Introduction
Psychoanalysis is a mode of therapy that focuses on releasing repressed memories to help a client heal. Sigmund Freud is the founder of psychoanalysis. His attention to the field was captured by Freud’s colleague, Dr. Josef Breuer, who interacted with a patient known as Anna O. Anna was suffering from physical symptoms cause was unapparent. Dr. Breuer helped rid of Anna O’s symptoms abate after he aided her memory recovery. By confronting repressed traumatic experiences hidden in her unconscious mind, Anna’s symptoms abated. Anna O’s case led to Freud’s venture into the unconscious mind. Freud explored the three layers of the human mind, namely the conscious where current thoughts are preconscious where humans can recall memory and unconscious, which is that the deepest level of human minds that guides behavior and desires.
Freud later explored the mind model and pointed out the ID, which is on the unconscious level, which gives humans the instinct to survive. The ego checks on the id and strives to meet its needs. The ego begins to formulate in infancy, while the superego is the part of the human mind concerned with morality. The superego encourages humans to act morally and socially right. The three parts of the mind are often in conflict. When the conflict is excessive, a person’s ego goes into the defensive, such as repression of thoughts out of consciousness, denial, regression, and projection. Freud explored the concepts of psychosexual stages in children’s development. Freud opined that children have five stages of development that provide their pleasure.
The first one is the oral stage, where the child’s pleasure comes from the mouth, such as through sucking. The next stage is the anal stage, where a child gets pleasure from the anus. After, the child gets into the phallic stage and obtains pleasure from the penis or clitoris. After that, the child goes into the latent stage in which there is no sexual motivation. The final stage is the genital, where the child is pleasured through the penis or vagina. According to Freud, it is necessary to complete all the stages to become a healthy adult with a good ego or superego. Failure of completion leads to behavioral and emotional issues during adulthood. Decades have passed since the foundation of psychoanalysis, and the focus on sex has reduced. However, psychology still values input from a person’s childhood involvements. According to Freud’s perspective, change occurs when the focus is on the unconscious mind, instead of the conscious mind. Helping a client confront past experiences hidden in the unconscious mind helps explain present behavior.
Applying
approaches
A boy’s choice of a marriage partner is unconsciously his mother, which results in repression due to the incest taboo that occasions displacement. Despite marrying, Thomas still has a yearning void for his mother, which causes him to direct repressed displacement motives to his wife. Thomas chose his wife so that he can gratify his boy’s libido and emotional needs. However, there is a hindrance to his instincts’ gratification, which hindrance is his wife’s parents. The parents have occasioned a psychological conflict of love, which costs him care, respect, security, knowledge, and decision making. Thomas now feels that he cannot collectively make decisions with his wife, as the parents are always interfering. Helen’s parents have taken part in child-rearing and making decisions. No one feels excited about love sharing of a person with another. As such, the result is often cultural-psychological conflicts between son-in-law and parents. Thomas has unfulfilled desires, which leads to his frustration, as the wife he married is not behaving like the ‘mother.’ There is a likelihood that Thomas is an only child brought up by a single mother, or he was raised as a single boy with girls as siblings. Thomas may also have been pampered by his mother during the early development stages, which caused him to gain extra affection and attachment to his mother. Therefore, the over gratification of Thomas’s libido, actions, instincts, and desires at early development stages caused fixation at the phallic, latency, oral and genital stages. The result of such actions is that Thomas developed a weak superego, which makes him need a lot of care and comfort, as he is highly dependent on others. Such a weak superego makes Thomas question why his wife does not consult him, whether Helen’s parents are part of their marriage and whether his household is under the in-laws’ management. Such questions make Thomas develop mixed feelings of hate and love, fear, and anxiety; because other people micromanage his home. The relationship between a family and in-laws accounts for marriage duration and raises health concerns as well. A study by the National Statistics Institute in Italy showed that the odds of a marriage lasting increase with every hundred yards that a couple keeps from the in-laws. In-law interference alleviates stress and negatively impacts the health of a person who is expected to be submissive to the in-laws.
According to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, a marriage partner’s choice is often decided way before marriage happens. How one relates to their marital partner is dependent on one’s relationship with parents and other role models in one’s childhood. Marital relationships reflect a repeat of relationships with parents during childhood. Thomas’s jealousy due to his love for Helen most likely has roots in his childhood. Thomas may have experienced spiritual suffering due to his mother’s separation and getting married; he is caught up in an extended family rivalry due to unsolved family conflicts with his wife and Helen’s parental figures attachment. Thomas may have had unsolved conflicts with his father, making him have issues with his man role. As such, he is now caught up in a narcissistic marriage as he did not overcome his narcissistic phase, and he has egotism. Once married, Thomas wanted unconditional love, attention, and admiration from Helen. Thomas’s conditions are rarely met by Helen, as Helen is seemingly giving attention to her parents and bowing to their every demand. As such, Thomas feels that Hellen is insensitive and does not care. Applying Freud’s oedipal scenario will prove that Thomas is threatened to lose his masculinity if he continues giving in to Helen’s parents’ demands. While growing up, Thomas may have repressed his attachment to his mother and later transferred it to Helen, hoping to be the dominant partner. Thomas hoped to resolve his Oedipus complex as he repressed his mother’s love and internalized his father’s authority. Thomas identifies with his father’s patriarchal power and hopes to apply it over his wife and child as his superego embraces patriarchal rules. The psychoanalytic theory sees an individual, such as Thomas, to be one with a weak ego that cannot handle life’s deviations.
Although Freud showed pessimism on curing neuroses or enhancing personality changes, he came up with psychoanalysis as the first psychotherapy mode. The skills needed to assist Thomas include interpretation, which involves seeking details from him, bringing his attention to nonverbal signals, and analyzing the issues. Further, technical neutrality from the therapist is necessary to ensure he or she does not take sides. Finally, the therapist should attempt to weigh their reactions towards the client. Looking objectively at the client and understanding the exchange during therapy sessions can help unblock memories from the client’s conscious. The techniques needed for counselling in Thomas’s case would include a therapist playing a black screen role that Thomas would use to project his unconscious conflicts. Psychoanalysis shall encourage Thomas to speak and associate freely about what is on his mind. Eventually, Thomas shall address his unconscious conflicts, and the therapist can interpret behavior projected during the session as conflicted feelings towards parental figures. If Thomas displays affection to the therapist, it will show he was showcasing repressed feelings. A look into Anna O’s phantom pregnancy shows that where clients are displeased with the therapist, it would mean the clients have repressed hostile feelings toward a parental figure. Such psychoanalytic techniques can help reduce Thomas’s suffering and improve his functioning ability. Through a nondirective therapist with a neutral posture, a client can address his insecurities as the therapist represents paramount individuals in his past. This type of psychotherapy allows the client to unconsciously project to the therapist all the neurosis’ unresolved emotions. The psychoanalysis process involves applying the Freudian personality test of oral, anal, or phallic receptiveness . Looking into those psychosexual stages in Thomas’s case would reveal that he might have been stuck at a given stage, which brought about his behavioral and emotional problems that he is experiencing as an adult. Psychoanalysis will help Thomas overcome the negative influences caused by his unconscious mind.
Conclusion
Signs that could show the client’s improvement in presenting issues during psychoanalysis include a client having the courage to air what is on their mind, no matter how serious or irrelevant it may seem. A client being freer with the patient would release strong emotions as expected by Freud. The benefits of psychoanalytic therapy include helping clients revisit their childhood history, which helps in the semblance of autonomy. Clients are accepted for who they are despite their conflicts and challenges. Talking about whatever is essential to self helps a client air their concerns without time limitation. Through psychoanalysis therapy, Thomas shall mitigate his suffering and improve his individual life’s quality. The limitations of using the client’s approach include the fact that Freud’s theory is not scientific and cannot be empirically tested. This poses a danger in that it is difficult to confirm or falsify the psychoanalytic theory. The theory also lays excessive emphasis on the unconscious mind’s role while almost ruling out the conscious mind. Freud’s psychoanalysis has roots in sexism and may lack support in many cultures. Sigmund Freud is highly criticized today for failing to use scientific methods to back his theories. However, his work avails the key inside in the field of psychotherapy. If applied to Thomas’s case, it can help him lower the defense mechanisms that he applies to his mind and ego when it comes to his marriage and Helen’s parents.