Identification of an Intervention Tool Based on Psychodynamic Theory
Psychodynamic theory as proposed by Sigmund Freud suggests in part that early childhood development plays a role in the formation of adult personalities ("Freud and the Dynamic Unconscious" 82). There are many different tools or intervention techniques which have been developed over time in response to Freudian theory focused on the functions of the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious mind. Dream analysis, directive probing by the therapist trained in psychoanalytic dialectics, and hypnosis are among those tools. In this brief essay, a new tool/intervention is presented along with an evaluation of the tool.
The specific tool is a regression technique. The therapist provides the patient with a printed card identifying a scene, event, or interaction common in childhood which involves a child and his or her parent. The child's gender is determined by the client's gender and the gender of the parent is determined by the therapist's gender. The patient/child is told to read the card and imagine that he or she is the child in the scenario described on the card. Next, the therapist directs the child/ patient to close his/her eyes and to role play the behavior of the child as described on the card. The therapist the ad libs interactions which might be typical of the male or female parent in the situation.
The purpose of this tool or intervention is to illicit from the preconscious mind those feelings or responses experienced by a child in a stressful situation. As Freud postulated, the preconscious refers to the components of mind that are not in immediate awareness but can be brought into conscious awareness voluntarily ("Freud and the Dynamic Unconscious" 85). The goal of the intervention is to use the therapist's modeling of parental behavior to lead the client into regressing to the state of childhood, expressing hidden or suppres...