Talk:Psychoanalysis

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Freudian Dictionary

Psychoanalysis is the name (1) of a procedure for the investigation of mental processes which are almost inaccessible in any other way, (2) of a method (based upon that investigation) for the treatment of neurotic disorders and (3) of a collection of psychological information obtained along those lines, which is gradually being accumulated into a new scientific discipline.[1]

Psychoanalysis is a dynamic conception, which reduces mental life to the interplay of reciprocally urging and checking forces.[2]


The contribution of psychoanalysis to science consists precisely in having extended research to the region of the mind.[3]


Psychoanalysis is not, in my opinion, in a position to create a Weltanschauung of its own. It has no need to do so, for it is a branch of science, and can subscribe to the scientific Weltanschauung.[4]


Psychoanalysis, Field of Application of

The field in which analytical therapy can be applied is that of the transference-neuroses, phobias, hysterias, obsessional neuroses, and besides these such abnormalities of character as have been developed instead of these diseases. Everything other than these, such as narcissistic or psychotic conditions, is more or less unsuitable.[5]


The sphere of application of psychoanalysis extends as far as that of psychology, to which it forms a complement of the greatest moment.[6]


The impulses and their transformations are the last things psychoanalysis can discern. Henceforth it leaves the stage to biological investigation.[7]

Psychoanalysis, Objects and Aims of

The analysis aims at laying bare the complexes which have been repressed as a result of the painful feelings associated with them, and which produce signs of resistance when there is an attempt to bring them into consciousness.[8]


It is one of the tasks of psychoanalysis to lift the veil of amnesia which shrouds the earliest years of childhood and to bring the expressions of infantile sexual life which are hidden behind it into conscious memory.[9]


Psychoanalysis, Theory of

The whole of psychoanalytic theory is in fact built up on the perception of the resistance exerted by the patient when we try to make him conscious of his unconscious.[10]


Psychoanalysis as a Therapeutic Method

One of the first applications of psychoanalysis was that we were able to understand the opposition we had to meet on account of our psychoanalytic activities .... Psychoanalysis originated as a therapeutic procedure; it has gone for beyond that, but it has never given up its original field of work, and it still relies upon contact with clinical material for its further advances and development. The accumulation of empirical data upon which we base our theories can be obtained in no other way . . . . Psychoanalysis really is a form of therapy, just as other methods are .... As a psychotherapeutic method, analysis does not stand in opposition to other methods employed in this branch of medicine; it does not invalidate them nor does it exclude them. ... The practice of psychoanalysis is difficult and exacting! As a rule psychoanalysis either possesses the doctor entirely or not at all .... Compared with other psychotherapeutic procedures, phychoanalysis is far and away the most powerful. In suitable cases one can remove disturbances, and bring about alterations which could not be hoped for in preanalytic times. But it has also perfectly clearly felt limitations.[11]


No injury to the patient is to be feared when the treatment is conducted with real comprehension.[12]


Below

Psychoanalysis is the theory and practice initiated by Sigmund Freud -- founded on the discovery of the unconscious.


Freud distinguishes between psychoanalysis as

  1. a method for investigating unconscious mental processes,
  2. a method for treating neurotic disorders, and
  3. a set of theories about the mental processes revealed by the psychoanalytic method of investigation and treatment.[13]



Lacan trained initially as a psychiatrist, and turned to psychoanalysis to help him with his psychiatric research.

This then led Lacan to train as a psychoanalyst himself in the 1930s.

From then on, until his death in 1981, he dedicated himself to practicing as an analyst and developing psychoanalytic theory.

In the process, Lacan constructed a highly original way of discussing psychoanalysis which both reflected and determined an original way of conducting the treatment; in this sense it is thus possible to speak of a specifically Lacanian form of psychoanalytic treatment.

However, Lacan never admits that he has created a distinctive "Lacanian" form of psychoanalysis.

On the contrary, when he describes his own approach to psychoanalysis, he speaks only of "psychoanalysis," thus implying that his own approach is the only authentic form of psychoanalysis, the only one which is truly in line with Freud's approach.

Thus the three major non-Lacanian schools of psychoanalytic theory (Kleinian psychoanalysis, Ego-psychology, Object-relations theory) are all, in Lacan's view, deviations from authentic psychoanalysis whose errors his own return to Freud is designed to correct.

--

From the very beginning, Lacan argues that psychoanalytic theory is a scientific rather than a religious mode of discourse, with a specific object.

Attempts to apply concepts developed in psychoanalytic theory to other objects cannot claim to be doing "applied psychoanalysis," since psychoanalytic theory is not a general master discourse but the theory of a specific situation.Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.747</ref>

Psychoanalysis is an autonomous discipline; it may borrow concepts from many other disciplines, but this doe snotmeant that it is dependent on any of them, since it reworks these concepts in a unique way.

Thus psychoanalysis is not a brance of psychology, nor of medicine, nor of philosophy, nor of linguistics, and it is certainly not a form of psychotherapy, since its aim is not to "cure" but to articulate truth.



Psychoanalysis is a set of psychological theories and methods based on the work of Sigmund Freud.

History

Efficacy

Cost and length

Training

Theory

The Unconscious and Psychic Structures

=Roots of Neurosis

Life and Death Instincts

Post-Freudian Schools

Influence

Criticisms

Scientific Validity

Controversy over Efficacy

Theoretical Criticism

See Also


References

psychoa'nalysis. Also with hyphen and (rare) as psychanalysis. [ad. Fr. psychoanalyse (S. Freud 1896, in Rev. Neurologique IV. 166): see psycho- and analysis. Freud earlier used psychische analyse and klinischpsychologische analyse (Neurol. Centralbl. (1894) XIII. 364). ]

a. A therapeutic method originated by Freud for treating disorders of the personality or behaviour by bringing into a patient's consciousness his unconscious conflicts and fantasies (which are attributed chiefly to the development of the sexual instinct) through the free association of ideas, analysis and interpretation of dreams and parapraxes, etc., and allowing him to relive them by transference.

b. A theory of personality and psychical life derived from this, based on concepts of the ego, id, and super-ego, the conscious, pre-conscious, and unconscious levels of the mind, and the repression of the sexual instinct; more widely, a branch of psychology dealing with the unconscious.


psychoanalysis (psychanalyse) Psychoanalysis is the theory and practice initiated by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) founded on the discovery of the unconscious. Freud distinguishes between psychoanalysis as (i) a method for investigating unconscious mental processes, (ii) a method for treating neurotic disorders, and (iii) a set of theories about the mental processes revealed by the psychoanalytic method of investigation and treatment (Freud, 1923a: SE XVIII, 235). The word 'psychoanalysis' on its own is therefore ambiguous, since it can refer to psychoanalysis as a practice, or to psychoanalysis as a theory, or to both. In this dictionary, when it is necessary to avoid this ambiguity, the term 'psychoanalytic treatment' is used to refer to psychoanalysis as a practice and the term 'psychoanalytic theory' is used to refer to psychoanalysis as a body of thought.

Lacan trained initially as a psychiatrist, and turned to psychoanalysis to help him with his psychiatric research. This then led Lacan to train as a psychoanalyst himself in the 1930s. From then on, until his death in 1981, he dedicated himself to practising as an analyst and developing psychoanalytic theory. In the process, Lacan constructed a highly original way of discussing psychoanalysis which both reflected and determined an original way of conducting the treatment; in this sense it is thus possible to speak of a specifically Lacanian form of psychoanalytic treatment. However, Lacan never admits that he has created a distinctive 'Lacanian' form of psychoanalysis. On the contrary, when he describes his own approach to psychoanalysis, he speaks only of 'psychoanalysis', thus implying that his own approach is the only authentic form of psychoanalysis, the only one which is truly in line with Freud's approach. Thus the three major non-Lacanian

schools of psychoanalytic theory (KLEINIAN PSYCHOANALYSIS, EGO-PSYCHOLOGY,

OBJECT-RELATIONS THEORY) are all, in Lacan's view, deviations from authentic

psychoanalysis whose errors his own return to Freud is designed to correct.

(See FREUD, RETURN TO.)

From the very beginning, Lacan argues that psychoanalytic theory is a scientific rather than a religious mode of discourse (see Science), with a

specific object. Attempts to apply concepts developed in psychoanalytic

theory to other objects cannot claim to be doing 'applied psychoanalysis',

since psychoanalytic theory is not a general master discourse but the theory of

a specific situation (Ec, 747). Psychoanalysis is an autonomous discipline; it

may borrow concepts from many other disciplines, but this does not mean that

it is dependent on any of them, since it reworks these concepts in a unique way.

Thus psychoanalysis is not a branch of PSYCHOLOGY (S20, 77), nor of medicine,

nor of PHILOSOPHY (S20, 42), nor of LINGUISTIcs (S20, 20), and it is certainly not

a form of psychotherapy (Ec, 324), since its aim is not to 'cure' but to

articulate truth.


Template:Expert Template:Psychology

Psychoanalysis is a type of psychodynamic therapy or insight-oriented therapy, a therapeutic technique for the treatment of neuroses and some psychoses.

Other uses of the concept are treated in:

Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud. Considered a science by its supporters and pseudoscience by many critics, as a technique of psychotherapy psychoanalysis seeks to elucidate connections among unconscious components of patients' mental processes, and to do so in a systematic way through a process of tracing out associations. In classical psychoanalysis, the fundamental subject matter of psychoanalysis is the unconscious patterns of life as they become revealed through the analysand's (the patient's) free associations. The analyst's goal is to help liberate the analysand from unexamined or unconscious barriers of transference and resistance - that is, past patterns of relatedness that are no longer serviceable or that inhibit freedom. More recent forms of psychoanalysis seek, among other things, to help patients gain self-esteem through greater trust of the self, overcome the fear of death and its effects on current behavior, and maintain several relationships that appear to be incompatible. The different forms of psychoanalytic therapy are generally considered as effective as other types of psychotherapy, but scientific evidence for the theoretical foundations of psychoanalysis is generally lacking.[1] [2]

Psychologists have recently renamed psychoanalysis to psychodynamic. This was done because the term psychoanalysis with reference to Freud was misleading, making many believe he was the founder of it, while in fact, he was not Template:Fact. Although it was renamed, few know about this and the term psychoanalysis is still the most common term used today, but the two words are basically synonyms of each other.

History

Psychoanalysis was first devised in Vienna in the 1890s by Sigmund Freud, a neurologist interested in finding an effective treatment for patients with neurotic or hysterical symptoms. As a result of talking with these patients, Freud came to believe that their problems stemmed from culturally unacceptable, thus repressed and unconscious, desires and fantasies of a sexual nature. As his theory developed, he included desires and fantasies of an aggressive nature as well. Freud considered these aspects of life instinctive drives, Libidinal Energy/Eros and the Death Instinct/Thanatos. Freud's description of Libido included all creative, life-furthering instincts. The Death Instinct represented an instinctive drive to return to a state of calm, or non-existence. Since Freud's day, psychoanalysis has developed in many ways, especially as a study of the personal, interpersonal, and intersubjective sense of self.

Prominent current schools of psychoanalysis include ego psychology, which emphasizes defense mechanisms and unconscious fantasies; self psychology, which emphasizes the development of a stable sense of self through mutually empathic contacts with other humans; Lacanian psychoanalysis, which integrates psychoanalysis with semiotics and Hegelian philosophy; analytical psychology, which has a more spiritual approach; object relations theory, which stresses the dynamics of one's relationships with internal, fantasized, others; interpersonal psychoanalysis, which accents the nuances of interpersonal interactions; and relational psychoanalysis, which combines interpersonal psychoanalysis with object-relations theory. Although these schools have dramatically different theories, most of them continue to stress the strong influence of self-deception and the influence a person's past has on their current mental life.

A few of the most influential psychoanalysts are Karen Horney, Jacob Arlow, Wilfred Bion, Charles Brenner, Erik Erikson, Ronald Fairbairn, Sandor Ferenczi, Sigmund Freud, Andre Green, Heinz Hartmann, Carl Jung, Otto Kernberg, Melanie Klein, Heinz Kohut, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, Jacques Lacan, Hans Loewald, Margaret Mahler, Donald Meltzer, Stephen A. Mitchell, David Rapaport, Roy Schafer, Daniel N. Stern, Neville Symington, Donald Winnicott, Theodor Reik, Harry Stack Sullivan, and Slavoj Zizek.

Theories

Psychoanalysis is theoretically diverse. Most analysts use some selection of the following psychoanalytic models of the mind.

The topographical model

The topographical model of the mind was intended to help analysts understand how patients repress wishes, fantasies, and thoughts. In the topographical model, the mind is divided into conscious, preconscious, and unconscious systems. The conscious system includes all that we are subjectively aware of in our minds. The preconscious includes material that we are capable of becoming aware of, but do not happen to be aware of currently. The unconscious system includes material that we have defensively removed from our awareness by means of repression and other defense mechanisms. In clinical work, analysts try to move unconscious material to the preconscious and then to the conscious mind, to increase the patient's self-awareness.

The structural model

Perhaps the most famous psychoanalytic model of the mind, the structural model divides the mind into three mental agencies or "structures:" the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the source of our motivation, and includes sexual and aggressive drives. The superego includes our moral code and ideals. The ego is made up of a group of mechanisms (reality-testing, judgment, impulse control, etc.) that help us deal with the real world. Analysts who use the structural model commonly focus on helping patients handle conflicts that occur between these three mental agencies. Many also use the structural model for clinical diagnosis. A structural-model diagnosis entails an assessment of the level of functioning of the patient's id, ego, and superego, and the specific areas of weakness and strength in each. For example, psychoanalysts usually diagnose a patient as psychotic if his or her ego suffers a severe impairment in reality-testing.

The economic model

The economic model of the mind is rarely used today, but is of historical importance. In the economic model, the mind is pictured as an energy system. Mental energy or "libido" may be distributed in a variety of ways throughout the system, "cathecting" various activities or processes with energy. Human beings are motivated by the need to achieve pleasure by "discharging" pent-up libido. The vast majority of analysts have abandoned the economic model because it is rather complicated and relies heavily on nineteenth century ideas about hydraulics. Still, a small number of philosophically minded analysts retain the economic model because they believe that its vagueness is helpful in alluding to features of mental life that may lie beyond scientific understanding.

The conflict model

The conflict model of the mind is designed to help analysts understand specific mental conflicts. This model of the mind divides the mind into basic units called compromise-formations. A compromise formation consists of a wish, a feeling of discomfort about the wish, and a defense used to eliminate that feeling of discomfort. For example, a patient might have an aggressive wish to attack authority figures, fear that if he or she were to do so punishment might result, and defensively intellectualize about general problems with authority rather than physically assaulting his or her superiors. The product of the wish, discomfort, and defense takes shape as a compromise between the three. Some influential analysts have argued that the conflict model is the most important psychoanalytic model, distinguishing psychoanalysis from other psychological theories such as humanistic psychology that minimize mental conflict.

The object-relational model

The object-relational model of the mind describes the mind as structured by internalized relationships with others. This model has it that we all internalize our childhood experiences with other people and our patterns of thinking, wishing, and feeling are organized by these experiences. Psychoanalysts often refer to the internalized other as an "internal object." An analyst might use the object-relational model to understand, for example, a patient who seeks out abusive relationships because of an abusive childhood that has taught her that to be loved, he or she must tolerate abuse. The object-relational model is perhaps the most widely used theory among analysts today.

The intersubjective model

The most recently developed model listed here, the intersubjective model is closely related to the object-relational model. Intersubjectivity theory tries to capture the complex ways in which the subjective points of view of different people interact. According to intersubjectivity theory, all of our experiences are heavily influenced by the interface between our own subjectivities and those of others. Among other things, the intersubjective model has led many analysts to revise their understanding of the origins of repression and other defense mechanisms. Intersubjectivity theory proposes that between people, intersubjective fields are established in which some experiences can be conscious and some must be kept out of awareness. Defense mechanisms, from an intersubjective perspective, take shape in formative intersubjective interactions in which particular experiences are treated as unspeakable.

Psychoanalysis involves extended exploration of the self, a realization of the Delphian motto, "Know thyself". In this it resembles the extended meditative practices of Buddhist monastic schools such as Zen. If successful, it gives a person the capacity to be present in the moment, responding authentically to circumstances, being free of infantile responses inappropriate to the situation.''' ==

Techniques

The basic method of psychoanalysis is the transference and resistance analysis of free association. The patient, in a relaxed posture, is directed to say whatever comes to mind. Dreams, hopes, wishes, and fantasies are of interest, as are recollections of early family life. Generally the analyst simply listens, making comments only when, in his or her professional judgment, an opportunity for insight on the part of the patient arises. In listening, the analyst attempts to maintain an attitude of empathic neutrality, a nonjudgmental stance designed to create a safe environment. The analyst asks that the analysand speak with utter honesty about whatever comes to awareness while interpreting the patterns and inhibitions that appear in the patient's speech and other behavior.

File:Freud Sofa.JPG
Freud's patients would lie on this couch during psychoanalysis

A general rule in psychoanalytic treatment is that more insight-oriented techniques are to be used with healthier patients, whereas more supportive techniques are to be used with more disturbed patients. The most common example of an insight-oriented technique is an interpretation, in which the analyst delivers a comment to the patient that describes one or more cluster of unconscious wishes, anxieties, and defenses. An example of a supportive technique might be reassurance, in which the analyst tries to lower the patient's level of anxiety by assuring he/she that what he or she fears will not come to pass, or will be manageable. Analysts usually prefer to make more insight-oriented interventions when possible, as they feel that such interventions are usually less judgmental than other techniques.

Currently, most psychoanalysts claim that analysis is most useful as a method in cases of neurosis and with character or personality problems. Psychoanalysis is believed to be most useful in dealing with ingrained problems of intimacy and relationship and for those problems in which established patterns of life are problematic. As a therapeutic treatment, psychoanalysis generally takes three to five meetings a week and requires the amount of time for natural or normal maturational change (three to seven years).

Analysis of previous randomised controlled trials have suggested that psychoanalytic treatment is more effective than the absence of treatment in specific psychiatric disorders. [1]

Much recent psychoanalytic work has been devoted to exploring the use of psychoanalytic principles and techniques in shorter face-to-face psychodynamic psychotherapy, and integrating psychoanalysis with other psychotherapeutic techniques such as those of cognitive behavior therapyTemplate:Fact. Empirical research on the efficacy of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy has also become prominent among psychoanalytic researchers. An open-door review of outcome studies of psychoanalysis can be found here

Cost and length

Although psychoanalytic treatment used to be expensive, cost today ranges from as low as ten dollars a session (with an analytic candidate in training at an institute) to over 250 dollars a session with a senior training analyst.

Length of treatment varies. Some psychodynamic approaches, such as Brief Relational Therapy (BRT), Brief Psychodynamic Therapy (BPT), and Time-Limited Dynamic Therapy (TLDP) limit treatment to 20-30 sessions. Full-fledged psychoanalysis, however, generally lasts longer- with an average of 5.7 years, according to a recent survey. Which treatment length is optimal depends on the individual's needs.

Training

Throughout the history of psychoanalysis, most psychoanalytic organizations have existed outside of the university setting, with a few notable exceptions.

Psychoanalytic training usually occurs at a psychoanalytic institute and may last approximately 4-10 years. Training includes coursework, supervised psychoanalytic treatment of patients, and personal psychoanalysis lasting 4 or more years.

Most psychoanalytic institutes require that applicants already possess a graduate degree. Applicants usually have degrees in clinical social work (MSW or DSW), clinical psychology (PhD or Psy. D), or medicine (MD). A handful of institutes also accept applicants who have graduate degrees in nonclinical disciplines.

An ongoing debate in professional psychoanalysis concerns the prior qualifications candidates must have to enter analytic training. Freud believed that applicants from the humanities and many nonmedical disciplines are as well prepared as physicians for psychoanalytic training. Early in the history of psychoanalysis, prominent analytic organizations tried to limit psychoanalytic training to physicians. Later, after extensive debates and legal battles, psychoanalytic training in most institutes was opened to nonmedical mental health professionals, such as psychologists and clinical social workers. Currently, access to training by applicants from nonclinical disciplines, such as literary studies and philosophy, is limited. A small number of institutes, citing Freud's belief that training in the humanities provides good preparation for analytic training, admit nonclinical applicants. However, there is an ongoing effort by analysts with prior training in mental health to restrict access to analytic institutes by such applicants, repeating the early monopoly on psychoanalytic training by physicians.

Self realization

Psychoanalysis involves extended exploration of the self, a realization of the Delphian motto, "Know thyself". In this it resembles the extended meditative practices of Buddhist monastic schools such as Zen. If successful, it gives a person the capacity to be present in the moment, responding authentically to circumstances, being free of infantile responses inappropriate to the situation.

Cultural role

Today psychoanalytic ideas are imbedded in the culture, especially in childcare, education, literary criticism, and in psychiatry, particularly medical and non-medical psychotherapy. Though there is a mainstream of evolved analytic ideas, there are groups who more specifically follow the precepts of one or more of the later theoreticians.

Psychoanalyses in groups

Though the most commonly held image of a psychoanalytic session is one in which a single analyst works with a single client, 'group' sessions with two or more clients are not unknown. Carrying out psychoanalysis in groups can be motivated by economic factors (individual analysis is time-consuming and expensive) or by the belief that clients may benefit from witnessing the various client-client and analyst-client interactions. In most forms of group-based analysis, the group is initially an artifact created by the analyst selecting the various members; the assumption is that the common relationship to the analyst will lead to the formation of a genuine group situation. Group psychotherapy of 'natural' groups (e.g. of whole families) seems to be a relative rarity.

Cultural adaptations

Psychoanalysis can be adapted to different cultures, as long as the therapist or counseling understands the client’s culture. For example, Tori and Blimes found that defense mechanisms were valid in a normative sample of 2,624 Thais. The use of certain defense mechanisms was related to cultural values. For example Thais value calmness and collectiveness (because of Buddhist beliefs), so they were low on regressive emotionality. Psychoanalysis also applies because Freud used techniques that allowed him to get the subjective perceptions of his patients. He takes an objective approach by not facing his clients during his talk therapy sessions. He met with his patients’ where ever they were, such as when he used free association—where clients would say whatever came to mind without self-censorship. His treatments had little to no structure for most cultures, especially Asian cultures. Therefore, it is more likely that Freudian constructs will be used in structured therapy (Thompson, et al., 2004). In addition, Corey postulates that it will be necessary for therapist to help clients develop a cultural identity as well as an ego identity. Since Freud has been criticized for not accounting for external/societal forces, it seems logical that therapist or counselors using his premises will work with the family more. Psychoanalytic constructs fit with constructs of other more structured therapies, and Firestone (2002) thinks psychotherapy should have more depth and involve both psychodynamic and cogitative-behavioral approaches. For example, Corey states, that Ellis, the founder of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) would allow his clients to experience depression over a loss, such an emotion would be rational—often people will be irrational deny their feelings. Since Freudian constructs can fit with other psychotherapeutic and counseling approaches, it can also be adapted to a variety of cultures, but it can not be employed in its widest use as Freud and Firestone would advocate (Firestone, 2002; Tori and Blimes 2002,).

Adaptations for age and managed care

Play therapy for different ages

Psychoanalytic constructs can be adapted and modified to both age and managed care through the use of play therapy such as art therapy, creative writing, Sand Tray Therapy, storytelling, bibliotherapy, and analytical psychodrama. In the 1920's, Anna Freud (Sigmund Freud's daughter) adapted psychoanalysis for children through play. Using toys and games, she was able to enhance relationship with the child - Freud has been criticized for his, objective and disengaged, approach. When children play, they often engage in a make believe world where they can express their fears and fantasies, and they do so without censorship, so it resembles very much the technique of free association. Psychoanalytic play therapy allows the child and the counselor to access material in the unconscious, material that was avoided and forgotten. This material is re-integrated into the conscience, and the counselor is able to work with the child and the family to address the trauma or issue that was forgotten. With adults, the term art therapy is used, instead of play, however they are synonymous. The counselor simply adapts art therapy to the age of the client. With children, a counselor may have a child draw a portrait of his self, and then tell a story about the portrait. The counselor watches for re-occurring themes - regardless of whether it is with art or toys. With adults, the counselor may work one on one or in a group and have clients do various art activities like painting or clay to express themselves - toys here would not probably not be age appropriate, and children stop pretend play as they transition into adolescence. Since play is considered appropriate in Occidental (Western) culture, it allows people to deal with personal/social issues that they would normally avoid - it allows them to drop their defenses without anxiety and fear.

Other play therapy techniques

Bibliocounseling involves selecting stories from books that children can identify with (similar issues). Through this story, a child will be more likely to not feel defensive and will work to find alternative solutions to problems. Storytelling is similar, the counselor may tell a story but not use a name, and instead he may address the child with each new sentence using his name. For example, He may say, "next, Eric, the little boy had dream about a mouse that was not like the other mice..."

Play therapy for managed care

Unlike traditional psychoanalysis, play therapy takes much shorter time span; which allow insurance companies to cover it for their clients. Even more, it provides more structure to the process allowing for specific measurable goals. Psychoanalytic theory will be applied in more preventative ways, such as educating parents on how to best meet the needs of the child and enhance the child's development and growth. Lastly, more advocates may use homework assignments such as journal writing to save time (Thompson et al., 2004).

Expressive writing for managed care

According to a book, review by Berman (2003) the writing cure provides an analysis of research that supports expressive writing as a way to integrate cognitions and work through trauma. People who write about traumatic events experience more self control. The Writing Cure offers new, cost-effective ways to treat clients; clients can even use expressive writing to work through their own personal/social issues.

Criticisms

Psychoanalysis has been criticized on a variety of grounds by Karl Popper, Adolf Grünbaum, Mario Bunge, Hans Eysenck, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Peter Medawar, Ernest Gellner, Frank Cioffi, Frederick Crews, Arthur Janov and others. Popper argues that it is not scientific because it is not falsifiable. Grünbaum argues that it is falsifiable, and in fact turns out to be false. Janov claims that psychoanalysis intellectualizes the feeling process which only strengthens defenses. The other schools of psychology have produced alternative methods of psychotherapy, including behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, primal therapy and person centered psychotherapy. Exchanges between critics and defenders of psychoanalysis have often been so heated that they have come to be characterized as the Freud Wars.

Some defenders of psychoanalysis suggest that its logics and formulations are more akin to those found in the humanities than those proper to the physical and biological sciences, though Freud himself tried to base his clinical formulations on a hypothetical neurophysiology of energy transformations, an approach that was systematized by David Rapaport. Rapaport argued that psychoanalytic theory can be organized systematically if it is seen in relation to the dynamics of libidinal energy that emerge from the drives and conflict with controls and defenses. By the 1970's, psychoanalytic writers like Roy Schafer and George Klein treated psychoanalysis as two separate theories, one, a theory of energy transformations that lacked empirical validation and the other, an "experience-near" theory of human intentionality that was philosophically independent of the reductionism and determinism of 19th century science as seen in the works of Helmholz and Hobbes. Reductionism and determinism were recognized as contrary to the clinical methods and goals of psychological liberation. Psychoanalysis as a collection of clinical theories was recast as a theory of interpretation and development with a focus on understanding how the varieties of nonconscious dispositions and actions influence a person's life in the form of transference and resistance.

In a closely related argument, the philosopher Paul Ricoeur argued that psychoanalysis can be considered a type of textual interpretation or hermeneutics. Like cultural critics and literary scholars, Ricoeur contended, psychoanalysts spend their time interpreting the nuances of language- the language of their patients. Ricoeur claimed that psychoanalysis emphasizes the polyvocal or many-voiced qualities of language, focusing on utterances that mean more than one thing. Ricoeur classified psychoanalysis as a hermeneutics of suspicion. By this he meant that psychoanalysis searches for deception in language, and thereby destabilizes our usual reliance on clear, obvious meanings. The philosopher Jacques Derrida took a similar position. Derrida used psychoanalytic theory to question what he called the metaphysics of presence, a body of philosophical theory which assumes that the meaning of utterances can be pinned down and made fully evident.

Psychoanalysts have often complained about the significant lack of theoretical agreement among analysts of different schools. Many authors have attempted to integrate the various theories, with limited success. An important consequence of the wide variety of psychoanalytic theories is that psychoanalysis is difficult to criticize as a whole. Many critics have attempted to offer criticisms of psychoanalysis that were in fact only criticisms of specific ideas present only in one or more theories, rather than in all of psychoanalysis. For example, it is common for critics of psychoanalysis to focus on Freud's ideas, even though only a fraction of contemporary analysts still hold to Freud's major theses. As the psychoanalytic researcher Drew Westen puts it, "Critics have typically focused on a version of psychoanalytic theory—circa 1920 at best—that few contemporary analysts find compelling...In so doing, however, they have set the terms of the public debate and have led many analysts, I believe mistakenly, down an indefensible path of trying to defend a 75 to 100-year-old version of a theory and therapy that has changed substantially since Freud laid its foundations at the turn of the century." link to Westen article

An early criticism of psychoanalysis was that its theories were based on little quantitative and experimental research, and instead relied almost exclusively on the clinical case study method. An increasing amount of psychoanalytic research from academic psychologists and psychiatrists who have worked to quantify and measure psychoanalytic concepts has begun to address this criticism. However, a survey of scientific research by Seymour Fisher and R. P. Greenberg showed that while personality traits corresponding to Freud's oral, anal, Oedipal, and genital phases can be observed, they cannot be observed as stages in the development of children, nor it be confirmed that such traits in adults result from childhood experiences. Likewise there is failure to demonstrate that insight, expressed in Freudian terms as making the unconscious conscious, improves a person's behavior or increases their level of functioning, there being strong indications that other factors are involved. E. Fuller Torrey, considered by some a leading American psychiatrist, writing in Witchhdoctors and Psychiatrists (1986) stated that psychoanalytic theories have no more scientific basis than the theories of traditional native healers, "witchdoctors" or modern "cult" alternatives such as est.

Research on psychodynamic treatment of some populations shows mixed results. Research by analysts such as Bertram Karon and colleagues at Michigan State University had suggested that when trained properly, psychodynamic therapists can be effective with schizophrenic patients. More recent research casts doubt on these claims. The Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT)report argues in its Recommendaton 22 against the use of psychodynamic therapy in cases of schizophrenia, noting that more trials are necessary to verity its effectiveness. However, it has been noted that the PORT recommendation is based on the opinions of clinicians rather than on empirical data, and empirical data exist that contradict this recommendation.link to abstract A review of current medical literature in The Cochrane Library, (the updated abstract of which is available online) reached the conclusion that no data exist supporting the view that psychodynamic psychotherapy is effective in treating schizophrenia. Further, data also suggest that psychoanalysis is not effective (and possibly even detrimental) in the treatment of sex offenders.

Although the popularity of psychoanalysis was in decline during the 1980's and early 1990's, prominent psychoanalytic institutes have experienced an increase in the number of applicants in recent years. link to article

Notes

In his effort to understand what caused the hysterical symptoms he was trying to treat, Freud discovered that symptoms were induced by unconscious psychic processes related to infantile sexuality. The study of his own dreams confirmed the extent to which the unconscious determination predominated. He was also able to show the presence of the unconscious psychic processes in several phenomena (slips of the tongue, parapraxes, jokes) which had not been adequately explained by the psychology of consciousness. In 1922, Freud gave psychoanalysis a complex definition which distinguishes three aspects:


1. Psychoanalysis is the name of a procedure for the investigation of mental processes which are almost inaccessible in any other way and can be the object of serious investigation. This procedure is called free association. Used in the carefully defined setting and structure of the analytic situation, it becomes the “fundamental rule” that is to say, the analysand is requested to say whatever come to mind. Thus appear and organize the phenomena known as the transference relationship to the analyst, which constitute the analytic process.


2. Psychoanalysis is a method of treatment of a certain range of psychic disorders, in particular, neurotic disorders. In fact, the therapeutic dimension of analysis (the analytic treatment) emerges from the psychic transformations induced by the awareness of the unfolding process: the modification of the relationship of the Ego to the Unconscious translates into –in addition to the relief from psychic suffering—an increased capacity to love and work. All other psychoanalytic treatments are to a greater or lesser degree derived from this model of treatment, respecting the range of clinical diversity.


3. Psychoanalysis is a theory organizing the knowledge obtained from practical experience, which it then inspires, in return. Because it is primarily concerned with what is beyond consciousness, that is, unconscious psychic reality, Freud called the theory Metapsychology.

Psychoanalysis is concerned not only with the singular experience of an individual analysis, but is equally preoccupied with and applied to the entirety of human phenomena in which the unconscious is involved.

There is thus a connection as well as a distinction to be made between:

  • the method of investigation required by the specific characteristics of the unconscious ;
  • the effective transformation, inherent to the psychoanalytic process, which goes far beyond symptom relief ;
  • the theory which is both limited in its specificity, while nevertheless open to all disciplines which concern humankind.


  1. Peter Fonagy, Outcome Studies on Psychoanalysis, International Psychoanalytic Association.
  2. Fisher, Seymour and Greenbert, Roger, The Scientific Credibility of Freud's Theories and Therapy, 1985. ISBN 023106215X.

References

  • Berman, J. (2003). Review of the book, The writing cure: How expressive writing promotes health and well-being. [Electronic version]. Psychoanalytic psychology, 20(3), 575-578.
  • Brenner, C. (1954). An elementary textbook of psychoanalysis.
  • Corey, G. (2001). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Thompson Learning
  • Seymour Fisher,, The Scientific Credibility of Freud's Theories and Therapy, Columbia University Press (October, 1985), trade paperback, ISBN 023106215X
  • Firestone, R.W. (2002). "The death of psychoanalysis and depth therapy." [Electronic version]. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, and Training, 39(3), 223-232.
  • Kramer, Peter D., Listening to Prozac: A Psychiatrist Explores Antidepressant Drugs and the Remaking of the Self ISBN 0670841838.
  • Luhrmann, T.M., Of Two Minds: The Growing Disorder in American Psychiatry ISBN 0679421912.
  • Thomson, C.L, Rudolph L.B., & Henderson, D. (2004). Counseling children. (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Thompson.
  • Tori, C.D. & Blimes, M. (Fall 2002). "Cross-cultural and Psychoanalytic Psychology: The Validation of defense measure in an Asian population." [Electronic version]. Psychoanalytic psychology, 19(4), 701-421.
  • E. Fuller Torrey, Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists: The Common Roots of Psychotherapy and Its Future, Perennial Library, Harper & Row (1986), trade paperback, 320 pages, ISBN 0060970243
  • Psychoanalytic Theory: An Introduction, by Anthony Elliott, an introduction that explains psychoanalytic theory with interpretations of major theorists [2]
  • The Psychoanalytic Movement: The Cunning of Unreason, by Ernest Gellner. A critical view of Freudian theory. ISBN 0810113708
  • Mitchell, S. & Black, M. (1995). Freud and Beyond: A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought
  • Wachtel, P. (1989). Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Toward an Integration. New York: Basic Books.
  • Hall, Alan (2006). AP Modern European History and Psychological Human Behavior high school professor.

Online papers about psychoanalytic theory

Online papers and links about psychoanalytic research

Critiques of psychoanalysis

  • Erwin, Edward, A Final Accounting: Philosophical and Empirical Issues in Freudian Psychology ISBN 0262050501
  • Gellner, Ernest, The Psychoanalytic Movement: The Cunning of Unreason. A critical view of Freudian theory. ISBN 0810113708
  • Grünbaum, Adolf, The Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Philosophical Critique ISBN 0520050177
  • Janov, Arthur, "Grand Delusions." Chapter 8: Freud's theory as therapy: The talking cure that doesn't heal. [3]
  • Macmillan, Malcolm, and Frederick Crews, Freud Evaluated: The Completed Arc ISBN 0262631717

See also

Major contributors

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References