Developmental psychology.pdf

Therapy 457
But alcohol was only an indirect solution, and it created other problems. It
interfered with his work, and of course it was impossible to have a drink before some
unexpected encounter. As a result, G. sought assistance through psychotherapy, in which
talking or some other expressive procedure is used to alleviate a psychological problem.
Traditional Psychoanalysis
Among the various forms of psychotherapy, the most renowned is certainly psychoanalysis.
According to traditional psychoanalysis, as enunciated by Sigmund Freud,
any significant adult emotional problem is traceable, at least in part, to some conflict
from childhood, presumably buried in the unconscious. The process of therapy in psychoanalysis
is therefore an attempt to help the patient discover difficult earlier experiences
and to deal with them more appropriately, and there are three basic techniques
by which this goal is accomplished: free association, transference, and interpretation.
Technique of Free Association In traditional psychoanalysis the person to be
analyzed lies on a couch while the therapist, called an analyst, remains unobtrusively
nearby, encouraging the patient to say anything that comes to mind, just as it occurs.
In this unrestrained flow of ideas, known as free association, the person attempts to
express all thoughts, no matter how trivial, absurd, embarrassing, disrespectful, or
illogical they may seem (Figure 17.1).
The task of lying on a couch and saying anything that comes to mind sounds
easy, but the person is hard at work against himself, attempting to uncover the very
thoughts that are most painful. In daily life G. was a fastidious person, but eventually
he talked at length about unclean toilets, dirty underclothes, and lice. At one point he
suddenly recalled awakening at age five with the fear of having defecated in bed. Instead
he discovered that the dark object was a shoe, but soiling himself was a constant
fear, even as a young man.
Process of Transference In addition, the analyst permits or encourages transference,
in which the person temporarily reacts to the analyst as though the analyst were
someone else. The patient may become angry or disappointed with the analyst although
the latter has done nothing to provoke this reaction. These feelings may pertain to the
patient's earlier relationship with a parent, aunt or uncle, or grandparent.
Figure 17.1
Freud's Couch. Thts room was used
by Sigmund Freud during most of his
psychoanalytic investigations. Note
the stuffed chair, in which he was
usually seated, at the head of the
couch.