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Psychoanalysis

This paper examines one of the fundamental approaches to both individual and family therapy, psychoanalysis. Although professional understanding of the psychoanalytic approach has undergone some essential changes since the theory was pioneered by Sigmund Freud at the end of the 19th century, many of its essential tenets - talking and other communications, interpretation, and transference - remain useful to the modern therapist. It has continued to evolve as counselors have refined its precepts and adapted its techniques to the cases of specific clients. In applying these techniques to family work, the contemporary counselor can use a psychoanalytic approach both to work with the family group as a whole and to work in individual sessions with members needing the additional help of a one-on-one focus. This paper examines the ways in which classical psychoanalysis has been adapted both to newer theories and to the interesting demands of family therapy. It also looks at the approach's potential pitfalls and criticisms, considering both its usefulness as a tool and its limitations.

PSYCHOANALYSIS: THE FOUNDATION OF INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY THERAPY

From the time that science started to develop theories about the workings of the human mind, scientists were also searching for ways to apply that understanding to a treatment of psychological disorders and disturbances. Even before the existence of the unconscious became widely accepted, human beings struggled with conflicting feelings, unexplained behaviors, and powerful emotions. Thinkers of each age tried to understand these unexplained responses to the world and to determine what could be done to either help people modify their behavior or to rid society of the disruptions that what was eventually called psychopathology caused.

In the late 19th century, a flurry of thought laid the groundwork for what would become modern psychology. One of the first substantial attempts to...

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Psychoanalysis. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 03:29, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1687841.html