Application Of Psychoanalytic Principles Research Articles

Integrating the ivory tower and the treatment institution

Although the application of psychoanalysis to the clinical understanding of, and work with, psychotic and personality disordered patients has developed significantly over many years now, the presence of such an approach alongside other treatment modalities in many treatment settings can often be poor and sometimes absent. This in part reflects the complexity of developing both theoretical understanding and clinical technique in relation to these patients and in many settings a combination of interventions might well be the treatment programme of choice. In this paper, the author puts forward a view that in relation to recent developments in contemporary mental health services, specifically in the provision of care and treatment for forensic and anti-social personality disordered patients and offenders, the application of psychoanalysis might have a particularly important role to play. The experiences of staff working with patients and offenders who project their unprocessed internal anxieties and conflicts into the external environment can often be difficult and disturbing. The author argues that this dynamic needs to be understood as a representation of the patient's unmanageable internal world and, as such, careful attention has to be paid to this sometimes toxic impact on staff groups and care institutions. He argues that an application of psychoanalytic principles has a unique role in this reflective task which should be seen as a necessary and crucial part of the treatment process.

Integrating research with NHS clinical practice: Unwelcome intrusion or constructive triangulation?

When embarking on research into the effectiveness of psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the NHS or the application of psychoanalytic principles, researchers come up against a number of hurdles: many clinicians still see empirical research as antithetical or disruptive to the practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy; psychoanalytic psychotherapy has previously fared poorly in evidence-based policy guidelines and this can discourage ambition, and there are technical problems of research design, measurement and standardization. Nevertheless, in a political climate which stresses service evaluation, measurable outcomes and empirical evidence, psychoanalytic psychotherapy must participate to survive. There may be gains from conducting research beyond simply meeting the requirement to provide evidence of effectiveness. Research may be viewed by some clinicians as an unwelcome intruder but it may have the potential to offer triangulation, the perspective of the ‘third’, and so strengthen the foundations of clinical practice and the development of psychoanalytic thought.

Robert Waelder and the application of psychoanalytic principles to social and political phenomena.

This presentation reveals a little-known area of Robert Waelder's work. As his literary executor, I have been privileged with access to his unpublished material, notes, and correspondence. And, of course, I am familiar with his mode of thinking. I wish to pass on some of this knowledge. What cannot be passed on, however, in some abstract intellectual way, are psychoanalytic principles themselves. Therefore, while this paper sheds light on a very particular aspect of Robert Waelder's work, it is also in some ways a cautionary tale, a plea that the reader understand what is behind the psychoanalytic point of view and its basic concepts--namely, clinical experience.

Applications of self psychology to the problem of child abuse

This article examines the application of self psychology to the problem of child abuse. The understanding of child abuse has evolved and, through the application of psychoanalytic principles, has come to be viewed as a breakdown in the parent-child relationship. Self psychology provides a furthering of this understanding and suggests treatment modalities. The case illustration demonstrates the usefullness of self psychology in both understanding and treating abusive parents.

Brief intervention with the mother of a congenitally damaged newborn infant: An application of psychoanalytic principles to infant psychiatry

Brief intervention with the mother of a congenitally damaged newborn infant: An application of psychoanalytic principles to infant psychiatry

Psychoanalytic principles in sex therapy.

We are concerned here with how psychoanalytic principles can be used in the treatment of sexual problems and dysfunctions. Three areas will be covered: (I) the meaning of the term psychoanalytic principles, (2) some of what goes on in sex therapy, and (3) how some psychoanalytic principles are used. The better we understand sex therapy, the more we will see how applicable psychoanalytic principles are in this form of treatment. Psychoanalytic principles are applied in the procedure of investigating and treating specific conscious and unconscious processes of human behavior and functioning. This procedure ultimately leads to self-realization and fulfillment. In the application of psychoanalytic principles, various techniques are used: free association, dream interpretation, analysis of doctor-patient transference and countertransference relationships, and the analysis of resistances, blockages, and resolution of intrapsychic and interpersonal conflicts. These techniques make it possible to explore unconscious processes and motivations. They also enable us to define the characterological and personality traits that lead to the specific compulsive personalities of compliance, withdrawal, or expansiveness. Each of these types adopts various neurotic strategies in an attempt at finding a solution, and these strategies influence the individual's sexual life and behavior. For example, certain affective processes appear to have specific autonomous actions when they relate to sexual functioning. Thus intrapsychic and interpersonal conflicts will affect sexual functioning, whether through the self-idealization process, self-despising, or any other compulsive attempts at solution. Psychosexual trends start from birth and are culturally influenced from then on. Generally, symptoms of neurotic conflict and anxiety and the specific type of character and personality structure (self-effacing, detached, expansive, arrogant, and so on) result in specific forms of sexual dysfunction, (impotence, premature ejaculation, preorgasmic problems, and the like). Guilt feelings and subsequent conflicts play a tremendous role in sexual dysfunctions and are of basic importance in sex therapy. By bringing into conscious awareness unconscious feelings and associ-

A FRENCH MODE OF SOCIOTHERAPY.

Since Pasteur's discovery of bacteria, medicine in France has followed the direc tion of an exact science. Specific causative agents were searched for. Investigation in psychiatry was no exception. In general, little attention has been directed to dynam ic factors or social factors previous to World War II in the understanding of psy chiatric illness. The application of psycho analytic principles in France has been limited through the two world wars with public disapproval for its emphasis on psy chosexual development, and because of its Germanic origin. Although the attitude has improved since the Second World War, the practice of psychoanalysis and its ap plications have remained confined to a small and intimate circle. On the other hand, “? Social Psychiatry― has grown con siderably in the past decade under the leadership of Professor Paul Sivadon.2 It is the purpose of this paper to discuss his ideas and his practice of “? sociotherapy,― as they have been utilized in France. Professor Sivadon has been concerned about the contemporary French psychiatric view that mental patients are seen as little more than a collection of symptoms. He has felt the need to develop active treatment techniques, based on the understanding of the dynamic etiological factors. Aside from his interest in the study of intrapsychic fac tors, he emphasized the role of environ mental factors in adaptation and its signifi cance in the development of mental illness. Mental illness to him is the consequence rather than the cause of a disturbance in the relationship between the individual and

Application of Psychoanalytic Principles to the Treatment of In-Patients in Mental Hospitals

This paper has been written with the intention of illustrating the application of psychoanalytic principles to the treatment of in-patient psychotics by reporting the treatment of a female manic-depressive patient by psychoanalysis at the Cassel Hospital during 1936–38. Unfortunately no reports of intensive in-patient psychotherapy of psychoses in this country have been published. Little prolonged intensive psychotherapy of psychoses has been carried out in hospitals, apart from the Cassel Hospital, where for many years the staff was sufficiently numerous to allow most patients to have daily interviews of significant length. In the United States experimentation has been much more active. Recently Fromm-Reichmann (1947) has reviewed many of the problems encountered in the several Mental Hospitals where psychoanalytic methods of treatment are actively pursued. Rosen has reported daring and courageous experiments. He has reported (1946) the treatment of acute catatonic excitements by psychoanalysis—his chief innovation being the long interview. With one patient the first interview was 16 hours with a break of half an hour. He has reported (1947) favourable results from treating 38 male and female schizophrenic patients, the ages of the patients ranging from 15–49, the duration of illness before treatment ranging from 1 month to 27 years, and the duration of hospital residence ranging up to 11 years. The average daily hours of treatment ranged from 1 to 12, and the duration of treatment ranged from 3 days to 11 months. In my opinion the New York Psychiatric Institute which encouraged Rosen's experiments has fostered a technique about which much more will be heard.

The Application of Psycho-Analytic Principles in Psychiatry

The Application of Psycho-Analytic Principles in Psychiatry