5/16/2023 The psychoanalytic approach and
the case of David
PSYC3017
Words: 2429
Talia Liebovitz 2455766
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND
, The psychoanalytic approach to therapy can provide a comprehensive understanding to the
case study of David, a 36-year-old man who grew up in a mixed-race family, works as the Chief
Financial Officer for his family business, and who has complicated family and personal
relationships, particularly with his older half-brother, Thabo, and his wife Boitumelo. This
essay will provide a brief introduction to Freud's psychoanalytic technique, followed by a
discussion of each central construct, exploring and explaining David's presentations with the
aim of understanding his current symptoms and conflicts. Furthermore, the major techniques
utilised in counselling that are suitable for assisting David will be discussed and elaborated on.
Additionally, this essay will discuss the challenges of using the psychoanalytic approach with
David’s presenting concerns and consider how issues of race and cultural differences may play
out in this specific therapeutic context.
The psychoanalytic approach is both a theory of the mind and a method of psychological
treatment (Westen et al., 2008). It emphasises the importance of unconscious desires and
conflicts that emerge throughout early childhood and impact an individual's behaviour and
personality (Posner, 2011; Safran & Gardner-Schuster, 2016; Westen et al., 2008). The concept
that unconscious factors, such as repressed memories, fantasies, and desires, have a profound
impact on human behaviour and mental processes, is at the core of Freud's psychoanalytic
method (Safran & Gardner-Schuster, 2016). The central constructs of Freud's approach can be
used to conceptualise David's current presentation, specifically his dysfunction. Seen in
unconscious conflicts and tensions interfering with his ability to function effectively in his
personal and professional life, the goal of psychoanalytic treatment is to uncover and resolve
these underlying conflicts to enable healthy behaviour. David's stress, irritability, frustration,
and insomnia symptoms, his difficulties in close relationships, as well as in his capacity to
manage stress and maintain his mental health are connected to numerous key concepts in the
psychoanalytic approach. Early childhood experiences, the unconscious, personality structures,
defense mechanisms, and transference are all essential concepts relevant to David.
Perhaps Freud's most significant contributions were his theories about the unconscious and
degrees of awareness. The mind, according to Freud's Topographical Model, is divided into
three parts: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The conscious mind encompasses
present ideas, feelings, and experiences, whereas the preconscious includes material that is
