For this assignment, use your notes and observations from the sample psychoanalytic psychotherapy session. If needed, watch the video session again.
Write a 2–3 page essay identifying the following analytic techniques discussed in the lesson:
free association
dream analysis
resistance
transference
interpretation
Briefly describe the techniques and how the portion of the session you identify fits this description. You may use outside sources to illustrate your points. Please cite accordingly in APA style. Complete your essay in a Word document and submit it when complete.
Transcript:
Setting: psychotherapy office]
[Fade in on psychoanalyst sitting next to an empty couch, notebook in lap, looks at watch. Buzzer sounds. The analyst buzzes in the patient, who rushes in and flops down on the couch (lying back).]
ANNA: Sorry I’m late. I forgot we had an appointment.
DR. KLEIN: Hmm-mmm
ANNA (annoyed): God, do you even care? Whatever. You have no idea how hard it is to get here. I take two subways and then have to walk 10 blocks. I’m not even sure it’s worth it.
DR. KLEIN: Did you forget? Or did you not want to come?
ANNA: Why wouldn’t I want to come? I schlep over here two times a week, right? I must want to come, right? Why would you say that?
DR. KLEIN: Well, we got into some tough stuff about your dad last time. Maybe you “forgot” because you didn’t want to go there.
ANNA: That’s weird. I never thought about that… I don’t know.seems like a stretch. Anyway, I’ve just got too much stuff going on: school, work – school is crazy right now… I have finals and I am studying all the time. Work is work.
OK, so I had this crazy dream last night… I was a little girl and we were at the ocean. The beach where we used to go when I was young… my dad was there, so he and my mom couldn’t have been divorced yet, and we were playing in the water, And everything was so beautiful. There was this golden light shining all around, and my mom and dad were laughing and smiling. They were happy, you know? And I was happy, too. My dad was throwing me up in the air and I was squealing, and then he gave me a big hug and told me he loved me…
DR. KLEIN: How did you feel in the dream?
ANNA: Safe… loved.
DR. KLEIN: Go on.
ANNA: So I look way out to sea and I see this big black cloud rolling in. It seemed to be moving slowly at first, but it kept rolling and rolling, faster and faster, and I said to my parents, “We should go inside. There is a storm coming.” But they ignored me and kept talking and laughing, and I got more and more frantic. And then… angry, I guess. And finally I was screaming because the thunder started booming and I started to get really scared and the waves started crashing around us, and I kept pulling at my dad, “Come on, come on. We’re in danger. Let’s go inside.” But he just wasn’t listening – didn’t seem to notice the storm. And then it was on us. All around us and a huge wave came crashing over me and my dad, and I came up gasping for air and looking for him, but I couldn’t find him… it’s funny, I didn’t see my mom either, but I was so focused on looking for my dad and I was frantic because he was just gone. Totally gone. And I started crying and looked up and saw someone walking along the beach towards me. They looked familiar, but I couldn’t make out who it was. And the person came closer and closer and then I realized it was you, and you reached out your hand and pulled me out of the ocean. And then I woke up.
DR. KLEIN: And how did you feel in the dream when you realized your dad had disappeared?
ANNA: Desperate – empty – like I might disappear or evaporate or something… and so sad.. like “black-hole” sad… the sort of sad where you feel like you can’t breathe and there is nothing left inside.
DR. KLEIN: And, then? At the end of the dream?
ANNA: It’s funny. As soon as I saw someone on the horizon, I felt… like maybe a glimmer of hope? Like maybe I could go on if I could just reach out to this person, they might save me…
DR. KLEIN: And when you realized it was me?
ANNA: some relief… somehow knowing you wouldn’t walk by and leave me to drown.
DR. KLEIN: And when you woke up?
ANNA: Still sad… really sad… but not hopeless sad – like there is a sadness inside me and it’s there, you know?
DR. KLEIN: Hmm-mmm
ANNA: and this feeling like I know it’s there and it’s not going anywhere, but it’s part of me so I feel like I can live with it, and like it’s not going to take over and crush me because that’s how I felt when I first realized my dad was gone…(long pause) wow. That is how I felt when I first realized my dad was gone… coming home and seeing my mom just crumpled up on the couch and reading that letter…. reading it. Realizing he was gone and wasn’t coming back, it was like…
DR. KLEIN: A wave?
ANNA: Yes…yes…a wave. Like a tidal wave… well… like the dream.
DR. KLEIN: And it is sad… unbelievably sad that he gave up. He opted out, and you will always be sad for that, and you’re right- it is part of you, but it’s not the biggest part or the strongest part – there are lots of other parts.
ANNA: And the fact that it is you in the dream?
DR. KLEIN: Well, why do you think it’s me in the dream?
ANNA: Well, you’re not a replacement for him.
DR. KLEIN: No.
ANNA: But I guess the feeling I get when I’m in here is one that I had with him – what I remember of him…
DR. KLEIN: And what is that feeling?
ANNA: Safe, loved even, it’s probably the one place where I feel like I’m not drowning, so why would I forget an appointment?
DR. KLEIN: Because I think it’s hard to remember the end result of coming here is the good feeling – of feeling safe and loved like your dad made you feel, but it’s hard to get to that. You have to wade through the sadness to get to it, and we don’t like to do that. None of us like to do that. It hurts and it reminds us of the pain inside, but working through it like we are is what we have to do to remind our unconscious selves that we can get through the painful parts and there is relief on the other side of that.
