Psychoanalytic Theory

1
Psychoanalytic Theory

• Basic Freudian Propositions

2
Clinical Experiences

• Anna O. (Breuer)
• Unexpressed emotion -gt pathology
• Unaware of emotion (unconscious)
• Emotion expression reduces pathology

3
Fundamental Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Theory

• The Basic Instincts
• Unconscious Motivation
• Psychic Determinism
• Energy Model

4
Fundamental Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Theory

• The Basic Instincts Sex and Aggression
• Closely follows Darwins theory
• Freud believed that everything humans do can be
  understood as manifestations of the life and
  death instincts
• Later termed libido (life) and thanatos (death)

5
Fundamental Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Theory

• Unconscious Motivation
• Individuals control their sexual and aggressive
  urges by placing them in the unconscious
• These take on a life of their own and become the
  motivated unconscious

6
Fundamental Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Theory

• Psychic Determinism
• Nothing happens by chance or accident
• Everything we do, think, say, and feel is an
  expression of our mind

7
Fundamental Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Theory

• Energy Model
• Humans are viewed as energy systems
• Hydraulic model. Energy transformed but not
  destroyed

8
Levels of Consciousness
Conscious - current awareness Preconscious - not
aware of material but its retrievable (via
ordinary retrieval) Unconscious - not aware of
material but its not retrievable (via ordinary
retrieval)
9
(No Transcript)
10
Issues Regarding the Unconscious

• How can the existence of the unconscious be
  demonstrated?
• Why do humans have an unconscious?

11
Personality and Psychoanalysis

• Techniques for Revealing the Unconscious
• Free Association
• Dream Analysis
• Projective Techniques
• Recovered Memories

12
The Structure of Personality
ID
EGO
SUPEREGO
13
The Structure of Personality

• The Id Reservoir of Psychic Energy
• Most primitive part of the mind what we are born
  with
• Source of all drives and urges
• Operates according to the pleasure principle and
  primary process thinking

14
The Structure of Personality

• The Ego- Executive of Personality
• The part of the mind that constrains the id to
  reality
• Develops around 2-3 years of age
• Operates according to the reality principle and
  secondary process thinking
• Mediates between id, superego, and environment

15
The Structure of Personality

• The Superego- Upholder of Values and Ideals
• The part of the mind that internalizes the
  values, morals, and ideals of society
• Develops around age 5
• Not bound by reality

16
Psychodynamics

• Conflict model
• Id vs. superego Individual vs. society
• Restrain expression of all drives
• Surplus energy results in anxiety

17
Defense Mechanisms

• Unconscious psychological processes designed to
  avoid or reduce the conscious experience of
  anxiety

18
Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense

• Repression
• Unconscious
• Motivated
• Forgetting

The process of preventing unacceptable thoughts,
feelings, or urges from reaching conscious
awareness
19
Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense

• Denial
• Unconscious
• Motivated
• Not Perceiving

Perceptual Defense Research
20
Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense

• Other Defense Mechanisms
• Reaction Formation
• Act opposite of impulse
• Projection
• Make impulse external

21
Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense

• Other Defense Mechanisms
• Isolation/Intellectualization
• Isolate emotional reaction
• Process abstractly

22
Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense

• Other Defense Mechanisms
• Displacement
• Channel impulse to non-threatening target
• Sublimation
• Channel impulse into socially desired
• activity

23
Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense

• Defense Mechanisms in Everyday Life
• Useful in coping with unexpected or disappointing
  events
• Can also make circumstances worse

24
Personality and Psychoanalysis

• Making the Unconscious Conscious
• Techniques for Revealing the Unconscious
• The Process of Psychoanalysis

25
Personality and Psychoanalysis

• The goal of psychoanalysis is to make the
  unconscious conscious
• Identify unconscious thoughts and feelings
• Enable the person to deal with the unconscious
  urges realistically and maturely
• But how to penetrate the unconscious mind?

26
Personality and Psychoanalysis

• The Process of Psychoanalysis
• The psychoanalyst offers the patient
  interpretations of the psychodynamic causes of
  the problems
• The interpretations bring insight
• Resistance may occur as a defense
• Transference of feelings

27
Evaluating Freuds Contributions

• Proponents argue it is the first and perhaps only
  comprehensive theory of human nature
• Psychoanalysis has had a major impact on Western
  thought
• Critics maintain it is not contemporary
• The nature of evidence upon which it was built
  can be criticized
• Emphasis on sexual drives is inappropriate

28
Summary

• There are 3 main forces in the psyche that
  constantly interact to tame the 2 motives
• Defense mechanisms help keep urges, thoughts, and
  memories that cause anxiety in the unconscious
• Psychoanalysis is a therapy used for making the
  patient's unconscious conscious

29

Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense

• Types of Anxiety
• Repression
• Other Defense Mechanisms
• Defense Mechanisms in Everyday Life

30
Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense

• Types of Anxiety
• Objective Anxiety
• Neurotic Anxiety
• Moral Anxiety
• Defense Mechanisms