Chapter 4
Psychoanalytic therapy
- Freud’s psychoanalytic system = a model of personality
development & an approach to psychotherapy
View of human nature
- Freud referred to sexual energy as “libido” but now = life
instincts
o serve purpose of survival of individual in human race
o death instincts = aggressive drive – unconscious wish
to die or hurt themselves/others
Structure of personality
- the Id
o original system of personality
o person is all Id at birth
o primary source of psychic energy & instincts
o can’t tolerate tension
o rules by pleasure principle = aims to reduce tension,
pain, gain pleasure
o illogical, amoral, satisfies instinctual needs
o never matures (brat of personality)
o doesn’t think only acts
- the Ego
o has contact with external world (reality)
o governs, controls, regulates emotion (executive)
o mediates between instincts (traffic cop)
o controls consciousness & exercise censorship
o ruled by “reality principle” – realistic & logical
thinking + formulates plans
o seat of intelligence & rationality – checks & controls
impulses
1
, o Id knows only subjective reality but ego =
distinguishes between mental images & things in
external world
- Superego
o “legal branch” of personality
o internalization of standards set by society
o moral code, good/bad, right/wrong,
o represents ideal rather than the real
o represents traditional values & ideals
o inhibits Id impulses, persuade Ego to substitute moral
goals for realistic ones & to strive for perfection
o rewards = pride, self-love
o punishments = guilt, inferiority
Anxiety
- feeling of dread that results from repressed feelings,
memories, desires & experiences that emerge to the surface
of awareness
- reality anxiety
o fear of danger in external world – level of this is
proportionate to the degree of real threat
- neurotic anxiety
o fear that the instincts will get out of hand & cause
the person to do something for which they will be
punished
- moral anxiety
o fear of one’s own conscience
o well-developed conscience = feel guilty when they do
something contrary to their moral code
Ego defense mechanisms
- help individual cope with anxiety & prevent ego from being
overwhelmed
2
Psychoanalytic therapy
- Freud’s psychoanalytic system = a model of personality
development & an approach to psychotherapy
View of human nature
- Freud referred to sexual energy as “libido” but now = life
instincts
o serve purpose of survival of individual in human race
o death instincts = aggressive drive – unconscious wish
to die or hurt themselves/others
Structure of personality
- the Id
o original system of personality
o person is all Id at birth
o primary source of psychic energy & instincts
o can’t tolerate tension
o rules by pleasure principle = aims to reduce tension,
pain, gain pleasure
o illogical, amoral, satisfies instinctual needs
o never matures (brat of personality)
o doesn’t think only acts
- the Ego
o has contact with external world (reality)
o governs, controls, regulates emotion (executive)
o mediates between instincts (traffic cop)
o controls consciousness & exercise censorship
o ruled by “reality principle” – realistic & logical
thinking + formulates plans
o seat of intelligence & rationality – checks & controls
impulses
1
, o Id knows only subjective reality but ego =
distinguishes between mental images & things in
external world
- Superego
o “legal branch” of personality
o internalization of standards set by society
o moral code, good/bad, right/wrong,
o represents ideal rather than the real
o represents traditional values & ideals
o inhibits Id impulses, persuade Ego to substitute moral
goals for realistic ones & to strive for perfection
o rewards = pride, self-love
o punishments = guilt, inferiority
Anxiety
- feeling of dread that results from repressed feelings,
memories, desires & experiences that emerge to the surface
of awareness
- reality anxiety
o fear of danger in external world – level of this is
proportionate to the degree of real threat
- neurotic anxiety
o fear that the instincts will get out of hand & cause
the person to do something for which they will be
punished
- moral anxiety
o fear of one’s own conscience
o well-developed conscience = feel guilty when they do
something contrary to their moral code
Ego defense mechanisms
- help individual cope with anxiety & prevent ego from being
overwhelmed
2
