Psychoanalysis is a theory that assumes that the past shapes the present and stresses the importance of unconscious factors that can influences our conscious thoughts and actions. In other words psychoanalysis analyzes how unconscious factors influence conscious thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Sigmund Freud was the first psychoanalyst. With the discovery of the unconscious, he developed the idea that the ‘unconscious conflict’ is significant in subsequent normal and abnormal behavior. He then pursued a theory of psychoanalytic treatment that would help patients recall suppressed traumatic memories and form ‘associative connection’ with conscious thoughts. Psychoanalytic treatment or therapy tackles conscious thought by tracing these thoughts to their origin.
My mom is a therapist and a psychoanalytic fellow at Penn. She brought up in a conversation an article she read about a woman who went through psychoanalytic therapy. The woman began therapy for depression; she also struggled with aspects of her social, economic, and intimate life. She did not know why. Slowly, the woman began to talk about how she would feel distraught visiting her parents, and feel extreme discomfort regarding a tree that stands in the yard behind her parents house. When asked about adult relationships as a child and the potential of sexual abuse, the woman said no confidently. The psychoanalyst began to realize the woman may have dissociative symptoms related to a trauma she may have experience as a child. After working through unconscious mental processes with her psychoanalyst, the woman began to have vivid flashbacks of being tied to the tree for hours by a family member and abused. In an article on Psychoanalysis, the experiments conducted by Jung and Riklin are discussed. They found that the process of association is a process that is beyond a subjects control and attention plays the greatest part in the process of association. The above example exemplifies the minds power to dissociate traumatic events and bury them into our unconscious memory because they are too painful. While rehashing these events were painful, the woman was able to work through the behaviors and emotions related to her trauma that she was playing out in other aspects of her life such as social and professional relationships.
Sources –
Arden, Abraham. Psychoanalysis: its theories and practical application. New York: n.p., 1972. 116. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. <http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822013766522;view=1up;seq=2>.
Pfister, Oscar, and Eduard Hitschmann. Definition and history of psychoanalysis and Freud’s theories of the neuroses. New York: n.p., 1916. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. <link –> http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc2.ark:/13960/t91841x87 >.
I find this article super interesting for two reasons. the first reason being; that our minds are so mysterious to the fact that something that was done to someone as a child so traumatic can be blocked out where as a person doesn’t remember it happening to them. I would think the mind would constantly remind us of a feeling so traumatic as some sort of fight or flight response in the future to not allow that to happen again. the second reason i like this article is because you have us your interpretation from your perspective plus some feedback from a good source (your mother) who is knowledgeable about this.
I found this article to be very eye opening as well. It’s hard to believe that certain things happen like this in the world but the sad reality is that they do. I once watched a movie in high school psychology class that was about a boy who committed suicide. The movie followed the family for awhile after the movie and talked about experiences with the boy who committed suicide. Each family member had a different reaction to what happened but the one the was different from all the rest was the reaction of the grandmother. She was the mother of 3 and grandmother of 7. When she was in her 50’s one of her son’s committed suicide and shortly their after her grandson committed suicide as well. The way she dealt with these problems was blocking them out so much that she eventually forgot that she had a son who committed suicide along with a grandson who committed suicide. While this may not directly relate to the theory of psychoanalysis, I found it very interesting that the lady you spoke about in the article and how she dealt with forgetting about being abused as a child until she was psychoanalyzed. Overall this was a great post and really gave a thoughtful insight to psychoanalysis!
Wow, I thought your examples were very powerful and really illustrated the ideas behind psychoanalysis very well. Fortunately, I can not speak from personal experiences on this topic, however, some one close to me has gone through some abuse when she was young. I know most of the logistics about the issues she faced but when she talks about it (which is very rare) it almost seems like it is hard for her to remember the situation. Maybe what she is experiencing is related to what the patient experienced that you explained in your post. On the other hand the longer we talk about it she seems to remember more and more as it comes back to her. It is interesting how the brain is trying to detach itself from these memories. I know that when she was younger she had a tough time trusting people and was a little more shy. As she went to college she originally started in biology but ended up becoming a school consoler. As she was being taught about some subjects in her classes she started to have flashbacks just like the patient explained. After a few weeks se went to a therapist and went through the events. After talking about it and learning how to deal with she is a totally different person…she is outgoing and puts trust even in strangers. Even though it is the brains natural response to detach from traumatic events, i think it is best to try recall and overcome them.
I think that your blog post was very eye opening. I think that childhood traumas do effect a persons life significantly and being tied to a tree and abused would definitely make me different in my adult hood. I kinda can relate to this article because i have never realized that some of my childhood events are effecting my now that i an adult. My parents got a long and horrid divorce and it is not playing an effect on me in ways i didn’t think it was going to. I know my parents wanted me to see a psychoanalysis but i didn’t think i was a candidate for that and i refused to go. But, now looking back i feel like i should have gone because maybe my life would be different in better way. So this article is completely relevant and i can not believe that someone would tie there own kid to a tree and abuse them for a while. I just can and probably will never understand how someone can do that to their own flesh and blood.
I think that what you wrote about is absolutely true. I will not speak of specific events in this comment, but I do know first hand how a traumatic event early on in childhood can affect adult life in the unconscious and conscious aspect. I am not afraid to talk about certain things when it comes to trauma, I have moved on and accepted it for what it was, an unchangeable event in my past. I tell myself that it doesn’t affect me, but I can’t lie, it does. That’s where I agree with what you said about psychoanalysis, because it is true that an event in early childhood can change the behaviors of a person in the long run. It can also cause detachment of emotions or sensory integration issues. This usually happens when a baby is not played with often or held, it causes them to be very sensitive to touch and it may scare them and make the shy away. It is much more than just that, but that would be too much to talk about in a comment.
> Just watch Dexter and you’ll see what a traumatic event as a child can cause.<