Tuesday, March 26, 2024

What Is Psychoanalysis In Psychology

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Examples Of Psychoanalysis In A Sentence

Psychoanalytic Theory – What Freud thought of Personality

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These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘psychoanalysis.’ Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Ego’s Defense Mechanisms

Defense mechanisms are strategies that the ego uses to protect itself from anxiety. These defensive tools act as a safeguard to keep unpleasant or distressing aspects of the unconscious from entering our awareness. When something is experienced as overwhelming or even inappropriate, defense mechanisms keep the information from entering our consciousness, which minimizes our distress.

Lacanian Psychoanalysis: Jacques Lacan

In the mid to late 1900s, the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan called for a return to Freuds work, but with a renewed focus on the unconscious and greater attention paid to language.

Lacan drew heavily from his knowledge of linguistics and believed that language was a much more important piece of the developmental puzzle than Freud assumed.

There are three key concepts of Lacanian psychoanalysis that set it apart from Freuds original talk therapy:

  • The Real
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    What Are The Critiques Of Psychoanalysis

    Psychoanalytic therapy and Freud himself have received sharp criticism. Freud primarily relied on case studies and did not validate his work scientifically he also misrepresented the outcomes of treatment in some cases. Some of his ideas may be overblown, such as peoples aggressive and sexual urges, while others are completely baseless, like the Oedipal complex and penis envy. Psychoanalysis is also an intensive treatment, requiring a substantial investment of time and money. For these reasons, some argue shorter treatments with stronger evidence bases are stronger options.

    When Is Psychoanalytic Therapy Recommended

    What is Psychology

    Psychoanalysis is better suited for some patients than for others. It is particularly useful for those people who want to develop an in-depth understanding of their internal motivators. This therapy also works well for those who want to make sense of their experiences and deal with the heart of the dilemma rather than just its manifestations. The patient in psychoanalysis typically must undergo long-term treatment, which indicates both willingness and commitment to what sometimes can be a painful growth process.

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    Criticisms Of Psychoanalytic Therapy

    Although psychoanalytic theory laid the foundations for much of modern psychology, it is not without its flaws. Psychoanalysis is still practiced today, and psychoanalytic theory has been updated to fall more in line with current knowledge about human behavior and the brain, but there are many criticisms of the theory and its applications.

    The major criticisms are:

    • Many of the hypotheses or assumptions of psychoanalytic theory cannot be tested by empirical means, making it nearly impossible to falsify or confirm
    • It overemphasizes the deterministic roles of biology and the unconscious, leaving little room for influence from the conscious mind
    • Psychoanalytic theory was deeply rooted in Freuds sexist ideas, and traces of this sexism still remain in the theory and practice today
    • It has generally not been supported across cultures, and may actually apply only to Western culture
    • Freud may have relied too much on a pathology framework, seeing behaviors as inappropriate and/or harmful when they might be inherent to the normal human experience
    • The theory was not developed through the application of the scientific method but from personal reports from Freud on his experience with clients
    • There is little evidence of many of Freuds theories, including the repression of childhood sexual abuse and trauma.

    At The Movies: 15 Films Influenced By Psychoanalysis

    The impact of psychoanalysis on movies is perhaps even more salient than its impact on art and literature. The list below is just a sampling of the many films inspired and/or influenced by psychoanalysis:

    • Sisters directed by Brian de Palma
    • Un Chien Andalou directed by Luis Buñuel
    • A Dangerous Method directed by David Cronenberg
    • The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser directed by Werner Herzog
    • The Piano Teacher directed by Michael Haneke
    • Dogtooth directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
    • Blue Velvet directed by David Lynch
    • Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky
    • Shame directed by Steve McQueen
    • A Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick
    • Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock
    • Fight Club directed by David Fincher
    • Antichrist directed by Lars van Trier
    • My Winnipeg directed by Guy Madden
    • Another Woman directed by Woody Allen.

    To read more about how psychoanalysis ties into each of these movies, see Bryan Nortons article on the subject here.

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    Patient Background And Context Of Referral Or Self

    It is important to include relevant facts about the patient’s childhood, family history, siblings, any trauma or losses and relationship history and the current context of the patient’s life . The context of referral is also key to understanding how and why the patient has come to therapy. Was the patient encouraged to come or had wanted to come? Has there been a recent crisis which prompted the intervention or an on-going problem which the patient had wanted to address for some time?

    Michael was one of the youngest children in his family of origin. He had older brothers and sisters who had been received into care before his birth. His parents separated before he was born. There had been some history of violence between them and Michael was received into care on a place of safety order when he was an infant because his mother had been unable to show consistent care toward him .

    Resting State Networks In Neuropsychiatry

    What is Psychoanalysis?

    In recent years, there has been a growing interest about abnormal functional connectivity in neurologic and neuropsychiatric disorders, although the results remain debatable. For instance, despite still controversial claims, DMN shows anticorrelated activity with another REST network, the Dorsal Attention Network , conversely active during externally-directed cognition, such as cognitive tasks that require conscious and focused attention. This anticorrelation could be impaired in some neurological conditions such as Mild Cognitive Impairment .

    Although the focus of this article is not about the use of resting state functional connectivity to assess brain circuits in psychiatric or neurological disorders, it is certainly useful to underline some important issues and connections. Abnormal functional connectivity could be found both in studies on neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety, major depressive disorder , bipolar disorder , obsessive compulsive disorder , schizophrenia , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , autism spectrum disorder , Eating Behavior Disorder , Alzheimerâs disease , and other neurodegenerative disorders .

    The âinvestmentâ of the system in energy terms, in trying to keep lower levels of entropy, decreases the chances of having to face surprises or when optimally attuned to the world, seek out novel situations that will minimize surprise in the future .

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    Psychoanalysis And The Humanities

    Psychoanalysis claimed to be a science but did not function like one. It failed to operationalize its hypotheses, to test them with empirical methods, or to remove constructs that failed to gain scientific support. In this way, the intellectual world of psychoanalysis more closely resembles the humanities. Today, with few psychiatrists or clinical psychologists entering psychoanalytic training, the door has been opened to practitioners with backgrounds in other disciplines, including the humanities.

    This trend is related to a hermeneutic mode of thought, which focuses on meaningful interpretations of phenomena, rather than on empirical testing of hypotheses and observations. Since the time of Freud, the typical psychoanalytic paper has consisted of speculations backed up with illustrations, similar to the methods of literary theory and criticism.

    One model currently popular in the humanities is critical theory. This postmodernist approach uses Marxist concepts to explain phenomena ranging from literature to politics. It proposes that truth is entirely relative and often governed by hidden social forces. In its most radical form, in the work of Michel Foucault, critical theory and postmodernism take an antiscience position, denying the existence of objective truth and viewing scientific findings as ways of defending the hegemony of those in power.

    Implications For Choice Of Symptom And Outcome

    According to psychoanalytic theory the choice of symptom is determined by its symbolic meaning for the patient, and doubtless this is sometimes so. Usually, though, it is determined by cultural expectations and the subject’s own experience of illness, in themselves or others. The nurse who develops hysterical blindness, for example, had severe conjunctivitis as a child, and the young man who loses the use of his legs had a grandfather who was housebound for years after a stroke.

    Just as the development of hysterical symptoms is encouraged strongly by situations in which the balance of the advantages and disadvantages of sickness outweigh those of health, so recovery is encouraged by a reversal of that balance of advantage. This is why the symptom usually fades away if the situation that provoked its appearance resolves itself. If that situation persists, however, or if the inadequacies of the subject are paramount, the advantages and disadvantages of the chosen symptom become important. This is why disabling symptoms, like blindness or inability to stand or walk, have a comparatively good prognosis, whereas those which can be switched on or off as occasion demands, like fits or vomiting, or cause little disability, like tremors, are more intractable.

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    Is Psychoanalysis Right For Me

    The experience of psychoanalysis is well-suited to some personalities, but not everyones. Its an intense process of self-examination and feedback from the analyst patients may have to confront painful and undesirable feelings, thoughts, and impulses.

    Psychoanalysis is a good fit for those who want to develop a deeper understanding of themselveshow the pieces of their story fit together, as well as their interior and exterior lives. Its the right approach for people whose challenges are serious and longstanding psychoanalysis can expose the core dynamics that may be leading them to feel trapped in a destructive cycle.

    What Training Is Needed To Become A Psychoanalyst

    What is psychology?

    Many Psychoanalysts are psychiatrists who have earned their Medical Doctor Degree. Others are individuals who have earned a Doctoral Degree, such as a Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology. There are some psychoanalysts who are Masters Level Psychologists or Social Workers who have completed the proper training programs in psychoanalysis.

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    How Does Psychoanalysis Address Resistance To Change

    Various forms of psychotherapy help patients recognize their fears or distress and provide the support and tools for patients to overcome those challenges. But even with those resources, some clients still cant changethey have conflicting desires and motivations. Psychoanalysis is well-suited to address the psyches unconscious resistance to change, as it aims to unearth the hidden forces that explain why the unconscious may benefit from maintaining existing patterns.

    Answering The Research Question And Comparison With Other Cases

    As in any research report, the author has to answer the research question and relate the findings to the existing literature. Of particular interest is the comparison with other similar cases. Through comparing, aggregating, and contrasting case studies, one can discover to what degree and under what conditions, the findings are valid. In other words, the comparison of cases is the start of a process of generalization of knowledge.

    Although based on a single case study, the results of my research appear to concur with the few case studies already in the field. In reviewing the literature on adolescent bereavement, it was the case studies that had particular resonance with my own work, and offered some of the most illuminating accounts of adolescent bereavement. Of special significance was Laufer’s case study that described the narcissistic identifications of Michael, a patient whose mother had died in adolescence. Both Laufer’s research and my own were conducted using the clinical setting as a basis and so are reflective of day-to-day psychotherapy practice .

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    Psychoanalytic Pluralism And The Case Study Method

    We were not really surprised to find that Object Relations psychoanalysis and Ego psychology were the most dominant schools in the field of psychoanalytic case studies, as they are very present in European, Latin-American and North-American psychoanalytic institutes. We were more surprised to find such a high degree of pluralism among these case study authors, given the fact that disputes between analysts from different schools can be quite ardent . Others have compared the situation of psychoanalytic schools with the Tower of Babel .

    We also want to point out that there is a new evolution in the field of psychotherapy case study research, which consists in the development of methodologies for meta-studies of clinical case studies . The evolution builds on the broader tendency in the field of qualitative research to work toward integration or synthesis of qualitative findings . The first studies which use this methodology have been published recently: Widdowson developed a treatment manual for depression, Rabinovich studied the integration of behavioral and psychoanalytic treatment interventions, and Willemsen et al. investigated patterns of transference in perversion. The rich variety of research aims demonstrates the potential of these meta-studies of case studies.

    What Kind Of Relationship Do The Patient And Analyst Have

    Intro to Psychology: Crash Course Psychology #1

    A unique bond is forged between the analyst and the patient. The connection is intimate due to the material discussed and time spent together, but it also has strong boundaries and restrictions to maintain a professional relationship and to allow the psychoanalytic process to take place through mechanisms such as transference and countertransference. Contemporary psychoanalysis also places greater importance on this human relationship and its therapeutic value.

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    How Has The Prominence Of Psychoanalysis Changed Over Time

    A widespread and widely respected specialty in psychiatry in the 1960s, psychoanalysis has fallen in popularity since then. The reasons may include that analysis broadened to treat more personal and societal ills than it intended to, drug discovery and excitement around psychopharmacology, philosophy and art adopting psychoanalytic concepts, and insurance companies standardizing medical and psychological care.

    What Are The Principles Of Contemporary Psychoanalysis

    Although there is diversity in psychoanalytic theory and treatment today, several beliefs cut across these different perspectives:

    1. An assumption that all human beings are motivated in part by wishes, fantasies or tacit knowledge that are outside of awareness .

    2. An interest in facilitating awareness of unconscious motivations, thereby increasing choice.

    3. An emphasis on exploring the ways in which we avoid painful or threatening feelings, fantasies and thoughts.

    4. An assumption that we are ambivalent about changing and an emphasis on the importance of exploring this ambivalence.

    5. An emphasis on using the therapeutic relationship as an arena for exploring clients self-defeating psychological processes and actions .

    6. An emphasis on using the therapeutic relationship as an important vehicle of change.

    7. An emphasis on helping clients to understand the way in which their own construction of their past and present plays a role in perpetuating their self-defeating patterns.

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    What Is Psychoanalytic Theory In Simple Terms

    Definition: The Psychoanalytic Theory is the personality theory, which is based on the notion that an individual gets motivated more by unseen forces that are controlled by the conscious and the rational thought. It acts as an ethical constraint on behavior and helps an individual to develop his conscience.

    Parameters To Define Professional Practice In Psychoanalysis

    Why Study Psychology?

    Professional practice requires the completion of a postdoctoral psychoanalytic training program, and the successful completion of the board examination process of the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis.

    Populations

    Psychoanalysis has expanded from a primary focus on the individual to include the treatment of couples, families and groups. There is extensive research literature supporting successful psychoanalytic treatments for these populations.

    Biographical and cultural analyses of historical figures and human productions, such as works of art and literature, have also been subject to psychoanalytic investigation.

    Problems

    Psychoanalysis addresses a wide range of human relational problems and emotional health problems in adults, adolescents and children.

    Procedures

    Analytic procedures vary with the approach and the patient’s needs:

    • Psychoanalytic assessment of cognitive and emotional functioning.
    • Regular appointments as determined by analyst and patient.
    • Attention to boundary issues and a consistent frame of treatment.
    • Investigation of significant present and past relationships.
    • Attention to the analyst/patient relationship and its complexities.
    • Attention to the symbolic meaning of emotional and physical symptoms, and the systematic integration of insights.
    • Use of empathy, free association, active imagination, dream analysis.

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    Debate Over Status As Scientific

    The theoretical foundations of psychoanalysis lie in the same philosophical currents that lead to interpretive phenomenology rather than in those that lead to scientificpositivism, making the theory largely incompatible with positivist approaches to the study of the mind.

    Early critics of psychoanalysis believed that its theories were based too little on quantitative and experimental research, and too much on the clinical case study method. Philosopher Frank Cioffi cites false claims of a sound scientific verification of the theory and its elements as the strongest basis for classifying the work of Freud and his school as pseudoscience.

    Karl Popper argued that psychoanalysis is a pseudoscience because its claims are not testable and cannot be refuted that is, they are not falsifiable:

    ….those “clinical observations” which analysts naively believe confirm their theory cannot do this any more than the daily confirmations which astrologers find in their practice. And as for Freud’s epic of the Ego, the Super-ego, and the Id, no substantially stronger claim to scientific status can be made for it than for Homer’s collected stories from the Olympus.

    Adolf Grünbaum argues in Validation in the Clinical Theory of Psychoanalysis that psychoanalytic based theories are falsifiable, but that the causal claims of psychoanalysis are unsupported by the available clinical evidence.

    /6who Is A Psychiatrist

    Psychiatrists are medical doctors who are able to prescribe medications, which they do in conjunction with providing psychotherapy, though medical and pharmacological interventions are often their focus. What sets psychiatrists apart from other experts is that psychiatrists tend to have a deep understanding of physical and mental health and how they affect each other and devise a treatment plan accordingly. They can help provide help in urgent or sudden mental health conditions, manage it in the long-term, suggest lifestyle changes and work with conditions which can be otherwise complex or a little difficult to diagnose. These experts often provide psychological treatment, medication or certain brain stimulation therapies.

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