All variations of Freud’s psychoanalytic therapy are brought under the collective name of psychodynamic therapy. Freud was certainly not the only one, but he was the best known.
Freud based his insights on the medical knowledge of yesteryear. Many terms in his repertoire of words reflect this. Think of the modes of behavioral patterns he names according to the child’s developmental stages: symbiotic, oral, anal, phallic and genital
Experiences in the early years of life determine functioning as an adult. Interpretations are based on the assumption that sexual and aggressive urges are repressed in early childhood into the unconscious, and from there still exert their influence.
These insights assume that we have become today because of what has occurred in the past and what influence it has had on us. This past will consciously or unconsciously determine our current behavior, thinking and feeling.
This counseling will work to raise awareness of often repressed thoughts and feelings, provide explanations for them and suggest alternatives if necessary. Thus, the client will cope better with his problems.
It is stated that there are three levels of consciousness:
- Conscious:
thoughts, perceptions, memories that are directly accessible to people. - Preconscious:
This information that can be brought to the conscious relatively easily. - Subconscious:
Anything repressed or forgotten. However, this acts as a driving force for our conscious functioning.
Personality is composed of 3 major building blocks: Id, Ego and superego.
These 3 entities are a thought model; Thus, these are not reflected as separate entities in the brain.
Id: The unconscious part of the personality. All bio urges such as hunger, thirst, and sex. Id is driven by the lust principle and immediate gratification of need.
Superego: Both conscious, preconscious and unconscious. The norms and values by which people are guided (commandments and prohibitions). It can be said that the superego is “the conscience.
Ego: Both conscious, preconscious and unconscious. Mediator between the Id and the Superego. Meanwhile taking into account the constraints of the outside world. Healthy means that the ego manages to mediate a balance between the Id and the Superego every time.
Other models arose later that show similarity to this. Think of transactional analysis where parent, child and adult – albeit different – have similar meanings.
Human functioning is determined by innate drives or urges of the Id. Mainly the sexual drive (libido or life drive) and aggression (death drive) are the most important here.
The Ego must try to express these urges under a controlled form. To do this, the unconscious uses defense mechanisms. By this the Ego defends itself against awareness of unacceptable impulses from the unconscious. It determines when and in what manner drift expressions are allowed.
Free association, resistance, projection and transference are concepts from psychoanalysis.
Walsha sees transference phenomena as an important explanation of current preferences and automatic reactions in our current lives. By analyzing significant others in our childhood and understanding what emotions, thoughts and behaviors initiated them then, we can explain current behavior, feeling and thinking in specific contexts where the automatic responses occur. Once this is identified, we can develop alternative behaviors and inner scripts for this.
Positive transference involves feelings such as love, appreciation, etc.
Negative transference involves feelings such as hatred and aggression.