Psychoanalysis
What are 3 of the basic assumtions of psychoanalysis?
1.Humans are motivated by unconscious drives.
2. Therapy facilitates awareness of unconscious
motivations to increase choices and exploration of
ways in which we avoid painful experiences.
3. Humans are ambivalent about changing.
4. Emphasis on the therapeutic relationship as an
arena for exploring the conscious and unconscious.
► Focus is on clients gaining insight
What are 3 key differences from psychoanalysis?
1. Therapist does not strive for objective stance
2. Therapist focuses on feelings, perceptions and action that is happening in the moment in therapy
3. Therapist is active in keeping the session focused on the main issue
4. One major focus for the therapy rather than client associating freely and discuss unconnected issues
5. Changes are expected in shorter period of time(compared to two plus years envisioned by Freud)
What are 2 of the assumptions of Adlerian Therapy?
1. Holistic view (person must be seen as whole)
2. Social Factor (influence of social environment)
3. Choice (people have agency/not deterministic)
4. Teleological (behaviour is purposeful/goal oriented)
5.Phenomenological (value of subjective reality)
Explain the difference between I-Thou and I-It encounters
I-Thou: the other is a fully independent subject with unique experiences, feelings, and perspectives. These encounters involve witnessing and being present to the person in front of you.
I-It: the other is a mental representation in our mind. These are our default encounters, and happen because we have preconceived expectations of the other's role, personality, etc.
Explain the first, second, thrid wave of behavioural approaches
First wave: classical and operant condioning, social learning theory
Second: Integration of cognitive approaches (CBT, REBT, CBM)
Third: Buddhist influence (mindfulness, ACT, DBT)
Who developed an elaborate view of human nature combining elements from mythology, religion, and anthropology?
Hint: They also formulated the idea of the collective unconscious.
Carl Jung
Describe the technique of "working through"
Therapist probes at emotions expressed by client, summarizes narrative of client's situation, helps client elaborate and explore unconscious material and defenses
What is a "style of life"?
A set of attitudes and assumptions that are developed early in life, influenced by events and circumstances, and become the template through which all life events are interpreted
Describe some of the therapeutic goals of existential therapy and explain why it is not technique oriented
1. accept freedom and responsibility to act
2. increase meaning & purpose
3. face anxieties (fear of death, loss, change)
4 invite honesty with oneself and ways to live more authentically
It is not technique oriented because it requires a collaborative exploration of the client's subjective reality, and works best when both therapist and client can be fully present
Explain the ABC theory of personality
See notes
Describe the id, ego, and superego and how they realte to the 3 types of anxiety.
Id: the animalistic part of us that seeks pleasure. Fear that it will get out of hand and we will be punished causes NEUROTIC anxiety.
Ego: The part of us that tries to manage the demands of our id and superego, and keep us functioning in reality. REALITY anxiety is proportionate to the actual threat.
Superego: Our inner policeman/conscience, which uses self-criticism to hold us to certain standards. It causes MORAL anxiety (guilt) when faced with ethical dilemmas or compromises on our values/values of society.
Decribe the "good enough" mother and the relationship with the true self
See notes
What is the role of an Adlerian therapist?
Largely educational: help client recognize basic mistakes (assess style of life and private logic), encourage transforming sense of inferiority, promoting social interest
What are 3 assumptions of PCT?
1. people have the ability to move forward if conditions for growth are present
2. humans are capable of making changes and living productive lives
3. people innately gravitate towards self actualization, autonomy, and fulfillment
4. people capable of understanding and resolving their own problems
Describe Beck's Cognitive triad
1. Self-criticism (negative thoughts about self) e.g., “I am a lousy person”
2. Pessimism (negative thoughts about the world/environment) e.g., “Life is unfair”
3. Hopelessness (negative thoughts about the future) e. g., “things will never get better”
Describe the use of defense mechanisms list and describe 2 of them.
Defense Mechanisms: When the ego can't ward off the id's demands it uses defense mechanisms. Eg. Projection, respression, suppression, denial, rationalization, sublimation, reaction formation, splitting, etc.
What is the technique called where the therapist confronts the client about how the issue is affecting them and probes at why the client doesn't want to deal with it?
Analysis of resistence
Explain the 3 types of inferiority and their impact on social interest
1. Biological -> promotes SI
2. Cosmic -> promotes SI
3. Personal -> inhibits SI
What are the 3 core therapeutic conditions of PCT?
1. Congruence - therapist must be genuine and authentic
2. Unconditional Positive Regard - care and belief in worth of client without conditions
3. Empathy - helps clients pay attention and value their experiences
Name 3 key differences between CT and REBT
1. REBT is highly directive, persuasive, and confrontational. CT uses open ended questions, with the aim of getting clients to reflect on personal issues.
2.REBT view is that faulty beliefs are irrational and nonfunctional. CT views faulty beliefs as results of cognitive errors.
3. CT emphasizes helping clients to identify misconceptions for themselves. REBT places emphasis in teaching clients the same.
Explain transference and free association
Transference: The client’s unconscious shifting to the analyst of feelings, attitudes, fantasies that are reactions to significant others in the client’s past. Analyst's "blank screen" approach is meant to foster this.
Free Association:Analysis is responsible of providing the setting for uncensored, deep reflections from client
Describe 3 of Erikson's psychosocial stages of development
Trust vs mistrust
Autonomy vs shame/guilt
Initiative vs guilt
Industry vs inferiority
Identity vs confusion
Intimacy vs isolation
Generatively vs stagnation
Integrity vs dispair
Explain the purpose/process of
1. Spitting in the Soup
2. Early recollections
Bonus: Name and explain a 3rd technique
1. the purpose is to point out incongruencies between a person's beliefs and reality, and making overt the hidden benefits of a problem/mistaken belief
2. Early memories are selectively remembered because they impacted our style of life. By looking for connections and patterns we can identify the impact on present issues
Bonus: Act as if,
What are some contributions and limitations of existential/PCT?
Contributions: allow for look at cultural and social influences (exist), PCT approach has become foundational for therapeutic relationship, view of therapist as "fellow explorer" rather than expert
Limitations: no specific techniques makes it difficult to study, autonomy/personal growth may not be universally culturally accepted, limits of therapist may interfere, some clients may want more direction, clients may feel defensive if responsibility brought up(ext),
Briefly describe DBT and ACT.
DBT: A blend of behavioral and psychoanalytic techniques for treating individuals with Borderline Personality Disorders and other issues. 4 components: mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance.
ACT: involves fully accepting present experience and mindfully letting go of obstacles. There is little emphasis on changing the content of a client’s thoughts. Instead, the emphasis is on acceptance (nonjudgmental awareness) of cognitions. The goal of ACT is to allow for increased psychological flexibility.