Category: Psychoanalysis

Introduction

Amongst the many psychological theories, the oldest and rigorously studied are Psychoanalysis and Adlerian/ Individual Psychology by Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. Both these theories made a mark on the history of psychology.

Adlerian therapy refers to a growth model that emphasizes on assuming responsibilities, creating a person’s destiny and finding ways, means, and goals of creating a meaningful life. Psychoanalytic therapy is a theory that put many emphasis on personality development, and a philosophy of nature of human beings. The psychoanalytical theory focuses on unconscious elements that are concerned with motivating human’s behaviors (Corey, 2017).

Freud stated that life is hard and man has unconscious badness which is covered by censorship, which helps them survive life (Adler, 1970). Whereas Adler (Orgler, 1963, pp. 258) said, “man is not bad by nature; whatever his faults have been, faults due to an erroneous conception of life, he must not be oppressed by them. He can change. The past is dead. He is free to be happy in the future and to bring happiness to others.”

The theory I: Psychoanalytic Theory

“Unexpressed emotions will never die, they are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways” – Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud’s work dominated his era and continues to influence the contemporary practice of psychology (Corey 2017; Heer, 1972). According to Corey (2017), many of his basic concepts are still part of the foundation on which other theorists build and develop their ideas. As the originator of psychoanalysis, Freud distinguished himself as an intellectual giant. He pioneered new techniques for understanding of human behavior, and his efforts resulted in the most comprehensive theory of personality and psychotherapy ever developed.

Theorist’s Biography and Influence

Sigmund Freud was the firstborn in a Viennese family of three boys and five girls on 6 May 1856 (Corey, 2017; Jones, 1953-7). As stated by Corey, his father was a very authoritarian man. Due to limited finances, they had to stay in crowded apartments. As a child, Sigmund was powerfully influenced by both Catholic and Judaic traditions. Bible reading, which was gifted by his father also made a deep impression on Feud as a boy. (Heer, 1972. pp.7). Corey (2017) very accurately points out that Freud’s family background can be used to understand the development of his theory.

Born in Moravia, moved to Leipzig and settled in Vienna, a city he both loved and hated, for the next thirty years of his life (Heer, 1972; Jones, 1953-7). Freud had many interests, but his career was restricted because of his Jewish heritage. For eight years he was an outstanding pupil and stood at the head of his class. In 1865, he stated studying gymnasium and finally settled as a student of medicine at University of Vienna. In 1877-8, he got his first professional success with the publication of his discovery connected with the spinal ganglion of Ameocetes, during his fourth year of his graduation. During the early 1880’s he graduated with excellent grades and then started to work at the Vienna General Hospital and in 1883, he was transferred to the psychiatric Clinic (Heer, 1972; Jones 1953-7).

In the next five years, Freud life changed a lot. One of the major events during this period was his meeting with Charcot in Paris, who demonstrated the use of hypnosis on the hysterical patients. Later in those years, he started his private practice in neuropathology. In 1886, he got married to Martha Bernays and had his first child in 1887. Later in that year, Freud started to use hypnotic suggestions on some of his patients with some success. Very slowly and gradually 1892 onwards he began to formulate the theory of ‘free association’ (Jones, 1953-7).

Interestingly, the most creative period of his life corresponds to the time when he was experiencing several emotional problems. In his forties, Freud faced many psychosomatic disorders, as well as exaggerated fears of dying and other phobias. In 1895, he for the first time analyzed his own dream, which lead to ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’. The exploring the meaning of his dream, he gained insight into the dynamics of his personality development. This was the year of the publication of ‘Studies in Hysteria’ written by Freud and Breuer, which marks the beginning of Psychoanalysis. This was also the year when his youngest daughter, Anna Freud was born; who later became the contributor of the ‘Defense Mechanisms’ to his theory.

In 1866, the term “psychoanalysis” was used for the first time in his paper. Freud conducted the psychoanalysis of his own subconscious in 1897. Initially, Freud’s examination of the memories of his childhood made him realize the malevolence towards his father. He also recalled his childhood sexual feelings for his mother, who was an attractive, loving, and protective woman. He then clinically formulated his theory as he observed his patients work through their own problems in analysis (Corey, 2017; Jones, 1953-7).

In 1902, the first meeting of the Psychological Wednesday society was held; this was to become in April 1908, the Vienna Psychoanalytical Society. According to Heer (1972, pp.11), “the Wednesday society was an answer, a conscious or unconscious counterblast to the famous Thursday society which had been founded by Vogelsang and where the inner circle of the ‘Christian Socialists’ met for debate, training and explode their ideological campaign against the ‘Jewish spirit of the age’, the ‘Jewish Hydra’ which – so they thought- was a shadow double eagle standing for the destruction of the monarchy and its Christian basis and the establishment of ‘ Jewish Liberal Capitalism’ and ‘Jewish Socialism”.

Following to this, for the next thirty years, Freud proposed a lot of his idea through publications and lectures. Due to his very little tolerance for the colleagues who diverged from his psychoanalytic doctrine, many of his followers parted their ways. Alfred Adler in 1911 and Jung in 1914 marked the major breaks from Freudian psychoanalysis. Being highly productive, frequently putting 18 hours of work, he collected to fill 24 volumes. Freud productivity remained at this prolific level until late in his life when he was diagnosed with cancer in his jaw. During the last two decades of his life, he underwent 33 operations. He died in London in 1939 (Corey, 2017; Jones, 1953-7).

Beliefs about Human Nature

As stated by Freud (1958), life is too hard, which has pain, disappointments and impossible tasks. Everyone seeks power, success, riches for himself and admires others who attain them, while undervaluing the truly precious thing in life. These general judgments can put ones humanity and mental health in danger.

According to Freud, human behavior is caused by irrational forces, unconscious motivations and biological and instinctual drives; and it was then that psychoanalysis was met with the objection that human beings are not merely sexual creatures but have nobler and higher impulses (Freud, 1965).

The main declaration of Psychoanalysis is of the psychic processes being unconscious, and the ones which are conscious are hardly isolated acts and parts of the entire psychic life. Psychoanalysis is based on the idea of ‘instincts.’ Freud defined libido being analogous to hunger, a force through which the instinct, in this case the sex instinct (as in the case of hunger it is the instinct to eat) expresses itself (Freud, 1917).

Why do People have a problem?

Freud believes that ‘it is not easy to deal scientifically with feelings’ (Freud, 1958, p.2). From the very first, Freud (1965) have said that human beings fall ill of a conflict between the claims of instinctual life and the resistance which arise within them against it; and not for a moment have we forgotten this resisting, repelling, repressing agency, which we thought of as equipped with its special forces, the ego- instincts, and which coincides with the ego popular psychology.

Structure of Personality. The idea that man should receive intimation of his connection with the surrounding world by a direct feeling which aims from the outset at serving this purpose sounds so strange and is so incongruous with the structure of our psychology that one is justified in attempting a psychoanalytic, that is, genetic explanation of such a feeling (Freud 1958).

Freud (1958) gave three aspects of personality which operate as a whole. These are id, ego and superego. Normally there is nothing a person more certain of than the feelings of our self, our own ego. It seems to us an independent unitary thing, sharply outlined against everything else. This is deceptive appearance, and that on the contrary, the ego extends inwards, without any sharp delamination, into an unconscious mental entity which we call the id and to which it forms a façade. The superego is the voice of consciousness that objects and after the deed punishes with distressing reproaches and causes the feeling of remorse for the deed (Freud 1965).

Psychosexual Stages of Development. A significant contribution of Freud (1917) was the psychosexual stages. It focused on the sexuality of the infant with correspondence to perversions. Infantile sexuality is as potent as in adulthood states Freud. This stage starts before the genitals mature in a child, before the latent period and continue till puberty. The oral is the most primitive stage. It last from the first year of the life. The child is indulged in sucking as the mouth is the erogenous zone at this time. This stage also called the pregenital stage has a loose organization. The next sage is the anal stage. The erogenous zone in this stage is the anus. It is marked by sadistic and controlling characters.

The next stage is the Phallic stage which starts from the third year. During this phase, the genitals start to mature and there is a course of infantile masturbation, which is genital gratification. They develop a choice of object, mainly preference towards one of the two sexes, jealousy- which are established independently and unprejudiced and can be carefully observed. The male phallic stage is known as the Oedipus complex, which involves the mother as love object for the boy and the female phallic stage is known as the Electra Complex, where the girl strives for the father’s love and approval (Freud 1917).

Even though children (three to eight years) learn to hide all these desires but if plaid attention we can notice a sexual orientation in their activities. Without proper knowledge and understanding of these sexual desires, they may develop sexual immaturity in life. The next phase which starts from the sixth or the eighth year is the latent phase. There is a noticeable sexual development and there may or may not be a stop in the sexual interest and activities in the child during this phase. Most of the impulses prior to this phase become the victim of infantile amnesia. The final phase starts at twelve and lasts till eighteen years. The old instincts of phallic stage are revived here. The genital phase is the one where the genitals are the erogenous zone. Curiosity and the instinct to watch are the most powerful at this time (Freud 1917).

Role of the Counsellor

Freud (1917. pp. 6) in one of his lectures stated, “When, however, we undertake psychoanalytic treatment with a neurotic patient we proceed differently. We hold before him the difficulties of the method, its length, the exertions and the sacrifices which it will cost him; and, as to the result, we tell him that we make no definite promises, that the result depends on his conduct, on his understanding, on his adaptability, on his perseverance. We have, of course, excellent motives for conduct which seems so perverse, and into which you will perhaps gain insight at a later point in these lectures.”

Interchanges of words are the most important factor in psychoanalysis. The patient is the one telling their experiences, complaints, desires, confessions, wishes, dreams and emotions. The counsellor mainly focuses on listening to the patient and then directs the thought process of the patient channelizes their attention towards certain dark areas of consciousness and providing explanation and understanding to the patient (Freud. 1917).

A special effective relationship is developed between the physician and the patient. This is because the patient needs to feel impartial acceptance from the physician to express the most intimate parts of their life which might not been able to express to themselves or others. Therefore Freud says that the physician may never “listen in” but only “hear it” in psychoanalysis. So as Freud suggests, you cannot, therefore, ‘listen in’ on a psychoanalytic treatment. There is a strict format of words chosen to be used by the physician in therapy (Freud, 1917).

One of the major tasks of a psychoanalyst is dream interpretation. On the assumption that the dream is a psychic phenomenon, on the further assumption that there are unconscious things in man which he knows without knowing that he knows (Freud, 1917). There is a transfer of a single element to the entire dream to dig out the suppressed unconscious matter. The dream portrays unreal and unknown facts which are not known by the dreamer itself. These are the substitutes of the unattainable desires or errors which the patient might not accept in a conscious state. The concept used is called free association where there is a ‘calling out’ of the suppressed material (Freud, 1917).

The application process is that Freud made the patients lie down on a sofa while he sat behind, invisible. The procedure developed historically from his technique in hypnotism. Psychologically, in this way the patient was continuously reminded that he lay there as a patient and had to accept the doctor’s superior position (Adler, 1970; Freud, 1917).

Role of the client

Client disclosure is at the core of psychoanalysis (Freud, 1913), an orientation that encourages clients to free-associate as a means of disclosing as much as possible to tap into unconscious processes. Lengthy preliminary discussions before the beginning of the analytic treatment, previous treatment by another method and also previous acquaintance between the doctor and the patient who is to be analyzed, have special disadvantageous consequences for which one must be prepared. They result in the patient’s meeting the doctor with a transference attitude that is already established and which the doctor must first slowly uncover instead of having the opportunity to observe the growth and development of the transference from the outset. In this way, the patient gains a temporary start upon us which we do not willingly grant him in the treatment. So long as the patient’s communications and ideas run on without any obstruction, the theme of transference should be left untouched. One must wait until the transference, which is the most delicate of all procedures, has become resistant.

The patient usually regards being made to adopt this position as a hardship and rebels against it, especially if the instinct for looking (scopophilia) plays an important part in his neurosis. I insist on this procedure, however, for its purpose and result are to prevent the transference from mingling with the patient’s associations imperceptibly, to isolate the transference and to allow it to come forward in due course sharply defined as a resistance. Many analysts work in a different way, but Freud did not know whether this deviation is due more to a craving for doing things differently or to some advantage which they find they gain by it (Freud, 1965).

Therapeutic Goals

At a point, questions were raised on the objective verification of the theory and on the possibility of demonstrating what it claims as being the truth. Being subjectively oriented, the fact is that psychoanalysis is not an easy theory and not many people have learned it thoroughly. The pathway of learning it follows an initial study of self and personality, called self-observation. This provides the desired sense of one’s reality of the occurrence and understanding of their desires and drawbacks as a therapist. An analysis by the competent analyst allows the counselor to not only learn the finer techniques of the therapy but understand the effect of his ego (Freud 1917).

Multicultural Considerations

The psychoanalytic approach by Freud has been a landmark in the history of psychological approaches. Stafford-Clark, in his classic book repeatedly refers to the burning genius of Freud and to his scientific honesty and objectivity. Even a layman knows that many of Freud’s concepts have become firmly embedded in daily psychiatric language and thought. Almost any modern discourse on a psychiatric topic is studded with Freudian terms such as repression, the subconscious, emotional significance, conscience (superego), complexes, and many others (Pearce, 1996).

Corey (2017) suggests that a psychoanalytically oriented approach can be made appropriate for a culturally diverse population if techniques are modified to fit the settings in which a therapist practices. Therapists can help their clients review environmental situations at the various critical turning points in their lives to determine how certain events have affected them either positively or negatively.

However, as Kaminer (1996) suggests pure psychoanalysis is a very expensive and inefficient treatment, applicable only to a subset of patients with particular diagnoses, but it is also the only effective treatment for some disabling conditions. The application of it is a problem in low-income clients as they seek professional help to deal with a crisis situation and wants to find solutions to concrete problems, or at least some direction in addressing survival needs pertaining to housing, employment, and child care (Corey, 2017).

Transactional Analysis evolved out of Berne’s dissatisfaction with the slowness of psychoanalysis in curing people of their problems. Berne’s major objections to psychoanalysis were that it was time-consuming, complex, and poorly communicated to clients (Corey 2009).

Psychoanalytic therapy is generally perceived as being based on upper-middle-class values. All clients do not share these values. Another shortcoming is the ambiguity inherent in the therapeutic process. This can be problematic for clients from cultures who expect direction from the professional.

In everyday life, there is no moment that passes without us changing : my body changes, my character changes, my opinions change… And yet we consider ourselves and others like a unique person even though we are constantly changing. But then, “who am I?”

Consciousness is the capacity to represent ourselves and the outside world. As explained by Christof Koch “Consciousness is everything you experience.” (What is consciousness?) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-consciousness/ This is both what puts us in touch with the world and with ourselves. Another notion we use is unconscious. The unconscious is a hypothesis formulated by Freud which designates an instance of the external psyche independent of the consciousness which determines us without our knowledge. This hypothesis makes it possible to explain what consciousness can account for. Like Freudian slips or dreams. As designers we can use Psychoanalysis to understand and evaluate which products are the most suited to our clients. People change everyday and it is crucial to consider this in the process of design.

First of all, we will see why designers have to understand psychoanalysis to create an user centred design. Secondly, we will explain the point of view of Descartes saying that we are a conscience. Then, we will see Freud’s theory arguing about the fact that we are determined by our unconscious. Finally, we will describe Sartre thought: “I am freedom”.

We can say that our consciousness is directly linked to everything we do right down to the objects we buy. Our mind, “ that guides us in a great part of what we do, that guides us in the choices and decision making, and that consequently also guides us in the use of the interfaces. We as designers need to get to know the people that we are designing for. We cannot expect our products to be useful and valued if it does not fulfil a need our requirement. Psychoanalysis can become a direct link between mind and product, user and designer. The main aspect of any design is its usability, any product should fulfil three main aspects as explained by the Interaction Design Foundation, it should be easy for the user to become familiar with, easy for the user to achieve his/her objective and finally the interface should be easy to recall on the subsequent visit. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/usability Any great design requires usability which is directly linked to user experience “which is all about understanding and adjusting according to the psychology of the user.” (Chugh, he Psychology behind creating user centred Design)

Living in society gives each individual a specific identity: birth date, first name, last name, sex, social status, family status, and nationality. This is called a social identity. This identity allows us to live in society because it is easier to relate to each other. It’s not enough to define yourself. Because first of all, it’s not enough to know someone well. Hence the inner identity. René Descartes explains the fact of being who I am by ‘I think, therefore I am’. Which means that even if I do not know exactly who I am, I know at least that I am a thought. This is the only certainty I can have about myself, I can doubt everything but not because I doubt, not because I think, not because I exist. Descartes also said that ‘I knew that I was a substance the whole essence or nature of which is to think, and that for its existence there is no need of any place, nor does it dependent in a material thing… that is to say, the soul by which I am what I am, is entirely distinct from my body.” (Descartes, Discourse on Method IV). In the vocabulary of Descartes, thought is what we call consciousness, that is, the faculty of representing what is happening in our minds. For him, man knows himself as a conscience, that is to say, that the only thing he really knows is to be a conscience. Descartes thus posits an equivalence: thought equals consciousness equal Psychism. The answer to who am I according to Descartes is: I am a conscience.

Consciousness defines the human being but it does not help me to define myself as a unique person. Is my interiority reduced to consciousness? A revealing slip is a word that one does not want to pronounce basic and that one says in the place of another. It is called revealing because it reveals an unconscious, hidden thought that the consciousness does not see. We can then ask what is the status of this unconscious, in relation to our identity?

Is Descartes telling us that consciousness equals psychism? We have an imaginary relationship with ourselves, for example, when we say ‘I’ or ‘me’, we think that we’re transparent to ourselves. And it is not Freud who will tell us the opposite. In his book “Introduction to psychoanalysis” he says: “The Ego is not master in its own house’ (Freud, Introduction to Psychoanalysis, 1916). Self-awareness is not enough to answer the question ‘Who am I?”. Because consciousness is a surface effect of the unconscious, the tip of the iceberg. We cohabit with another in us.

The unconscious is an area of ​​our interior, unknown to the consciousness. But Freud shows that it is our unconscious that determines our conscious thought. And to achieve this he will distinguish three instances of the psyche: the Id, the Superego and the Ego. Id is constantly trying to satisfy sexual urges, libido and mortal impulses. They are unconscious and obey what Freud calls ‘the pleasure principle’. Then the Superego, it prolongs the influence of our parents and society, it is the unconscious internalization of parental and social prohibitions. The Superego equals censorship. And lastly, the Ego, it is the surface being who makes the referee between the requirement of the Id and the prohibitions of the Superego. The Ego serves to transform the Id drive into a moral and social accepted desire.

We can, therefore, say that we are determined despite ourselves by an unconscious that decides everything for us. If we follow this hypothesis of the unconscious, the only way to know this would be to succeed in interpreting this unconscious. It is possible through the mediation of psychoanalysis that allows the unconscious to rise to the surface to become aware of it. We can, therefore, say that psychoanalysis allows us to understand what determines us to know us better.

How much is the lucidity I have about what determines me enough to know me? Am I only what my subconscious does to me? With Freud, to know oneself is to know what determines us. But is not man free to become what he wants?

For Sartre, ‘Man is defined only by his freedom’. To explain it he will analyze a simple object: the scissors. A chisel is an object that has a utility that the craftsman knows before making it. The essence is the concept of scissors, which precedes and determines its existence. It must be thought and defined before being manufactured. Since its existence corresponds to its essence. We can not make scissors if we do not know what it is. So the essence precedes existence. But the Man is not an object, it’s not a concept conceived by a craftsman. For Sartre the Man is not defined in advance, he is not determined to be what he is because at the beginning he is nothing. He exists first, and only then, he defines himself by his acts and his choices. The Man is, therefore, the only being for whom ‘existence precedes essence’ (Sartre, existentialism is a humanism, 1946), it is built throughout its existence.

The answer to ‘who am I?’ It would then be devoid of essence, there is no fixed self to which one can refer. Instead of a species or a model, there is only one void. But Sartre defines this anxiety as the feeling of freedom. And the peculiarity of anxiety, unlike fear, is that it is not about a specific object. We are afraid of spiders for example, or clowns, but in anguish, we discover that what anguishes us is ourselves in our indeterminacy. Also for Sartre, there is another important fact is bad faith. For him to be in bad faith, it is to deny his freedom to escape anxiety, to invent an essence, to imagine an unconscious that determines us to appease this anguish of being free. For example when someone says ‘I’m shy, but it’s not my fault it’s my nature’ for Sartre it’s a lie. Bad faith is an attempt to lie to oneself.

To conclude, to become self-aware is to doubt any exact and definitive answer to the question ‘who am I?’ I can become aware of what I am only when I accept that I am not what I believe to be and that I am always free to be something else. Psychoanalysis is, therefore, the study of human beings then we can relate it to design in a way that before creating any goods or services, the designer has to understand the user mind works, psychoanalysis is then a manner of interpreting different behaviours to improve the user experience.

Systemic Factors Behind the Replication Crisis in Psychology

Professional incentive systems shaped by a systemic preference for statistical significance play a key role in psychology’s replication crisis. Though scientific progress hinges upon the accumulation and dissemination of new knowledge, those involved in the publication process have mistakenly equated new and important findings with statistically significant results. As a result, journals are more likely to publish significant findings over null results. However, in academia’s highly competitive ‘publish or perish’ culture, career success for researchers is defined by their publication output and impact. Given the well-documented existence of publication bias, it therefore stands that a preference for positive findings within journals will motivate the pursuit of significant results among researchers. As such, it is argued that external pressures to produce significant findings will shape how researchers design, analyse, and report studies such that positive results are more likely to arise. As significant findings become more common, both true and false positives will become increasingly prevalent in published bodies of literature, resulting in low replicability. Looking more broadly, institutional incentives also motivate researchers to overstate research outcomes and seek theory-supportive data. These positivist research practices are enabled by the methodological flexibility associated with psychology and its indirect measures of intangible constructs, which can inflate the false discovery rate in research. When considered in combination, it becomes clear that the incentive systems that unintentionally reward positivist practices have allowed for the continued survival of dud theories, much to the detriment of research integrity and credibility. Thus, the existence of external motivations that biases research output has increased the share of false positives in published literature, acting as one of the central factors behind the replication crisis in psychology.

Though failures to replicate published findings have heightened scepticism around the credibility and integrity of psychological research, critics often fail to account for the widespread prevalence of low replicability in other academic disciplines. The results of recent efforts by the Open Science Collaboration (2015) to replicate 100 results from top-tier psychology journals has created a sense of panic around the validity of published empirical findings. In particular, the study revealed that only 36% of the findings yielded significant results again, with replication effect sizes being found to be only around half the size of what was originally reported (Open Science Collaboration, 2015). From this, many concluded that the low rates of successful replications were indicative of a concerningly high prevalence of false positives and overstated effect sizes in existing literature (Ioannides, 2005; Zwan, Etz, Lucas, & Donnellan, 2017). Though such low reproducibility has been used as an indictment of psychology as a scientific discipline, critics of the field have neglected to consider how failures to replicate empirical findings occur in many other areas of academic research, including cancer research (Begley & Ellis, 2012), strategic management (Bergh, Sharp, Aguinis, & Li, 2017), and economics (Camerer et al. 2016). Though mainly prevalent in the domains of social and biomedical sciences, some have speculated that disciplines that have not struggled with failures to replicate have simply not yet systematically examined the issue (Zwan, Etz, Lucas, & Donnellan, 2017). Ergo, with the interdisciplinary and widespread nature of low replicability, it stands to suggest that the root cause of failures to replicate is endemic across multiple spheres of academic research – the institutional systems that support and facilitate research.

Institutional demands for a strong publication output and impact motivate the pursuit of novel and significant research findings. As entities whose reputations rely at least in some part on the impact of their research output, research institutions have long prioritised and sought out those who exhibit strong scientific productivity (Bazeley, 2003). However, as the influence of scientific work is difficult to measure, journal publications and citations have come to represent one of the few quantitative benchmarks of an academic’s contribution and impact to the field (Fanelli, 2013). As a result, publication output and impact are often prerequisites for professional success among researchers, where they are frequently tied with promotion, pay and development opportunities (Blackmore & Kandiko, 2011). In this respect, it is clear that researcher behaviours would be strongly motivated by the publication pressures endemic to academia’s highly competitive ‘publish or perish’ culture.

However, the incentive systems associated with such pressures increases researcher susceptibility to the biased processes underlying the selection, publication, and citation of journal articles. Given the importance of publication output and impact on career success, it would be reasonable to expect that researchers would adapt and conform to the publication priorities of various journals (Franco, Maholtra, & Simonovits, 2014). However, in their search for novel findings that form the basis of scientific progress, these journals often equate novelty with statistical significance. In failing to recognise that non-significant results can in itself be a novel finding, systemic biases that favour statistically significant findings over null results exist at both the institutional level and at the individual level (Drotar, 2010). As such, these biases are intertwined with publication output and impact in the form of journals prioritising the publication of significant results over null findings and fellow researchers tend to cite positive results more often (Coursol & Wagner, 1986; Fanelli, 2013). Given the widespread emphasis on statistical significance, those who submit null findings for publication face barriers throughout an editorial peer-review process that is averse to non-significant results (Smith, 2006). This exists in the form of comments from editors and reviewers who express that non-significant results are difficult to interpret or possible false negatives (Ferguson & Heene, 2012). As a result of these difficulties, researchers eventually decline to submit null results and are further motivated to pursue significant findings that are considered publishable (Greenwald, 1975; Smith, 2006; Franco, Maholtra, & Simonovits, 2014). Therefore, it becomes evident that researcher behaviours are influenced by flawed systems for professional success.

Forming the basis of the file drawer problem, journal biases encourage investigators to report significant results over null findings (Rosenthal, 1979; Chalmers, Frank, & Reitman, 1990). Indeed, as publication pressure increases, researcher bias towards reporting positive results also increases, reflecting an increased awareness among researchers that significant findings are more valued among journals (Fanelli, 2010a). This ongoing search for significance on both a journal and researcher level results in an over-representation of significant results in published literature (Fanelli, 2012). However, the strong emphasis on publishing and rewarding significant findings ignores the reality that significant findings consist of both true and false positives (Ioannidis, 2005; Zwan, Etz, Lucas, & Donnellan, 2017). As true negatives in the form of null findings are avoided by researchers and filtered out by journals, the subsequent publishing of mainly significant results leads to inflated false discovery rates in existing bodies of literature. Given that attempts to replicate false-positive findings are more likely to fail by default (Smaldino & McElreath, 2016), it is reasonable to suggest that low replicability is a by-product of the emphasis on significant findings endemic within the academic system of journals, research institutions, and investigators.

The systemic biases that favour significant findings also manifest themselves at the individual level, compromising investigator objectivity in research design. From deciding the sampling strategy to the variables to measure and how, investigator objectivity in the research design stage can be compromised by the knowledge that significant findings are associated with greater professional benefits relative to null results (Franco, Maholtra, & Simonovits, 2014). Regardless of their underlying intentions, biased research designs encourage false positives, which then increase the likelihood of achieving and publishing a significant result (Smaldino & McElreath, 2016). These effects of investigator bias on research design and, by extension, results can be far-reaching. For example, in clinical research, researcher allegiance remains the best predictor of randomised trial outcomes, where it accounts for 69% of the effect size for psychotherapies (Luborsky et al., 1999; Dragioti, Dimoliatis, & Evangelou, 2014). Given the system-wide preference towards significance, no psychological discipline is completely protected from similar biases as researchers, by default, aim to seek supportive evidence for their hypotheses (Heino, Fried, & LeBel, 2017). Occurrences of such researcher biases is even illustrated in a meta-study investigating the prevalence of questionable research practices among psychology researchers. As a widely cited study by John and colleagues (2012), one of the key findings was that engaging in such practices was the prevailing norm within psychology and even deemed acceptable despite their detrimental impact on replicability. In fact, it was found that the majority of respondents reported to have engaged in at least one questionable research practice like not reporting all dependent measures (John, Loewenstein, & Prelec, 2012). However, others have noted that the biased wording of the survey may have prompted respondents to over-report instances of questionable practices, which would artificially inflate prevalence estimates (Fielder & Schwartz, 2016). Ergo, it becomes clear that the credibility and integrity of research findings can be negatively impacted by biased research designs. As such biases emerge when investigators are psychologically invested in a desired outcome, systemic preferences for significant findings reduce the objectivity of research designs (Leykin & DeRubeis, 2009). Consequently, the false-discovery rate is inflated and contributes further to the issue of low replicability in published literature.

However, it should be noted that false positives are a natural part of scientific investigations as exploratory research, which more often yields false alarms, also provides guidance for later investigations. In particular, scientific progress necessitates the exploration of research domains that have been underserved by academia in order to develop novel findings (Blackmore & Kandiko, 2011). As such, in addition to testing hypotheses, investigators can and should explore their datasets in order to generate additional hypotheses that can be examined in future confirmatory research. Such exploratory research involves the use of multiple analytic alternatives to sift through the data until one yields a significant result (Zwan, Etz, Lucas, & Donnellan, 2017). As multiple analytic procedures are tested, the likelihood of at least one analysis producing a false-positive finding is, by necessity, greater than an equivalent confirmatory analysis (Simmons, Nelson, & Simonsohn, 2011). Therefore, while the reporting of significant results in exploratory research informs new directions in the field, researchers should be informed that multiple analyses were used such that they are aware of the increased false discovery rate.

In addition to increased false discovery rates, research credibility and replicability is also affected by an inability to detect false positives in existing literature. Though exploratory research can and should guide later investigations, the reporting of such exploratory findings is influenced by a researcher’s desire to construct a compelling narrative. Given professional incentive structures surrounding journals and research institutions, it would be reasonable for researchers to report their findings in a way that convinces readers of the study’s scientific value, such as through an emphasis on significant findings. However, in attempts to construct a compelling and succinct argument, the ambiguity of best research practices gives rise to a problem whereby many researchers present exploratory findings as confirmatory (Ionnadis, Fanelli, Dune, & Goodman, 2015; Simmons, Nelson, & Simonsohn, 2011; John, Loewenstein, & Prelec, 2012). Therefore, while many researchers believe in the integrity of their own research and view their research practices to be acceptable, systemic incentives give rise to biased views of what ‘acceptable’ practices may entail (John, Loewenstein, & Prelec, 2012). In this respect, a lack of awareness of best research practices further contributes to the problem, where the reporting of exploratory research as confirmatory inhibits the ability to detect spurious findings that are more likely to be false positives (Nosek, Ebersole, DeHaven, & Mellor, 2018). If there are efforts to examine effects which are false positives, the null findings yielded from such attempts are less likely to be reported due to the systemic preference for significance (Smaldino & McElreath, 2016). In addition to this, it would be more likely that the additional false positives found in significant findings are published, further building an evidence base for the existence of the original false-positive finding. Therefore, it is clear that combination of ambiguity around best research practices and a system-wide premium placed on statistically significant and novel findings gives rise to questionable reporting practices that can reduce research integrity and therefore replicability.

Research credibility is further compromised by researchers who are inadvertently encouraged to overlook the possibility of false positives when defending the scientific value of their research and their professional worth. As a part of the research process, investigators should explore the implications of their study against a broader theoretical context such that they can advance scientific knowledge (Ferguson & Heene, 2012). However, conflicts of interest arise when a persuasive narrative is also required to justify the use of institutional resources when conducting research (Lilienfield, 2017). Consequently, as the world of academia becomes increasingly competitive, researchers face growing pressures to convince institutions of their scientific impact such that they can acquire and sustain the funds needed to further support their scholarly pursuits (Bazeley, 2003; Lilienfield, 2017). While it is important for researchers to remark upon a study’s contribution to the field, these institutional pressures inadvertently incentivise the exaggeration of a study’s importance to the field (Lilienfield, 2012). Given the association between perceived scientific impact and career incentives, researchers are therefore motivated not only to overstate a study’s contribution to the field, but also to overlook the possibility of false-positive findings. However, with pressures to produce greater theoretical contributions under tighter deadlines, researchers are increasingly favouring the collection of theory-supportive evidence over time (Heino, Fried, & LeBel, 2017; Fanelli, 2012; Lilienfield, 2017). Such actions may not even be intentional as research around motivated reasoning suggests that investigators will construct biased arguments that favour their preferred outcomes (Kunda, 1990). Considered more broadly, this implies that those who are invested in certain theories or hypotheses may continue to attempt to find supportive evidence, even when it is no longer conducive to scientific progress (Ferguson & Heene, 2012; Greenwald, Pratkanis, Leippe, & Baumgardner, 1986). Thus, to the detriment of scientific integrity, it is evident that systemic factors have inadvertently incentivised a positivist approach to research, enabling the continued existence of dud theories in the literature.

Scholarly efforts to find supportive evidence for favoured theories are further enabled by the inability to directly measure psychological constructs. Psychology as a scientific discipline is built upon the operationalisation of variables, wherein changes in psychological constructs are mapped onto tangible changes in a real-world measure (Machery, 2007). As new measures of the same constructs can be developed and implemented, there are countless ways to operationalise variables and measure research outcomes, which introduces new avenues for investigator biases to impact. In particular, while a lack of construct validity is a noted issue in behavioural sciences, researchers are motivated to overlook such issues if they yield the preferred results (Flake, Pek, & Hehman, 2017). Though endemic to all social sciences, the suboptimal quality of construct measurements has become a particularly large problem for the field of psychology (De Boeck & Jeon, 2018; Fanelli & Ionnadis, 2013). In particular, due to higher noise and lower construct validity, flexibility around how to measure intangible constructs increases the rate and magnitude of false-positive effects (Fanelli & Ionnadis, 2013; Fielder, 2018). Due to the unique methodological flexibility found in psychology, it is of no surprise that theory-supportive findings are far more prevalent in psychology relative to sciences that utilise more direct measures of their variables, such as engineering (Fanelli, 2010b). As a result of the field’s inability to directly measure related constructs, psychology’s positivist approach to research has allowed for the accumulation of spurious supportive evidence for theories, whose credibility is impacted by the use of shoddy measures (Holtz & Monnerjahn, 2017). When considered in conjunction with how publication bias inhibits the dissemination of null findings which may falsify such theories, it is clear that the issue of low replicability is symptomatic of larger issues around scientific theory development in psychology, in which false-positive findings can form an evidence base for flawed theories.

Overall, by adopting a broader perspective of the replication crisis in psychology, it becomes clear that systemic biases which place premium on significant findings interact with institutional incentive systems to inflate rate of false positives in published literature. More specifically, as career progression is based upon publication output and impact, flaws in the publication system will engender flaws in research practices. Due to the existence of publication bias in the editorial and peer-review process, researchers are motivated to seek out significant findings to improve their publication output and subsequently further their career in academia. This search for significant findings biases the entirety of the research process such that false-positive findings are much more likely. In consideration of the inflated false discovery rate and how null findings are filtered out of the publication process, it is evident that the replication crisis is indicative of a larger problem around psychological theory development. With incentives to engage in a positivist research approach, dud theories continue to gather a spurious evidence base of false positives while null findings that may falsify such theories have traditionally been difficult to publish. Therefore, to drive scientific progress in psychology, researchers should look towards addressing the underlying factors that contribute towards the replication crisis in psychology and the wider issue of flawed theory development.

This statement ‘Every counseling theory’s view of human nature, key concepts, therapeutic goals, and intervention strategies are closely connected to one another” reveals how these 4 components are intertwined for the formation of each counseling theories respectively.

Human nature – Sigmund Freud has a pessimistic view on humans such that they are void of any potentials (Marković, 2014). This view was mainly influenced by his traumatic childhood during World War 1 and the post-Darwin period (Human Nature-Scientific, 2018). Humans are regarded as deterministic, complex beings where their attitudes and behaviors are mainly driven by the unconscious mind, irrational and instinctual drives. Psychoanalytic Therapy stated that humans have two instincts such as libido (life instincts) or sexual drive (Eros) focuses on growth, development, and creativity whereas aggressive drive (death instincts or Thanatos) focuses on destructive behaviors towards self or others (Corey, 2016).

Key Concepts – Psychoanalytic Therapy focuses on the unconscious mind of an individual. A conscious mind is within an individual’s awareness such as our thoughts and perception whereas an unconscious mind refers to outside of awareness like childhood memories, hidden desires, and drives. For example, an individual has repressed the memory of being abused and this traumatic experience is locked in his unconscious mind which he may not be aware in the conscious mind (McLeod, 2018).

Freud’s theory states that an individual’s personality is governed by three components and they are id, ego, and superego. Id operates in the unconscious mind and is governed by the pleasure principle where an individual’s instinctual needs to get instant gratification and avoid pain which often causes him to become either irrational or impulsive. Ego operates in the conscious mind and is governed by the reality principle where the reality sets in with rational thoughts. Superego can operate in both the conscious or unconscious mind and is governed by the perfection principle where an individual’s moral code and conscience become dominant to attain the society’s deemed moral standard. These three components are in constant conflicts with one another and causing an imbalance in personality. To balance it, ego needs to be strengthened for an individual to become rational. However, it often faces anxiety which forms defense mechanism (DM) to protect individuals’ ego and annihilating any emotional distress. DM denies or distorts an individual’s current reality and it operates in the unconscious where one may not be aware of its existence to manage their distress. They are repression, denial, projection, displacement, reaction formation, regression, and sublimation. Anger and guilt are DM too. (Corey, 2016).

Therapeutic Goals – Firstly, the objective is to make the unconscious conscious for individuals to receive insights for cathartic experiences like healing or constructive changes. Secondly, the constant conflicts among id and superego are often mediated by ego and thus ego strengthening helps individuals to adopt healthy self-concepts and behaviors that align more with reality and less toward instinctual desires or irrational guilts (Corey, 2016).

Intervention Strategies – Few techniques (in bold) are employed to achieve PT’s therapeutic goals.

Interpretation is the cornerstone of psychoanalytic therapy where the therapist helps to analyze and explain the client’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to get insights into his past and present events. Apparently, interpretation can be found in other PT techniques.

Free association is one of the main techniques that aim to uncover the unconscious mind by allowing the clients to share any immediate thoughts, words or anything that comes into their mind without any censorship. Eventually, therapist can interpret for clients. This technique also inhibits the act of transference (transferring one’s feeling on a person to another), projection (projecting one’s qualities onto someone) and resistance (blocking one’s feelings or memories) (Good Therapy, 2018).

Transference is an event during therapy when the client begins to interact with the therapist as though he is a significant individual in the client’s life. This process usually happens unconsciously, and it often indicates an unresolved issue between the client and his significant other(s). Hence, analysis of transference is used to observe client’s verbal and non-verbal communications before interpreting it to identify any defense mechanisms or unhealthy behaviors that exist in his past or present relationship (Positive Psychology Program, 2018). Eventually, the client may become more aware of his unresolved issue with his significant other(s).

In summary, PT stated that the human’s unconscious mind plays a big role in determining their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. The constant conflict between id (basic urge), superego (moral values) and ego (real world) dampens an individual’s ego strength which regulates self-concept and emotions during challenges (Staik, 2017). If an individual’s ego strength is affected, he will struggle to function properly and hence anxiety appears with defense mechanism (DM) to prevent us from being overwhelmed by such distress. However, DM operates from the unconscious mind to either deter the client to face the harsh reality or delay it by avoiding. This does not resolve but prolong an individual’s issues. Freud’s deterministic view on human nature assumes that the client can only receive healing or help to his issues through insights derived from the unconscious realm. Therefore, PT’s intervention techniques focus a lot on what the therapist does than what the clients can contribute. Techniques such as the therapist’s ability to interpret, unveil the unconscious, inhibits transference with clients, lower ego defense mechanisms and resistance. This aligns with PT’s therapeutic goals to make unconscious conscious and strengthen one’s ego to function realistically.

Person-Centred Therapy (PCT)

Human nature – Carl Roger’s PCT views humans as potential beings who have free will and within themselves vast resources to seek for self-understanding, positive self-concept and attitudes (Freeth, 2007). They strive for personal growth through self-actualization and are capable to resolve their own issues. His therapy involves a therapeutic relationship that emphasizes positive interactions between the therapist and client, empowering the client through facilitation to work on their issues during sessions.

Key Concepts – PCT stated that if ideal self (preference) and real self (self-concept) are incongruent, it affects an individual’s self-esteem and hinders growth through self-actualizing (Lumen Learning, n.d). Therefore, the therapist needs to provide a climate with the growth enhancement conditions such as congruence, unconditional positive regard (UPR) and accurate empathic understanding (AEU) for clients’ growth. These conditions are the tenets of PCT where they pave the path towards positive change for clients (Corey, 2016).

Congruence refers to the therapist’s ability to be real, authentic and genuine towards the clients. Rogers termed this as “transparent” where the therapist’s openness allows the client to see through his real self underneath. For example, if the client has an inconsistent and unruly behavior, the congruent therapist will not fear in notifying his client about his perception of the existing situation in a constructive manner. This creates a safe environment where the client can freely share and accepts their own feelings in which he may attain more insights, self-awareness and self-esteem for healing and growth. Thus, the client’s ideal self may become congruent with real self to self-actualise. By being authentic, the therapist becomes more trustworthy for clients to share in-depth. The therapist’s congruence also tackles the unsolicited negative view or unjustified expectation the client may have received from others. For example, the client may receive negative remarks from others and the therapist’s genuineness may make him feel valued hence increases his self-esteem and renewed trust in own judgment (Counselling Tutor, 2019).

UPR is also known as “prizing” which to think of someone as very valuable and important (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d). UPR is when the therapist shows non-possessive caring to the client which is not influenced by scrutinizing his thoughts, feelings, and behaviors based on absolutist thinking. It values the client and recognizing their autonomy for their sets of beliefs and emotions. When UPR is shown to the client especially those with self-acceptance issue, it may inhibit them from developing negative self-defeating behaviors and being defensive but making them feel safe in exploring deeper in their real self (Corey, 2016). Eventually, the client may learn to accept and value themselves which enables them to make constructive changes in their lives (Thorne, Mearns, & McLeod, 2013).

AEU refers to the therapist having the ability not just listening but also feel the client’s emotions. It was coined as ‘frame of reference’ or ‘walking in someone’s else shoes’ where Rogers stated that the state of being empathetic is to understand other’s internal frame of reference accurately accompanied by emotional factors and meanings as though you were the person. Simply to say that once the client felt understood, he will feel secure in sharing his difficulties with the therapist (Counselling Tutor, 2017).

Therapeutic Goals – It is to provide safe environment to enhance therapeutic relationship by having clients to self-explore deeper their growth’s blockage and experience characteristics of self that were not accurate or denied. Eventually, this environment enables clients to become more receptive, more trusting in self, very engaged, involved and the willingness to improve and grow.

Intervention Strategies – Reflection of feelings refers to the act of the therapist being able to repeat what the client has shared about his feelings. This makes the clients feel heard and understood by the therapist plus delves deeper into their feelings (Positive Psychology Program, 2017).

The Quality of the Therapeutic Relationship refers to the therapeutic relationship that governs the changes in client’s personality and thus the therapist’s presence plays a crucial role in facilitating such changes. The therapist needs to genuinely listen, attend and understand to the clients’ needs which may gain their trust and further enhance therapeutic relationship1 (Corey, 2016).

Immediacy refers to the technique the therapist uses to monitor the therapeutic relationship with his client. This creates awareness among both parties to ensure consistent collaboration. Egan stated that there are two types which are relationship-focused immediacy and event-focused immediacy. Relationship-focused immediacy refers to the therapist’s ability to inform his client on their development of the overall relationship. The crux is on how their relationship influences the client’s progress and not deciphering the past events whereas Event-focused immediacy also known as “here-and-now immediacy” refers to the therapist’s ability to inform his client on the current situation between them like any incidents that happened instead of verifying the condition of the therapeutic relationship. Immediacy is applicable in some situations like lack of progression or direction in a session, a tension between the therapist and client, trust issues, diversity or cultural differences and dependency like transference or countertransference (Egan & Reese, 2018).

In summary, PCT stated that humans are with potentials and self-direction they can improve themselves to achieve growth and changes through self-actualization. PCT’s three core conditions overarch the therapist’s genuineness, being impartial yet accepting who the clients are and feel or be in clients’ shoes which facilitate their growth. The six conditions for constructive personality change will be: A psychological contact or relationship takes place between the client and the counselor. The client is in a state of incongruence with unstable emotions whereas the counselor is genuine and has self-awareness of his feelings. The counselor then exhibits UPR and AEU to attain his client’s internal frame of reference before communicating this experience to him. Eventually, the client recognizes the counselor’s UPR for him and understanding of his existing difficulties (Positive Psychology Program, 2017).

Thus, PCT’s objectives will be achieved when clients’ ideal self becomes congruent with their real self, having ownership and ability to better manage their issues and forming goals for their therapy’s sessions. Intervention strategies were employed to achieve these objectives like reflecting feelings to make clients feel acknowledged when their words were reiterated correctly. The therapist listens, attends and understands clients’ needs using UPR through valuing each client as one and only individual in this cosmos for positive therapeutic relationship. The awareness to self and surrounding is crucial to maintaining collaboration through relationship-focused immediacy that oversees the overall development in the therapeutic relationship whereas event-focused immediacy rules out particular incidents that have impacts on the present situation between therapist and client. PCT therapist’s task is simply facilitating the session while empowering clients to realize that they know themselves the best than anyone and can resolve their own issues through the therapist’s skilful and genuine guidance.

Personally, I am comfortable to use the Analysis of Resistance from Psychoanalytic Therapy. Whenever the clients feel unsafe or sense a threat, their defense mechanism will activate which inhibits me to delve deeper into their issues. Both mandated and voluntary clients have a certain degree of resistance while the former tends to be greater. To deal with resistance, trust is needed to break barriers by having a safe environment. Once you earn the trust of your clients just like any relationship, the real work begins to get insights into the reasons behind the clients’ resistance. Eventually, collaboration with clients may take place to work on their issues.

The technique I am uncomfortable with is dream analysis. When clients share their dreams, they tend to forget certain parts of the dreams or reconstruct them subconsciously. Thus, it may not be the full truth which jeopardizes my interpretation. For example, in the first session they could tell me one content but totally different one upon the next session. Moreover, other therapists and I likely to interpret the same dream differently. Each dream’s manifest content holds hidden meaning which are liable to the interpretation of the therapist. What if the therapist’s deduction is false? This may confuse clients and jeopardize their treatment.

In conclusion, each counselling’s therapy foundation was built upon the theorists’ views of human nature. The way they see humans influences the way they counsel them. Key concepts are the foundation of each theory which influences their therapeutic goals. Intervention techniques were employed to attain these goals. Psychoanalytic Therapy is more authoritarian like directing the client’s overall progress whereas Person-Centred Therapy is more authoritative by empowering the client to manage their overall progress while having necessary boundaries. For example, if therapist views clients as complex nature, he may tend to advise and direct them whereas if clients have potentials or autonomy, he likely facilitates and guides them for constructive changes during each session.

This assignment will be focusing on the Psychodynamic and Person-Centred perspectives. The aim will be to compare, contrast and provide criticisms for both perspectives. Also, the effectiveness of the Psychodynamic and Person-Centred Approaches will be mentioned, all with the use of past literature. Following that will be a conclusion that will summarise the essay.

Person-centered therapy took a while to develop its name with this approach seen as one of the humanistic therapies which focus on the person or client. It was founded and developed by Carl Rogers In the 1940s who believed that each person had the tools to solve problems themselves and control their own lives. He also believed it was the therapist’s job to guide and help them find the answers within themselves. The aim is for clients to be independent but if there is an issue or an illness within the client it needs to first be solved so they can be normal or whole and left to their own devices. Also, humans possess the ability to control their own choices and direct their lives in a constructive way. (Thorne & Lambers, 1998)

Rogers wrote at different stages throughout time on many topics such as reflective therapy, non-directive therapy, and relationship therapy which is when he developed all the ideas that support his approach. Client-centered therapy is just that, it always focuses on the client and they become the center of the work. This set apart rogers’ and his approach from the current models and perspectives of his time. This included medical, analytical, and behavioral approaches which he believed saw the client as just a set of behaviors or symptoms which needed to be treated, modified, or solved. (Dryden, et al, 2011)

The Psychodynamic perspective focuses on the unconscious, subconscious, and pre-conscious desires and wishes a person may have but are unaware of. The Psychodynamic perspective was originated by Sigmund Freud between the 1890’s-the 1930s. Freud believes things that happen in one’s childhood are essential in shaping adult personalities. He later developed a model to marry with his original ideas of the unconscious because he believed that the topographic model explained many things but not why some people develop psychological disorders, while other people do not. This model consisted of three mental structures called the ID, ego, and superego. The ID is your instincts, the ego is your reality and the superego is a person’s morality. Freud believes you attain these from family and the culture that you were raised in. If you refer to the structural model, it suggests that our personality influences the three psychic structures, and therefore our personality traits depend on which of the three psychic structures is the most predominant. (Bornstein, 2020)

Contemporary Psychotherapists are influenced by four major schools. These are Ego Psychology, Object Relations theory, Self-Psychology, and Attachment theory. They each present theories of personality formation, change, and psychopathology formation which help perform therapies. (Richard, et al, 2009)

When looking at both perspectives, we can see the similarities and differences between the two. While both theories have the clinician as an active person in the therapeutic process, Person-Centred therapy focuses on relational experience and how the patient’s capacity to gain an understanding of their own illness develops. They also look at how this impacts the relationships around them. On the other hand, the Psychodynamic theory also has the clinician be active in the therapeutic process, but they create a therapeutic union in an empathetic way. Both perspectives offer therapeutic frameworks which are essential supporting structures and ultimately aid the therapist to be able to emotionally heal the client. They both also act to make feelings of vulnerability disappear because their main and final goal is to increase their client’s skills, and their sense of self, but most importantly to help them reach self-actualization. The therapeutic union which includes the dynamics of transference and countertransference provides an experience that aims to counteract something that may be harmful to the client from the Psychodynamic Perspective. Whereas, within Person- Centred therapy, the therapist pays close attention to the transference and countertransference which develops in the environment, and with the use of the corrective potential of the relationship they help the client reach self-actualization (Cerone, 2019)

There may be many similarities between the Psychodynamic and Person-Centred perspectives but that does not stop them from being incredibly different. While Person-Centred therapy is humanistic, the Psychodynamic perspective is not. One of the main differences is what the perspective’s aims are. While the Psychodynamic perspective aims to find out why the client is ill and fix that illness, Person-centred therapy aims to improve what the client currently already has. As well as this, the Psychodynamic or Psychoanalytic perspective looks at the development over a client’s childhood and the therapists often work with interpretations that they hope will help the client’s attitudes and behavior in the present with their gained insight into the past. Instead, Person-centred looks at the span of a client’s whole lifetime. (Kahn, 2010)

Contemporary psychoanalysts are contrasted with Person-centred therapy in that they do not restrain their own voices with patients. It is the therapist’s belief that the feelings which are recalled to the conscious mind during the therapeutic sessions with the client can be an essential source of knowledge and can be useful to the patient when it is deemed to be appropriate. Relational psychoanalysis ends up being significantly different from Person-Centred therapy as well as self-psychology. This is because relational analysts do not avoid confrontations between themselves and the patient’s subjectivity which is influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions. (Kahn, 2012)

In the case of the Person- Centred approach, the effectiveness of the therapy depends solely on the clinician’s effectiveness in treatment. Things such as the therapists’ attitude toward the client and the way they can understand them to determine the outcome and effectiveness when delivering therapy. (Cloninger, et al, 2011)

More evidence that supports the effectiveness of Person-Centred therapy comes from a study combining CBT, Psychodynamic and Person-Centred therapy. There have not been as many studies to examine all the approaches, but there is evidence that supports the success and how effective at least some varieties of PCT have been. (Stiles, 2007)

Effectiveness will be produced when a therapist can validate the client’s description of the situation they are in. This happens simultaneously while they also remain eager to know about the client’s concerns and hopes which have not yet been expressed, along with this they are curious about the unnoticed resources. (O’Leary, 2011)

When reviewing the literature on occupational therapy, it was clear to see that it yielded very few studies examining the effect of Client-centred practice. Therefore, the review was expanded, and more disciplines were examined. Among the research findings was evidence that proves that when the therapist provides supporting and respective services within the Client-centred therapy, it leads to better client satisfaction. Also, among these is information exchange and various practices which enable client professional partnerships and are proved to be significantly helpful. The development of a client-therapist partnership has also proved to lead to client participation increasing and the client’s ability to produce the desired result. (Law, et al, 1995)

There have been many studies and much evidence to show that the psychodynamic approach has been effective and detrimental in helping clients with the various issues that have arisen in their lives. Clinical trials showed the effectiveness of the psychodynamic perspective provided with mood and anxiety disorders. While there has been evidence to support brief, focused, and active treatment such as short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy, there has not been as much evidence to support long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy which is extremely limited and solely based on non-randomized studies. During follow-up studies, the short-term effects of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy were shown to be balanced and even increased. (Knekt, et al, 2007)

There have been several other reviews regarding long-term psychotherapy which have proven how effective it can be to help people. A meta-analysis took place which was comprised of 27 studies where they conducted a systematic literature review. Their review showed that of the two, psychoanalysis was more effective than Psychodynamic treatments which therefore means that the hypothesis they estimated provided a valid contribution to the prior probability. (Roseborough, et al, 2011)

Regardless of how effective both perspectives are, neither Psychodynamic nor Person-Centred therapy can be favored by all. In fact, there are many criticisms of both perspectives by people who think there are ways the perspectives can be improved. Person-centered therapy is criticized by people because they believe it is not complex in the theoretical sense. They also believe that the way Rogers explains the psychological developments of people tends to be naïve and even too simplistic. Person-centered therapy has often been the “tea and sympathy” perspective which means that they are seen to be there to offer support and kindness instead of real therapeutic help. This is a shock to many people because, in his inception, Rogers’ used much scientific language and terms to describe psychological relationships. (McMillan, 2004)

Person-centered therapy also receives criticism because instead of focusing on the demands of a group or community, they instead concentrates on the client’s individual growth. The approach is deemed to be too over-optimistic in that Roger seems to completely ignore the possibility that humans can be malevolent and cause destruction by instead focusing on the positives of human nature. (Dryden, et al, 2013)

The Psychodynamic perspective has also received many criticisms. One of the general ones is that Freud based his ‘man’ as he saw him in the area where he resided. This took place at the end of the last century and was influenced by the Western European culture of the time and this was supposed to represent the universal, biological man. Freud assumed that men had natural unconscious drives, which is where he believed all their impulses and emotions derived from. Therefore, instead of figuring out how to develop mature individuals, Freud instead viewed social problems as a relentless battle to discipline and control fixed antisocial impulses. He was also criticized because people deemed his views as far too deterministic. Freud believed that all behavior is predetermined which means that people have no free will, a belief that many people disagree with. (Guntrip, 2018)

Another criticism aimed at the Psychodynamic perspective is how little evidence there is for their belief about the unconscious processes of the mind. Some people believe the psychodynamic views to be unprovable and impractical. (Bachkirova, et al, 2011)

Among the criticisms are many others about Freud himself. People believe that his long-time use of cocaine when he was at the peak of his prominence led to logical confusion within his theory. It was also believed that he forcibly put an end to an extremely important empirical discovery and instead chose to pursue the unconscious because he knew it would be more socially acceptable than what he had discovered. (Thornton, 2020)

To conclude, when we compare the two perspectives it is clear to see that the Psychodynamic and Person-Centred therapies have many similarities as well as differences. They both have an active therapist during the therapeutic process and offer frameworks that are essential support structures and ultimately aid the therapist so they can help emotionally heal their clients. They also aim to make clients’ feelings of vulnerability evaporate because both perspectives’ main goals are to help their patients reach self-actualization.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are many differences between the Person-Centred approach and the Psychodynamic perspective that warrants mentioning. While both perspectives have an active clinician in the therapeutic process, PCT focuses on relational experience and the development of the patient’s capacity to gain insight into their own illnesses. On the other hand, the Psychodynamic theory instead creates a therapeutic union in an empathetic way. As well as this, the aim of both therapeutic perspectives differs too. While the Psychodynamic perspective’s aim is to find out why the client is ill and tries to fix that illness, Person-Centred therapy instead aims to improve what the client already has.

No matter how similar or different the perspectives are, there has been much evidence to show the effectiveness of them both and there have been many studies. For example, from the Psychodynamic perspective, there were studies and clinical trials which showed the effectiveness this approach provided with mood and anxiety disorders. During follow-up studies, the short-term effects of this perspective were shown to be balanced and even increased. There have been many other reviews for long-term psychotherapy which prove how effective it has been to help people. A meta-analysis that was compromised of 27 studies showed that of the two, psychoanalysis was more effective than psychodynamic treatments.

Regarding PCT, also has much evidence to support its effectiveness. This depends solely on the therapists’ effectiveness in treatment with things such as the clinicians’ attitude towards their clients and the way they try to understand them which determines the outcome when delivering therapy. It can also be seen when the therapist is able to validate the client’s description of their current situation. This happens when they remain eager to know about the client’s concerns and hopes which have not yet been expressed.

Despite all the similarities, differences, and effectiveness of the perspectives, they both received many criticisms. Among the psychodynamic criticisms received was one of the most general ones which was that Freud based his ‘man’ as he saw them in the area he grew up in at the end of the last century. His views were largely influenced by the western culture of the time and this was supposed to represent the universal, biological man. His views were also seen as too deterministic because Freud believed that all human behavior was predetermined which means people have no free will. There is little evidence to support the belief Freud had about the unconscious processes of the mind and some people believe the views to be unprovable and impractical.

Person-centered therapy also receives many criticisms and one of those is the belief that it is not theoretically complex enough. They also believe Rogers’ views to be too simplistic and at times, naïve. As well as this, people believe that the perspective offers no real therapeutic help but instead is only there to offer support and kindness. People deem the perspective to be too over-optimistic because it seems that Rogers completely ignores the possibility for humans to have the capacity to be malevolent and cause destruction.

One thing that is clear to see is how there need to be more studies on long-term effects for both perspectives. There also needs to be more studies on Person-Centred therapy and more information about the perspective, especially in a comparative sense against other perspectives.

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality is hinted at throughout The House on Mango Street, written by Sandra Cisneros. Freud’s theory argues that human behavior is the result of interactions among three components of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. The id component works completely with the unconscious mind to act purely on instinct and only on what one wants. The superego component is part of the conscious and it is your morality, telling you right from wrong. The ego component works partly with both the conscious and unconscious mind to go after what it wants in a rational way, a balance between the id and superego. Freud believed that these components are all in constant conflict and that an adult’s personality and behavior comes from the results of this conflict happening while growing up.

Throughout life, we will encounter many other people and most of those will have a role in our own future. Everyone has those few people that they become close enough with that they start to represent who we want to be in the future. Or those people can be someone that is different for who we are and be someone we wish we were. In Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street, there are many female characters that appear in Esperanza’s life. One character in particular catches her attention and who she starts to envy is Sally. Sally is everything that Esperanza isn’t, in fact they are yin and yang. They both have the same goal of wanting to leave Mango Street just like the other women of the neighborhood, but the two girls take on different actions to achieve their goals. Cisneros illustrates Sally as a foil character to Esperanza by showing hints of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory throughout the book.

Sally is the one person in Esperanza’s life that she is close to and envies. When Esperanza describes Sally to the readers, she talks about how she wants to be just like her: “Sally, who taught you to paint your eyes like Cleopatra? And if I roll the little brush with my tongue and chew it to a point and dip it in the muddy cake, the one in the little red box, will you teach me?…I want to buy shoes just like yours” (Cisneros 82). Esperanza sees Sally as a person that is different from her and sees things about her that she wants for herself. The jealousy of Sally is shown throughout the chapter as Esperanza describes the life of her. Osamu Kitayama wrote an article called “Becoming a Psychoanalyst: To Think About the Nature of Jealousy”. In this article, Kitayama goes into depth on what jealousy is and how it affects the people in the world. She states that

It is the envy of people, who want to become like the performer but cannot, that brings them to the concert hall. People who succeed in becoming the person they wanted to become rejoice that they’ve won, but, at the same time, feel sorry for being an upstart, feel sorry for not being able to respond sufficiently to people’s expectations, and wish that others will challenge them in turn someday.

What she is saying is that envy is what causes people to do certain things. Just like how the people who want to be like the performer go to the concert, Esperanza wants to be like Sally so she wants to be with Sally. She tries to be like Sally by wanting her mother to buy her the same things that Sally wears, but also by going to the carnival with her, “And anyways I don’t like carnivals. I went to be with you because you laugh on the tilt-a-whirl, you through your head back and laugh…I like to be with you Sally” (Cisneros 99). Esperanza envies Sally more than any other person in the book. She wants to be like Sally when it comes to how she acts and how she looks. This envy of Sally causes her id to be present and it shows what she really wants.

When a woman is raised in a patriarchy, she begins to feel trapped. The female take on the role as a housewife and as a partner to a working man from the start. All the women who want to leave Mango Street have one thing in common: they all are feeling trapped by a man. Sally wants to leave the neighborhood just like Esperanza. Sally’s father beats her whenever she looks at boys and he tries to control her through physical and verbal abuse, “he just went crazy, he just forgot he was her father between the buckle and the belt. You’re not my daughter, you’re not my daughter” (Cisneros 93). Her id is filled with this desire to put herself out there for boys despite the consequences that she will receive from her father. This controlling nature of her father encourages her behavior toward boys because she is desperate to get what she wants. This view is explained more in the article “The House (of Memory) on Mango Street: Sandra Cisneros’s Counter-Poetics of Space” written by Karen W. Martin. Martin expands on this by stating, “The act of ‘putting woman in her place,’…inscribes her within an isolated zone dominated by the threat of physical and verbal violence perpetrated by the very men who have asserted their roles as women’s protectors… Chicana woman’s immobility precludes her development of a sense of self and further exacerbates her dependence on the male-identified male” (Martin 60). She explains how physical and verbal abuse was used by men that have made themselves to be woman’s protector. Martin speaks of men attempting to control Chicana women to where the women lose a sense of independence and begin to rely on the male to fulfill their id. In Sally’s case, she is relying on marriage to escape her father’s abuse. Esperanza’s father on the other hand isn’t present in her life much because he is always working in order to support his family. Sally’s father is portrayed to be aggressive towards his daughter while Esperanza’s father has no trouble letting his daughter see his softer side. An example of their difference is when Esperanza’s father cries after his father passes away and Sally’s father beats her just for talking to a boy. Esperanza has a sense of independence since her father is not controlling and doesn’t not try to be a patriarch. Esperanza’s id is filled with the desire to leave, but her desire doesn’t have her relying on marriage to achieve her want while Sally is relying on marriage to be able to leave. Esperanza is guided by her ego more than her id because she attempts to achieve her want in a way that is acceptable without being instinctive and doing the wrong thing. While Sally is out there letting herself be controlled by men in order to escape her father, Esperanza doesn’t allow herself to be controlled and she doesn’t rely on anyone to help her achieve her goal. Sally’s father has hindered her growth making her dependent on men while Esperanza’s father has helped her to grow and develop a sense of independence.

Throughout the book, a house is used as a motif to show the confinement of women due to a patriarchy. Normally, a house is seen as somewhere where you feel safe and where you can come and go as you please. In The House on Mango Street, a house is seen as a prison and somewhere women are confined. This is shown when Cisneros writes, “Except he won’t let her talk on the telephone. And he doesn’t let her look out the window. And he doesn’t like her friends, so nobody gets to visit her unless he is working. She sits at home because she is afraid to go outside without his permission” (102). Sally becomes one of these women who are forced to stay inside after she marries her husband. Her husband keeps her confined inside the house and does not let her have any contact with the outside world. A home should be a safe place, but with Sally it’s not a safe place. Instead, her home is a place of containment. One big difference between Esperanza and the other women of the neighborhood is the fact she has the freedom to walk out of her house as she pleases. The other women are forced to stay in their homes as it acts as a prison. The idea of a house being a symbol of control over women by men is further discussed in the article “Of Woman Bondage: The Eroticism of Foot in The House on MangoStreet” by Michelle Scalise Sugiyama. The article takes different approaches to showcase how men try to control the women of Mango Street. Sugiyama states that, “The confinement of a woman to the home can be seen as an attempt to keep her chaste. For it is not female movement per se but rather female sexuality that the men in the text are trying to control” (Sugiyama 14). Sugiyama argues that the men attempt to control women’s sexuality. This makes sense due to the fact that Sally along with Rafaela are both confined to their homes as punishment for being beautiful. This punishment occurs out of fear and as an attempt to control them. This observation caught my attention because it is exactly what Sally’s father is trying to do to her. Sally’s father tries to control her in an attempt to keep her running off with aman just like her aunts did. Esperanza’s father doesn’t confine her unlike Sally’s father. Esperanza may not see her house as her own, but she has the freedom to walk in and out of it whenever she wants. Sally on the other hand has no freedom whatsoever, her house serves as a prison that she cannot walk around in freely.

The key difference between Esperanza and Sally is their sexual maturity. Through Sally’s actions of flirting with boys, the reader is able to see that Sally is more sexually mature than Esperanza is. Esperanza has shown interest in boys, but she doesn’t allow herself to be taken advantage by them like Sally allows. When Esperanza allows herself to be exploited she feels guilt and does her best to not remember what happened, “Sally make him stop. I couldn’t make them go away. I couldn’t do anything but cry. I don’t remember. It was dark. I don’t remember. I don’t remember. Please don’t make me tell it all” (Cisneros 100). When the boy comes onto Esperanza, she doesn’t know what to do and feels guilt after it happens. Even though Esperanza has shown to have interest in boys she isn’t sexually mature enough to act on those feelings. Sally on the other hand has no problem acting upon sexual feelings or actions. This is shown when Sally’s keys are taken away by Tito and his friends. Tito tells her that she will not get her keys back unless she kisses him. Esperanza tries to go get help and comes back with a brick thinking she is going to help Sally, “But when I got there Sally said go home. Those guys said leave us alone. I felt stupid with my brick. They all looked at me as if I was the one that was crazy and made me feel ashamed” (Cisneros 97). This illustrates how Sally’s experiences and sexual maturity are far above Esperanza’s. To Sally kissing the boys is not a big deal to her and she allows her id to take over. Esperanza, on the contrary, sees this as serious and allows her superego to take over when she tries to get Tito’s mom to intervene. Their attitudes and actions towards boys highlights how different the two characters are in terms of sexual maturity.

Sally shows a difference in behavior by taking on a risky behavior even though she gets in trouble for it. She behaves in such a way to try to escape from her father. Her relationship with her father is a very unhealthy relationship and has become the root of her behavior. In an article “The importance of fathers in relation to their daughters’ psychosexual development”, the author Mary Williamson, explores psychoanalytic approaches to the relationship between a father and his daughter. It states that a father has an impact on the psychosexual development of their daughter. In the article, Williamson writes, “Mitchell goes on to say that, from the Freudian point of view, the father – daughter relationship is crucial to the development of femininity and the preservation of womanhood… Through her relationship with her father she will learn to relate to male expectation in general, and this would seem to be of vital importance to her later psychological happiness” (Williamson). What this is saying is that the relationship between a father and daughter is important to how the daughter grows up. With a good father in her life the daughter will have a good expectation of men and will be able to be her own woman growing up. This is shown in The House on Mango Street with the different relationships that Sally and Esperanza have with their fathers. Sally and her father have an abusive relationship and it causes Sally to engage in risky behavior. As a result of this, Sally ends up getting married to a man that is just like her father. On the other hand, Esperanza had a good relationship with her father and it allowed her to have freedom and live a happy life. She ends up being able to grow up independently and bought her own house.

Sally and Esperanza are complete polar opposites when it comes to personality. Even though they are polar opposites, Esperanza wants to be like Sally. When their differences are seen on the same page, the author is able to illustrate how different each character is from one another. Sally’s risky sexual behavior becomes her downfall when she marries someone exactly like her father. The controlling environment of her father is what causes Sally to marry a man who is a representation of her father and the nurturing environment where love is present is what builds Esperanza in the end. Through their actions and attitudes we are able to see the components of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Through their personalities and actions, the readers are able to see how Sally is truly the foil character to Esperanza in The House on Mango Street.

The definition of personality or self is a concept that has generated many theories. How does one truly describe or measure personality? Psychoanalysis is one of the methods used to investigate the mind by using therapy as a technique to bring to surface dormant or unconscious thoughts, urges, and feelings that ultimately lead to our behavior and shape our personalities. Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler both had their own theories on personality with similarities and differences in their approach. Freud’s deterministic view cements personality as a predetermined concept based on childhood experiences while Adler’s take on personality steer away from being rigidly fixed by childhood but more of a multifaceted idea working in harmony with society.

The father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, explained our behavior by the violent internal conflict of cognitive systems we are not aware of governing our desires, drives, and motivations. We are a product of conflicting features, the Id, Ego, and Superego manifested in the unconscious, preconscious, and conscious psyche. Freud explains the dynamic warfare between all three mechanisms, how they communicate, and if one is stronger than the others.

The Id is biological, present at birth, with a pure desire for pleasure as it works in accordance with the pleasure principle, also defined as (Porte, M 2005, pp. 776), International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, “…the id (das Es) is the mental agency, in Freud’s ‘second topography’, that answers to the instincts and to the greater part of the unconscious processes.” The intangible drives of the Id are the energy source that fuels our behavior. The Superego is our moral reproach, our conscience, a set of internalized rules set by parents and society, it keeps us decent and appropriate by prohibiting the instant gratification the Id desperately seeks. The Ego is the center or personality process, it is our self identity. The Ego is the origin of our consciousness, it does the decision making and attempts to compromise between the Id and Superego by either satisfying or suppressing our desires. As individuals we desire to develop our Ego to the best of our potential but it is important to recognize the existence of the unconscious element in the mind as a whole in comparison to the conscious, therefore, one must question our acts as personal or truly our own (Lay, W 1995, pp.13). The unconscious holds all of our deepest hidden thoughts and desires which influence our behavior by making conscious decisions to what will bring us least pain and most pleasure. We develop defense mechanisms in order to keep the Id’s simple pleasures and desires from surfacing to the ego. It becomes an automatic process that we use to cope with anxiety causing or uncomfortable situations. Freud described ten types of mechanisms. Repression is the basic mechanism that regulates all three along with sublimation, displacement, projection, rationalization, and regression. I discovered I employ some of these mechanisms when confronted with uneasy situations. This has taught me to be more aware of how I absorb and react to things.

Another factor that is part of our personality development is the psychosexual stages. Freud believed that a problem at a certain stage in infancy, will shape our adult personality. The stages were oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. At the oral stage an infant is driven by pleasurable gratification of the mouth by sucking, chewing. An infant can become fixated if they are overly gratified or under gratified and are likely to manifest such fixations as adults in the form of dependency or domination. At the anal stage, pleasure is received by bowel movements and potty traininng is way to delay this instant gratification. If the training was too harsh or too easy for a child, as an adult anal retentive or complusilve tendencies will develop. The phallic stage is when genital pleasure is discovered and the Superego begins to develop which also brings forth the Oedipus Complex, as the child falls in love with mother, they feel their father is in the way and hate father to the point where they want to kill him. This provokes castration anxiety in the child which leads them to repress the mental representation from the ego. If the Oedipus complex was not resolved, psychological problems will emerge later in life. I don’t agree with Freud on this because he assumes children have a mother and a father and rules out the idea of a single parent household and labels these systematic differences as the person being undeniably psychologically damaged. This is followed by the latency stage where sexual urges remain dormant or repressed and the child focuses on developing their interests and hobbies. Lastly, genital stage begins at puberty all through adulthood and symbolizes sexual maturity.

Freud strongly believed sexuality was a crucial part of human development and we are charged by a sex and life drive (eros) and also aggression or death (thanatos) drive. Dreams are wish fulfillments of either of these forces. Eros brings forth our sense for social cooperation, survival, and procreation. Thanatos explains aggression, self damaging risky behavior, and anger towards others. This is a concept of duality as one needs the other to keep balance according to Freud. Again, our behavior and life consists of dealing with these conflicts by maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. I find Freud’s theories to be cynical as he describes humans as sexual renegades and not good rational pure beings. We ultimately pay a price to be civilized and develop neurosis due to these constant internal battles.

Adler similar to Freud was interested in early childhood experiences and believed in reflecting in the past. According to (Piotrowski, N. A. 2010 pp. 29), Psychology and Mental Health book, “Adler……children’s inferiority complexes, arguing that Freud’s notions of infantile sexuality should be treated more as metaphorical than as factual.” He was convinced people were motivated by future expectations rather than past experiences. An individual’s behavior was determined by their goals or prototype of striving towards significance, superiority, or success. Our adult behavior is linked to feelings of inferiority and how we respond to it determines our personality. Inferiority feelings are the source for humans striving for superiority. This vision of the “ideal self” also determines our lifestyle.

Inferiority starts at infancy by depending on parents or caregivers. There are organic inferiorities like an illness or biologically inherited. Spoiling or pampering by caretaker can also create an inferiority as you don’t learn to develop how to deal or cope with life on your own terms. On the other side of the spectrum, neglect also creates a complex as the person remains unsure or unable to compensate for a feeling of inadequacy, deficiency. Compensating and over compensating are ways to deal with such a complex. Superiority complex is the way to compensate for a weakness that sometimes we are not aware it stems from a place of inferiority. Adler’s origin of neurosis comes from deficiency. I wonder if you get good at something is it because you felt inadequate to begin with?

Adler also talked about lifestyles as being the key to behavior. Adler thought the style of life tended to be consistent, reflected in multiple ways throughout an individual’s life. Maladjusted lifestyles abandon social rules and create negative thought patterns with high anxiety. This brings forth private logic which is about adapting to everyone and constantly making sense of the world around us. If private logic does not make sense, there is trouble as certain psychological disorders may be present. Just as much as our complexes shape us life experiences continue to shape our lifestyle too and are influenced by social interactions. Each human being has the capacity for learning to live in harmony with society.

Curating meaning in the experience of life and death is an inevitable process within the human experience. The degree to which the experience of death plays an active part of the material and conscious realm can be understood by looking to the unconscious. Psychoanalysis enables a more comprehensive and accurate interpretation of the meanings of life and death through its conceptualisation of the unconscious foundations of all human experience. Psychoanalysis is the tool by which we can gain deeper insight into the patterns and frameworks that penetrate into the conscious from the unconscious. The universality of psychoanalytic topography can be witnessed socially and cross-culturally, further contributing to the understanding that the unconscious and its formations of meaning in the human psyche are a shared experience that extends into the material, conscious, and cosmological realms. By looking at ethnographies interpreted through the psychoanalytic lens, we are able to gain a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the interplay between rituals, beliefs, materiality, and practices and attitudes that exist around death. To do this we must primarily look to the father of psychoanalysis; Sigmund Freud (1910; 1933; 1985). By understanding the underpinnings of psychoanalysis and its interpretations of life and death through Freud’s work, we gain a deeper knowledge of the unconscious responses to death, in drive, desire, conflict, and mourning. Robert Lifton (1979) introduces the concept of ‘symbolic immortality’ as a universal denial of death within the unconscious. By combining this concept with Freud’s psychoanalytic base further knowledge can be explored through the ethnographic examples that exist within ouroboric cosmologies and show death to be assumed as a transition or transmigration rather than a material end. To understand life is to understand death, therefore we must extrapolate experiences in ethnography around mortuary practices in order to understand the cosmological lifeworld and psyche of the people we are observing. Thus, this essay will holistically explore how psychoanalysis enhances the accuracy of meaning created from ‘the human experience’ through the observance of death in examples from anthropological ethnographies.

Psychoanalysis provides a topographical template and framework for which the experiences of death can be observed and comprehended from a deeper level, that is, beyond the conscious and material world’s experience. The foundation of psychoanalysis deals with the social phenomena of the psyche, thus psychoanalysis in anthropology pertains to the understanding of social phenomena through individual minds. By understanding Freud’s conceptualisation of the mind and specifically, the unconscious, we can gain a more accurate interpretation of meaning. Freud provides the conceptualisation of the “death instinct” that exists universally in the unconscious (Freud, 1933, p. 107). This instinct, which is inclined to revert from one form to an ‘original’ form, transforms the “living into an inorganic state” (Freud, 1933, p. 107). In this conceptualisation of death therefore life can be understood to have originated from an organic, inanimate state. The death instinct can be found in ouroboric societies, which can be understood as self-consuming and self-regenerative or cyclical in nature. This psychoanalytic framework improves our perception of ouroboric societies in which life and death can be seen to be understood as a reflection of the overarching cosmological beliefs in the material world which directly reflect one’s psyche or unconscious. The Yagawoia tribe of Iqwaye in Papua New Guinea embody this eschatology through their symbolism, beliefs, and practices around death. The Yagawoia experience their micro world psyche and the physical macro world as an anthropomorphic characterised oneness that morph parallel experience (Mimica, 1991, p. 41). Dr Mimica identified the ouroboros, conceptualised as a serpent that eats its own tail, as an archetypal symbol within the Yagawoia but also as a symbol that can be used to interpret many other cosmologies (Mimica, 2003, p.63). Mimica employs psychoanalytic techniques to interpret his ethnography of the Yagawoia. He observes their cosmological view as a self-generative bodily totality which is both self-eating and self-copulative (Mimica, 2003, p. 62). As this body social is engaged in its own self-production, it is similarly engaged in self-deconstruction. A “cosmic metabolism” allows for the digestion of the process of life and death to run as a constant flow of entwined interaction and transformation (Mimica, 2003, p. 62). Mortuary practices can induce the observance of absolute totality from life and in death through “eating your own death” or endo-cannibalistic practice. By conceptualising the ouroboric nature of cosmological ontology and employing psychoanalysis allows for a comprehensive understanding of the motivation behind these mortuary practices that would be incomprehensible from the outside. The motivations behind this flow of metabolic transformation are due to the dying person’s soul being transformed into a spirit of the dead by cannibalistic wild spirits that inhabit the innards of the material body (Mimica, 2003, p. 76). After extensive ritual and practice with the corpse left, Mimica observed the Yagawoia form a burial place, which often represents the returning to the womb. In some, the kinship of the deceased plant taro shoot crops around the burial spot (Mimica, 2003, p. 79). These taro shoots will be fertilised by the cosmic body to the deceased and harvested to eat, being consumed primarily by the living kinship (Mimica, 2003, p. 79). In this way the living and the dead are in a constant cycle of transformation and consumption of themselves and their cosmological existence. While this endo-cannibalistic practice is purely a metaphor of consumption in an ouroboric cosmology, without the underpinning of the death instinct and other universal psychoanalytic conceptions it would be impossible to gauge the importance of mortuary practices in the continuation of the lifeworld of the Yagawoia.

Another ethnographic example of the ouroboric and symbolic nature of death within Papua New Guinea is observed with the Gimi of the Eastern Highlands. Like the Yagawoia, Gimi are cosmologically and psychically conceptualised as an ouroboros society that ‘consume’ the process of death and the dead through their transformative mortuary practices. By focussing primarily on the psychoanalytic framework and understanding the ouroboric ontology, the endo-cannibalistic practices employed by the Gimi are ultimately understood to be an important transformative and transmigratory process. The ethnography of Gillison (1983) recounts traditional mortuary practices by Gimi that were abandoned during the 1960’s. These traditional practices involved literal endo-cannibalism, the consumption of human flesh (Gillison, 1983, p. 33). If a man of the tribe passed, this practice involved Gimi women undertaking a period of mourning that usually lasts up to five days in the wife or mother’s house (Gillison, 1983, p. 35). Gillison then describes the rest of the practice as it is described by intention, or what is available to the conscious and material realm but extrapolates more from her implementation of psychoanalysis. This process involves an understanding of Gimi culture norms and niceties. For example, after the mourning period, the deceased is moved into the garden to “decompose”, however, the intention of the practice is to actually divide the corpse into edible pieces (Gillison, 1983, p. 35). Gimi women, in accordance with this mortuary tradition and their mythopoeic beliefs must initially verbally and physically object to this narrative and must agree to instead “save” the corpse from decomposing by “secretly” meeting to butcher the body (1983, p. 36). Even though these women attribute their cannibalistic tendencies to the desire to prevent the body rotting, a psychoanalytic framework, which takes into account the ouroboric nature of their cosmology and understands the desire of immortality, perceives the more accurate comprehension of the practice as being beneficial to the transmigratory and transformative process of death and rebirth. It is a transmutation of their conscious beliefs and an accessing of their unconscious desire that leads their practice. After preparing the body of the deceased in large cooking pots, the Gimi women remain secluded from the men until everything is completely digested (Gillison, 1983, p. 37).

The men’s actions are further portraying the transmigratory process by slaughtering pigs and allocating the parts of the food corresponding to the parts of the body that were consumed (1983, p. 37). This practice is representative of the end of the mourning and seclusion period (Gillison, 1983, p. 37). Even though the traditional practice of literal endo-cannibalism was stopped many years ago, this aspect of the practice, representing the transformation of the spirit of the deceased through the sacrifice of a pig is still exchanged between Gimi men and women to represent the end of the mortuary practice (Gillison, 1983, p. 38). Approximately a year after the endo-cannibal practice, Gimi men further drive this unconscious desire of transmigration in an extension of the mortuary practice (1983, p. 38). This is done through the Gimi men moving the remains, which is often just bones, to liminal locations that appear to look like vaginas or represent phallic structures (p. 38). These “uterine crevices” often found in dark cavities amongst trees, are representative of the unconscious archetypal symbol of the ouroboros that exists within the psyche of the Gimi (p. 38). Gillison describes this parallel with the landscape of rivers flowing like menstrual blood or semen, giving life to new growth and birds emerging from nests (p. 38). This embodiment of the land, and thus the practice, is in stark contrast to death, it gives nothing but life – the human spirit (Gillison, 1983, p. 39). This “spontaneous life” that emerges through “metaphorical sexual intercourse” of this transmigratory practice provides an end to the mortuary process (p. 39). The regeneration of the psychic self, the material self to the land, and thus an unconscious awareness of the immortality of life existence has been completed (Lifton, 1979). In both the Gimi and the Yagawoia, consumption and endo-cannibalism are life generating and affirm the meaning of their existence within an ouroboric lifeworld. This regeneration of life through the cannibalistic mortuary practices embody the constant change and illusory reversion back towards its initial state as transmigration upon the death instinct is actualised in the ouroboric sphere.

A more comprehensive interpretation of these ethnographic cases can be made by understanding death further through psychoanalytic conceptualisations. Freud proposed death to insight ambivalence and therefore conflict between the living and the dead, and the inner conflict of the psyche (1985, p. 80). As uncovered with a psychoanalytic lens, in both the Gimi and the Yagawoia, the unconscious desire for immortality is upheld and affirmed through the denial of death as an end of existence. Even when the material body has completely disintegrated, there is a belief that the psychic body continues living in the form of spirits (Mimica, 2003; Gillison, 1983). Freud believes this denial is due to our inability to fully realise our own death, in the denial of becoming deceased our unconscious is convinced of our own immortality (Freud, 1985, p. 77). This contradiction, Freud suggests, between the impulses of the unconscious in the human psyche, cause us to speculate on meaning and creates conflict if it is not resolved cosmologically (p. 85). Thus cosmologically, we strive for immortality or an ability to recognise transition, transmutation and transmigration as inherent to the process of death. These collective illusions projected by the living in response to death are encapsulated by Lifton (1979). A psychiatrist, Lifton observed that immortality is not just a psychic unconscious defence against the inner conflict of death, but representative of a universal unconscious desire to have a sense of continuity of life through the markers of biological and historical connections (1979, p. 17). The Gimi and Yagawoia life worlds’ can be psychoanalytically explored through this universal cultural symbolism and desire. As described in the Gimi, the endo-cannibal practice begins a process of transmigration of the dead into an imaginative ‘living’, this connection satiates and harmonises inner psychic conflict (Gillison, 1983; Lifton, 1979). In the Yagawoia, the consumption of taro shoots allows for life to continue in an ouroboric fashion (Mimica, 2003). As Lifton identifies, these connections are not purely biological, but exist in bio sociality, theology, cosmology, and manifest in the conceptualisation of an afterlife or immortality (1979, p. 20). Furthermore, Lifton identified the need for a ‘mode of external nature’ within these immortal conceptualisations (1979, p. 22). As portrayed in the recount of the Gimi men distributing the bones of the deceased into nature, this mode is exemplified through connection to the nature world, in trees, rivers, mountains, wildlife and all that constitutes Mother nature (Lifton, 1979, p. 22). Paralleling human existence with the symbolism of the transience observed in the natural world also allows a deeper understanding of the expression of regeneration, fertility, birth and rebirth, that is symbolised in the ouroboric lifeworld. Life and death therefore exist within a cultural framework that acknowledged change and transformation.

Through the exploration of different ethnographic examples, it is clear that the inevitable occurrence of death is conceptualised through a variety of forms. Psychoanalysis allows for a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of these mortuary practices. These forms are mediated by the unconscious desires of the psyche, that penetrate the conscious and material realms where death is seen to be viewed as a transition rather than a termination. The internalised practices and symbols embedded in a collective unconscious that exist cross-culturally allow the living to harmonise and transform the anxieties of death. Freud and Lifton were two of many prominent figures that provided a basis of psychoanalysis in the more comprehensive and accurate understanding of ethnography in anthropology. The episteme of psychoanalysis as a field underpins and has helped formulate the understanding of anthropological thought and ethnographic study historically.

Psychoanalysis is a collection of ideas surrounding the deeper inner workings of the human brain. The theory was developed by Sigmund Freud and looks at the human life as a whole, in which the adult life is influenced by their earliest years. It carries the idea that humans are driven by desires which are often hidden in their ‘unconscious’ and thus may be acted out in later years of life. Freud developed psychoanalysis as a therapy to release repressed emotions and experiences to help patients overcomes traumas, for example . It aims to make the unconscious thoughts conscious as the manifest symptoms are understood to be caused by latent disturbances . Psychoanalysis soon became recognised and has since been used as a method in psychoanalytic biographies. An example of psychoanalytic biographies are: Eric Erikson, Young Man Luther: A Study in Psychoanalysis and History (London: Faber, 1959) and Otto Pflanze, Bismarck and the Development of Germany (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963). These biographies take specific aim at the subject’s personality in an attempt to deconstruct their character, uncover their unconscious, and provide an in depth look at their personality. This essay, with specific reference to Bismarck, will look at how biographers who have undertaken psychoanalytic biographies on him have dealt with the problems at hand of using such an approach, whilst also analysing the strengths this method provides. It will argue that the strengths outweigh the weaknesses because of the opportunity it provides in critically analysing an individual whilst also being able to illuminate specific personalities with its use, which thus creates a better sense of a ‘biography’ because it provides the reader with a deconstruction of the individual’s character. Freud’s psychoanalysis created implications on psychologists, historians and biographers alike. In specific context for this essay, it led to biographers needing to consider the subject life in a holistic way; including the influence of early years, parents, family background, and traumas. Moreover, the need to consider sexual urges and behaviour, and to try to discern latent motivations as well as those which are on the surface. The consensus surrounding the notion of use of psychoanalysis in biographies follows the lines of it being a necessary tool to uncover the person’s true character. By not considering its use, one is excluding themselves from critically analysing the subject.

Otto Pflanze was the first to write a psychoanalytical biography on Bismarck in 1972 with his book entitled ‘Toward a Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Bismarck’. According to Pflanze the biggest problem for biographers, using psychoanalysis, is the fact that the individual may be dead and if they are alive, they are usually inaccessible to analysis. The material that can be used for this process will be generally be found in their writings, recorded speeches and conversations, and in the observations in others. However, he argues, “this evidence will never suffice”. This is because a key principal of psychoanalysis is analysing the individual’s primal years, which would have produced experiences that shaped their basic character traits. These traits are often hidden by the subject using different defence mechanisms such as repression. Therefore, as this information is unavailable, it can make the psychoanalysis process near impossible or at least very difficult due to having to access materials readily available such as recordings and letters. Further to this, these materials may be unreliable, as they may have been tampered with or, due to being written by the individuals themselves, contain bias or inaccurate information that can distort analysis. However, with the materials readily available on Bismarck, Pflanze did conduct some great use from them. Pflanze describes Bismarck possessing a ‘psychological moratorium’. Between 1838 and 1847 the activities Bismarck was pursuing he was successful at, but they did not satisfy him. It led him to committing some of the most common vices found in drinking, gambling, hunting, and travelling. This period of gestation corresponds to the ‘psychological moratorium’. Pflanze states that in this “restless, unhappy Junker” the many characteristics of the identity crisis of young adulthood is evident. Moreover, Pflanze argues that Bismarck’s dominant characteristic was his will power, his drive to master men and events that eventually led him to becoming a dominant statesman. The evidence for this being in Bismarck’s letter of 1838. From analysis of such material it is clear that Bismarck possessed this dominant trait because his ‘ambition strived more to command than obey’ and ‘these are facts for which he can give no explanation other than personal taste’. Reading and analysing this letter suggest that even at the tender age of twenty three, Bismarck would strive to be in a position of power due to his dissatisfaction be being commanded; he enjoyed the notion of power. With the psychoanalytic approach this enables one to closely look at the main reasons behind the individual’s personality and hence draw conclusions to how they achieved the successes they did, like Bismarck. Moreover, with this method of biography, one can analyse the motives of an individual. Pflanze identifies the phrase ‘raison d’état’ as one of the motives behind Bismarck’s policymaking as statesman. This French phrase simply meaning acting on purely political reason for action on part of the ruler or government, especially on the basis that the nation’s own interests are primary. The phrase directly translates to ‘convenience of the government’. Once again, this illuminates the strength of using such a method in biography writing, in being able to critically analyse motives and reasons behind one’s actions. Additionally, this method enables the reader to gain insight on an individual’s action. In this case, the psychoanalyst term ‘evocation of proxy’ is presented. The term either suggests that “institutional impulses that the mind’s conscience cannot tolerate are repressed (i.e. thrust back into the id) or projected (i.e. displaced into the outside world)”. Pflanze reasons that Bismarck projected his quest for power and renown onto the Prussian State. This conquest for power under Bismarck can be evidenced with the wars Prussia engaged in against the likes of Austria, France and Germany all of which suffered against the mighty Prussian forces. Without the use of psychoanalysis, other biographies are missing this key element of critical analysis and as evidenced in this biography, for example, the option to explore the inner psyche of a great figure like Bismarck is both invaluable and truly remarkable. It can offer insights to how these great minds operate and can also illuminate specific personalities into groups which Erikson discovered. This is linked to Bismarck’s period of gestation, which was also found in “several other highly creative personalties”. This sort of comparison and analysis is simply not present in a biography which excludes the use of psychoanalytic literature and methodology. Moreover, Pflanze writes away a common criticism of psychoanalytic biographies. One may argue can you accurately use these methods without being a trained psychologist? Pflanze writes in his book that he has “no special training” in such area and he still produced a fascinating piece of literature, hence this weakness associated with psychoanalytic biographies is not as detrimental as many may have thought. (however results are “speculative” so are human interpreted may be biased unreliable etc.)

Steinberg was another historian who delved into the life of Bismarck. Steinberg conducted some of his own findings, but also pulled in some of the work of Pflanze. This biography conveys one of the key strengths of psychoanalytic biographies by providing ample opportunity to have a closer inspection on the subject’s family life. The relationship with one’s parents is a key feature of Freud’s psychoanalysis and is implemented under the framework of the oedipal triangle. Steinberg, with the aid of Pflanze, claims that “Bismarck ‘loved’ his weak father and hated his ‘strong’ mother”. The oedipal complex is a theory developed by Freud explaining the psychosexual stages of development. It occurs during the ‘phallic’ stage of development between ages three and six, in which the source of libido is concentrated in the erogenous zones of the child’s body. During this stage, children experience an unconscious feeling of desire for the parent of opposite sex and envy toward the same sex parent. In the case of Bismarck, albeit at a later age, there is the opposite reaction. However, perhaps this was because his father was “weak” meaning he did not value him as a threat. Steinberg continues commenting that “Pflanze speculates that some of Bismarck’s’ habits and attitude in later years may have stemmed from these early experiences”. The impact of family life on a person’s personality can only be labelled as profound. Learning mannerisms, attaining new traits, and building your character are all vastly impacted by a child’s experience at home and with a psychoanalytic interpretation on these events, one can uncover deeper meanings behind the subject’s personality. There is a question of evidence surrounding this notion, however, but Steinberg support Pflanze’s claims stating that the evidence he has confounded “certainly supports Pflanze’s suggestions”. Of course this is only verbal reassurance so the question of reliability still looms over these suggestions, however it is certain that a biography neglecting psychoanalytic qualities is only hampering its ability to dissect an individual’s personality to the core. Moreover, Steinberg and Pflanze use the oedipal mechanisms very effectively in explaining “Bismarck’s growing hypochondria, gluttony, rage, and despair” thus being able to explain his health conditions and even personal feelings. They argue that Bismarck began to deteriorate the “more successful” he became which Steinberg comments was “one of the most striking findings of research in his career”. The sheer magnitude of this statement conveys the true strength of psychoanalysis in biography. Declaring that these findings were some of the most “striking” completely affirms how using psychoanalysis can uncover information that was either previously unexplored, neglected, or simply unreachable without the necessary analysis, theories, and research provided by psychoanalysis.

Finally, this essay draws upon the work of A.J.P. Taylor on Bismarck to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of psychoanalysis in biography. Taylor was influenced by his time in Manchester which underwent a period of radicalism of humanism. Taylor absorbed these new ideas in his youth and it can later be seen in his work on Bismarck. In terms of evidence of “latent” hostility, there is little. This is because Taylor is perhaps lacking a more refined psychoanalysis of Bismarck which would be more useful in this biography. With this biography being published in 1955 it whittles down to the fact that evidence is shortcoming, a key problem of attempting to use psychoanalysis in biography. However, despite this problem, Taylor’s biography excels. In comparison with the other biographies of Bismarck, including the two mentioned in this essay, there are other pieces of literature on Bismarck with provide more detail. In terms of a psychological interpretation of one of the most complex figures in global history, Taylor’s work provides the reader with an unrivalled experience. He uses an excellent epigram to illuminate some of the mysteries of Bismarck’s life whilst analysing his relationship with his parents: “He was the clever sophisticated son of a clever, sophisticated mother, masquerading all his life as his heavy, earthly father”. Taylor’s use of the verb “masquerading” conveys how Bismarck engaged in a façade to act as an intimidating figure which served him well in his career of politics. Moreover, Taylor is insinuating that Bismarck learnt from his mother whilst impersonating his father. He did not spend much time with his mother and craved the love and affection. Taylor writes that it is “psychological commonplace” for a son to wish his father out of the way. However, the results are more ‘profound when a son, who takes after his mother, dislikes her character’ and ‘will seek to turn himself into the father’ and may well end up as “neurotic or a genius”. By closely analysing the relationship of his early family life, the results illuminate the character traits of Bismarck. In this case he was both a neurotic and genius. This follows a persistent theme throughout this essay, and indeed the biographies as a whole. With the use of psychoanalysis, it provides a platform to go and study these relationships closely and demonstrate results that other biographies simply cannot achieve.

To conclude, it is clear that the strengths of using psychoanalysis by far outweigh the weaknesses. The question surrounding these types of biographies regarding the fact that the authors may need to be a trained psychologist seems to be of little problem. Without being trained in the profession, the results produced are all extremely similar meaning there must be a certain level of consistency with the findings. However, it is a fair assumption that there is a question of reliability with the evidence used. As Pflanze stated, the subjects are usually unavailable for questioning and hence the only data that can be used is primary or secondary. This is not the worst case scenario as this data can still provide valuable resources as illustrated in these biographies, but it far from ideal. There is also a question of how to balance the importance of conscious and unconscious desires, but with the analysis demonstrated in this essay it can be concluded that this is not a disastrous problem. In terms of the strengths of using psychoanalysis, it is invaluable. It provides a deep insight into the subject’s persona which makes sense for a biography as it aims to deconstruct the character. Moreover, one can critically identify the individual’s motives and reasons behind how they developed and what led them to choose the course of actions they undertook throughout their livelihoods, whilst also being able to illuminate specific personalities and similarities between character types such as genius’s like Bismarck.

Psychoanalysis is an approach which aims for a patient to be provided with a secure space in which they feel enabled and motivated to to explore themselves. It is a method which provides a model for self exploration with the support of the analyst. The analyst will seek to guide the client through negativity as it arises during the process and to recognise the unconscious motivation of the consciousness they experience. Patients are helped to recognise past patterns which impact on the present in the form their of emotions, attachments, behaviours and thoughts. Emphasis is, therefore, placed on recognising the past in the present.

Freud and Breuer

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is widely regarded to have created psychoanalysis, however, the work of Joseph Breuer (1842-1925) greatly inspired him. Breuer became a mentor to him and could be said to have laid the foundations for what was to become known as the psychoanalytical approach.

Breuer was a physician who recognised the positive effects of talking with patients as a mental health treatment. His work with a patient called Anna O was key in his development of this approach. It was Anna O who first used the term ‘talking cure’ to describe the process and the benefits she experienced.

A key moment for Freud and his further exploration of his ideas of psychoanalysis, was the death of his father. This event left Freud deeply shaken. By analysing the experiences of his patients and himself he discovered common themes of childhood experience and trauma. In his book ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’ (1899) Freud introduced his ideas on inner conflict and the dynamic conscious. He had come to realise that as a child he had developed feelings of jealousy to his father due to be in love with his mother and that these emotions were suppressed in his unconscious. He theorised that this was the common experience of you boys. These ideas were to become his theory of the Oedipus complex. By further examining his idea of inner conflicts, he suggested we experience powerful wishes on an unconscious level all the time. These urges can be unacceptable as civilised behaviour and are kept from appearing at a conscious level by a barrier. These unsatisfied wishes would come to the fore in dreams and these in turn could be interpreted and analysed.

Exploring his theories further in his book ‘The Psychopathology of Everyday Life’ (1901) Freud decided that the subconscious did not only appear in dreams, but influenced conscious behaviour as well. Psychoanalysis could associate conscious disorders with the subconscious event and memory. The understanding could be passed to the patient who would benefit from this recognition. This became known as ‘interpretation’, the relating of current feelings to childhood experiences and relationships.

Melanie Klein

Melanie Klein (1182-1960) was the first to apply Freud’s theories in the observation of infant behaviour. She found evidence of very early development of Oedipus complex and the superego, the level of psyche that acts as a barrier to unacceptable unconscious urges. Her theory of ‘object relations’ stated the importance of the relationship between infant and mother. The effects of these relationships would be stored in the unconscious and affect a patients internal framework regarding relationships with others in later life.

Otto Kernberg

Otto Kernberg (1928- ) developed further Klein’s theories of object relations. In his theory on narcissism, he suggested that the narcissism had it’s roots in early childhood and that the apparent high self esteem acted as a defence for low self esteem. Kernberg’s ‘transference’ approach to therapy sought to address the disjointed and illogical views of oneself and other people found in some personality disorders such as borderline personality disorder. These caused often contradictory representations of self and others that contribute to emotional irregularity, unstable self identity and relationships.

A path can be drawn to present day psychoanalytic approaches from Freud, through Klein to the recent work of Otto Kernberg. A second path can be seen to have developed alongside this. This path moves away from the traditional idea of a therapist as a ‘blank sheet’ onto which the patient can project their thoughts and emotions for the analyst to interpret. They believed that the relationship between therapist and patient was important and could be curative.

Sandor Ferenczi

Sandor Ferenczi (1873-1933) originally was interested in spiritism and telepathy. H e became a close associate of Freud. His ‘Clinical Diary’ is regarded as his most important work although it wasn’t published until the 1980’s. This diary detailed his work with a patient known as ‘RN’ (Elizabeth Severn). She had a very traumatic childhood involving sexual abuse from her father and was very troubled. Not much progress was being made when Elizabeth revealed she thought this was the case because he hated her. Through a process of mutual analysis he realised that deep inside he did hate her. Once he had resolved these issues was able to help her. It became apparent to him that the relationship between himself and Severn had been key to her recovery. This started the path towards the interpersonal-relational theories of psychoanalysis.

Donald Winnicott

Donald Winnicott (1896-1971) was a paediatrician who would analyse children by using play. He came to an important understanding of the power of non verbal communication in psychoanalysis. He stressed the importance of being prepared to change technique as opposed to expecting the patient to become moulded to the current form of treatment. He introduced spontaneous personal relating between therapist and patient and an approach that was humane and creative.

Heinz Kohut

Heinz Kohut (1913-1981) considered ideas from many theories of psychoanalysis. He created self psychology which was the first approach to consider empathy as an essential part of the therapeutic process. With this empathetic approach, Kohut would help a patient explore how their current sense of self has been created by their childhood experiences. He proposed that a child who doesn’t connect with their parents will be unable to connect healthily with others as an adult. He suggested that Freud’s approaches could impose an analysts beliefs on a patient and better help could be given if the analyst tried to understand the problems from the patients point of view.

Stephen Mitchell

Stephen Mitchell (1946-2000) concepts were a move away from classical psychoanalysis as they were less focussed on the unconscious drives of Freud’s theories and gave more importance to relationships. He pulled together various of relationship models to create a framework for relational psychoanalysis. His suggested approach to the therapeutic process was that both patient and therapist can open up and relate to each other’s past and feelings. From the input of both participants, positive ideas to develop growth could be discovered.