Psychoanalytic Therapy Video Analysis

In the counseling world today understanding psychodynamic approaches is more crucial than ever in the assessment and treatment of any psychological issue. Psychodynamic approaches such as Individual therapy, analytical therapy and psychoanalysis are similar in many ways but also differ based on the individuals own perception and circumstances. I will discuss the similarities as well difference’s and why these forms of therapy are critical in the assessment and treatment of clients.

Understanding Freud’s theory enables me to understand driving forces behind his past decisions. It also allows me to see that he is now able to control his impulses and delay decision making until he has considered the consequences of his actions. He will be more reasonable to work with in

I examined two videos with adults survivors of childhood trauma and its effects on their present lives.

Starting with the advantages of psychodynamic therapy, a client is able to re-examine past conflicts and work though unresolved issues that could be hindering his/her present day life. Going through life and never really dealing with what is troubling you, can cause stress and anxiety all the way into adulthood. When an individual decides to seek help for the first time, it is beneficial for the counselor to know about the client’s past experiences to fully understand why they are the person they are today. A historical approach helps the counselor focus on the root of the problems, and how events along the way have become overpowering struggles that has brought the family into counseling. Understanding one’s past can help a person heal and learn to deal with new issues that may come along in the future. This type of therapy is also beneficial because it helps the client and counselor identify reoccurring behaviors that have led to negative outcomes. Being aware of why the behaviors occur and recognizing

Psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic, and psychodynamic therapies have paved the psychotherapy world as we know it. In the undergraduate program I attended professors advised students to be aware of transference and countertransference, therefore, not allowing client’s to transfer their feelings or experiences onto the counselor. Although, in psychoanalysis the therapist uses these transferences as a tool in which the client and learn from. Corey (2017) states, “the transference situation is considered valuable because its manifestations provide clients with the opportunity to re-experience a variety of feelings that would otherwise be inaccessible” (p.75). Throughout this process I can see there can be great benefits for the client to explore

Therapists basically explore avoidances, thoughts, feelings, relationships and life experiences. A patient sometimes may be aware of his condition but not be able to escape or explain it. Through the analysis of a patient’s early experiences of attachment figures and how they have affect him, he will be able to free himself from the bonds of past. To accomplish that, the psychodynamic therapy, focuses on interpersonal relations, on the affect and expression of emotions helping the patients through discussion to describe feelings which are troubling them and they do not recognise. Patients usually attempt to avoid distressing thoughts and feelings. At some cases, they present avoidance, defence and resistance by missing sessions or change the topic when certain ides arise. They also view the therapist with suspicion because they may have feelings of disapproval, rejection or even abandonment. This kind of therapy based on research has shown that leads to on-going change, even after it has ended.(Jonathan Shedler, American Psychologists;University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine; February–March 2010)

Sir Winston Churchill once said, “Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.” In Margaree King Mitchell’s story Uncle Jed’s Barbershop, Uncle Jed dreams of one day opening a fancy barbershop. Despite living in the South during segregation and facing challenges due to the Great Depression, Uncle Jed kept working to achieve his lifelong dream. Through Uncle Jed’s experiences, you can learn to not let the challenges of life stop you from achieving your goals. Being perseverant and optimistic helped him to never give up on his dreams.

Glassman, W.E & Hadad, M. (2004) Approaches to Psychology (4th edn.) Berkshire, Open University Press

As the therapist, it is our job to be curious and investigators because otherwise clients will not reveal enough. “Practitioners may find it helpful to ask questions informed by an awareness…” (Knudson-Martin & Mahoney, 2009, p. 59). By asking informed questions about how a client’s present “patterns of behavior” have been maintained, therapists can help them define what kind of relationships they want. Asking these educated questions, issues can become externalized and shown as an illustration of larger problems outside them and their control.

Hi, Tamara, I so glad you had decided to do the video as well. We will be well in advance for week 2, but I want to share with you my thoughts about what I did not mention in my own discussion. I was so focused on the fact about how I was going to help this young boy against immigration laws and in hopes to reunite him with his mother. I did not think about what this young boy was going mental during the process of losing his mother and living with family who did protect his best interest. So I gathered some information that will enlightened some understanding of how to help him mental if any mental distress is hidden or presented.

Psychotherapy and counselling are inseparable. The effectiveness of a counselling program is not just based on the connectedness and interaction between a therapist and a client, but also the framework of the counselling approach in helping the client improving his mental health or overcoming personal problems. There are an extensive number of psychotherapies developed by past researchers, with each therapeutic concept offering unique contributions in understanding human behaviour and useful implications for counselling practice (Bedi et al., 2011).

Every session must be exactly fifty minutes and the therapist meets with the client multiple times a week for many years. This is important as psychoanalytic theory maintains that irregularity might have a disruptive effect on the therapeutic results (Hough, 2012). Moreover, the physical environment of the therapy is also very important. During the session, the client should not be able to look the therapist straight in the face as not to see the therapist’s reaction to what he or she is saying. Ideally, the client is lying down on a couch and the therapist is sitting in a manner that he or she can see the client but the client cannot see him or her (Williams, 2016). This is important for transference and will be explained later. However, free association and dream analysis will be discussed first.

The whole reading was very helpful and useful. Although it seems to be a simple tool to utilize in therapy, it can be very effective when used. I think the here and now approach can be powerful when working with a client. I mentioned this because I believe that a person does not have control to change their past, so it does not make sense to refer back to it. Therefore, during therapy the client benefits when the therapists make the client realize that the past is not important because there’s nothing one can do to alter it. The here and now approach focuses on sharing the raw, honest thoughts and feelings about what's happening in the moment. Furthermore, this approach helps the client become self-aware of things, thoughts, and feeling that

Sometimes they also need to use some techniques and skills from behavioural therapy such as systematic desensitization to help the client cope with their unwanted behaviour, sometime the therapist also requires the client to do some homework after the meeting, so the therapist also needs to know how to design the homework. And psychoanalysis doesn’t need to, they just need to use their specific techniques such as projective techniques and free association to explore client’s past experience, but it would take more time than CBT, because we are really difficult to find out all of the client’s past experience to complete a

The role of the therapist is to use proper therapeutic techniques to carry out an investigation into the patient’s thinking and feeling, both during and between therapy sessions (Beck et al 1979). Therapists should support and teach patient how to replace problematic behaviours with adaptive ways of thinking, feeling, behaving and interacting (Beck et al 1979).