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By Alex Reed

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE PSYCHODYNAMIC

 APPROACH TO SOCIETY:

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

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CONTRIBUTIONS

• Understanding the individual :-

• Understanding why people demonstrate irrational behaviour 

• The cause of this behaviour (unconscious motivation)

• Helping individuals to cope with mental health problems

• Helping people to understand themselves

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PSYCHOANALYSIS

• Psychoanalysis: pioneered by Freud, seeks to identify the causes of mental problems through:

• Dream interpretation: looking for patterns and symbols in dreams

• Free association: allowing the patient to talk freely, whilst analyising what they are saying, or 

not saying as the case may be

• Resistance analysis: testing the patients’ resistance to conversing about certain topics such as

death, or childhood experiences

• Using these methods, the therapist can then explore unconscious issues that may be causing

mental illness

• Then, these issues can be dealt with through catharsis  – that is, re-experiencing the trauma in

the safety of the therapy session in order to work through and resolve them

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PSYCHOANALYSIS CONT’D 

• Therapy can also explore the use of coping strategies that are causing problems E.g.

using denial to avoid dealing with a tragic incident, such as a death

• It can also explore the nature of relationships a patient had during childhood which could be

adversely affecting their relationships in the present situation  – this can be achieved through

transference, in which the patient acts our certain relationships with the therapist  – through this,

the therapist can help them to understand the roots of their relationships problems, and how to

resolve them

• These studies have been shown to be effective by the research of Bachrach (1991) and

Leichsenring & Leibing (2007), which found a 60-90% improvement in patients

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PROS AND CONS

+ Shown to be effective (Bachrach, Leichsenring & Leibing) in helping patients with mental

problems

+ Can be employed to help couples with early symptoms of relationship troubles, in order to

resolve them quickly, leading to potentially better relationships, both at work and at home

- Very expensive – due to the level of training needed for the therapist etc.

- Very long term – often requiring many years worth of sessions to resolve problems, due to

their often serious nature

- Can have negative affects on the patient – due to the patient reliving extremely traumatic

experiences from their past, can have severe impact on their mental state

- Finally, due to the retrospective nature of the therapy, memories are accessed on areconstructive basis – therefore, there is no way for the therapist to distinguish between real

memories and false ones