Psychoanalytic, Adlerian, & Existential Theories

Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalysis is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as:

• A therapeutic method, originated by Sigmund Freud, for treating mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the patient's mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind, using techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.

Freud believed that personality is made up of three systems:

• ID: Ruled by the pleasure principle which is aimed at reducing tension, avoiding pain, and gaining pleasure.
• EGO: Ruled by the reality principle that does realistic and logical thinking and formulates plans of action for satisfying needs.
• Superego: Is the judicial branch of personality that inhibits the id impulses, persuades the ego to substitute moralistic goals with realistic ones, and to strive for perfection.

The ultimate goal of psychoanalytic theory is to make the unconscious conscious

and the ego stronger so behavior is based more on reality instead of

instinctual cravings or irrational guilt.

Techniques used to achieve this goal are:

• Free Association: Client's are encouraged to say whatever comes to mind regardless of how irrelevant, illogical, silly, or embracing they may seem. Free association opens the door to the patient's unconscious wishes, fantasies, conflicts, and motivations.
• Interpretation: The therapist explains and teaches the patient the meanings of behaviors in dreams, free association, and the therapeutic relationship in terms that the patient understands.
• Dream Analysis: Interpretation of dreams to uncover underlying motivations, symbolic meanings and representations.

Adlerian Theory

Adlerian theory is defined by EncartaDictionaries as:

• A body of psychological thought deriving from the work of Alfred Adler, theorizing that individual behavior largely results from subconscious efforts to deal with a sense of inferiority.

The key concepts of Adlerian theory are:

• Humans are social beings.
• Humans are motivated to find one's place in society and belong.
• Personality is complete and indivisible.
• Humans are naturally creative, active, and decisional.
• Human nature is driven by an unknown creative force to better oneself.

The goal of Adlerian theory is to develop the client's sense of belonging and to assist in the adoption of behaviors and processes characterized by community feeling an social interest.

The four phases of Adlerian therapy are:

1. Establish the proper therapeutic relationship.
2. Explore the psychological dynamics operating in the client (an assessment).
3. Encourage the development of self-understanding (insight into purpose).
4. Help the client make new choices (reorientation and reeducation).

Existential Theory

Existential psychotherapy confronts the ultimate concerns and sometimes tragic existential

facts of life: death, finitude, fate, freedom, responsibility, loneliness, loss, suffering,

meaninglessness, and evil.

The key figures in Existential Theory are:

The goals of Existential Therapy are:

• The capacity of self-awareness
• Freedom and responsibility
• Striving for identity and relationship to others
• The search for meaning
• Anxiety as a condition of living
• Awareness of death and nonbeing

There are three phases to Existential Therapy:

1. Initial phase: Therapists assist clients in identifying and clarifying their assumptions about the world.
2. Middle phase: Clients are assisted in more fully examining the source and authority of their present value system.
3. Final Phase: Focuses on helping people take what they are learning about themselves and put it into action.