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The psychological treatments are all various methods of
therapy, with varying degrees of success. The treatments are nearly
always harmless, and the only thing that a patient has to lose is the
cost of the treatment, unlike antipsychotic medications, which destroy
brain cells and blanket the brain, causing a sedated state of being,
and ECT, which destroys tons of brain cells, leaving irreparable damage.
The main types of psychological treatments are:
Started by Freud, psychotherapy is a treatment of various mental disorders
and complications in which the psychotherapist "talks to the unconscious."
In discussing dreams that the patient had, or just talking about life
or relationships, the therapist gets a glimpse of what's going on in
the unconscious mind. Once this is identified, the therapist then nudges
the patient to initiate and respond to conversations that indirectly,
or directly, relate to what is REALLY bothering them. This process usually
takes anywhere from a year to numerous years to complete, and is often
put down for taking so long to fix seemingly simple problems.
While Freud treated the patient
directly, Spotnitz established objects that the schizophrenic could
relate to. An example would be if the patient seemed to mention his
dog a few times during the session. The analyst would then continue
talk of the dog, and if the patient was in a glum mood, the analyst
would paint the dog as being sad. Once the patient understood the dogs
problem, the analyst would treat the dog, always reading the patient,
and would ask for patient input, too, on the dog's treatment. The patient
would subconsciously recognize a parallel between him and the dog, and
would mature through the therapy.
Initially, in the therapy, the model schizophrenic would be withdrawn
and not too eager to talk. Instead, he would be quite indifferent about
the analyst. "If you die, the hospital will just send another."
"Why should I care about YOUR life?" (If too much rage, rather
than indifference is immediately felt towards the analyst, then this
hinders the therapy, along with too much love towards the therapist.)
The Modern Psychoanalytic movement sees this indifference as a repression
of rage, and that this rage, instead of being directed outward, is directed
to the patient himself. The analyst's first job is to try to get a glimpse
of this rage and try to point it out to an object. While the Modern
Psychoanalytic movement doesn't necessarily endorse catharsis, this
is a good method of initiating a connection between the patient and
the analyst.

Freud developed the psychosexual stages of development:
Oral (0-1 yrs)
Anal (1-3)
Phallic (4-7)
Latency (7-12)
Genital 13+
Freud only really worked with patients that were over
the age of 5, with the ability to speak coherently. If a 30 year old
came to him at 2:00, and started feeling left out by the 1:00, say,
that the 1:00 is getting him at a better time or is getting more out
of him, then Freud could recognize this as being a projection of her
and her older sister. Freud could then treat this feeling of neglect,
and throughout the therapy, the patient would become better. Schizophrenia,
also known as the Narcissistic Neurosis, is believed to have developed
in the preverbal stages of development, when the feelings that the individual
had were not conveyed in words. This makes standard psychotherapy difficult,
because a direct association between those feelings and speech isn't
there. The therapist must then skillfully talk to those emotions and
feelings, without actually talking to them. This is by use of transference.
When the analyst makes a "connection" with the patient, this
can be done through transference. Transference is basically when the
patient takes his/her aggression, or other emotions felt by previous
experiences, and directs it at the analyst, being closest persona. This
transference has always been key to psychoanalysis, as it is key to
the analysis of the schizophrenic patient. There are different stages
of transference:
Negative Narcissistic Transference
Positive Narcissistic Transference
Negative Object Transference
Erotic Transference
Positive Transference
Freud dealt only with patients who were at the NOTranference
stage, and nothing earlier. It is at this stage where speech is developed,
and so the patient can go through a 'talking cure.' Freud's big thing
was the Talking Cure. It's basically the patient sitting on the bench,
and the analyst talking and directing the patient through his problems.
This doesn't work with schizophrenia, because schizophrenia is believed
to start in the first stage of transference. Since this is preverbal,
it is harder to treat than the average neurotic.
Mirroring is the most widely used method of treating the narcissism.
Initially in the therapy, an indifference is felt by the patient towards
the analyst. To help that, the analyst will engage in conversation about
the what a nice day it is, if he/she likes the colors of the curtains,
and so on with trivial nonsense. This will continue until the patient
makes some sort of emotional attachment towards the therapist, and we
hit our first transference road-block. The patient will no longer feel
indifferent towards the analyst, but will feel a contempt towards him.
This is a good sign. This is an indication that the aggression that
is turned towards the patient's self is now being redirected, to some
degree to the analyst. This is the first, and most important, connection
between the analyst and the patient. The therapist's job is now to work
through the negative narcissistic transference, and this is done by
mirroring the patient's mood. If the patient is cautious, the therapist
is cautious, if the patient is outgoing, the therapist is more outgoing.
This tends to show the patient that he is in the proper atmosphere,
and he is understood, to some degree. He/She will most likely become
angry about narcissistic situations, like lack of attention, abuse,
etc. by the analyst. Once this passes, then the patient will talk about
how his life was pretty good, and will usually be in a happy state during
the session. The patient usually won't say something like, "Wow,
do I love your company!" but will react more like a baby at the
heels of his mother, perfectly content. He is standing near his mother
and is happy, but he won't say, "Boy, mom, do I love your company."
The company is there, and so is the positive feeling that is felt by
the analyst. After overcoming this preverbal stage,(entering the erotic
level of transference), we are now in Freud's realm of psychoanalysis.
Now, the patient can be treated like a neurotic, and can become functional
in society, depending on the patient and analyst. This is now the most
widely accepted practice, as the Modern Psychoanalytic movement is the
largest analytical movement in the US.
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