PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY BY: SIGMUND FREUD

FOUNDER SIGMUND FREUD : MAY 6, 1856 – SIGMUND FREUD WAS BORN IN

FREYBERG TOWN, CRECH REPUBLIC 1881 – HE GRADUATED FROM MEDICAL
FACULTY, UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA 1896 – SIGMUND FREUD WAS OFFICIALLY
RECOGNIZED 1900 – HE RELEASED ‘INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS’
SEPTEMBER 23, 1939 –FREUD PASSED AWAY IN HAMPSTEAD HOUSE

OVERVIEW OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
•A set of philosophical of human nature
•Psychoanalysis is both an approach to therapy and a theory of personality
•Emphasizes unconscious motivation – the main cause of behavior lie in unconscious mind

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

1.DETERMINISTIC • Life is about gaining pleasure and avoiding pain
2. HUMAN AS ENERGY SYSTEM • Freud believe that human are motivated by the
unconscious, where the Id is found along with the aggression and sex instincts

LEVEL OF MENTAL LIFE

1. UNCONSCIOUS • Contains all the feeling, urges or instinct that are beyond our awareness
but it affect our expression, feeling, action (E.g. Slip of tongue, dreams, wishes)
2. PRECONSCIOUS • Facts stored in a part of the brain, which are not conscious but are
available for possible use in the future (E.g. A person will never think of her home address at
that moment but when her friend ask for it, she can easily recall it)
3. CONSCIOUS • Only level of mental life that are directly available to us • The awareness
of our own mental process (Thoughts/feeling)

STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY Consist of three parts : 1.Id 2.Ego 3.Superego

1. Id
•Infants are born with Id intact
•Operates on PLEASURE PRINCIPE – to gain pleasure, avoid pain •Driven by sexual and
aggressive urge

2. Ego
•The rational level of personality
•Operates on REALITY PRINCIPLES – does realistic and logical thinking
•The balance between Id and Superego

3. Superego
•Partially unconscious
•Operates on MORAL PRINCIPLES
•Able to differentiate between good and bad, right and wrong
•If people follow their superego, they will feel proud but if they don’t follow, they will feel
guilty and anxious
Example: EGO • I want to • I am on a eat • Eats a small super diet! chocolate! bar of
chocolate ID SUPEREGO

PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES
•Children progress through SIX psychosexual stages during psychosexual development
•A person become ‘FIXATED’ or stuck in a stage when a basic need is not met, therefore
that person will face difficulty in transiting to another stage

1. Oral Stage
•Birth to 18 months
•Pleasure centers on the mouth – sucking, biting,

•Fixation :
1. If the child is over stimulated in this stage, as an adult she/he may become dependent on
cigarette or alcohol, become chatterbox, or derive pleasure from acquiring possessions(collect
things)
2. If the child is under stimulated in this stage, as an adult she/he will make bitingly sarcastic
remarks or be argumentative

2. Anal Stage •18 months until 3 years •Pleasure focuses on bowel movement
(withholding/eliminating faeces)
•Fixation:
I. If parents were over-emphasizing potty training, the child will develop a retentive
character. He will become obstinate and stingy
II. II. If parents were negligent about potty training, the child will develop expulsive
trait such as bad temper, cruelty and messy disorderliness

3. Phallic Stage •3 years to 6 years •Pleasure zone is the sex organ/genitals

•Fixations :
• Oedipus complex in males / Electra complex in female: The boy will have the desire to
posses his mother and displace his father and the girl will want to posses the father and
remove her mother
Child whom had been fixated in this stage will develop a phallic character, such as reckless,
proud and vain This conflict can also cause the child to be afraid of close relationship and
weak sexual identity Freud stated that fixation may be a root of homosexuality

4. Latency Stage •6 years to 11 years, until puberty

•No fixations occur as the child’s energy are focused on peer activities and personal mastery
of learning and physical skills

5. Genital Stage •12 years onwards •Sexual interest in opposite sex increase •The child
improve their personal identities, develop caring feeling towards others, establish loving and
sexual relationship and progress in successful careers.
•Fixation : I. Frigidity, impotence and unsatisfactory relationship
DEFENSE MECHANISM
•Defense mechanism are invented by the Ego in an attempt to resolve the conflict between Id
and Superego – so that personality can operate in a healthy manner
•It deny/distort reality while operating in unconscious level
•If it is used once a while, the purpose of using it is to reduce stress
•But if it is used frequently, it means the individual

1. Repression

2. Displacement
3. Rationalization

4. Denial

5. Regression
6. Reaction Formation

7. Projection
THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES
The six basic techniques of psychoanalytic therapy are:
I. Maintaining the Analytic Framework
II. Free Association
III. Interpretation
IV. Dream Analysis
V. Analysis of Resistance
VI. Analysis of Transference

1. Maintaining the Analytic Framework

•Maintaining therapist’s neutrality and objectivity
•The regularity and consistency of meetings
•Starting and ending the sessions on time
•Clarity on the fees
•Explain the basic boundary issues

2. Free Association
•Clients must say whatever that comes to mind, regardless of how painful, silly or irrelevant
it may seem
•Client must try to flow any feelings and thought freely
•This is the basic tool used to open the door to unconscious wishes, conflicts and motivation
•Unconscious material will enter the conscious and the therapist will interpret it

3. Interpretation
•Analyst will explain the meaning of behaviors in dreams, free association and etc.
•Identify, clarify and translate client’s material
•To help client make sense of their lives and to expand their consciousness
•Analyst must pay attention not only to the content but also the process of conveying it to the
patient

The patient’s readiness to accept the material is an important consideration. If the

interpretation is too deep, the patient might not be able to accept it and bring it into the
conscious mind. Therefore, before telling the interpretation to the patient, the analyst must
evaluate the unconscious material. The closer the material to the preconscious, the more
likely the patient will accept it

4. Dream Analysis
•The avenue to study the unconscious material and giving the client insight into some areas of
unresolved problems
•Some memories are unacceptable by the ego that they are expressed in symbolic
form(dream)
•Dreams have two level of content which is Latent Content (hidden but true meaning) and
Manifest Content (obvious meaning)
•Analyst studies content of dreams

5.Analysis of Resistance
•Progress of the therapy is slow - not paying fees, being late, blocking thoughts during free
association, refusing to recall past memories
•Paying attention to resistance are important, the decision of when to interpret the resistance
and tell the client depends on situation
•Therapist must avoid being judgmental, instead allow him to address what makes him
anxious
•Therapist must make client understand of their own thought, feelings and action

6. Analysis of Transference
•Clients react to therapist as though they were a significant other
•Counselor interprets the positive and negative feelings of the client
•Release of feeling is an emotional catharsis
•Clients become aware of the emotions and able to move onto another developmental stage
•Transference between client and therapist occur on unconscious level

Therapeutic Goals
•Help the client become more aware of the unconscious material
•Enriching the variety of defense mechanism so that they are more effective & adaptable
•To be able to cope with difficulties and demands
•Strengthening of the Ego

Therapist Function’s and Role

•Analyst/therapist will use ‘black-screen’ approach where he/she will have little exposure and
maintain sense of neutrality
•This is to promote TRANSFERENCE RELATIONSHIP with client
-Transference Relationship-
DEFINITION:
•Process transferring feeling experience in early relationship to someone important in present
environment
FUNCTION: •Help client develop the freedom to love, work and play •Help client in
achieving self-awareness
STEPS:
•Build working relationship with client
•Give extra attention to the client’s resistance

While the clients are engaging in ‘free association’, the analyst will interpret the hidden
meaning behind their words. The function of interpretation is to speed up the process of
uncovering unconscious material Later, the analyst will teach their client their meaning of the
process of interpretation so that the client will:
1. Gain insight of their problem
2. Increase awareness of ways to change
3. Gain control over their life

Client’s Experience
In Therapy TYPE OF THERAPY: 1. PSYCHOANALYSIS 2. PSYCHODYNAMIC 3.
PSYCHOANALYTIC

1. PSYCHOANALYSIS
•Client must be a voluntary client, not involuntary
•This is because the client will have to give commitment in the process
•After a few face-to-face sessions, therapist will move on to the next stage where the client is
needed to lie on a couch and engage in ‘free association’
• It’s an intensive process where client will meet up 4-5 sessions per week
•In this stage, client will say whatever that comes into their mind and the therapist will
remain non-judgmental on its content throughout the whole process • Psychoanalysis
attempts to help clients develop insight into deep-rooted problems that are often thought to
stem from childhood
• Success of psychoanalysis often depends on both analyst and client and how they work
together.

2. PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPY
•This therapy engages in a more supportive intervention
•Psychoanalytic therapy is based upon psychoanalysis but is less intensive (1-3 sessions per
week)
•It is for individuals who want to understand more about themselves and those who have
difficulties that affected them
•Client will talk about their life and the therapist will listen; this is known as talk therapy. The
therapist will look for patterns that may have cause the client’s difficulties
•Usually, face-to-face session
•Client is advised not to make radical changes in their lifestyle as it may disturb the
therapeutic process
•Example of radical change: filing a divorce/ quitting their job
This therapy also uses other techniques (free association, dream analysis)
•Termination can take place when both therapist and client mutually agree that the client
had :
I. Resolve the problem/core conflict
II. Accepted their remaining emotional problem
III. Understand the root of their difficulties

3. PSYCHODYNAMIC THERAPY
•This approach evolved from the psychoanalytic theory but it is more simplified in terms of
the length of the process and focus on more immediate problem (phobia, anxiety problem)
•In psychodynamic therapy, the therapist will pay more attention to transference
manifestation (when the patient transfers feelings for others onto the therapist), the meaning
of client’s dream
•Transference is encouraged in psychodynamic
•This therapy includes using technique from other sources such as Carl Jung, Otto Rank etc.
•To increase a client's awareness and understanding of how the past has influenced present
thoughts and behaviors, by exploring their unconscious patterns. •Seeks to provide a quicker
solution
•It can be used in individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, family therapy,
institutional and organizational contexts.

ADVANTAGES
•Client gains insight
•Learn from personal past
•Stresses on developmental growth stages
•Can be used for a variety of disorders (hysteria, phobias, anxiety, sexual difficulties)

DISADVANTAGES
•Long term process and expensive
•Requires client full commitment
•Used mostly in psychiatry
•Not useful for older clients
•Not design to help people with urgent concern