N212: Health Differences Across the Life Span 2

Health Differences Across the Lifespan 2 Study Guide

Widely used in mental health setting for: • Phobias • Anxiety disorder • Obsessive compulsive disorder • Alcohol and drug abuse

Physical disabilities Chronic pain Rehabilitation centers

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©2017 Achieve Test Prep Page 26 of 140 uses a variety of nonpharmacological techniques to counsel patients, families, or groups. The primary goal is to change or modify the undesired behavior. There is often a focus on the patient’s past as a contributing factor to present behaviors and ways of coping. Psychotherapy focuses on the unconscious and how it influences human behavior. It is believed that a person is driven by aggressive and sexual impulses. It focuses mainly on the first six years of human life and how the events of this time period determine later personality. Repressed conflicts from childhood lead to personality problems later in life. Anxiety is a direct result of the repression of conflicts. Psychotherapists believe that the unconscious motives, along with unresolved conflicts, lead to maladapted behavior. Freud’s Intrapsychic Theory Freud’s intrapsychic theory states that personality is a constant struggle between instincts and attempts to conform to society. According to Freud, all psychic energy comes from the Id. The Id: • First to develop • Completely unconscious • Contains all drives • Ruled by the pleasure principle • No awareness of reality The Ego: • Second structure to develop • Operates on the reality principle • Mediates conflict among the id, ego, and superego • Provides reality testing • Monitors quality of interpersonal relations 1.5 Psychotherapy and Freud Psychotherapy