PHILIPPINE NORMAL UNIVERSITY

Taft Avenue, Manila

College of Graduate Studies and Educational Research
Faculty of Behavioral and Social Science

RACHEL S. SAMSON Master of Arts in Counseling

MC 703 Counseling Theories, Tools and Techniques Evelyn C. Bagaporo, Ph.D
7:00 AM- 10:00 AM

REFLECTION NO. 1 PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPY

The Psychoanalytic therapy focus on the individual’s experiences from early childhood

to understand if these events have contributed and affected the individual’s life. In this kind of

therapy, patterns or certain events are need to be observed and understood that may hold

signifance in individuals’ life. One significant thing I’ve learned from this therapy is to simply

explore ourselves to understand our present concerns; that the things we cannot understand

for now are can be traced back in our early childhood life. Knowing who you are by visiting

your early childhood memories or life would be a first step in addressing the problems in your

current situations.

In my perspective, knowing the process in this therapy is quite difficult knowing that

you have to look back to recognize your current situations. Tracing back things happened in

our past life might be traumatic and could awaken feelings and emotions that we buried for

long time ago. Moreover, it is hard to grasp the idea of this therapy because many us are

afraid to be confronted from our past life. I also find this therapy quite dangerous in lighter

view of tracing back the past life to understand the current situations because it is hard to

believe that our present situations (adulthood) are driven from our ealy past life (childhood).

Mostly people I think would question, how can your childhood life affect your adulthood? We

we’re your young back then, what do we know about life? With this, the therapist must guide

the counselee in a way that it would not bring much confusion, making unconcious conscious
and streghten the ego so behavior would be based on rationality that instinctual cravings or

irrational guilt.

In general, I still believe that our pasts play an important role in our futures, for example

the people we become and the problems we may experience later on in our relationships.

However, it seems as though Freud placed too much emphasis on the past, sexual elements,

and the role of mothers, while not giving enough attention to the role of cultural and societal

influences on personality development, the importance of an engaged therapist, nor the role

fathers play in the lives of children.

I continue to be fascinated by Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and therapy, although on

the other hand, I see the problems that it inherently has (too much focus on past experiences

and sexual elements) as well as the practical problems it entails (too time-consuming, not

economical, based on upper- and middle-class values, etc.)

Reference:

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8th Edition). USA:

Thomson Brooks/Cole