SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACHES
EARLY LIFE, EDUCATION AND EARLY CAREER
 Freud was born in Freiberg, Moravia.
 He obtained a Medical degree from The
University of Vienna (1881).
 He worked with patients diagnosed with
hysteria.
 In 1885, Freud went to Paris on a three-month
scholarship. Study with Charcot, a French
neurologist who was using Hypnosis to produce
hysterical symptoms.
 Influenced by Charcot’s researches, Freud
began using hypnosis to treat hysteria. Hypnosis
was used to get patients to talk about
important incidents that they could not recall.
 Freud met Josef Breuer in 1886. Breuer was
treating hysteria symptoms (without hypnosis)
by having patients talk about emotionally laden
childhood experiences (talking cure). Freud and
Breuer published Studies in Hysteria in 1895.
 In 1896, Freud presented Aetology of Hysteria
at the Society for Psychiatry and Neurology in
Vienna. He postulated that repression of early
childhood sexual abuse cause Hysteria (This
formulation is known as Seduction hypothesis).
He abandoned this hypothesis in favor of the
Oedipus complex.
Name: Iam Valdez Espinoza
DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
THE DYNAMIC APPROACH (AKA DRIVE
THEORY OR INSTINCT THEORY)
 This approach forms the foundation of Freud’s
overall theory.
 Psychic energy fills and energizes humans, this
energy comes from two sources: Eros
(associated with life and sexual instincts; Eros
related energy = libido) and Thanatos
(externally and internally directed aggression).
This energy could be built up, transformed,
connected to certain images, distributed and
discharged (economic model).
 Psychic determinism: Nothing that occurs
within the mental realm is random.
 Based on this theory very impulse has: Origin;
Aim; object and intensity.
 Internal working model: it is a repetitive
impulse-energy-relationship pattern that
informs about what to expect and how to
react to the world.
 Repetition compulsion: it’s a cycle that is
continuing to manifest itself in someone’s life.
 Pathological impulse
THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES
THE TOPOGRAPHIC APPROACH
 Mind is divided into three interrelated
regions: Unconscious (large space where
mental impulses outside of awareness are
jostling) Preconscious (control thoughts,
tossing unacceptable ones back into the
unconscious) Conscious (small space where
conscious thoughts reside)
 The main purpose is to make unconscious
conscious.
THE DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE
APPROACH
 It is a psychosexual development model. Each
developmental stage focuses on a part of the
body linked to gratification or pleasure.
Progress through stages is driven by biological
maturation.
 There are five stages: Oral (0 to 1); Anal (1 to
3); Phallic (3 to 5 or 6 –Oedipus complex
emerges); Latency (5 or 6 to puberty) and
Genital (puberty to adulthood).
 Fixation or complex: it is an unresolved
unconscious conflict caused by indulgent or
withholding parental style.
 THE STRUCTURAL APPROACH

Human personality involves interaction among:

 The Id: the seat of biological desire. The pleasure principle is an instinctual drive towards pleasure. It represents hedonistic impulses and the desire for
immediate gratification. Impulses are primarily unconscious. Primary process thought: another facet of Id functioning, it is characterized by hallucination-like
images of sexual or aggressive desires.
 The Ego: It represents the individual’s conscious decision-making processes. These processes steer behavior in more safe and adaptive directions –operating
on the reality principle. Ego functions = Secondary thought processes: memory; problem-solving abilities and logical thought.

*Defense mechanisms, they are designed to ward off unpleasant anxiety feelings associated with internal conflicts among the id, superego and reality. They have
four characteristics: automatic, unconscious, ward off unacceptable impulses, and distort reality. The ego defense mechanisms are: Repression; Denial;
Projection; Reaction Formation; Displacement; Rationalization; Regression; and Sublimation.

 The Superego: it develops when children resolve their Oedipus complex. There are two parts of the superego: Conscience (developed from parental
prohibitions) and the ego ideal (desire to emulate adult standards or moralistic standards).

EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMEN  It is the study of ego development and functioning.

INPSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY (PINE, 1990)  Anna Freud, in contrast to her father, studied children directly and discovered
hos to observe their unconscious mental processes through play.
 Ego functions included: memory, intelligence, thinking, and motor control.
DRIVE THEORY EGO PSYCHOLOGY Certain ego functions were inborn and autonomous of biological drives.
 Erickson’s eight-stage epigenetic psychosocial theory of development (1963)
emphasized:
The foundation of Freudian
- Psychosocial development instead of psychosexual development and
psychoanalysis
- The continuous nature of development into old age, rather than ending his
theorizing in early adulthood.
 EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMEN  It focuses on the dynamics and motivations captured within context of
OBJECT REACTIONS earlier parent-child relationship instead of parent-child dynamics during
INPSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY (cont.)
the Oedipus complex.
 Objects are not things; they are internalized versions of people.
 Fairbairn (1952), human behavior is not fueled by instinctual drives for
SELF PSYCHOLOGY
sexual and aggressive gratification; instead, behavior is influenced and
motivated by desire for human connection.
 It focuses on the development of healthy narcissism within individuals.
 Humans mentally internalize a representation of self and a representation
 Heinz Kohut considered needs for self-cohesiveness and self-esteem to be
of early caretaker figures; these representations are carried within the
the overarching motivations that fuel human behavior. The development of a
individual into adulthood.
cohesive self requires the parental provision of empathic mirroring and the
 The goal is to replace the old maladaptive internalized representation.
later availability of a parental figure permitting idealization.
Alexander and French (1946) Corrective emotional experience: re-
 Self-defects and noncohesive self come from early childhood experiences
exposing clients under more favorable circumstances, to emotional
 This approach emphasizes psychoanalyst empathy and authenticity in
situations which they couldn’t handle in the past. Therapists act as a good
therapy relationships.
object.

 This emphasized that psychoanalysts are always subjective.

RELATIONAL PSYCHOANALITIC
MOVEMENT (AKA TWO-PERSON
CONTEMPORARY MOVEMENTS
PSYCHOLOGY OR
INTERSUBJECTIVITY)
TIME-LIMITED PSYCHODYNAMIC
PSYCHOTHERAPY
 The analyst is viewed as a fully engaged participant-observer (analyst
and client are considered a psychoanalytic couple)
 Interpretations are cast as an alternative viewpoint for clients to
consciously consider while making up their own minds.
 Transference and countertransference are important therapeutic
information.

ATTACHMENT-INFORMED
 Sandor Fereczi pushed for active, directive, and briefer PSYCHOTHERAPY
psychoanalysis.
 Alexander and French (1946) developed a procedure called
 It uses attachment theory and attachment styles as the theoretical foundation for
the corrective emotional experience, designed to speed the
psychodynamic psychotherapy.
curative therapeutic process. They recommended that
 Bowlby emphasized real and observable interaction between parent and child.
analysts adopt a compensatory role toward clients.
 Ainsworth (1970), identified three primary attachment styles:
 Focal psychotherapy, analysts stop short of a complete
-Secure attachment
analysis and instead focus on one significant conflict or
-Anxious-resistant insecure attachment
problem.
-Anxious-avoidant insecure attachment
 Luborsky (1984) core conflictual relationship theme,
 Main (1986) identified a fourth style:
internalized and repeating dysfunctional interpersonal patters.
-Disorganized/disoriented attachment
 GOALS
1. Make the unconscious conscious (or
increase awareness).
2. Help clients develop greater control
over maladaptive impulses.
3. Help clients rid themselves of
maladaptive or unhealthy internalized
objects and replace them with more
adaptive internalized objects.
4. Replace self-defects through mirroring,
presenting a potentially idealized
object, and expressing empathy during
optimal therapeutic failures.
DREAM
INTERPRETATION
 Client dreams were the best access
route Freud could find for
identifying repressed, unconscious,
instinctual driver.
 Levi (1994): collaborative
exploration of dreams. Analysis
must be interactive; this method
involves asking clients free associate
to their dreams and the analyst’s
perspective.
CONFLICT-BASED TRIANGLE
OF INSIGHT
TRIANGLES OF INSIGHT
TRANSFERENCE-BASED
TRIANGLE OF INSIGHT
Encourages clients to “Say whatever comes to
mind” (Free Association). It facilitates
emergence of unconscious impulses and
conflicts. These guidelines are important:
- Minimize distractions or external stimuli
- Minimize the client’s internal stimuli
- Reduce conscious planning
THE BASIC RULE
PRACTICES OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC
PSYCHOTHERAPY
TRANSFERENCE
 Gelso and Hayes (1998): “The clients
experience of the therapist that is shaped
by the client’s own psychological
structures and past and involves
displacement onto the therapist, of
feelings, attitudes and behaviors belonging
rightfully in earlier significant
relationships”
 It is characterized by inappropriateness.
1. Wish or aim
2. Imagined threat/anxiety
3. Defensive compromise
1. In session transference
2. Past relationships
3. Current relationships
INTERPRETATION
 Ego defenses protect clients from unconscious
conflicts and distort information rising up from
the unconscious; the results are unconscious
derivatives (fantasies, recollections or
symptoms) and they require translation to be
understood.
 Interpretation is the explaining or reframing
the meaning of something
 Fenichel: Analysts must prepare clients before
using interpretation. Steps:
-Developing a working alliance.
-Role induction (A process wherein therapists
educate clients about their role in therapy)
-Timing
COUNTERTRANSFERENCE
 It is an interpersonal process wherein client
transference triggers the psychoanalyst’s
unresolved childhood issues or conflicts. Freud
considered it as negative
 The totalistic countertransference perspective
involves any and all interactions that therapists
have toward clients. Benefits:
- Countertransference awareness can help you
have a deeper understanding of your own
issues.
- If you have a strong and unusual reaction, it
probably has more to do with the client than
you