Page 238 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Guidance and Counseling

Notes Example : Growing up, Roger’s mother was not a nurturing woman. She was very involved in
community affairs and often put Roger’s needs on the back burner. When choosing a wife,
Roger subconsciously chose a woman who was very attentive and nurturing. While he agreed
that the family needed the increased income, he did not anticipate how his relationship with
his own mother would affect his reaction to his wife working oPsychodynamic therapy, also
known as insight-oriented therapy, focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested
in a person’s present behavior. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are a client’s self-awareness
and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior. In its brief form, a
psychodynamic approach enables the client to examine unresolved conflicts and symptoms
that arise from past dysfunctional relationships and manifest themselves in the need and desire
to abuse substances.
Several different approaches to brief psychodynamic psychotherapy have evolved from
psychoanalytic theory and have been clinically applied to a wide range of psychological
disorders. There is a body of research that generally supports the efficacy of these approaches.

Psychodynamic therapy is the oldest of the modern therapies. Freud’s psychoanalysis
is a specific form and subset of psychodymanic therapy.) As such, it is based in a
highly developed and multifaceted theory of human development and interaction.

This chapter demonstrates how rich it is for adaptation and further evolution by contemporary
therapists for specific purposes. The material presented in this chapter provides a quick glance at
the usefulness and the complex nature of this type of therapy.

21.2.4 Psychodynamic Therapy
The theory supporting psychodynamic therapy originated in and is informed by psychoanalytic
theory. There are four major schools of psychoanalytic theory, each of which has influenced
psychodynamic therapy. The four schools are : Freudian, Ego Psychology, Object Relations, and Self
Psychology.
Freudian psychology is based on the theories first formulated by Sigmund Freud in the early part
of this century and is sometimes referred to as the drive or structural model. The essence of Freud’s
theory is that sexual and aggressive energies originating in the id (or unconscious) are modulated
by the ego, which is a set of functions that moderates between the id and external reality. Defense
mechanisms are constructions of the ego that operate to minimize pain and to maintain psychic
equilibrium. The superego, formed during latency (between age 5 and puberty), operates to control
id drives through guilt.
Ego Psychology derives from Freudian psychology. Its proponents focus their work on enhancing
and maintaining ego function in accordance with the demands of reality. Ego Psychology stresses
the individual’s capacity for defense, adaptation, and reality testing.
Object Relations psychology was first articulated by several British analysts, among them Melanie
Klein, W.R.D. Fairbairn, D.W. Winnicott, and Harry Guntrip. According to this theory, human
beings are always shaped in relation to the significant others surrounding them. Our struggles and
goals in life focus on maintaining relations with others, while at the same time differentiating ourselves
from others. The internal representations of self and others acquired in childhood are later played
out in adult relations. Individuals repeat old object relationships in an effort to master them and
become freed from them.
Self Psychology was founded by Heinz Kohut, M.D., in Chicago during the 1950s. Kohut observed
that the self refers to a person’s perception of his experience of his self, including the presence or

232 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY