patients tend to prefer therapists that match their race/ethnicity, this does not show a difference in treatment outcomes.

Question 21

READING: Barber & Solomonov [Psychodynamic Theories]

What is Relative function?

Answer 21

Reflective function is an operationalized construct
for mentalization, which is the capacity to envision
mental states in one’s self and others and to understand how these mental states underlie behaviors.