Sigmund Freud s Psychoanalysis. 1. The origins of Freud s ideas

Transcription

1 Psychodynamic Theories Sigmund Freud s Psychoanalysis 1. The origins of Freud s ideas Early neurological practice Work with Dr. Joseph Breuer s patient, Anna O, who suffered from hysteria (i.e., physical symptoms without organic cause) 2. Beginnings of Psychoanalytic therapy and theory from patients like Anna, concluded that neurotic symptoms related to previous, traumatic experiences

2 to treat patients, developed method of free association = telling everything symptom removal requires catharsis: both - recall traumatic event AND - express associated emotion resistance to attempts to remember events taken as evidence of repression developed a theory of personality to account for the behavior observed in patients

3 3. Fundamental assumption Psychoanalysis is a dynamic (motivational) conception which traces mental life back to an interplay between forces that favour or inhibit each other (Freud, 1910) behavior is the product of opposing mental forces - impulse expression vs. inhibition Freud has a spatial or mechanical conception of the personality structure in which mental forces interact...

4 4. Personality dynamics (motivation) - instinctual impulses or drives provide the energy to run the personality system - life instincts to preserve person & species - e.g., hunger, thirst, sex; - libido = sexual energy - death instinct after WW I Postulated that primary source of sexual pleasure shifts with development, creating 5 psychosexual stages: - oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital Over- or under-gratification at a stage causes fixation & affects adult personality

5 5. Structure of personality a. Spatial theory (pre-1920s) - conscious, preconscious and unconscious systems - repression: keeping something out of consciousness by censor Figure 6.1

6 b. Revised theory (1933) - id: concerned with satisfaction of needs (instincts) - operates on pleasure principle - irrational (reality = fantasy) - entirely unconscious - ego: concerned with survival - reality principle - rational, logical - both conscious & unconscious - superego: concerned with morality - conscience + ego-ideal - both conscious & unconscious (see Figure 6.2)

7 6. Behavioral outcomes of the conflict between opposing mental forces a. Anxiety felt when ego is threatened (see Freud s quote, text, p 103-4) Threat from: external world = realistic anxiety id = neurotic anxiety superego = moral anxiety

8 The proverb tells us that one cannot serve two masters. The poor ego has a still harder time of it; it has to serve three harsh masters, and has to do its best to reconcile the demands and claims of all three. These demands are always divergent and often seem quite incompatible; no wonder that the ego so frequently gives up its task. The three tyrants are the external world, the superego, and the id... The ego... feels itself hemmed in on three sides and threatened by three kinds of danger, towards which it reacts by developing anxiety when it is too hard pressed. (Freud,1932, p.103).

9 b. Defense mechanisms (with A. Freud) Repress threatening/painful idea AND do something else to release pent-up energy in a safer or more acceptable manner Displacement Repress impulse + direct it toward less threatening object Sublimation Repress impulse + direct it toward less threatening, socially desirable object Projection Repress impulse + see it in others Reaction formation Repress impulse + express its opposite Rationalization Repress impulse + express more desirable motive

10 c. Dreams a royal road to the unconscious - represent fulfilment of wishes (often unconscious or socially unacceptable) - latent content is transformed into more acceptable manifest content - less threatening, so dream is the guardian of sleep

11 Example: Dream reported by Little Hans -- aged 5 years In the night, there was a big giraffe in the room and a crumpled one; and the big one called out because I took the crumpled one away from it. Then it stopped calling out; and then I sat down on top of the crumpled one. May reflect:

12 d. Neurotic symptoms Maladaptive or inappropriate behavior or thoughts Reflect severe repression or defensive behaviors Freud s treatment: Psychoanalysis Goals of psychoanalytic theory: make unconscious ideas conscious allow mature, rational consideration of them strengthen ego for greater conscious control of behavior in future

13 Later Psychodynamic Theorists: Shared Freud s belief that unconscious motivation was key Greater emphasis on general motivation toward life and creativity; less on the explicitly sexual nature of motivation More emphasis on interpersonal relations; less on internal workings of individual s mind. More emphasis on conscious, rational thought processes (ego); less on unconscious processes. Less focus on childhood origins of personality; more on lifespan

14 Carl Jung s Analytical Psychology distinguishes conscious, personal unconscious, & collective unconscious (contains inherited archetypes) 2 attitudes: extroversion vs. introversion ways of experiencing: sensing vs. intuition, feeling vs. thinking, judging vs. perceiving self strives for unity & actualization through union of opposites

15 Why are Freud & Jung Important? 1st modern models of personality; behavioral & humanistic theorists reacted against psychodynamic theories Psychoanalytic & Jungian therapies continue as treatment methods Lasting cultural effects: - changed our culture s view psychological disorders, childhood - influenced our language, literature & criticism - influenced our implicit personality theories

16 BUT, beware: Incomplete or inconsistent theoretical ideas (e.g., Freud s female psychology) Many propositions difficult to test empirically (e.g., archetypes) Many tenets lack research support although cognitive unconscious well supported Verbal therapies not more effective than others