Psychoanalytic Perspective

1. Psychoanalytic Perspective

2. Definition • Sees behavior as determined partly by inner forces that lie outside one’s awareness and control • Role of the unconscious

3. History • Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) • Viennese neurologist • Directed people to talk freely while under hypnosis – when they would awake they would feel significant emotional release (catharsis) • Helped patients discharge emotional baggage and showed the therapist the nature of the difficulties preceding the problems

4. History (cont.) • Freud’s theory shocked the scientific world when it was first proposed • Freud believed that humans, by nature, are similar to primitive animals • Even in infancy, we are motivated primarily by sexual and aggressive urges

5. Topography of the Mind • Conscious – The part of the mind that holds what you’re aware of now • Preconscious – Represents ordinary memory (can easily be brought to awareness) • Unconscious – Part of the mind that’s not directly accessible to awareness

6. Unconscious • A repository for urges, feelings, and ideas that are tied to anxiety, conflict, or pain • Though they are out of conscious awareness, they continually exert influence on one’s conscious experience

7. Instincts • Motivating forces of the personality; sources of stimulation within the body • Instinctual goal is to reduce or remove need for stimulation through some behavior (ex. Eating, drinking, sex)

8. Instincts (cont.) • Choice vs. Determinism • Freud asserted that people are at the mercy of forces that are unconscious and uncontrollable • We may be able to temporarily delay gratification of these urges until a socially appropriate time (a sign of a mature personality), although these urges will never be completely repressed • Drive states build up until an action causes their tension to be released or until repression of the drive states leads to anxiety

9. Life Instincts (Eros) • Concerned with self-preservation and the survival of the species • Include hunger, thirst, and sex • The form of energy through which life instincts are manifested is called the libido

10. Death Instinct (Thanatos) • Can be directed inward (masochism or suicide) or outward (hatred and aggression) • Aggression as a motivator is better received by psychoanalysts than is the death instinct

11. Levels of Personality • Freud saw personality as having 3 aspects that work together to produce complex human behavior. • Labels for 3 aspects of functioning: id, ego, and superego

12. Id • Present at birth • Inherited, instinctive aspect of personality • Functions entirely in the unconscious • Tied to biological processes • Adheres to the Pleasure Principle – the idea that needs need to be satisfied immediately • Unrealistic

13. Ego • Focuses on ensuring that id impulses are expressed effectively by taking into account the external world • Rational – considers consequences of immediate id fulfillment • Wants the id’s urges satisfied, but to be satisfied at an appropriate time and in a realistic manner

14. Superego • Decides what’s right and wrong • Strives for perfection, not pleasure • Stems from parental and societal values • 3 goals of superego: • Inhibit all id urges that society would dislike • Force the ego to act morally, not rationally • Guide person toward perfection in every aspect

15. Personality: Structural Model

16. Assessment of Personality • Hypnosis • Free Association – having patients talk freely about themselves; providing information about their feelings, motives, etc. • Dream Analysis • Resistance – Patient’s fighting against becoming aware of conflicts and impulses • Transference – Feelings about others are displaced onto the therapist

17. Assessment (cont.) • Projective techniques – no right or wrong answers; responses are determined primarily by their own feelings, attitudes, desires, and needs • Assumes that what is projected is beyond the person’s conscious control and reflects the unconscious • Examples… T.A.T., Rorschach

18. Therapy Occurs simultaneously with the assessment process • 3 main goals of therapy • A less constricted id • A stronger ego • A more human super-ego

19. Psychosexual Stages of Development • Freud maintained that the adult personality was formed almost completely by age 5 • With age, personality stabilizes and is expressed more symbolically than literally • Stages of development reflect a body area through which libido, or sexual energy, is discharged through that period • Each stage builds on previous ones • If needs aren’t adequately met at each stage, fixation may occur

20. Fixation • May occur for 2 reasons • If overindulgent in a stage, may be reluctant to leave it and move on • If needs aren’t met in a stage, can’t move on until those needs are met • If conflict isn’t well resolved, too much libido gets permanently invested in that stage • Less energy is then available to handle conflicts in later stages

21. Oral Stage (birth-18 months) • Libido gratification occurs through the mouth and lips • Orally fixated? • Obesity, alcoholism • Highly motivated to gain closeness and support from others • Sensitive to how others react to them • Sensitive to social isolation and subtle cues of rejection • Use more physical contact during social interaction

22. Anal Stage (18 months-3 years) • Sexual pleasure comes from stimulation gained from defecation – must hold back urge until an appropriate time • Anally fixated? • Stinginess • Obstinacy • Orderliness

23. Phallic Stage (3 – 5 yrs) • Oedipal conflict? • Men may go to great lengths to prove they haven’t been castrated (seducing lots of women, fathering lots of kids, attaining career success) • May fail in sexual and/or occupational lives because of guilt over competing for mother’s love • Electra conflict? • Women may be excessively seductive and flirtatious, but with denial or the underlying sexuality • Excites men with seductive behavior and then is surprised when men want sexual contact with her • Period in which self-stimulation emerges • Oedipus/Electra complex

24. Latency Period (6 yrs - Early Teens) • Sexual and aggressive drives are less active • Emergence of ego and superego • Attention turned toward other pursuits (intellectual or social) • Experiences are broadened until…..puberty

25. Genital Stage (Late Adolescence-Adult) • If earlier stages were handled well, a desire develops to share mutual sexual gratification with someone else • The person becomes capable of loving others not only for selfish reasons but also for altruistic reasons

26. Anxiety • Plays a causal role in most forms of psychopathology • Is a warning of real or imagined dangers that forces one to take corrective action • Healthy: The ego can cope with anxiety in a rational way; • Neurotic: Can’t deal with anxiety rationally; resort to irrational protective measures

27. Defense Mechanisms • Discharge or soothe anxiety temporarily by pushing painful ideas out of consciousness • Result in distorted view of reality • Repression, Denial, Projection, Rationalization, Intellectualization, Reaction Formation, Regression, Displacement, and Sublimation

28. Healthy Personality • Behavior is not dominated by defense mechanisms • Good childhood: Handled early psychosexual stages successfully, thereby, limiting the strength of fixations • Well-developed ego able to cope effectively with the external world • Superego with constructive, not punitive ideals

29. Unhealthy Personality • Sexually frustrated: sexual urges have been repressed and transformed into neurotic symptoms • Overinvestment of energies in a fixation from early childhood • Dominated by defense mechanisms • Ties up too much energy – is unable to effectively meet new challenges

30. Limitations • Freud’s data collection was unsystematic and uncontrolled – may have reinterpreted them • Interpretation – Inferences need to be made • Inequality of gender – Females inherently feel inferior to men because of anatomical differences • Emphasis on biological forces (sex) as determinants of personality • Denial of free will • Time consuming • Difficult to study/measure • Focus on past behavior – excluded future hopes and goals • Theory was based on neurotics – ignored emotionally healthy people

31. Assets • Popular/interesting • It works – Psychoanalysts use a different criteria for success…insight • Analysis of 2,500 studies examined the scientific credibility of Freud’s theory • Some anal/oral personality types • Castration anxiety • Dream reflect emotional concerns • Unconscious thoughts, emotions, and behavior

32. Case Study: Sigmund Freud

33. References • Carson, R.C., Butcher, J.N., & Mineka, S. (2000). Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life, Eleventh Edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. • Carver, C.S., & Scheier, M.F. (2000). Perspectives on Personality, Fourth Edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. • Schultz, D.P., & Schultz, S.E. (2000). A History of Modern Psychology, Seventh Edition. Philadelphia: Harcourt College Publishers. • Nelson-Jones, R. (2001). Theory and Practice of Counseling & Therapy, Third edition. • Prout, H.T., Brown, D.T. (1983). Counseling and Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents: Theory and Practice for School and Clinic Settings.