What is Self-Psychology?

Reference, Therapy | December 5, 2011

In the 1960’s, psychologists began to notice that there were a group of patients that were not well described by current Freudian, Cognitive Behavioral, or Ego Psychology models. These patients seemed empty and devoid of internal objects, and came to therapy looking for some meaning in their lives. On the surface, they appeared to be doing well; dig a little deeper and there was a nagging sense of needing to be validated and accepted. They had little sense of who they were and what they felt, thought, or valued. They did not seem mental “sick” as it would be traditionally understood, but they experienced very little pleasure and suffered from true emotional emptiness.

Began and championed by psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut, Self-Psychology posits that most psychopathology originates from failures in empathy from a person’s primary caregiver. For some narcissistically oriented people, because of this mis-attunement in early childhood, they do not have the objects of their parents internalized, leading to emptiness and depression. According to Kohut, empathy and mirroring heal the narcissistically oriented patient and over time this creates self-objects that were once not there. Empathic attunement of the therapist to the patient is an absolutely necessary component of successful therapy.

If you are interested therapy or counseling in the Newport Beach, Irvine or Orange County area, please contact Jennifer De Francisco, LCSW at (949) 251-8797.

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Defense Mechanism of The Week: Withdrawal

Therapy |

What is it? When an infant is overstimulated or distressed, it will often fall asleep. Adult versions of the same process can be observed in people who retreat from social or interpersonal situations when there is conflict, going into an internal fantasy world instead of relating to others. Abusing chemicals to alter one’s consciousness can also be considered a kind of withdrawal. Withdrawal can also be labeled an “autistic fantasy”, or a tendency to shrink from personal contact. Some people may generate a rich internal fantasy life, since they regard the external world as problematic; furthermore, when someone responds to this way to anxiety to the exclusion of other ways of coping, he or she could be described as schizoid.

Believe it or not, there are advantages, at least at times, to withdrawal. When an individual is attempting to escape from reality through withdrawal, there is not much of an attempt to distort it. Since people with schizoid tendencies are usually very sensitive, although they have difficulty expressing their own feelings, they are usually very adept at understanding what others are experiencing and what is happening in their environment. On the healthy end of the spectrum, one will find philosophers, artists, and scientists who have the capacity to stand aside from ordinary convention.

Unfortunately, withdrawal is more often harmful than not. The most obvious disadvantage of using this defense mechanism is that it disengages a person from living life, meaning that there is limited participation in interpersonal problem solving. People who are involved with individuals who depend on withdrawal are often frantic to get an emotional reaction out of them or they are exasperated due to their inability to connect.

If you are interested in counseling or psychodynamic therapy in Newport Beach, Irvine, or the Orange County area, please contact Jennifer De Francisco, LCSW at (949) 251-8797.

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Defense Mechanism of The Week: Regression

Therapy | December 3, 2011

Newport Beach, Orange County- What is regression? If you have ever watched a toddler start to act like an infant right after a new sibling is born, then you are familiar with the defense mechanism of regression.  The truth is, social and emotional development does not progress along a straight line. In essence, regression is the temporary or long-term reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development for purposes of handling emotional conflict.

This phenomena is easy to observe in psychotherapy; a patient who has finally summon up the courage to try out a new way of behaving will frequently revert back to older habits of thoughts, feelings, or behavior for several sessions after trying something new and challenging.

Strictly speaking, it is not regression when a person is aware of needing some extra comfort and asking to be held or reassured because of it.  In regression, the process must be unconscious.  Therefore, a good example would be when a woman lapses into a girly, babyish voice just after she has completed a large ambition, or when a man starts a fight with his girlfriend after they have reached a new level of intimacy.

Some people use the defense of regression more than others.  For example, those that tend to somatize tend to regress, reacting to the stress of growth and change by getting sick.  This process is never conscious and it may cause anguish both to the regressed person and to those involved with him or her.  It has been widely noted that when somatization and other childlike ways of dealing with life become a cornerstone of a person’s character, he or she may be characterized as an infantile personality.

If you are interested in counseling or psychodynamic psychotherapy in Newport Beach, Irvine, or the Orange County area, please call Jennifer De Francisco at (949) 251-8797.

 

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Defense Mechanism of the Week: Projection

Defense Mechanisms, Therapy | November 28, 2011

Newport Beach, Orange County- What is projection?  What does it mean for someone to project his or her feelings onto someone else?  Simply put, projection is the misunderstood perception that feelings that in reality come from the inside are coming from the outside. The classic example is of the spouse who is convinced that their significant other is cheating when they themselves are harboring feelings for someone other than their mate.  In its most mature form, projection is the basis for empathy; since we cannot actually read minds, we must project our experiences onto other people in order to understand someone else’s subjective world.  Intuition and leaps of faith involve a projection of the self onto others, and people who are in love often read each others minds in a way that comes from a projection of their own feelings.

Most of the time, projection is much more malignant; unlike regression, it is considered a more primitive defense mechanism, as there is a lack of psychological boundary between the self and the world.  When a child is a toddler, he or she does not differential between himself and the world.  “I” is equivalent to “the world”.  It is from this developmental stage (infancy) that the process of projection hails.  Often times, projections breed dangerous misunderstanding and tremendous interpersonal damage.  Projected attitudes seriously distort the perception of the person on whom the feelings are projected, usually consisting of highly negative parts of the self that the person cannot accept.   For example, when a person believes that another person is a threat to him or her because they cannot acknowledge their own angry feelings, the object of this feeling sometimes becomes very upset at feeling so misunderstood.  Hostility ensued, proving to the projecting person that their intuition was right.

As can be expected, this usually creates all sorts of interpersonal difficulty.  When a person uses projection as his or her main way of coping with life, he or she can be said to have a character that is paranoid.  Narcissistic personalities tend to use projection as well.

Jennifer De Francisco, LCSW is a psychotherapist in the Newport Beach, Irvine, and Orange County area.  Please contact her at (949) 251-8797 if you are interested in therapy, counseling, or relationship counseling.


 

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Defense Mechanism of the Week: Repression

Defense Mechanisms | November 23, 2011

What is Repression? 

In essence, it is motivated ignoring or forgetting for protection of the Ego.  This is the defense mechanism that first fascinated Freud, and has been studied in depth by therapists and psychoanalysts ever since.   Another way to say it is, as Freud defined it, a mental turning away from something, and keeping it at a distance from the conscious mind.   For example, a disturbing circumstance comes up, such as evidence that a spouse is cheating.  It is then consigned to the unconscious, with the individual subsequently feeling confidant that their spouse is faithful.

Of course, sometimes a person just forgets something because they are shifting their attention to something of greater importance, which is part of the everyday human experience.  But if an idea or a thought is not accessible because it is so upsetting, then repression is in play.  Traumatic events offer an extreme example.  After a rape or an attack, vital events are very often not accessible, which is part of a repressive, PTSD reaction.  Another more mundane example would be temporarily forgetting someone’s name who is be to introduced during an important meeting as a result of negative feelings toward this person.

Repression Is a Higher Level Defense

Repressive, believe it or not, is considered a higher level defense-one must have a sense of wholeness and continuity of the self before one is capable of handing disturbing impulses by repression.  If we were constantly aware of all of one’s impulses, feelings, memories and conflicts, we could be absolutely overwhelmed.    Repression is only a problem when it gets in the way of living positively or of finding more successful ways to cope.  Overreliance on repression has been traditionally considered a hallmark of the Hysterical Personality.

Ultimately, repression suppresses a feeling of anxiety, and is the automatic suppressor of countless anxieties that are inherent to living life.  Unhealthy repression, unfortunately, leads to more anxiety, which is characteristic of the depressed, neurotic character.

If you are interested in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy to work through unresolved issues and live in Newport Beach, Irvine, or Orange County, please contact Jennifer De Francisco, LCSW at (949) 251-8797.

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