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Definition of Dream:
a mental experience during sleep that involves mainly visual images which are often considered real ("cinematographic" akin to movies that pass through our minds while sleeping)
Freud provides the first comprehensive account of dreaming, The Interpretation of Dreams (1900)
Dreams are subtle & profound reflections of intrapsychic processes ("the royal road to the unconscious")
Manifest content:
Dream Work:
what a person can remember about the dream the dressed up version of the threatening components the set of underlying intrapsychic events that led to manifest content composed of unconscious thoughts, wishes, fantasies, etc which are expressed in disguised form in manifest content becomes manifest through dream work and symbolization
Latent content:
changes unacceptable latent content into acceptable manifest content involves condensation (combining and compressing separate thoughts), displacement (shifting emphasis), visual representation (translating wishes into images) allows latent content to become part of manifest directly in an unrecognizable & nonthreatening form most of Freud's symbols refer to sexual objects (See Table 6.1 for common symbols and their latent meanings)
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Symbolization:
Begins with person's report of the dream Person then asked to make associations to dream Final step is for psychoanalyst to use dream work, symbolization & individual's information to interpret latent content Function of Dreaming
wish fulfillment release of unconscious tension preservation of sleep (dream work and symbolization disguise threatening content so person may remain asleep)
Post Freudian analysts believe dreaming helps solve problems and plan future actions
PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES
PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES
Used to find patterns of consistent themes Most fall into one of the following 4:
subjects are presented with ambiguous stimuli & asked to impart meaning to them revealing unconscious motives
Ambiguity & the Projective Hypothesis Projective Hypothesis states that the unconscious is free to project meaning onto an ambiguous stimulus or situation
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Rorschach Inkblots
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Created by Hermann Rorschach, 10 standard inkblots made by spilling ink on paper & folding in half 1st phase performance proper- examiner records subjects responses about inkblot 2nd phase inquiry- examiner asks subject specific questions about response from first phase (where, why) Scored & interpreted according to location, determinant, popularity-originality, content, form-level
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Basic Premise:
Neurotic symptoms arise from painful memories & emotions that have been repressed Symptoms are relieved when repressed memories are finally permitted open expression
Basic aim:
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Free Association
One of the cornerstones of psychoanalysis Patient is encouraged to say anything that comes to mind while lying on couch (exercise: try to tell a friend or yourself anything for 5 minutes) Anything that impedes the progress of recovery Provides important information about patient Conscious or unconscious Unconscious resistance more significant
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Resistance
Positive or negative feelings that are actually displacements from significant others in the patient's life are transferred onto the analyst Patients begin to relate to therapist as they would to their mother, father, etc. Most important form of resistance, can impede or facilitate the therapeutic process Countertransference also possible
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Interpretation
Analysts must discover hidden meanings & communicate them to patient when he is ready to hear them Two types of interpretation:
Insight
Involves gaining:
Aimed directly at helping patients understand something about themselves Aimed at directing patient's conscious and unconscious thoughts toward a question analyst is unsure of
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More flexible & broader than Freudian analysis Shorter duration Focus on current functioning - present as well as past Consider patient's effective functioning as well as problem behaviors Consider strengths to devise treatment plan Emphasis on therapeutic alliance Less formal & restrictive Interpretations include psychosocial as well as psychosexual More concrete & practical 19 Less abstract and theoretical
Personality thought to evolve out of human interactions instead of biologically derived tensions Human beings are thus motivated by need to establish/maintain relations w/others Therapists attempt to understand & modify maladaptive patterns of adult Therapist works towards patient's acceptance of responsibility
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An outgrowth of object relations, traced to Harry Stack Sullivan & Adolph Meyer Emphasis on understanding role expectancies in current interpersonal relations in context of short-term therapy Effective for treatment of
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Limitations Continued
Poorly defined Untestable Prone to (3) Logical Errors
Limitations Continued
Theory is sex biased Case studies are unduly biased Does not recover historical truth Psychoanalysis has been criticized as being unscientific
Psychoanalysts fail to distinguish between observation & inference Psychoanalysts confuse correlation & causation Psychoanalysts use analogies to describe their observations, & analogies are not proof
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It has been suggested that psychoanalysis should not be judged by standards of mainstream scientific psychology
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