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Sigmund Freud's Psychodynamic Approach

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“Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist best known for developing the theories and techniques of psychoanalysis.” Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalysis, a method through which an analyst unpacks unconscious conflicts based on the free associations, dreams, and fantasies of the patient.” He is most popular for his theories on child sexuality, libido, and the ego. (Sigmund Freud Biography) He believed that traumatic things that happened in people’s childhoods influenced their behavior and personality as they got older. He believed that traumatic events that happened in childhood had been forgotten and hidden from conscious. He treated his patients by getting them to recall the experience and bring it to consciousness. “Sigmund Freud believed …show more content…

The case study was known as “Anna O” the patient’s real name was Bertha Pappenheim. She suffered from a disease called hysteria, and by talking about her symptoms that she suffered with helped relief her from some of the symptoms. It was known as the “talking cure.” Freud concluded her hysteria was the result of childhood sexual abuse. Although Anna O may not have been Freud’s patient her case informed a lot of Freud’s work and his later theories on different therapy and …show more content…

The unconscious mind played a crucial role in all of Freud’s theories. He considered dreams the key way to see what is going on inside our head. “Freud believed that by examining dreams, he could see not only how the unconscious mind works but what it is trying to hide from conscious awareness.” (very well) Freud believed the content of dreams could be broken down into two different types. The manifest content, which is what the dreamer remembers upon waking up and the latent content which is all the hidden and symbolic meanings within the dream. “Freud believed that dreams were essentially a form of wish-fulfillment.” Freud believed people’s dreams helped reduce the ego’s anxiety by taking unconscious thoughts, feelings and desires and transforming them into less threatening forms.

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