Psychoanalysis vs. Psychodynamic Therapy

• Psychoanalyst and psychodynamic psycho therapy have differences but also similarities

Psychoanalyst

• Treatment is based on the theory that our present is shaped by our past
• Sets of theories and therapeutic techniques deal in part with the unconscious mind
• Together they form a method of treatment for mental disorders
• Developed by Frude
• Theorized that it can be combined into conscious and unconscious
• Elements: Egon, super-ego, and id
• Identifies unconscious material
• Attempts to identify and accept their defenses
• Client engages in free association
• Doesn't work for everyone
• Viewed as unscientific
• Not enough literature available

Psychodynamic

• Approach to psychology emphasizes systematic study of psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions
• Relates to early experience
• Applies to the human psyche
• Beliefs that striving towards the real self
• Focuses on childhood experiences: Birth order effect
• Examines levels of human social interest
• Happens face to face
• Therapeutic relationship is important for this therapy
• Makes the unconscious, conscious
• Short term
• Helps the client
• Effective then no treatment
• Not enough literature out there
• Most of the theories of counseling and psychotherapy influenced by psychoanalytic principles and techniques

Key Concepts

• Attention to psychodynamic factors that motivates behaviors
• View of human nature
• Libido (sexual energy): life instincts serve the purpose of the survival of the individual and the human race
• Freud suggests death instincts: people manifests through their behavior and unconscious wish to die or hurt themselves
• Psychodynamic Role play: defense mechanism and fee association
• More coming from and stemmed from the id

Structure of Personality

• ID (Devil): Wants to do things now
• EGO (Mediator): Looks at both sides and compromises
• SUPER EGO (Angel): Is not right to do that
• ID: Pleasure principal
• Impulsive
• Operates on the pleasure principal
• Seeks gratification of instinct and desire
• Blocked desires can result in: Anger (impulsiveness)
• Trigger impulse outbursts, aggression or tantrums
• Ego sometimes steps in to regulate emotions (if anger is too strong it can’t)
• This can course addiction to food, sex, drugs, alcohol as it craves a pleasurable experience
• Addiction happens when the ID over powers the EGO ability to delay gratification
• Super-ego and ego may contribute to creating guilt and sham which makes for more addictive behavior
• Anxiety is a sign of inner conflict between the IDs desires and the Super-egos strict rules
• The ID wants to express anger but the Super-ego says its wrong, the ego trys to mediate leading to Anxiety
• EGO: Reality principal
• Is part of the conscious personality
• What the person is aware of when thinking about themselves and what they usually try to project to others
• Developed from the ID (pleasure principal) operates in a conscious and unconscious level
• Mediates between the id's impulses and the demands of reality
• Uses rational thinking, problem solving and decision making to what is socially acceptable
• Feels hungry (ID) but waits instead of grabbing someone's food (ego)

Super-eggo and Conscious/Unconscious

• Super-eggo Moral principals
• Values and morals of society that develops later in childhood, influenced by parents, society and culture
• Represents moral values and ideas, makes one feel guilty when one does something wrong
• Pushes toward doing something good (self discipline)
• Creates conflict with the id, feels guilty for taking a break at work even if no one notices
• Super ego dominance: Responsible for sense of morality, self-discipline and ideal behavior
• When severe, can lead to perfectionism, when a person needs to meet high unrealistic standards
• Intents guilt for minor mistakes or rule breaking
• Self- criticism
• Strictly following routines or high standards to avoid feeling bad or unworthy and anxiety about disappointing people especially authority figures
• Conscious = thoughts, feelings, cognitions, and memories one acknowledges like actively thinking about
• Un-conscious = deeper mental processes not readily available, what one is not aware of at all
• Stores all experiences, memories and repressed materials
• Cause of all forms of neurotic symptoms and behaviors (personality trait associated with negative emotions)

Anxiety

• Feeling of dread resulting from repressed feelings memories and desires, happens when the id, ego, and superego struggle against each other to manage mental energy
• Reality anxiety = fear of danger from the external world
• the ability to identify that something about reality seems "off”, a normal response (most basic form of anxiety)
• Type of anxiety is a natural response to danger, linked to bodies fight or flight repone
• Neurotic Anxiety: When people are really scared that they do something, even though they know they'll get in trouble for it
• Fear of real world events that typically arises from an unconscious fear of losing control over one's impulses
• Disturbing effect on emotions and behaviors
• Fear that the ego cant control the id
• Freud thinks this anxiety happens when people feel inner stress because they have hidden desires or fears of being judged by others, not wanting to express an emotion because fear of rejection from others

Defenses

• Moral Anxiety: Fear of one's conscience (feelings of guilt or conflict related to ethical or moral dilemmas)
• The sense of what's right and wrong is driven usually from the superego, when the ego is threatened with punishment from the superego
• When the id voices not nice ideas or reactions, superego reacts with shame, remorse and regret
• Experienced by guilt or shame when a person thinks they've broken their own values or society's rules, commonly in people with a strong sense of morality (ethics) or perfectionism
• If a person tells a lie by know one finds out they still feel guilty because it doesn't align with their ethical beliefs
• See lots with personality disorders
• Ego defense mechanism
• Helps people cope with anxiety and prevent the ego from being overwhelmed, are normal behaviors, has value to life if not using them to avoid faceing reality, either deny or distort reality, operate at a unconscious level
• Repression: Subconsciously blocking memories of an event and traumatizing memories
• Denial: Not acknowledging the reality of a situation and refusing to believe or accept something as the truth
• Reaction formation: Expressing the opposite of one's true feelings, sometimes to an amplified extent and reacting oppositely to actual beliefs/feelings
• Projection: Features of self are projected onto another and negative feelings, emotions or negative traits are cast onto another
• Displacement: Transfers emotions from one person onto another and negative feelings are transferred
• When people are angary at someone and takes their anger out on someone else that has nothing to do with it
• Rationalization: Using logic to rationalize difficulties, explain or justify behavior or an attitude with logical reasons, even if these are not appropriate
• Attempt to find reasons for behavior, decisions, etc., especially your own and this happened because of this outcome
• Sublimation = Socially unacceptable impulses or desires are transformed into socially acceptable actions or behavior
• Defense mechanism: Unwanted or unacceptable urges are redirected into a more acceptable or productive outlet (way)
• Eg. Somone who as anger issued may put their energy into sports to channel it a different way
• Regression = Reverts to an earlier stage of development in response to stress or anxiety and a defence mechanism in which people seem to return to an earlier developmental stage
• Tends to occur in stressful periods of their life
• Eg, an adult facing a stressful situation might show childlike behaviours like sucking their thumb
• Introjection: The process of unknowingly adopting others' beliefs, values or attitudes and is often used to reduce anxiety or maintain relationships
• Identification (id): Enhances self-esteem by forming a strong attachment to another person or group
• Seen when someone associates their identity towards a successful figure oor role model in order to feel more competent or confident
• Makes himself or herself like someone else and he identifies with another person
• Compensation: People overachieve in one area of their lives to compensate for failures in another
• Defense mechanism: Where someone tries to make up for their weaknesses or things they feel insecure about by being really good at other things
• Using strengths to compensate for areas where they might feel lacking
• Freud focused on development of personality
• Psychosexual stages (Used mostly)
• First year: Oral stage➔pleasure is centered around the mouth (sucking, biting and chewing) and may lead to habits like nail biting, smoking or over eating
• Age 1-3: Anal stage➔focus of bowels and bladder control
• Development of independence and control (toilet training)
• Fixation can result in being too neat or to messy
• Age 3-6: Phallic stage➔focus on genitals. aware of gender differences
• Development of the Oedipus complex (attachment of the child to the opposite sex) desire for opposite-sex parent, rivalry with same-sex parent
• Identifying with the same-sex parent helps form gender identity
• Age 6-12: Latency stages➔ Sexual impulses are paused allowing cognitive and social development
• Focused on friendships, school and skill building
• Age 12-18: Genital stage➔ Sexual impulses re emerge and are directed towards appropriate partners
• Development of mature romantic relationships and social identity
• Age 18-60+: Adulthood➔ Freud didn't formally define stages past teen years
• Continued development of intimate relationships and work life balance and successful resolutions of earlier conflict leads to well-adjusted adulthood
• Eriksons Psychosexual stages (used more)
• Builds in Freuds elements
• Much more about the development of the safety
• Vald more so then freuds
• More holistic
• He holds the psychosexual and psychosocial growth
• During the stages their specific crisis that must be resolved to move forward
• First year: Infancy (Trust Vs Mistrust)➔ They develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide care and affection
• Mistrust develops when needs are not always met
• Age 1-3: Early childhood ( Autonomy vs shame and doubt) →begins exploring independence (Walking, making own choices
• Success leads to confidence, while exercise criticism results in shame and doubt