About the Free Associations Method
By Jean Chiriac
Freud adopted the method of free associations during 1892-1898, starting
from several criteria. The method was to replace the use of hypnosis in the
exploration of neurotic antecedents in his patients. It relied on Freud's belief
in psychic determinism. According to that perspective, psychic activity is
not subordinated to free choice. All our mind produces have an
unconscious root we can reach by means of free associations, following the
model provided by the adage "all roads lead to Rome".
The theory of psychic determinism is amply debated upon in Freud's
work The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. It is in the same place that we
find plenty of instances of free associations related to various faulty and
symptomatic acts (Freudian slips and mistakes), proving that involuntary
psychic acts too are determined by specific causes.
Returning to free associations, we have to say that this method is the golden
rule of the psychoanalytic therapy. Let us see how it works.
Lying on a couch (a position imposing a certain state of relaxation), the
patient speaks freely of anything that may cross his/her mind, without
searching for some specific subject or topic. The flow of his/her thoughts is
free, and followed with no voluntary intervention. The important thing is
that the critical mind does not intervene to censor spontaneous thoughts. We
truly have the drive to censure the products of our thinking, starting from
various criteria: moral, ethic, narcissistic, cultural, and spiritual. The method
of free associations demands us to temporarily give up intellectual
censorship and freely speak about any thought.
What is the result of this involuntary talk? Later analysis of thoughts
produced by means of the above-mentioned method reveals certain
repetitive topics indicative of psychic complexes of emotional charge. These
complexes are unconscious. They are autonomously activated by chance
verbal associations, and influence conscious psychic life in a frequently
dramatic manner. The task of psychoanalysis is to bring such complexes to
the surface of conscious mind, and integrate them into the patient's life.
Free Association
A simple technique of psychodynamic therapy is free association in which a
patient talks of whatever comes into their mind. This technique involves a
therapist reading a list of words (e.g. mother, childhood etc.) and the patient
immediately responds with the first word that comes to mind. It is hoped that
fragments of repressed memories will emerge in the course of free
association.
Free association may not prove useful if the client shows resistance, and is
reluctant to say what he or she is thinking. On the other hand, the presence of
resistance (e.g. an excessively long pause) often provides a strong clue that
the client is getting close to some important repressed idea in his or her
thinking, and that further probing by the therapist is called for.
Freud reported that his free associating patients occasionally experienced
such an emotionally intense and vivid memory that they almost relived the
experience. This is like a "flashback" from a war or a rape experience. Such a
stressful memory, so real it feels like it is happening again, is called an
abreaction. If such a disturbing memory occurred in therapy or with a
supportive friend and one felt better--relieved or cleansed--later, it would be
called a catharsis.
Frequently, these intensely emotional experiences provided Freud a valuable
insight into the patient's problems.
Free association is a practice in psychoanalytic therapy in which a client is
asked to freely share thoughts, random words, and anything else that comes
to mind, regardless of how coherent or appropriate the thoughts are. The
process was originally developed by Sigmund Freud, who claimed that it gave
clients complete freedom to examine their thoughts without prompting or
intervention by the therapist. Freud claimed that the technique helped prevent
three common issues in therapy:
1. Transference – the process of transferring feelings one has for one person
to a different person;
2. Projection – the process of projecting one’s own qualities onto someone
else;
3. Resistance – the practice of blocking out certain feelings or memories.
How Does Free Association Work?
In traditional free association, the client is encouraged to verbalize or write all
thoughts that come to mind. Free association is not a linear thought pattern.
Rather, a person might produce an incoherent stream of words such as dog,
red, mother, and scoot, or may jump randomly from one memory or emotion
to another. The idea is that free association reveals associations and
connections that might otherwise go uncovered and that clients may uncover
repressed memories and emotions.
Contemporary Free Association
Freudian free association is fairly uncommon in therapy these days, even
among neo-Freudians. Contemporary mental health practitioners might us a
modified version of free association whereby they ask a client to recall all the
memories associated with a particular event, share the first word that comes
to mind after seeing a picture, or encourage a client to write down all of the
thoughts she has during a particular time.