A summary of findings
In answering whether psychoanalytic approach is useful we come across with many interesting fact. There are many critiques and supporters on the question of whether psychoanalytic theory is useful. Especially how Freud came to the conclusions that he did.
One of the main criticisms about Freud was that during the sessions with his patients, the evidence that was collected was collected was anecdotal. Therefore the evidence collected was not scientific due to the lack of objectivity.
Another criticism was that the theory was based on a very small sample of the total population. His patients were mostly rich, well-educated Viennese. Any theory developed on such a small sample size has limitations.
There is also experimenter bias due to Freud, he may have directed his patients to do look at certain topics that interested him. This may have caused the patient to overlook some important situations in their life.
Freud s case notes were another issue, this was due to the fact that he never wrote detailed notes during his sessions. So when he did recall events, his own perceptions and what exactly did happen could some into perception.
However a lot of his work has laid and is the foundations of the modern day psychoanalytic perspective. He gave light to the concept of an underlying cause and not to take behaviors at face value. He also gave light to anxiety/stress coping techniques through the use defense mechanisms. One of his more famous theories was adult personality being shaped through child hood experiences with particular reference to the psychosexual stages. However the psychosexual stages are barely focused on. Lastly is his work on the unconscious. This theory is about how people are not aware of their behavior and how the unconscious influences it.
In conclusion modern psychoanalytic theories are a useful use full perspective on psychopathology because it helps the person get into the core of the problem. Although the theory does explain a lot about the person s thoughts and why they may behave in a certain way, it certainly does not explain everything.
SECTION 3
Impact of the theory on policy
Freud s psychoanalytic theory gave ground to formation of one on one therapy of criminal offenders and the formation of certain ways of imposing rehabilitation. Programs that would identify offenders as well as how to treat them. His major points of his Freud’s therapy has been more influential than any other, and more influential than any other part of his theory. Here are some of the major ones.
Relaxed atmosphere. The client must feel free to express anything. The therapy situation is in fact a unique social situation, one where you do not have to be afraid of social judgment. In fact, in Freudian therapy, the therapist practically disappears. Add to that the physically relaxing couch, dim lights, soundproof walls, and the stage is set.
Free association. The client may talk about anything at all. The theory is that, with relaxation, the unconscious conflicts will inevitably drift to the fore. It isn’t far off to see a similarity between Freudian therapy and dreaming! However, in therapy, there is the therapist, who is trained to recognize certain clues to problems and their solutions that the client would overlook.
Resistance. One of these clues is resistance. When a client tries to change the topic, draws a complete blank, falls asleep, comes in late, or skips an appointment altogether, the therapist says “aha!” These resistances suggest that the client is nearing something in his free associations that he — unconsciously, of course — finds threatening.
Dream analysis. In sleep, we are somewhat less resistant to our unconscious and we will allow a few things, in symbolic form, of course, to come to awareness. These wishes from the id provide the therapist and client with more clues. Many forms of therapy make use of the client’s dreams, but Freudian interpretation is distinct in the tendency to find sexual meanings.
Parapraxes. A parapraxis is a slip of the tongue, often called a Freudian slip. Freud felt that they were also clues to unconscious conflicts. Freud was also interested in the jokes his clients told. In fact, Freud felt that almost everything meant something almost all the time — dialing a wrong number, making a wrong turn, misspelling a word, were serious objects of study for Freud. However, he himself noted, in response to a student who asked what his cigar might be a symbol for, that “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” Or is it?
Other Freudians became interested in projective tests, such as the famous Rorschach or inkblot tests. The theory behind this test is that, when the stimulus is vague, the client fills it with his or her own unconscious themes. Again, these could provide the therapist with clues.
When this method is applied in rehabilitation the therapist gets a better understanding of the offender because the whole idea is based on the principle to treat each person as a unique case. Also another implication of the theory is that we can identify the stages early as well as finding when the damage occur and the person turned into a deviant. We must also remember that early detection is a major issue in criminal justice field not only because it enables us to identify and provide treatment for the deviant but also it gives the opportunity to focus on certain groups that seem to have those characteristics. The drawback though is that bearing in mind all those characteristics that lead to deviant behavior one runs into the problem of being biased or treating those that belong to that group differently and also labeling them before even they get a chance of demonstrating delinquent behavior.
Crime specific applications
Compulsive behavior is a type of crime that can be explained using the theory. The person that exhibits this type of behavior usually does not measure the outcome of his action in the long run, he or she therefore wishes to satisfy the need that drives him to deviant behavior. So by using the theory of ego superego and id, we can explain the drive that employs people into such a behavior. In order for us to understand and cure this behavior we must apply the theory that is provided and then make sure that the person is rehabilitated.
A good way in order to solve such a behavior is to increase the long-run effect of his action into one of short-run effect. What I mean by that is that his action should be immediately punished therefore no instant gratification can be sustained.
A good way to do this is for example the speeding up of the court trial for the committed offence. Also the idea of having immediate actions taken in the crime scene . In other words device a form of penalty that will be immediately implemented by the people who suffered from the offender s action.
By this way the would be offender will have to rationalize his action before committing it as well as knowing that there is immediate punishment to his action.
REFERENCES
Aichhorn, A. (1995) Wayward Youth (trans), New York: Meridian Books
Alexander, F and Healy, W.(1935) Roots of Crime, New York.
Alexander, F and Staub, H. (1931) The Criminal the Judge and the Public, New York: Macmillan
Atkinson, Smith, Bem and Nolen-Hoeksema, (1996) Hilgards Introduction to psychology Harcrourt Brace and Company
Brice Avery (1996) Thorsons principles of psychotherapy , Thorsons
Gross, Richard., (1996) Psychology the science of the mind and behavior Hodder & Stoughton
Healy, W. and Bronner, A.F. (1936) New light on Delinquency and its Treatment, New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press.
Hollin, C., (1996) Psychology and Crime. Routledge.
Sutherland, Stuart., The Macmillan Dictionary of Psychology
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