Outline and Evaluate Two Psychological Therapies at Treating Abnormality.

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Psychoanalysis is a type of psychological therapy which is part of the psychodynamic approach. Freud influenced many on how the mentally ill should been portrayed. He therefore developed psychoanalysis which involved talking through problems. This then developed into different types of therapies- dream analysis, free association and transference. The psychodynamic therory states that the unconscious comes out in dreams. According to Freud, repressed memories and impulses appear in our dreams in a symbolic or disguised form. Therapists therefore try and decipher these dreams. This is called dream analysis. Free association involves allowing the clients mind to wander. The analysist will say a word and the client will reply with the first word that they associate that word too. The idea is that such uncensored thoughts will reveal underlying conflics and uncomfortable or fulfilled wishes. The anaysist can therefore piece together patterns and offer an interpretation. Transference enables the client to project their feelings and characteristics that are unconsciously associated with someone in their life (eg a parent). When this happens, the clients repressed feeling towards this person are directed towards the analyst who is ‘standing in’ for that person and gradually neurotic feelings disappear. The aim of this whole therapy is that if someone can understand what happened in their past and what happens at an unconscious level then they can have a better understanding of what happens in their life now. To evaluate, psychoanalysis takes a long time. Although this can be seen as a negative, it can also be seen as a positive. Tschuschke et al stated that a long process means that more information can be accumulated. This therefore makes the therapy more accurate. However, it can be subjective. Different therapists will have different views and interpretations on the
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