The primary assumption of psychoanalysis is the belief that all people possess unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories.

According to Freud, neurotic problems in later life are a product of the conflicts that arise during the Oedipal phase of development. These conflicts may be repressed because the immature ego is unable to deal with them at the time.

Basic Assumptions

• Psychoanalytic psychologists see psychological problems as rooted in the unconscious mind.
• Manifest symptoms are caused by latent (hidden) disturbances.
• Typical causes include unresolved issues during development or repressed trauma.
• Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, thus gaining insight.
• Treatment focuses on bringing the repressed conflict to consciousness, where the client can deal with it.

Psychoanalytic therapy aims to create the right sort of conditions so that the patient can bring these conflicts into the conscious mind, where they can be addressed and dealt with. Only by having a cathartic (i.e., healing) experience is the person helped and “cured.”

How Can We Understand The Unconscious Mind?

Remember, psychoanalysis is a therapy as well as a theory. Psychoanalysis is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders.

In psychoanalysis (therapy), Freud would have a patient lie on a couch to relax, and he would sit behind them taking notes while they told him about their dreams and childhood memories. Psychoanalysis would be a lengthy process, involving many sessions with the psychoanalyst.

During analysis, the analyst interprets the patient’s thoughts, actions and dreams, and points out their defenses. By carefully waiting until the patient himself is about to gain the same insight the analyst can maximize the impact of the interpretation.

Related to these interpretations is the problem of the patient’s denial. The analyst may well have reason to believe that a patient’s denial of an interpretation offered by the analyst is another example of the defensive process.

Analysis of defenses is emphasized by contemporary psychoanalysts (known as ego analysts) who dispute the relatively weak role that Freud assigned the ego (Davison & Neale, 1994). They argue that defence mechanisms are the ego’s unconscious tools for warding off a confrontation with anxiety.

Due to the nature of defense mechanisms and the inaccessibility of the deterministic forces operating in the unconscious, psychoanalysis in its classic form is a lengthy process, often involving 2 to 5 sessions per week for several years.

Of particular significance during psychoanalysis are the patient’s attempts at resistance. They may attempt to block discussion by changing the subject quickly, for example, or even neglecting to turn up for therapy. Freud considered these resistances a valuable insight into uncovering sensitive areas in the patient’s unconscious mind.

This approach assumes that the reduction of symptoms alone is relatively inconsequential, as if the underlying conflict is not resolved, more neurotic symptoms will be substituted.

The analyst typically is a “blank screen,” disclosing very little about themselves in order that the client can use the space in the relationship to work on their unconscious without interference from outside.

The psychoanalyst uses various techniques as encouragement for the client to develop insights into their behavior and the meanings of symptoms, including inkblots, parapraxes, free association, interpretation (including dream analysis), resistance analysis and transference analysis.

1) Rorschach inkblots

Due to the nature of defense mechanisms and the inaccessibility of the deterministic forces operating in the unconscious,

The Rorschach inkblot itself doesn”t mean anything, it’s ambiguous (i.e., unclear). It is what you read into it that is important. Different people will see different things depending on what unconscious connections they make.

The inkblot is known as a projective test as the patient “projects” information from their unconscious mind to interpret the inkblot.

However, behavioral psychologists such as B.F. Skinner have criticized this method as being subjective and unscientific.

2) Freudian Slip

Unconscious thoughts and feelings can transfer to the conscious mind in the form of parapraxes, popularly known as Freudian slips or slips of the tongue. We reveal what is really on our mind by saying something we didn”t mean to.

Freud believed that these were no accidents but were due entirely to the workings of the unconscious. As such, they were a valuable source of insight into this part of the human mind. These are more technically known as parapraxes.

For example, a nutritionist giving a lecture intended to say we should always demand the best in bread, but instead said bed. Another example is where a person may call a friend’s new partner by the name of a previous one, whom we liked better.

Freud believed that slips of the tongue provided an insight into the unconscious mind and that there were no accidents, every behavior (including slips of the tongue) was significant (i.e., all behavior is determined).