Psychotherapy Lecture Notes

Overview

• Lecture 2 in the psychotherapy series focusing on psychoanalytic approaches.
• Reference: Flanagan and Flanagan's textbook on counseling and psychotherapy.
• Video shared demonstrating the process of psychotherapy.

Introduction to Psychoanalysis

• Sigmund Freud: The father of psychotherapy and foundational figure in psychoanalysis.
• Freud's quote: "There are many ways and means of conducting psychotherapy; all that leads to recovery are good."
• Psychoanalysis: Freudian term for his version of psychoanalytic theory and modality.
• Classic Freudian psychotherapy: One-person intra-psychic model where the therapist acts as a blank slate, focusing solely on the client's issues.
  • Goal is to identify cognitive and unconscious conflicts driving maladaptive behavior.
  • Conflicts arise when parts of the personality are at odds or unconscious content surfaces.

Evolution of Psychoanalytic Thought

• Modern Psychoanalytic Approaches: Shift towards a two-person field acknowledging therapist involvement.
  • Ego Psychology: Focus shifts from the id (base desires) to the ego (rational side), influenced by Anna Freud, Hartmann, and Erik Erikson.
  • Object Relations Theory: Focus on human relationships and internalized views of people (part objects and whole objects).
  • Self-Psychology: Focus on a cohesive self and self-esteem, emphasized by Heinz Kohut.
  • Relational Psychoanalysis: Focus on inter-subjectivity and both transference and counter-transference.

Freud's Contributions

• Psychosexual Development: Freud's theory outlining stages from birth through adolescence focusing on pleasure derived from different erogenous zones.
  • Stages: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, and Genital stages.
  • Developmental challenges lead to potential fixations affecting later behavior.
• Tripartite Model of Personality: The id, ego, and superego.
  • Id: Drives and desires, operates on the pleasure principle.
  • Ego: Mediator between id and superego, operates on the reality principle.
  • Superego: Internalized societal and parental standards of right and wrong.

Defense Mechanisms

• Common mechanisms include repression, denial, projection, reaction formation, displacement, rationalization, regression, and sublimation.

Psychopathology and Therapy Goals

• Origins of Distress: Early childhood experiences considered the root of psychopathology.
• Goals of Psychoanalytic Therapy: Bring unconscious to conscious, address maladaptive impulses, and replace negative internalized objects.

Assessment and Interventions

• Techniques include clinical interviewing, projective testing, and free association.
• Interpretation and the therapeutic alliance are crucial components of the process.
• Transference and Counter-transference: Important to understand both therapist and client emotions during therapy.

Attachment Theory

• John Bowlby: Focused on emotional bonds between child and caretaker.
• Mary Ainsworth: Developed attachment styles based on the Strange Situation experiment.
  • Attachment styles: Secure, Anxious-Avoidant, Anxious-Resistant, and Disorganized.

Criticisms of Psychoanalytic Theory

• Limited empirical support for effectiveness; however, some studies indicate benefits for various disorders.
• Cultural insensitivity in Freud's early work; modern theorists have begun addressing these issues.
• Gender and Sexuality: Freud's biases are criticized, especially regarding women and LGBTQ+ perspectives.

Conclusion

• The modern psychoanalytic perspective acknowledges the influences of early childhood and interpersonal relationships.
• Future lectures will cover Adlerian therapy.