Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis was founded during the late 1800's and early 1900's by the Austrian doctor Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis was based on the theory that behaviour is determined by powerful inner forces, According to Freud and other psychoanalysts, from early childhood people repress (force out of conscious awareness) any desires or needs that are unacceptable to themselves or to society. The repressed feelings can cause personality disturbances, self-destructive behaviour, or even physical symptoms.

Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, thus gaining “insight”.

Psychoanalysis Assumptions
· Psychoanalytic psychologists see psychological problems as rooted in the unconscious mind.
· Manifest symptoms are caused by latent (hidden) disturbances.
· Typical causes include unresolved issues during development or repressed trauma.
· Treatment focuses on bringing the repressed conflict to consciousness, where the client can deal with it.

Methodology

In psychoanalysis (therapy) Freud would have a patient lie on a couch to relax, and he would sit behind them taking notes while they told him about their dreams and childhood memories. Psychoanalysis would be a lengthy process, involving many sessions with the psychoanalyst.

Unconscious thoughts and feelings can transfer to the conscious mind in the form of parapraxes, popularly known as “Freudian slips” or slips of the tongue. We reveal what is really on our mind by saying something we didn’t mean to.For example, a nutritionist giving a lecture intended to say “We should always demand the best in bread”, but instead said “bed”. Another example is where a person may call a friend’s new partner by the name of a previous one, whom we liked better.Freud believed that slips of the tongue provided an insight into the unconscious mind