Psychoanalysis Treatment Approaches and Interventions 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In psychoanalytic treatment, what is the primary purpose of the 'working alliance'?
- To maintain strict analytic neutrality at all times
- To establish a collaborative bond that supports the therapeutic work (Correct answer)
- To encourage the patient to idealize the therapist
- To set rigid boundaries that prevent transference
Correct answer: To establish a collaborative bond that supports the therapeutic work
The working alliance refers to the collaborative, rational bond between therapist and patient that enables productive analytic work.
Question 2: What does the technique of 'clarification' involve in psychoanalytic therapy?
- Offering the patient a new interpretation of their unconscious conflicts
- Asking the patient to elaborate or explain something they said more clearly (Correct answer)
- Confronting the patient about a pattern of resistance
- Providing psychoeducation about defense mechanisms
Correct answer: Asking the patient to elaborate or explain something they said more clearly
Clarification asks the patient to elaborate on vague or unclear material before deeper interpretation is attempted.
Question 3: Which of the following best describes 'confrontation' as an analytic technique?
- Directly challenging the patient's childhood memories
- Drawing the patient's attention to a pattern or behavior they are not acknowledging (Correct answer)
- Providing emotional support during moments of crisis
- Interpreting the symbolic meaning of a dream
Correct answer: Drawing the patient's attention to a pattern or behavior they are not acknowledging
Confrontation points out something the patient is avoiding or overlooking, making it available for further exploration.
Question 4: In classical technique, the analyst's 'evenly suspended attention' (free-floating attention) serves what function?
- Ensuring the analyst retains strict emotional distance from the patient
- Allowing the analyst to attend to all of the patient's material without selective focus (Correct answer)
- Helping the analyst avoid countertransference reactions
- Focusing exclusively on latent dream content
Correct answer: Allowing the analyst to attend to all of the patient's material without selective focus
Freud recommended evenly suspended attention so the analyst could unconsciously register patterns across all the patient's material.
Question 5: What is the goal of 'working through' in psychoanalytic treatment?
- Achieving a single pivotal breakthrough interpretation
- Repeatedly examining conflicts from multiple angles until lasting change occurs (Correct answer)
- Terminating therapy once resistance is eliminated
- Resolving transference through direct reassurance
Correct answer: Repeatedly examining conflicts from multiple angles until lasting change occurs
Working through involves repeated exploration of unconscious conflicts so that insight becomes integrated and behavioral change is sustained.
Question 6: In object relations therapy, 'projective identification' becomes a therapeutic tool when the therapist:
- Ignores the projected feelings to maintain neutrality
- Uses countertransference feelings evoked by the projection to understand the patient's inner world (Correct answer)
- Returns the projection immediately through confrontation
- Avoids interpreting the transference to reduce anxiety
Correct answer: Uses countertransference feelings evoked by the projection to understand the patient's inner world
The therapist uses their own evoked countertransference as data about what the patient is projecting, informing subsequent interpretations.
Question 7: Which intervention is MOST consistent with a Kohutian self psychology approach when a patient becomes enraged after the analyst is late?
- Interpreting the rage as oral aggression rooted in early deprivation
- Empathically acknowledging the patient's experience of being let down and its meaning (Correct answer)
- Remaining silent to allow the patient to work through the frustration independently
- Confronting the patient about the disproportionate nature of their reaction
Correct answer: Empathically acknowledging the patient's experience of being let down and its meaning
Self psychology prioritizes empathic attunement; the therapist would validate the patient's experience of narcissistic injury rather than interpret drive-based aggression.
Psychoanalysis Treatment Approaches and Interventions 2
In psychoanalytic treatment, what is the primary purpose of the 'working alliance'?