Psychological Concepts

Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)

Sigmun Freud was an Austrian neurologist who pioneered psychoanalysis. His major works include: Studies on Hysteria, Interpretation of Dreams, Three essays on the Theory of sexuality, Beyond the Pleasure Prinicple, and Moses and Monotheism.

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages (1856 – 1939)

Freud’s theory on psychosexual development focused on the effects of sexual pleasure drive on the mind. He believed that at particular points along the developmental path a body part is sensitive to sexual, erotic stimulations (erogenous zones – mouth, anus and genitals)

Psychosexual stages

Age (years)	Stage	Features	Nota bene
0 – 1	Oral	Gratification if achieved through oral means (breast-feeding)	Oral receptive – Fixation in smoking, Oral aggressive
1 – 3	Anal	Gratification is achieved by the child’s perceived ability to control its anal sphincter (defecation)	Anal retentive OCPD -, anal
3 – 6	Phallic	Gratification is achieved (in the male child) through awareness of the phallus (penis)	He proposed that oediups complex occurs in this stage. The same gender parent is perceived as a hate object due to the child’s love for the opposite gender parent. Sexual suppression starts as the individual is afraid the father might castrate them
6 years to puberty	Latency	Sexual development is latent as intellectual/social growth becomes more prominent	Associate with the same sex, can become reserved or develop low self esteem,
Puberty and beyond	Genital	Sexual desires are rekindled

Cathartic Model (Freud)

This model was based on the treatment of young females with hysteria (hysteria being an all-embracing term for many neurotic disorders). According to this model, hysterical neurosis was due to repressed, dammed up sexual feelings. These feelings were released (opening up the ‘psychic’ abscess) through hypnosis or free association to resolve the hysteria

Topographic theory of the mind (Freud)

Freud divided the mind into the conscious, preconscious and unconscious.

Level	Description
Conscious	Aware of what is going on outside. Involves current thoughts which are logical, organized, mature and can delay gratification (secondary process thinking)
Preconscious	Lies in between conscious and unconscious, and contains memories and thoughts that are easy to bring into awareness, but not unless consciously retrieved
Unconscious	Consists of represed memories that are unaccessible. These are usually primitive and pleasure-seeking with no regard to logic or time (primary process thinking). Commonly seen in children and psychosis. Thoughts and ideas may be repressed because they are embarrasing, shameful, or otherwise too painful.

Structural theory of the mind (Freud)

Freud divided the mind into id, ego and superego. This is his most popular theory. I’d born with it, ego develops at 3 years, superego learnt at 6 years with experiences

Component	Description
Id	Operates on the pleasure principle. It involves instinctual sexual/aggressive urges and primary process thinking**.** It is unconsciously motivated.
Ego	Operates on the reality principle. It is the mediator between the id, superego, and external environment. The ego seeks to develop satisfying interpersonal relationships by using defense mechanisms to control instinctual urges and distinguish fantasy from reality using reality testing.
Superego	Acts as the moral conscience and ego ideal. This is the inner image of oneself, that one wants to become. It is derived from internalised representations of significant others in one’s early life e.g. teachers and parents.

Dream Analysis (Freud)

Freud wrote ‘The interpertation of Dreams’ which he stated that dreams represent the fulfilment of repressed wishes. By analysing dreams, invaluable information is provided about unconscious conflicts.

Dream Irma’s injection

Dream Work (Freud)

Dream work refers to the process by which unconscious feelings (latent content) are converted into the actual recalled dream (the manifest content). Mechanism of dream work include: symbolisaiton, dramatisation, displacement, condensation, and secondary elaboration.

Transference and Countertransference

Analysis and interpretation of transference and countertransference is important in explorative psychotherapies (psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapies) where the patient’s early life experiences are explored.

Definition of terms

Term	Definition
Transference	Refers to the unconscious transferring of feelings that the patient had towards a formative figure e.g. a parent in the past onto the therapist in the presents setting.
Countertrasnference	Refers to the feelings unconsciously evoked in the therapist as a reaction to the transference

Defense Mechanisms

Defense mechanisms are unconscious processes that help to avoid experiencing the psychic pain associated with unacceptable conflicts /impulses. These mechanisms are universal and are not necessarily pathological. Freud’s daughter, Anna Freud, produced the first sytematic list of the common defence mechanisms. Since then, there has been significant contributions to the list from others.

Defense mechanisms can be characterized as immature, mature and neurotic

Some Selected Defense mechanisms

Defense mechanism	Description	Examples
Repression	Unacceptable feelings or memories (e.g. of adverse childhood events) are repressed. This is the most important defence according to Freud. If repression is total there is no need for other defence mechanisms
Regression	The person reverts to an earlier more immature stage of development so that they become more dependent on others. Regression is encouraged in the psychoanalytic setting	Fixation on the oral stage for smoking addiction or the anal stage for excessive perfectionism/wanting to be in control
Denial	The person refuses to acknowledge reality in order to avoid the psychic pain associated with that reality	A patient refusing to acknowledge the fact that he/she is drinking heavily
Projeciton	The person externalises their own unacceptable feelings and attributes them to toehrs	A person with latent racist feelings projects it to others making it easier to justify his own feelings
Displacement	Feelings are transferred from one person/objetc to anotehr in order to reduce psychic pain. Freud explained phobias in terms of this mechanism
Rationalisation	The person provides a logical (but no wholly true) justification for his/other’s actions in order to avoid the psychic pain associated with acknowledging the true reasons for the action.	“My wife left me for a wealthier man” when the true reason might have been the husband’s chronic neglect of his wife’s emotional needs
Reaction formation	The person behaves in away that is diametrically opposite to his feelings.	Psychoanalysts explain OCD as a reaction to unacceptable feelings of dirt or chaos
Sublimation	A mature defense mechanism where a person channels and expresses their unacceptable feelings/impulses into socially acceptable actions	Expressing aggressive urges through contact sports such as rugby
Turning against the self	The patient redirects towards themselves those unacceptable feelings thery have against others	May explain self-harm behavior
Magical undoing	The patient tries to ‘cancel ot’ an unacceptable thought with an acceptable act.	Psychoanalysts explain the compulsive rituals of OCD through this defense mechanism
Splitting	The patient splits objects (persons) into positive and negative aspects (good/bad, caring/uncaring). The person is able to see only one aspect of a person at a time, and not the person as a whole.	Self: “ I’m alwful”; “I’m wonderful”; Others: “The psychiatrist is uncaring”, “The nurse is caring”
Projective Identification	The patient projects their feelings to an external person, and the latter dientifies the role that the patient expects. Interpretation of the countertransference in this situation brings clarity.	A patient may project feelings of hate towards the therapist, and the therapist may behave in a way that confirms to the patient that they are indeed being hated by the therapist.

Jungian Analytic Psychology

Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), a Swiss psychiatrist, founded the school fo analytical psychology after disagreeing with Freud. He introduced the concepts of extraversion and intraversion, and divided the unconscious into personal unconscious (unique to each individual) and collect unconscious (universal, common to mankind and consists of symbols and images called archetypes). Jung also wrote about the persona: the outer aspect of one’s personality (’mask’) that others see. He also used the term anumus to denote the masculine aspects of a woman, and anima to denote the feminine aspects of a man.

• Jungian vs Freudian psychoanalysts
  • Jungian psychoanalysts concentrate relatively more on the patients’ fantasy world and artistic creativity
  • Jungian psychoanalysits are more active in the therapy room (unlike Freudian therapists who are passive) and reveal personal information about themselves to the patient

Klenian Object Relations Theory

Melanie Klein (1882 – 1960) laid the foundations of object relations theory by studying infants and very young children by play analysis. She postulated positions: the infant progresses through two stages – paranoid-schizoid and the depressive positions.

Position

Position	Description
Paranoid-schizoid position	The infant splits its mother into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and is aunable to see that is is the sam mother who provides (’good mother’) and denies (’bad mother’)
Depressive position	The child comes to see the mother as a whole object consisting of both good and bad aspect. Guilt is prominent as the child fears whether its previous feelings of hatred would destroy the mother. The child realises that the motehr can be an object of both love and hate at different times, and learns to cope with this ambivalence.