An Approach to Therapy & A Theory of Personality

 Emphasizes unconscious motivation  Main causes of behavior lie buried in the unconscious mind  Three Levels of Awareness  Conscious  Current contents of your mind – actively used  Called “Working Memory”  Easily and frequently accessed  Preconscious  Contents of mind you are not currently aware of  Memories, knowledge, wishes, feelings  Available when needed  Unconscious  Contents kept out of conscious awareness  Not accessible

 FREE ASSOCIATION - Speaking whatever comes to mind w/out censorship. *Psychoanalysts need to be able to identify when something important is said  PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES – Uses the idea that what a person sees in an ambiguous figure or image reflects his/her personality.  DREAM ANALYSIS – Uncovering subconscious by interpreting content of dreams  Manifest content – actual dream  Latent content – what elements of the dream actually represent  RECOVERED MEMORIES – Memories hidden in the subconscious.

Personality is a dynamic system directed by 3 mental structures: Id: The Demanding Child - Ruled by the pleasure principle Superego: The Judge - Ruled by the moral principle Ego: The Traffic Cop - Ruled by the reality principle

THE ID: -Innate biological urges and impulses -Self-serving, irrational, totally unconscious -Pleasure principle -Wishes to have desires fulfilled NOW, regardless of consequences THE EGO: -Executive, which directs id energies -Partially conscious -Reality principle -Delays action until it is practical and/or appropriate THE SUPEREGO: -Judge or censor for thoughts and actions of the ego -Comes from parents or caregivers -Morality & guilt

 Ego is ALWAYS caught in the middle of battles between superego’s desires for moral behavior and the id’s desires for immediate gratification  Neurotic Anxiety: Caused by id impulses that the ego can barely control  Moral Anxiety: Comes from threats of punishment from the superego  DEFENSE MECHANISMS – Unconscious mental processes employed by the ego to reduce anxiety.  Repression – pushing stressors out of mind  Reaction Formation – doing the opposite  Displacement – ego redirects drive away from what id wants  Sublimation – doing something society values instead  Projection – blame someone else  Rationalization – thinking logically  Regression – retreating to an earlier stage of development