What is Psychoanalysis?

What is psychoanalysis?

What are the common denominators in the various psychoanalytic models that place them all into one category called psychoanalysis, psychodynamic psychotherapy, or depth psychology?

The American Psychological Association (n.d.) lists 5 types of psychotherapy approaches, including psychoanalysis which focuses on the unconscious motivations for behaviors and feelings.

Messer (1986) highlights a number of differences between psychoanalytic and cognitive behavioral treatment interventions, including that analytic therapies tend to be more client led, and tend to provide more space for exploration of unconscious fantasies rather than merely reducing unhelpful thoughts.

Shedler (2010) (add link) lists seven distinctive elements of psychodynamic therapies including the focus on symbolic material like dreams and fantasies, patterns of avoidance, and recurring themes and patterns. Additionally, psychodynamic psychotherapy is considered a “depth treatment” that is focused as much or more on process as it is on content.

Why psychoanalytic psychotherapy?

• Psychoanalytic psychotherapy provides a deep understanding of intrapsychic dynamics, which can inform the success of other treatment approaches. Aaron T. Beck, the father of cognitive behavioral therapy, in the forward to "Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond," complained about the application of cognitive behavioral therapy without an adequate understanding of the client's personality. Perhaps a short term, cognitive behavioral treatment, only works within the context of a sound psychoanalytically informed understanding of the patient, which was the training that Aaron T. Beck already had. 

• Psychoanalytic psychotherapy helps people understand underlying patterns in their relationships and work life that may create difficulties, and therefore goes beyond symptom reduction (Shedler, 2010).

• Psychoanalysis provides a broad understanding of the mind that allows for understanding of the various dynamics. Kandel (1999) writes that a psychoanalytic approach is necessary to achieve the most coherent model of the mind. 

• No other treatment for personality change has shown as enduring benefits (Shedler, 2010). Levy et al. (2006) conducted a study that found Transference Focused Psychotherapy to be more effective than Dialectical behavioral Therapy at increasing the patients’ attachment functioning, or quality of relationships with others.  

• Lingiardi, and McWilliams (2017) argue that a more in depth understanding offered by psychoanalysis is the first step in researching and understanding psychological phenomena (pg. 4). Fotopoulou, Pfaff, and Conway (2012) argue that a psychodynamic understanding of the mind lends itself more to research the neuroscience of the brain than other cognitive models of the mind. 

Dispelling myths about Psychoanalysis

• There is a growing body of research that supports the efficacy of psychoanalytic psychotherapy (Shedler, 2010).

• Psychoanalysis includes both short and long term models of treatment, including some manualized treatment models (Leichsenring & Leibing, 2007). One such example is Transference Focused Psychotherapy which has shown to be effective in treating severe personality disorders (Kernberg, Yeomans, Clarkin, & Levy, 2008).

• Psychoanalysis was created in a different era and therefore reflects some of the cultural and other biases of its time but was considered revolutionary for its time and has set the path for current psychoanalysts to include diversity concepts (Tummala-Narra, 2013). Freud and his students had free clinics for those who could not afford treatment (Danto, 2005). Additionally, a psychoanalytic framework can help understand social injustice. For example, Lee and Rasmussen (2019) use psychoanalytic ideas to further understand the person-in-environment social work concept, including environmental factors like racism and other social inequities. 

Sources

American Psychological Association, Presidential Task Force on Mentoring (2006).

https://www.apa.org/education/grad/mentor-task-force

American psychological association. (n.d.). American Psychological Assoc. Retrieved July 17, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/topics/psychotherapy/approaches

American Psychological Association, Presidential Task Force on Mentoring (2006).

https://www.apa.org/education/grad/mentor-task-force

Beck, J. S. (2020). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond. Guilford Publications.

Bogat, G.A. & Redner, R.L. (1985). How mentoring affects the professional development of women in psychology. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 16(6), 851-859.

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2020, May 28). psychoanalysis. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/psychoanalysis

Danto, E. A. (2005). Freud's free clinics. In Freud's Free Clinics. Columbia University Press.

Fotopoulou, A., Pfaff, D., & Conway, M. A. (Eds.). (2012). From the couch to the lab: Trends in psychodynamic neuroscience. Oxford University Press.

Kandel, E. R. (1999). Biology and the future of psychoanalysis: a new intellectual framework for psychiatry revisited. American journal of Psychiatry, 156(4), 505-524.

Kernberg, O. F., Yeomans, F. E., Clarkin, J. F., & Levy, K. N. (2008). Transference focused psychotherapy: Overview and update. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 89(3), 601-620.

Leichsenring, F., & Leibing, E. (2007). Psychodynamic psychotherapy: a systematic review of techniques, indications and empirical evidence. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 80(2), 217-228.

Lingiardi, V., & McWilliams, N. (Eds.). (2017). Psychodynamic diagnostic manual: PDM-2. Guilford Publications.

Lee, E., & Rasmussen, B. (2019). Psychoanalysis, socioanalysis, and social work: psychodynamic contributions to understanding diversity, power, and institutions in social work practice. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 89(2), 83-90.

Levy, K. N., Meehan, K. B., Kelly, K. M., Reynoso, J. S., Weber, M., Clarkin, J. F., & Kernberg, O. F. (2006). Change in attachment patterns and reflective function in a randomized control trial of transference-focused psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 74(6), 1027.

Messer, S. B. (1986). Behavioral and psychoanalytic perspectives at therapeutic choice points. American Psychologist, 41(11), 1261.

Ragins, B.R. & Cotton, J.L. (1999). Mentor functions and outcomes: A comparison of men and women in formal and informal mentoring relationships. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 529-550.  

Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American psychologist, 65(2), 98.

Tummala-Narra, P. (2013). Psychoanalytic applications in a diverse society. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 30(3), 471.

Wright, C.A. & Wright, S.D. (1987). The role of mentors in the career development of young professionals. Family Relations, 36, 204-208.