Psychodynamic therapy and integral theory in counseling

Psychodynamic therapy is an approach to counseling that was introduced by Sigmund Freud whose work in psychoanalytic counseling was influenced by his jealous and bitter feelings towards his younger brother and his Jewish heritage that emphasized in-depth analysis. Unlike some therapy approaches, psychodynamic therapy focuses on an in-depth analysis of an individual's thoughts while seemingly ignoring the trappings of science. In addition, this approach primarily focuses on the unconscious based on its role in human development and psychological problems. Consequently, this approach to counseling facilitates an in-depth analysis of a person's psychological problems given that the root of our problems emanate from our past. Therefore, psychodynamic therapy is a suitable approach to counseling that can be further understood through the four quadrants in integral theory.

Overview of Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy is commonly known as psychoanalytic therapy and examines personality and psychological problems in terms of the unconscious. This therapy was developed by Sigmund Freud who states that unconscious psychological processes like fear shape an individual's personality. Based on his childhood experiences, Freud contends that unconscious psychological processes are strongly linked to human development and psychological problems (Ivey, D'Andrea & Ivey, 2012, p.175). For instance, Freud's jealously and bitter feelings towards his younger brother as well as his Jewish heritage that emphasized in-depth analysis influenced adult personality and work in the field of psychology. Therefore, this therapy is based on the belief that childhood experiences determine an individual's present actions and behaviors.

When using this approach to counseling, the therapy focuses on exploring a client's unconscious thoughts and emotions in order for him/her to better understand him/herself. In this case, the client's developmental history is taking into consideration in order to understand his/her present life. This is primarily because events that take place at early developmental stages of an individual affect his/her present psychological functioning. However, people remain largely unaware (unconscious) of what contributes to their behaviors such as past attachments, biological factors, and cultural determinants. The consideration of unconscious when dealing with a client's psychological problems is fueled by its view as a reservoir of memories as well as neurological and biological forces. Actually, the unconscious stores an individual's feelings that he/she is scared to open up about. From a personal perspective, the root of an individual's problems comes from the past. Therefore, it's vital to examine a person's past in order to begin helping him/her heal or discover his/her issues.

Four Quadrants and Psychodynamic Therapy

Ken Wilber introduced the integral theory of human development, which helps in understanding of mental health and human development (Ivey, D'Andrea & Ivey, 2012, p.10). Based on the integral theory, mental health and human development can be understood through comprehensive and holistic analysis of these concepts. When these concepts are incorporated in a counseling and/or psychotherapy approach, mental health professionals examine different aspects of the client's interactional nature. Some of these important aspects include cultural identity, and biological, physical and neurological processes. Wilber's integrated theory also comprises four quadrants that can be used to understand approaches to counseling and psychotherapy. These four quadrants are the individual perceptions and meaning making quadrant, the behavioral/physical/neurological quadrant, the cultural community quadrant, and the societal/professional quadrant. The four quadrants can be used to help understand the psychodynamic approach to counseling by Sigmund Freud.

Quadrant II and Psychodynamic Theory

The second quadrant (the behavioral/physical/neurological quadrant) looks at an individual's experience from the individual or behavioral perspective. This quadrant demonstrates what a person's thoughts looks like from the exterior of the one thinking. Through this quadrant, a therapist or counselor can understand the client's thoughts using whatever measure of observation. With regards to psychodynamic therapy, this quadrant helps understand the client's unconscious psychological processes through looking at his/her behaviors. Psychodynamic approach to counseling was developed based on Freud's belief that people are unconscious of what motivates their behaviors. Since people are unaware of these processes, looking at their behaviors is an indicator of the unconscious. Therefore, a client's biological/physical/neurological factors as well as behaviors are relevant to the therapy or counseling processes (Ivey, D'Andrea & Ivey, 2012, p.10).

Quadrant III and Psychodynamic Therapy

The third quadrant (the cultural community quadrant) is the interior or cultural perspective, which incorporates shared values, cultural background, meanings, relationships, and language. Through this quadrant, the pre-packaged meanings of a group of people are established and/or identified. Using this quadrant, cultural and community factors are examined on the premise of how they affect a client's mental health and counseling/therapy process. Moreover, these factors are evaluated on the basis of how they impact the counseling/therapy processes and outcomes. In relation to psychodynamic therapy, cultural or community forces outside a client's awareness affect his/her development and behavior. This implies that multicultural and community factors of the unconscious are considered when utilizing psychodynamic counseling approach with clients.

Quadrant IV and Psychodynamic Therapy

The fourth quadrant (the societal/professional quadrant) is the exterior or social perspective that incorporates social and professional factors. These factors are examined on the basis of their effect on a client's psychological wellbeing and counseling process and outcomes. Consequently, the social/professional quadrant entails ecological and social assessments, which include political, legal, environmental, economic, and educational factors (Esbjorn-Hargens, 2009). With regards to psychodynamic therapy, this quadrant is utilized to examine the client's environment relative to his/her psychological or mental health problems. In this case, the individual's past environment is largely considered and examined in light of his/her unconscious psychological processes. Therefore, the client's personal histories are examined on the basis of his/her environment relative to his/her current mental health state.

Applying Psychodynamic Therapy in Case Vignette

Tony's condition is an example of a situation that can be addressed through psychodynamic approach to counseling/therapy. Despite having good relationship with his parents and a very good family life, he is struggling with nervous thinking that is brought by a tendency to worry a lot. This situation requires an in-depth analysis of his thought processes and examining the causes of such thoughts. This can be achieved through employing different psychodynamic therapy techniques that will help deal with Tony's problem. Generally, Tony seems to be struggling with anxiety that is brought by psychic tensions due to different urges that contribute to nervous thinking. However, unconscious psychological processes that contribute to this situation are unknown.

The first technique towards helping Tony through psychodynamic therapy is free association, which is an approach that seeks to encourage a client to look for underlying unconscious factors (Ivey, D'Andrea & Ivey, 2012, p.201). This will involve free interactions with Tony and allowing him to say things that come to his mind. By being spontaneous, Tony will share his actual thoughts and feelings without concerns of how they sound. Moreover, the counselor/therapist will not attempt to shape Tony's ideas and encourage him not to share in a structured manner. This will enable Tony and the counselor to access his inner thoughts, feelings and conversations and provide valuable insights regarding the client's personal history.

The second technique is interpretation, which is relatively complex because it entails integrating knowledge of the approach with clinical data from client-therapy interaction (Ivey, D'Andrea & Ivey, 2012, p.205). It will involve encouraging Tony to reinterpret his life experiences and worldview based on insights from the counseling session. As the counselor provides interpretations of issues presented by Tony, he/she will help him learn new ways of thinking to enhance his personal development and growth. This process will also involve assisting Tony to deal with and overcome limitations brought by the unconscious.

The other approach is analysis of resistance, which involves examining the client's word and behaviors that make him ignore unconscious psychological processes. In this case, the therapist or counselor will examine probable indicators of resistance in Tony's life including his words and actions as well as the counselor's words and actions. This will help understand the individual's unconscious psychological processes that contribute to nervous thinking problem.

In conclusion, psychodynamic therapy is one of the approaches to counseling and is based on all theories of psychoanalysis. This therapy places emphasis on the unconscious psychological processes and their link to human development and psychological problems. This therapy was developed by Sigmund Freud based on his childhood experiences and the belief that people are unconscious of what drives their behaviors. Psychodynamic therapy can be understood through the four quadrants of integral theory and incorporates different techniques for dealing with various client issues.