Psychoanalytic Therapy

a.k.a. “Freudian Therapy”

Psychsexual Stages of
Development
 In Freudian theory, five developmental
periods during which particular kinds of
pleasures must be gratified if personality
development is to proceed normally
 The Development of
Personality
 ORAL STAGE First year
– Related to later mistrust and rejection issues
 ANAL STAGE Ages 1-3
– Related to later personal power issues
 PHALLIC STAGE Ages 3-6
– Related to later sexual attitudes
 LATENCY STAGE Ages 6-12
– A time of socialization
 GENITAL STAGE Ages 12-60
– Sexual energies are invested in life
Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy - Chapter 4 (1)
Oral Stage
 0-18 months—infant receives satisfaction
through sucking, eating, biting, etc. Erogenous
zone is the mouth.
 Overindulgent—gullible, dependent, and
passive
 Underindulgent—aggressive, sadistic person
 Oral fixated adults orient their life around
their mouth by overeating, alcoholism,
smoking, talking too much

Huffman, 2005
Anal Stage
 18 months-3 years—the child receives
satisfaction by having and retaining bowel
movements. Erogenous zone is the anus.
 Fixation results in retentive or explosive
personality
 Anal-retentive—highly controlled,
compulsively neat
 Anal-explosive—messy, disorderly,
rebellious, and destructive
Huffman, 2005
Phallic Stage
 3-6 years—center of pleasure is the genitals,
typically a time of exploration of pleasure
through masturbation and “playing doctor”
 Child resolves the Oedipus Complex—(the
period of conflict during the phallic stage when
children are sexually attracted to the opposite-sex
parent and hostile toward the same-sex parent
 Castration anxiety in males and penis envy in
girls

Huffman, 2005
Latency Stage
 Age 6 to puberty—children repress sexual
thoughts and engage in nonsexual
activities such as developing social and
intellectual skills
 Task is to develop successful interactions
with same-sex peers and refine appropriate
gender roles

Huffman, 2005
Genital Stage
 Adolescence on—genitals are again the
erogenous zones.
 Individual seeks to fulfill his or her sexual
desires through emotional attachment to
members of the opposite sex.
 Unsuccessful outcomes lead to sexual
relationships based on lustful desires rather
than respect and commitment.

Huffman, 2005
 The Structure of Personality
 THE ID — The Demanding Child
– Ruled by the pleasure principle
 THE EGO — The Traffic Cop
– Ruled by the reality principle
 THE SUPEREGO — The Judge
– Ruled by the moral principle

Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy - Chapter 4 (2)

Freud’s Personality Structure
 Id—According to Freud, the source of
instinctual energy, which works on the
pleasure principle (seeking immediate
pleasure) and is concerned with immediate
gratification.
 Ego—In Freud’s theory, the rational part of
the psyche that deals with reality by
controlling the id while also satisfying the
superego; (from the Latin ego meaning I)
Huffman, 2005
Freud’s Personality Structure
 Reality principle—According to Freud, the
principle on which the conscious ego
operates as it tries to meet the demands of
the id and the superego and the realities of
the environment.
 Superego—In Freud’s theory, the part of
the personality that incorporates parental
and societal standards of morality

Huffman, 2005
Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic
Theories
 Levels of consciousness
– Conscious—In Freudian terms, thoughts or
motives that a person is currently aware of or is
remembering
– Preconscious—Freud’s term for thoughts or
motives that one can become aware of easily
– Unconscious—Freud’s term for thoughts or
motives that lie beyond a person’s normal
awareness but that can be made available through
psychoanalysis.
Huffman, 2005
 The Unconscious
 Clinical evidence for postulating the unconscious:
– Dreams
– Slips of the tongue
– Posthypnotic suggestions
– Material derived from free-association
– Material derived from projective techniques
– Symbolic content of psychotic symptoms
 NOTE: consciousness is only a thin slice of the

total mind

Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy - Chapter 4 (3)

 Ego-Defense Mechanisms
 Ego-defense mechanisms:
– Are normal behaviors which operate on an
unconscious level and tend to deny or distort
reality
– Help the individual cope with anxiety and
prevent the ego from being overwhelmed
– Have adaptive value if they do not become a
style of life to avoid facing reality

Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy - Chapter 4 (4)

Ego Defense Mechanisms
 When the ego fails to satisfy both the id
and the superego, anxiety occurs. In order
to avoid the discomfort of anxiety, the ego
distorts reality by the use of defense
mechanisms.

Huffman, 2005
Ego Defense Mechanisms
 Repression—preventing painful or dangerous
thoughts from entering consciousness
 Sublimation—Working off unmet desires or
unacceptable impulses in activities
 Denial—Protecting oneself from an
unpleasant reality by refusing to perceive it
 Rationalization—Substituting socially
acceptable reasons

Huffman, 2005
Ego Defense Mechanisms
 Intellectualization—Ignoring the emotional
aspects of a painful experience by focusing on
abstract thoughts, words or ideas
 Projection—Transferring unacceptable
motives or impulses to others
 Reaction formation—Refusing to
acknowledge unacceptable urges, thoughts or
feelings by exaggerating the opposite state

Huffman, 2005
Ego Defense Mechanisms
 Regression—Responding to a threatening
situation in a way appropriate to an earlier
age or level of development
 Displacement—Substituting a less
threatening object for the original object or
impulse

Huffman, 2005
 Psychoanalytic Techniques
 Free Association
– Client reports immediately without censoring any
feelings or thoughts
 Interpretation
– Therapist points out, explains, and teaches the
meanings of whatever is revealed
 Dream Analysis
– Therapist uses the “royal road to the unconscious” to
bring unconscious material to light

Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy - Chapter 4 (5)

Transference and
Countertransference
 Transference
– The client reacts to the therapist as he did to an earlier
significant other
 This allows the client to experience feelings that

would otherwise be inaccessible

 ANALYSIS OF TRANSFERENCE — allows the

client to achieve insight into the influence of the past

 Countertransference
– The reaction of the therapist toward the client that may
interfere with objectivity

Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy - Chapter 4 (6)

 Resistance
 Resistance
– Anything that works against the progress of therapy
and prevents the production of unconscious material
 Analysis of Resistance
– Helps the client to see that canceling appointments,
fleeing from therapy prematurely, etc., are ways of
defending against anxiety
 These acts interfere with the ability to accept changes
which could lead to a more satisfying life

Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy - Chapter 4 (7)

Assumptions that drive
Psychoanalytic Theory
 Access to unconscious functioning comes
through the associative process
 Later mental structures have to be
explained by earlier experiences, by
turning back to the past
 Psychic continuity is a lifelong process
 Mental life has meaning

Gilliland & James, 1998

Assumptions that drive
Psychoanalytic Theory
 Determinism, the conviction that nothing
that happens is accidental is an accepted
principle
 Instinct, that is, as the source of motivation
in bodily processes, is an accepted concept
 The assumption of the concept of the
unconscious is necessary because conscious
experiences leave gaps in mental life that
unconscious processes bridge

Gilliland & James, 1998