1. Introduction to Psychodynamic Therapy
Lyn Siegel, MPH, MSW, LCSW
51 Main St. Suite 12
Clinton, NJ 08809
Web:

2. General Approaches of Psychological Theories
Psychodynamic
Behavioral
Cognitive
3 main approaches of psychology
Psychodynamic- basis is Freudian thought. It is based on the view that an individual is propelled by sexual and aggressive drives which conflict with societal norms for behavior.
behavioral :” action-oriented methods to help people change what they are doing and thinking”
change behavior not necessarily personality
cognitive- focus on restructuring dysfunctional belief and thought in order to change dysfunctional behaviors
newer behavioral techniques (in the last 30 years) emphasize cognitive process
e.g cognitive behavioral approaches are widely used in family therapy to focus on the interactions within the family

3. Psychotherapy
psychoanalysis
psychodynamic
existential
cognitive
behavioral
cognitive/behavioral

4. Sigmund Freud’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamics
Structure of Personality: ID, EGO, super-ego
The most comprehensive theory of personality and psychotherapy ever developed
Concepts of the conscious, preconscious and the unconscious
ID is the instinctual part t o Freud’s structure of personality . At birth we are all ID.
The Id is uncomfortable with tension and so it discharges tension immediately in order to return to a steady state.
The ID is illogical and immoral
ID impulses form our sexual and aggressive drives
Ego
is the part of the ID which changes due to what goes on in the external world. It is formed by taking psychic energy from the ID
The Super Ego
is the judicial branch of personality
it represents a steady state
It is the part of the personality that represents the ideal values of society .(AS HANDED DOWN TO THEM).
It inhibits the id impulses, argues with the ego for perfection rather than pleasure which is the ego’s goal

5. Freud’s Structure of Personality
Freud’s greatest contributions were the conscious and unconscious.
The unconscious store all our dreams, experiences, and repressed memories--but is outside of our awareness or conscious control.
The unconscious not directly accessible, it can’t be studied, only inferred from behavior.
Most of our functioning is out of the unconscious so we don’ really understand our unconscious motives at a conscious level
the aim of therapy is to make the unconscious motives conscious and to change personality

6. Sigmund Freud’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamics
Clinical Evidence for postulating the unconscious (which can not be studied directly)
dreams
slips of the tongue
forgetting
posthypnotic suggestions
material from free-association techniques
the symbolic content of psychotic symptoms

7. Sigmund Freud’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamic Therapy
Ego-defense mechanisms
repression
denial
reaction formation
projection
displacement
rationalization
sublimation
regression,
introjection
identification
compensation
Ego-defense mechanisms that we use in order not to deal with unconscious drives.

8. Sigmund Freud’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychosexual stages
oral
anal
phallic
latency
genital

9. Sigmund Freud’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamic Therapy
Important to Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Social Workers:
Transference
projecting feelings from the past on the therapist as a significant figure of the past
Counter-transference
seeing yourself in a client
meeting your own needs through a client

10. Overview of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Other names for Psychodynamic psychotherapy
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy
Exploratory psychotherapy
Insight oriented therapy

11. Overview of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
General approach
historical focus: interpretations or observations are based on the client’s history
always based on the transference--patient/therapist relationship
It’s assumptions
unconscious mind exists
holds painful feelings
we avoid thru our defenses
Needs, drives and feelings motivate behavior

12. Overview of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Goals
make client’s problem clear (elucidate)
understand defense mechanisms and transference responses
Techniques used (origins in Freud)
therapeutic alliance
free association
defense and transference interpretation
Bring unconscious conflict to awareness
= emotional insight

13. Overview of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Therapists’ role
unconditional acceptance
make interpretations

14. Overview of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Duration/frequency
months to years
longer term: open-ended
1-3 x weekly
brief therapy techniques growing
1 x week

15. Overview of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Psychoanalysis
Psychodynamic
Repressed childhood conflicts, Id
content, ego activity
Bringing conflict to conscious
awareness overcome
neurosis
Less emphasis on sexual and aggressive drives
Less emphasis on unconscious info
More emphasis on past relationships
Differences in Assumptions and Focus

16. Overview of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Psychoanalysis
Psychodynamic
Offshoot of the
psychoanalytic school
Interpretation is main tool
Mediator, a conscience,
and a devil
all adult problems
can be traced back to
childhood
interaction of ego, superego, id
Differences in Assumptions and Focus

17. Carl Jung’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamics
Theory of the mind/psyche (psyche = the personality as a whole), ego-the organizer of the conscious mind:
Theory of archetypes
Theory of dynamics of the psyche: principle of opposites, principle of equivalence, principle of entropy
Theory of synchronicity
Theory of dynamics---pscyhe is a relatively closed system
can receive energy from other source (E.G. THE BODY, the environment but they then are contained in a closed system
because of this the psyche is in a continuous state of change and can never reach equilibrium
principle of opposites There is no consciousness without discrimination of opposites (I.e between the ego and the unconscious)
principle of equivalence states that if the amt of energy consigned to a given psychic element decreases or disappears that amount of energy will appear in another psychic element
principle o f entrophy involves the transfer of psychic energy from one psychic structure to another
Theory of synchronicity: A phenomenon where an event in the outside world coincides meaningfully with a psychological state of mind.

18. Carl Jung’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamics
Important concepts
complexes (a feature of the personal unconscious in which groups of contents clump together)
individuation (the process by which the consciousness of a person becomes individualized or differentiated from other people)

19. Carl Jung’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamics
Understanding of the human personality
Psychological typology
attitudes = introversion/extroversion
the functions = thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition

20. Carl Jung’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamics
Human development, especially in middle age
A spiritual approach
A spiritual approach that places great emphasis on being impelled to find meaning in life in contrast to being driven by the psychological and biological forces described by Freud
this was a major departure from Freud

21. Carl Jung’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamics
That the personality is also based on who we want to become, rather than just the past (movement toward self-actualization)
Dreams as an attempt to express rather than repress

22. Carl Jung’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamics
An archetype is the content of the collective unconscious.
The persona: our public image, a mask (or public face) that we wear to protect ourselves.
Shadow: represents our dark side, the thoughts, feelings, and actions that are socially reprehensible and that we tend to disown by projecting them outward.

23. Carl Jung’s Major Contributions to Psychodynamics
Archetypes (con’t)
Anima/ animus
Syzygy: divine couple. wholeness and integration. The opposites of the inner and outer life are joined in marriage.
Mother: the nurturing one

24. Carl Jung’s Major Contribution to Psychodynamics
Archetypes (con’t)
Father: guide or authority figure
Child: a pattern related to the hope and promise for new beginnings.

25. Other Disciplines in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Adlerian
Object relations/ Psychoanalytic self psychology (Kohut)
Ego psychology
Psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy
Transactional analysis-Berne

26. Individual (Adlerian) Psychology
Underlying is a theory of personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy
His theory is connected to a humanistic philosophy of living
Core premise: the extent of feeling of community (connectedness) is both an index and goal of mental health
Holds philosophical ideals as therapeutic goals for individuals and groups

27. Individual (Adlerian) Psychology
Techniques: analysis of birth order, coping patterns, early memory work
Systems view
Within the systems context: 3 key life tasks-vocation, love, and sex
These and our relationships are social challenges
First system: family-the origin of our world view and attitude toward life

28. Individual (Adlerian) Psychology
“Fictional finalism”- a central goal guiding a person behaviors
“Only when I am perfect can I be secure”
“Only when I am important can I be accepted”

29. Individual (Adlerian) Psychology
Treatment
Brief, couple, family
Goals: Connected-ness, self-development, contribute to others’ welfare
Correct mistaken assumptions, attitudes, behaviors and feelings about the world
Objective: redirect self-focused behaviors toward social contribution

30. Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (Kohut)
Emphasizes empathy
“Empathy is used to describe an intrapsychic process in the therapist by which an understanding of the patient, particularly an emotional understanding, a capacity to feel what the other is feeling is enhanced. Situated somewhere between listening and interpreting, empathy serves as a precondition for both.”-Berger 1987
Empathy: The power of entering into the
experience of or understanding objects or
emotions outside ourselves

31. Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (Kohut)
Understanding and explanation ( interpretative process) are offered from the client’s perspective
Prevailing form of psychoanalysis in Europe

32. Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (Kohut)
Revolutionary departure from the “biological model”
Kohut claimed it would form a framework in which
Empathetic, subjective methods were overiding
Other methods could be used
Distinctions between psychiatry and psychology were no longer relevant

33. Ego psychology Groundwork Anna Freud-building blocks of defense theory
Erikson-Psychosocial stages
Emphasized ego’s role in development
Focuses on social influences throughout the life span
Deals with early AND later developmental stages

34. Ego psychology Heinz Hartmann-leader of ego therapy
It’s really structural theory-ego therapist interested in all aspects--incl ID
the preservation of Freud’s drive theory
emphasizes the centrality of the ego
Focuses on the ego’s workings in creating defenses rather than focusing on the underlying id content
Engages the patient, less emphasis on uncovering hidden secrets, more on psychic structure-i.e the relationships between the id, the ego, and superego (Mitchell and Black-1995)

35. Ego Psychology Heinz Hartmann: the father of Ego Psychology
Studied”the ways in which the Ego organizes itself, adapts, and deploys ID drives
Contributions:
neutralization (rather than sublimation)-the ego strips the drives of their sexual and aggressive qualities changing their nature-e.g like a power plant
notion of “ a child born with an innate potential that unfolds naturally in a receptive environment” and “average receptive environment”- Mitchell and Black 1995

36. Sources
Brown D, Pedder J, Introduction to Psychotherapy, Tavistock/Routledge, 1991
Covey, Gerald. Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy: Brook/Cole, 2001
Mitchell SA and Black MJ, Freud and Beyond-A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought: The Perseus Books Groups, 1995
Ursano RJ, Sonnenberg SM, Lazar SG, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: American Psychiatric Press, 1991
Hall CS, Nordby SH, A Primer of Jungian Psychology: Penguin Group, 1973
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