PSYC 2130 Chapter 10: Chapter 10 - Basics of Psychoanalysis.docx

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2130
• Professor: Krista A Phillips

Document Summary

Freud used hypnosis to get his patients to talk about difficult topics. Later, he turned to the use of free association, instructing the patient to say whatever came to mind, for the same purpose. One of freud"s grateful patients dubbed the results of such therapy the talking cure. also the greatest contribution to psychotherapy. One reason is because making thoughts and fears explicit by saying them out loud brings them into the open, where the conscious, rational mind can deal with them. Another reason is that the psychotherapist can provide emotional support during the patient"s difficult task of trying to figure out what is going on. Freud"s ideas came from the patients he treated and even more importantly from his observations of the workings of his own mind. This is something the psychoanalytic approach has in common with the humanistic approach; both psychoanalysts and humanists begin the psychological endeavor with the attempt to know themselves.