How do psycho-dynamic therapists build the therapeutic alliance with clients? How do they support clients in developing a deeper understanding of their emotional and behavioural processes?
What is the unconscious and how do psycho-dynamic therapists work with the unconscious in therapy?
While transference and counter-transference are widely accepted as therapeutically occurring phenomena across a wide range of theories, they were first recognised and conceptualised in psychoanalytic practice.
There are three types of transference: Positive, Negative, and Sexualised. Describe and distinguish each type of transference. Reflect on (and share) how you would be aware of and work with transference as a practising therapist.
Interpretation is one of the primary techniques employed by psycho-dynamic therapists. What is interpretation? How should an interpretation be used in therapy and presented to the client? Provide an example of a therapeutic interpretation.
Select one defence mechanism and describe it in detail. Next, select one diagnosis (e.g., depression, anxiety, eating disorder) and provide a detailed example of how defence mechanisms, particularly the one you selected, might be used by clients who have the diagnosis you selected.
Assessing change in therapy is an ongoing process and is the primary way that therapists determine if their approach is working and if the goals for the client are appropriate. Describe in detail a minimum of two assessment approaches and tools that psycho-dynamic therapists can use.
Colman (2008) described Ego Psychology as, “A school of psychoanalysis based on the analysis of the ego, founded in 1939 by the Austrian-born US psychoanalyst Heinz Hartmann (1894–1970), including the US-based German psychologist Ernst Kris (1901–57), the Hungarian-born US psychologist David Rapaport (1911–60), and the German-born (of Danish parentage) psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson (1902–94).
The essential theme is that the ego is capable of functioning autonomously and is not confined to internal conflicts with the id and superego” (p. 138).
After reading the weekly readings listed under “Additional Learning Resources/Reading”, describe (in your own words) what ego-psychology is and how it is unique from other psycho-dynamic approaches.
Reference:
Colman, A. (2008). A Dictionary of Psychology. Oxford University Press.