Evaluate the Methods Used by the Psychodynamic Approach

Psychoanalysis created by Sigmund Freud is much like Individual therapy in the sense that it will explore the past and how any past circumstances are effecting the now adult. This therapy will last as long as the client needs the support of the counselor and relies on the client’s full participation. In this form of therapy the counselor will participate in guiding the client thru the unconscious mind to and find how it may be contributing to thoughts and behaviors that are causing the client distress. Like analytical therapy psychoanalysis will cover a variety of issues including psychosexual, compulsive, and depressive disorders. According to Haggerty, J. (2006) “The essence of Freud’s theory is that sexual and aggressive energies originating in the id (or unconscious) are modulated by the ego, which is a set of functions that moderates between the id and external reality. Defense mechanisms are constructions of the ego that operate to minimize pain and to maintain psychic equilibrium. The superego, formed during latency (between age 5 and puberty), operates to control id drives

Their teacher replies ‘ Because each has something different to offer to our understanding of behaviour, making each approach unique.’

Psychoanalysis is a therapy of psychological theory that aims to treat mental illnesses based on the concepts of Sigmund Freud, who emphasized the importance of free association and dream analysis. The model of psychoanalysis aim is to release repressed emotion and experiences, by making unconscious thoughts, conscious. The fundamental principles of psychoanalysis are practiced by putting an emphasis on the patient to gain insight into the origins of their respective problems like a patient presenting symptoms of anxiety would be encouraged by a licensed professional to explore their past, in hopes of discovering problems that manifested the anxiety. The anxiety created may be a defense mechanism directed towards displacement in their world.

Freud’s wish fulfillment theory began because he believed that the wishes in adult dreams were disguised in order to reduce their anxiety tendencies. Freud theorised that dreams are disguised by a “censor” of sorts, in four cognitive processes he collectively called the “dream-work” (Freud, 1900) these include; displacement, whereby highly charged thoughts are transferred to minor elements in the impending dream. Condensation then compresses several different dream thoughts. These two are then joined together by the regard for representability, which changes abstract thoughts into a form that is applicable for the sensor. Finally the dream is shaped by secondary revision which basically gives the dream content an understandable pattern. (Freud, 1900).

Sigmund Freud says that "a dream is a disguised fulfillment of a repressed wish". What he means is that every dream represents a wish fulfillment. Dreams represent the imaginary fulfillment of a wish or impulse in early childhood, before such wishes have been repressed. The dream images represent the unconscious wishes or thought disguised through symbolization and other distorting mechanisms. Freud concluded that a dream is the conscious expression of an unconscious fantasy or wish which is not accessible to the individual existence.

Psychoanalysis is based on elaborate theories. This approach views the mind on three different levels: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious. Everything one person is aware of falls into their “conscious” and the things that are yet to be known but easily can be assumed fall into their “preconscious”. The “unconscious” are memories or emotions that are stored away from the “conscious” or “preconscious” that will reappear in a time when the person is focusing on serious or threatening situations. Patients who participate in psychodynamic therapy will take sessions that encourage them to talk about whatever comes to their mind while the therapist just listens and does not give advice.

Freud felt that he must rely upon his own dreams because of the difficulties of studying other people’s dreams. This was also a problem because he felt that he would then have to reveal his own private thoughts to the world. Freud states, “But if I was to report my own dreams, it inevitably followed that I should have to reveal to the public gaze more of the intimacies of my mental life than I liked, or that is normally necessary for any writer who is a man of science and not a poet. “ Having decided that he would willingly share his dreams and feelings for his studies he then expresses, “I can only express the hope that the readers of this book will put themselves in my difficult situation and treat me with indulgence”.

Briefly present Freud's theory on dreams and how his ideas are distinctly different from the philosophy of the Activation-Synthesis Model. Freud believed manifest content/dream images brought out repressed wishes/wish-fulfillment and urges, and latent content/ disguised psychological dream meaning. Also, dream functioning was a release of unconscious and inappropriate urges. Images in dreams had different symbolism's such as, an elongated object represented male genital organ and ovens represent the female genitals. Researchers Robert McCarley and J. Allan Hobson created a model called Activation-Synthesis in which it suggests dreams are a way the brain makes sense of the activities while sleeping.

Through his dream Freud fulfills his desire of not being guilty for being unable to cure Irma’s illness. For this purpose in the dream Irma’s illness is physical and not psychological. In addition he also takes revenge against Otto who he feels disapproved of his treatment of Irma and her inability to cure her symptoms.

Psychoanalytic or psychodynamic psychotherapy draws on theories and practices of analytical psychology and psychoanalysis. It is a therapeutic process which helps patients understand and resolve their problems by increasing awareness of their inner world and its influence over relationships both past and present. It differs from most other therapies in aiming for deep seated change in personality and emotional development. (Jacobson, 2013) This therapy aim to help people with serious psychological disorders to understand and change complex, deep-seated and often unconsciously based emotional and relationship problems thereby reducing symptoms and alleviating distress.

The psychodynamic methodology incorporates every one of the speculations in psychology that see human functioning based upon the cooperation of drives and forces within the individual, especially unconscious, and between the diverse structures of the identity.

Displacement, on the other hand, is a dream-making mechanism by which the fundamental meaning of sleep can appear in the manifest content of an accessory or secondary element and, on the other hand, the most important element of manifest content presented as an element Secondary to authentic meaning. This mechanism moves the meaning from the central part of the dream to its accessory places, hiding the dreamer from the dream

Allan Hobson proposed neuroscience perspective(all the sciences) of the dream, the activation-synthesis theory explains that dreams are a result of “the electrical energy that the brain produces during REM sleep, possibly as a result of changes in the production of particular neurotransmitters.” The electrical energy randomly triggers the memories stored in the brain because the brain tries to “make sense of neutral activity” that happens during sleep. The brain tries to put the event that occurred in chronological order to make a logical story “ filling in the gaps to produce a rational

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, titled his landmark work, The Interpretation of Dreams. He asserted that every dream is the fulfillment of a wish. Imagine, for example, one who is sleeping but who becomes thirsty. The sleep pattern will be disturbed by thirst. A subsequent dream will likely involve liquids in an attempt to get rid of the disturbance. Only when the dream fails, will you wake and visit the kitchen.

What we believe to be impossible to be achieved through reality is often projected in the unconscious. Freud theorized that our minds repressed desires that could summon emotions such as guilt or shame, which could lead to what is called wish fulfillment through dreams, hallucinations, or phases of neurosis. Experiences of intense dream sequences that involve sexual relations with family members, or homicide carried out by the individual or others, are examples of wish fulfillment dreams. Said dreams represent taboos or actions that could result in extreme consequences in reality, so instead, the impulses or yearnings are satisfied within the unconscious where only the individual can truly gain access to. To Freud, the mind was a part of us suffering from chronic turmoil, with the ego and the superego constantly at war with the ID, where impulses rest.