Psychoanalytic Therapy
Levels of Consciousness
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Conscious
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Preconscious
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Sensations and experiences that the person is
aware of any point in time
Memories of events and experiences that can
easily be recalled with little effort
Unconscious
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The container for memories and emotions that are
threatening to the conscious mind and must be
pushed away (Sharf, 2004)
The Structure of Personality
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Id — (biological and unconscious
component)
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Ego — (psychological component)
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Superego — (social component)
Ego-Defense Mechanisms
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Are normal behaviors
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Help the individual cope with anxiety and
prevent the ego from being overwhelmed
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Deny or distort reality while operating on an
unconscious level
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Have adaptive value if they do not become a
style of life to avoid facing reality
The Development of Personality
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1. Oral Stage (0-1 year): mistrust of others, rejecting
others, fear of inability to form intimate relationship.
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2. Anal Stage (1-3): learning independence or
accepting personal power.
3. Phallic Stage (3-6): how parents respond to child’s
sexuality has impacted on later sexual attitudes.
4. Latency Stage (6-12): investing their sexual
energy to social acceptable activities.
5. Genital Stage (12-60): the focus of sexual energy
is toward members of the other sex.
View of human nature
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Deterministic:
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Behavior is determined by irrational forces,
unconscious motivation, and biological
instinctual drives.
The first 6 years of life determined your
personality
Libido: a source of motivation and energy
Therapeutic Goals
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Make the unconscious conscious
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Strengthen the ego, so that behavior can be
more on reality
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Explore past to increase self-understanding
and gain insight
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Conduct a successful analysis in order to
change a person’s personality
Therapist’s function and role
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Foster a transference relationship
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Help clients to gain insight and understand
“why” for their symptoms
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make unconscious conscious
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Build relationship, listen, interpret, and pay
attentions on resistances
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Assess the client’s readiness to change
Therapeutic Relationship
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Understanding the old pattern, connecting to
current issues, and making new choices
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Working through the transference relationship
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Therapist’s reaction is not equal to transferences
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Counter-transference reaction as a therapeutic
tool to understand the world of the clients
Psychoanalytic Techniques
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Free Association
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Dream Analysis
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Interpretation
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Transference
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Counter-transference
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Resistance
Free Association
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Client reports whatever comes to mind
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It opens doors to unconscious wishes,
fantasies, conflicts, and motivation.
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Content may be bodily sensations, feelings,
fantasies, thoughts, memories, recent events,
and the therapist.
Dream Analysis
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Dreams provide insights for unresolved issues
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Wishes and fears can be revealed in dream
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Unacceptable wishes or memories are often
expressed in dreams
Dream is a compromise between repressed id
and the ego defenses
Interpretation
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Therapist points out, explains, and teaches the
meanings of whatever is revealed
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Guidelines
 Close to conscious awareness
 Consider clients’ readiness
 Go only as deep as the client is able to go
 Point out resistance or defense before
interpreting the emotion or conflict that lies
beneath it
Transference
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The client reacts to the therapist as he did to
an earlier significant other
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This allows the client to experience feelings
that would otherwise be inaccessible
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Analysis of transference allows the client to
achieve insight into the influence of the past
Counter-transference
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The reaction of the therapist toward the
client that may interfere with objectivity
Different kinds of counter-transference
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The irrational reactions of therapists
toward the patients
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Therapists’ reactions
Resistance
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Anything that works against the progress of
therapy and prevents the production of
unconscious material
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Working alliance increased when resistance
decreased (Patton, Kivlighan, & Multon, 1997)
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Examples?
Analysis of resistance
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Helps client become aware of the reasons for
the resistance (e.g., avoiding pain or anxiety)
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Helps the client to see that resistance (e.g.,
canceling appointments) is a way of
defending against anxiety
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Resistance interferes with the ability to accept
changes
From a multicultural perspective
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Contribution to multicultural counseling
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Help clients to build ego and cultural identity
Help therapists become aware their own source of
contertransference, bias, prejudices, and
stereotypes.
Limitations for multicultural counseling
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Cost, Upper- and middle-class values
Ambigurity (vs. Asian prefers structured and
concrete solution)
Blame clients vs. blame external factors (social,
cultural, or political factors)
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