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| − | An essential feature of the technique of [[psychoanalysis]], gradually developed by [[Freud]] between 1892 and 1898.
| + | Free Association is an essential aspect of psychoanalysis. |
| − | Its origins are descrinbd in 'On the History of the Psychoanalytic Movement' and 'Two Encyclopedia Articles' which describe the technique itself.
| + | [[Free association]] is an important aspect of the [[psychoanalytic]] technique. |
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| − | The rule of free association states that a [[patient]] in [[analysis]] (or [[analysand]]) must verbally express whatever comes into his or her mind during the session, telling all and omitting nothing.
| + | [[Free association]] is a method used in [[psychoanalytic treatment]] in which the [[analysand]] (or [[patient]]) expresses what comes to mind (in a spontaneous, unconstrained and undirected association of thoughts and feelings). |
| − | A corresponding rule requires the [[analyst]] to listen to all the verbal associations made by the [[patient]], giving no particular importance to anyhting but paying attention to everything.
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| − | The [[analyst]] must listen with 'evenly suspended or poised attention.'
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| − | The function of both rules is to prevent the [[conscious]] mind from [[censorship|censoring]] or blocking the process of [[interpretation]].
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| | + | This method, devised by [[Sigmund Freud]], is intended to reduce the level of [[censorship]] in the [[conscious]] mind of the [[analysand]]. |
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| | + | The [[analyst]] listens (with 'evenly suspended or poised attention') to all associations made by the [[analysand]] (giving no particular importance to anything but paying attention to everything) in an effort to extract the "pure metal of valuable unconscious thoughts" from the "raw material of the patient's association."<ref>1905e. p. 112</ref> |
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| | + | [[Free association]] is a method by which the [[analyst]] can approach (or even 'uncover') the [[repression|repressed]] and [[unconscious]] thoughts, ideas and representations [[repression|repressed]] of the [[analysand]] (from the [[unconscious]] mind of the [[analysand]]). |
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| | + | This technique is supposed to help bring forth repressed thoughts and feelings that the person can then work through to gain a better sense of self. |
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| | + | <blockquote>The success of the psycho-analysis depends on his noticing and reporting whatever comes into his head and not being misled, for instance, into suppressing an idea because it stikes him as unimportant or irrelevant or because it seems to him meaningless.<ref>The Method of Interpreting Dreams. 1900a. p. 101</ref></blockquote> |
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| − | Free association (considered the "fundamental rule") is the method used in psychoanalytic treatment. In free association the patient says whatever comes to mind without exercising any selectivity or censorship. It is based on Freud's deterministic concept of psychic phenomena: "We start, as you see, on the assumption, which he does not share in the least, that these spontaneous thoughts will not be arbitrarily chosen but will be determined by their relation to his secret—to his 'complex'—and may, as it were, be regarded as derivatives of that complex" (1906c, p. 108-109). The origin of this new method of therapy can be dated from Emmy von N's irritation with Freud for interrupting her when she spoke. The method was not codified until later and would become the keystone of the technique of psychoanalytic treatment. There is no mention of this in the Studies on Hysteria. At that time a pressure on the forehead was intended to bring forth an idea or an image with the help of which the cathartic method could be exercised.
| + | [[Freud]] describes the method in detail: |
| | + | <blockquote>You will notice that as you relate things various thoughts will occur to you which you would like to put aside on the ground of certain criticisms and objections. You will be tempted to say to yourself that this or that is irrelevant here, or is quite up important, or nonsensical, so that there is no need to say it. You must never give in to these criticisms, but must say it in spite of them—indeed, you must say it precisely because you feel an aversion to doing so. Later on you will find out and learn to understand the reason for this injunction, which is really the only one you have to follow. So say whatever goes through your mind. Act as though, for instance, you were a traveler sitting next to the window of a railway carriage and describing to someone inside the carriage the changing views which you see outside. Finally, never forget that you have promised to be absolutely honest, and never leave anything out because, for some reason or other, it is unpleasant to tell it."<ref>"On Beginning the Treatment" (1913c) (p. 135).</ref></blockquote> |
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| − | The first mention of the fact that redirecting the patient's attention can allow connections to emerge between a forgotten word and repressed ideas appears in the analysis of the forgetting of "Signorelli's" name (1898b). But it is in the chapter on "The Method of Interpreting Dreams" (1900a) that the process is described in detail: "We . . . tell him that the success of the psycho-analysis depends on his noticing and reporting whatever comes into his head and not being misled, for instance, into suppressing an idea because it stikes him as unimportant or irrelevant or because it seems to him meaningless" (p. 101). The technique was used in the analysis of Dora and Freud specifies that he managed to "the pure metal of valuable unconscious thoughts can be extracted from the raw material of the patient's associations" (1905e, p. 112). For example, "It is a rule of psycho-analytic technique that an internal connection which is still undisclosed will announce its presence by means of a contiguity—a temporal proximity of associations; just as in writing, if 'a' and 'b' are put side by side, it means that the syllable 'ab' is to be formed out of them (p. 39) . . . in a line of association, ambiguous words . . . act like a point at a junction (p. 65n) . . . I am in the habit of regarding associations such as this, which bring forward something that agrees with the content of an assertion of mine, as a confirmation from the unconscious of what I have said (p. 57) . . . [the unwillingness on Dora's part to follow the rules of dream-interpretation] coupled with the hesitancy and meagreness of her associations with the jewel-case, showed me that we were here dealing with material which had been very intensely repressed" (p. 69n).
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| − | It is in "On Beginning the Treatment" (1913c) that Freud made these ideas explicit: "One more thing before you start. What you tell me must differ in one respect from an ordinary conversation. Ordinarily you rightly try to keep a connecting thread running through your remarks and you exclude any intrusive ideas that may occur to you and any side-issues, so as not to wander too far from the point. But in this case you must proceed differently. You will notice that as you relate things various thoughts will occur to you which you would like to put aside on the ground of certain criticisms and objections. You will be tempted to say to yourself that this or that is irrelevant here, or is quite up important, or nonsensical, so that there is no need to say it. You must never give in to these criticisms, but must say it in spite of them—indeed, you must say it precisely because you feel an aversion to doing so. Later on you will find out and learn to understand the reason for this injunction, which is really the only one you have to follow. So say whatever goes through your mind. Act as though, for instance, you were a traveler sitting next to the window of a railway carriage and describing to someone inside the carriage the changing views which you see outside. Finally, never forget that you have promised to be absolutely honest, and never leave anything out because, for some reason or other, it is unpleasant to tell it" (p. 135).
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| − | This method of free association was often confused with the association experiments involving stimulus words that Eugen Bleuler and Carl Gustav Jung were doing at the same time at the Burghölzli clinic. Even though he referred to the method in "Psycho-Analysis and Establishment of Facts in Legal Proceedings" (1906c), Freud was careful to differentiate his own work from it and, on February 26, 1908, referred to this technique as a "coarse method, to which psychoanalysis is far superior" (Nunberg and Federn, 1962-1975, p. 335). But for years commentators, especially in France, have attributed its use to him.
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| − | In 1920, in "A Note on the Prehistory of the Technique of Analysis," Freud recognized the "cryptamnesia" that led to his claiming to be the inventor of a method, a description of which he had read when he was fourteen in a text by Ludwig Börne, entitled, "The Art of Becoming an Original Writer in Three Days." In it he stated that the best way for the writer to banish inhibitions and censorship was to write down everything that came to mind for a period of three days.
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| − | Once again we see how an isolated idea that circulates in the popular mind is inadequate on its own and what developments are needed for it to be integrated within a body of thought that transcends it. The method of free association, by freeing speech in its search for a hidden truth, has become the principal method of producing the material for analysis, even if, through overproduction, the freedom it offers sometimes becomes a form of resistance to any form of interpretation.
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| | ==See Also== | | ==See Also== |
| | * [[Active imagination (analytical psychology)]] | | * [[Active imagination (analytical psychology)]] |
Free Association is an essential aspect of psychoanalysis.
Free association is an important aspect of the psychoanalytic technique.
Free association is a method used in psychoanalytic treatment in which the analysand (or patient) expresses what comes to mind (in a spontaneous, unconstrained and undirected association of thoughts and feelings).
This method, devised by Sigmund Freud, is intended to reduce the level of censorship in the conscious mind of the analysand.
The analyst listens (with 'evenly suspended or poised attention') to all associations made by the analysand (giving no particular importance to anything but paying attention to everything) in an effort to extract the "pure metal of valuable unconscious thoughts" from the "raw material of the patient's association."[1]
Free association is a method by which the analyst can approach (or even 'uncover') the repressed and unconscious thoughts, ideas and representations repressed of the analysand (from the unconscious mind of the analysand).
This technique is supposed to help bring forth repressed thoughts and feelings that the person can then work through to gain a better sense of self.
The success of the psycho-analysis depends on his noticing and reporting whatever comes into his head and not being misled, for instance, into suppressing an idea because it stikes him as unimportant or irrelevant or because it seems to him meaningless.[2]
Freud describes the method in detail:
You will notice that as you relate things various thoughts will occur to you which you would like to put aside on the ground of certain criticisms and objections. You will be tempted to say to yourself that this or that is irrelevant here, or is quite up important, or nonsensical, so that there is no need to say it. You must never give in to these criticisms, but must say it in spite of them—indeed, you must say it precisely because you feel an aversion to doing so. Later on you will find out and learn to understand the reason for this injunction, which is really the only one you have to follow. So say whatever goes through your mind. Act as though, for instance, you were a traveler sitting next to the window of a railway carriage and describing to someone inside the carriage the changing views which you see outside. Finally, never forget that you have promised to be absolutely honest, and never leave anything out because, for some reason or other, it is unpleasant to tell it."[3]
See Also
References
- ↑ 1905e. p. 112
- ↑ The Method of Interpreting Dreams. 1900a. p. 101
- ↑ "On Beginning the Treatment" (1913c) (p. 135).
- Freud, Sigmund. (1906c). Psycho-analysis and the establishment of facts in legal proceedings. SE, 9: 103-114.
FREE ASSOCIATION (140)
