Psychoanalytic Paradigm (Week 2)

Question 1

What is the psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 1

central assumption developed by Freud is that psychopathology results from unconscious conflicts in the individual

Question 2

Objective (realistic) anxiety

Answer 2

In psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s reaction to danger in the external world; realistic fear

Question 3

Neurotic anxiety

Answer 3

In psychoanalytic theory, a fear of the consequences of expressing previously punished and repressed id impulses; more generally, unrealistic fear

Question 4

Moral Anxiety

Answer 4

In psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s fear of punishment for failure to adhere to the superego’s standards of proper conduct

Question 5

According to Freud the mind is composed of…

Answer 5

1. Id
2. Ego
3. Superego

Question 6

Id

Answer 6

• Present at birth
• Part of unconscious mind
• Operates on pleasure principle, seeks immediate gratification of needs, desires, and impulses
• comprises the basic urges for food, water, elimination, warmth, affection, and sex
• When id is not satisfied, tension is produced, and id strives to eliminate this tension

Question 7

Primary process thinking

Answer 7

• tendency to generate cognitive images of highly pleasurable things to presumably satisfy a current need for gratification and pleasure
• Associated with the id
• Purpose is to immediately fulfill desires and reduce tension
  Ex. A hungry baby dreams of milk and momentarily feels satisfied. Or an adult fantasizes about winning an argument they lost

Question 8

Ego

Answer 8

• Conscious and rationale
• Mediates the id, superego and reality
• Operates on reality principle, tries to satisfy the id’s desires in socially acceptable ways

Question 9

Secondary process thinking

Answer 9

• reality- based decision-making and problem-solving activities of the ego
• Associated with the ego
• Purpose is to navigate reality and satisfy the id’s desires in appropriate, realistic ways
  Ex. You’re hungry during a meeting, but instead of grabbing food impulsively, you wait until the break to eat something healthy

Question 10

Defence mechanism

Answer 10

• A strategy, unconsciously used, to protect the ego from anxiety
• For the most part are maladaptive

Question 11

Repression

Answer 11

• defence mechanism
• pushes unacceptable impulses and thoughts into the unconscious

Question 12

Denial

Answer 12

• defence mechanism
• disavowing traumatic experience and pushing it into the unconscious

Question 13

Projection

Answer 13

• defence mechanism
• characteristics or desires unacceptable to the ego are attributed to someone else
  ex. woman who unconsciously is averse to regarding herself as angry at others may instead see others as angry with her

Question 14

Displacement

Answer 14

• defence mechanism
• an emotional response is unconsciously redirected from an object or concept perceived as dangerous to a substitute less threatening to the ego
  ex. yelling at one’s spouse instead of at one’s boss

Question 15

Reaction formation

Answer 15

• an unconscious and unacceptable impulse or feeling that would cause anxiety is converted into its opposite so that it can become conscious and can be expressed
  ex. woman who feels deep resentment toward her sister (but believes it’s wrong to hate family) acts overly affectionate, constantly praising and doing favours for her

Question 16

Regression

Answer 16

• defence mechanism
• retreating to behavioural pattern of an earlier age

Question 17

Rationalization

Answer 17

• defence mechanism
• inventing a reason for an unreasonable action or attitude

Question 18

Sublimation

Answer 18

• defence mechanism
• converting sexual or aggressive impulses into socially valued behaviours

Question 19

Psychoanalytic Therapy

Answer 19

• type of insight therapy
• attempts to remove the earlier repression and help the client face the childhood conflict, gain insight into it, and resolve it in the light of adult reality

Question 20

Free Association

Answer 20

• type of psychoanalytic therapy
• the client is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without monitoring its content
• assumption is that over time, repressed material will come forth for examination by the client and psychoanalyst
• Resistances: During psychoanalysis, the defensive tendency of the unconscious part of the ego to ward off from consciousness particularly threatening repressed material

Question 21

Dream Analysis

Answer 21

• type of psychoanalytic therapy
• the unconscious meanings of dream material are uncovered
• Psychoanalytic theory holds that, in sleep, ego defences are relaxed, allowing normally repressed material to enter the sleeper’s consciousness
• interpret the hidden (latent) meanings behind the apparent (manifest) content of dreams and bring repressed unconscious material into conscious awareness

Question 22

Transference

Answer 22

venting of the client’s emotions, either positive or negative, by treating the psychoanalyst as the symbolic representative of someone important in the past
Ex. the client’s becoming angry with the psychoanalyst to release emotions actually felt toward his or her father

Question 23

Countertransference

Answer 23

the feelings that the psychoanalyst unconsciously directs to the client, stemming from his or her own emotional vulnerabilities and unresolved conflicts

Question 24

Interpretation

Answer 24

key procedure in which the psychoanalyst points out to the client where resistance exists and what certain dreams and verbalizations reveal about impulses repressed in the unconscious; more generally, any statement by a therapist that construes the client’s problem in a new way

Question 25

Ego Analysis

Answer 25

- current analytic therapy - emphasizes the ego’s role in actively managing thoughts, behavior, and inner conflicts - places more focus on conscious processes, adaptation, and rational control rather than just unconscious drives - based on a conception of the human being as having a stronger, more autonomous ego with gratifications independent of id satisfactions - place greater emphasis on a person's ability to control the environment and to select the time and the means for satisfying instinctual drives, contending that the individual is as much ego as id

Question 26

Brief Psychodynamic therapy

Answer 26

- current analytic therapy - Time-limited psychotherapy, usually ego-analytic in orientation and lasting no more than 25 sessions - shorter form was developed to meet the expectations of the many clients who prefer therapy to be fairly short term and targeted to specific problems in their everyday lives - also evolved from the need to respond to psychological emergencies - Goals are concrete and focused on improving the client's worst symptoms, helping the client understand what is going on in his or her life, and enabling the client to cope better in the future - Interpretations are directed more toward present life circumstances and client behaviour than on the historical significance of feelings - general understanding that psychotherapy does not cure, but that it can help individuals learn to deal better with life's inevitable stressors - Development of transference is not encouraged

Question 27

Interpersonal therapy

Answer 27

- emphasizes the interactions between a client and his or her social environment - psychodynamic psychotherapy that focuses on the client's interactions with others and that directly teaches how better to relate to others - therapist might explore with the client the complexities of present-day problems, with an emphasis on the client's relationships with others - therapist might then encourage the client to make specific behavioural changes, sometimes facilitating these shifts by having the client practise new behaviours in the consulting room

Question 28

Freud's Contribution to the field of Abnormal Psychology

Answer 28

1. Childhood experiences help shape adult personality 2. There are unconscious influences on behaviour 3. People use defence mechanisms to control anxiety or stress