The articles that Freud wrote between 1904 and 1919 are referred to as Freud's articles on technique. Technique is the technique that forms the basis of psychoanalytic work. Articles on technique are generally about the role of the psychoanalyst, transference, love of transference, the dynamics of recovery, the meaning of repetitions in terms of remembering, and in-depth study. Apart from these, Freud's article Finished Analysis, Never-Ending Analysis, written in 1937, is also related to technique. From these articles we can understand how Freud viewed psychoanalytic work. It is also possible to obtain information about Freud's own psychoanalysis practice from case presentations such as Dora, the Rat Man, the Wolf Man, Little Hans and the Scheber case. We can witness that Freud's suggestions to psychoanalysts and their practice do not always follow exactly, but what is undeniable is that psychoanalysis still progresses on the basic principles put forward by Freud. For this reason, it is meaningful for someone who wants to learn about basic psychoanalytic concepts to try to study Freud's original texts, apart from post-Freudian texts or texts written on Freud.
When we look at Freud's writings on technique, we see that his technique is improving with each passing year. We witness how it develops. Freud stated that with a psychoanalysis patient, the beginning and the end are much more specific than the process, but how the process will proceed will be determined by the psychoanalyst's unique approach to the patient's specific situation. Freud compares this situation to playing chess. Tactics on how to open in chess and how to make checkmate can be learned; However, the chess player must determine which moves to make specifically for that game. A psychoanalytic study similarly disintegrates in the process. The psychoanalyst and his patient are relatively alone and untechnical in this two-person journey.
Each psychoanalyst-patient relationship is special and separate from others. In each study, the entire theoretical background, case examples, supervision work and individual experience should be re-filtered. Each study requires a new framework. This new framework will also change and transform in the process. Freud uses the term 'frame', 'analytic framework' or other similar concepts in his writings. Even though he did not use methods, it is possible to understand the framework of Freud's psychoanalytic work - his understanding of how to do psychoanalytic work, its rules and limits - from his writings through technique.
Freud's Psychoanalytic Technique (1904)
Freud called the method that Breur defined as the Cathartic Method 'psychoanalysis'. The first patients treated were those described as 'hysterical neurotics'. Breur's Cathartic Method aims to reach the first moment when the patient's pathology occurs, with the help of hypnosis. Revealing these repressed and forgotten memories and experiencing the intense emotions caused by the memories will provide healing. Treatment will be possible by repeatedly working on the discharge of the repressed.
Freud made changes in the technique and gave up hypnosis with the Cathartic Method. Instead, he suggested another technique. This arrangement is still used today: The psychoanalyst sits in his chair at an angle out of the patient's view, while the patient lies on a divan next to the psychoanalyst. The patient's eyes do not need to be closed. Touching is prohibited. At the beginning of the treatment, Freud asks patients to talk about whatever comes to their mind. Disturbing or embarrassing material should be shared like any other. The things that come to mind should not be considered irrelevant or illogical. The method that Freud put forward with these expressions is the 'Free Association Method'.
Freud stated that the treatment would not be short, and would last at least six months to three years. Today, it is predicted that an analytic study should take a minimum of four years to be completed.
On Psychotherapy (1905)
In this article, Freud states that analytic therapy will bring about a slow change. re-emphasizes and mentions the importance of not rushing.
He emphasizes that although in analytical work the patient must explain what comes to his mind with complete openness and honesty, bringing unconscious material into the treatment will always create dissatisfaction. Unconscious material coming to treatment encounters resistance at every stage. Therapist and patient; over and over again these feelings of discontent, discomfort, and resistance. They make analytical work possible by studying.
New Approaches to Psychoanalytic Technique (1910)
Analytical work is achieved by studying resistances, studying transference, and studying symbols in dreams and the unconscious. .
In this article, Freud describes an incident in which a psychologist stated that the sexual symbolic importance in dreams was exaggerated. This person explained his own dream as an example. His most frequent dream is climbing stairs. This indicates that there can be no sexual meaning in the dream. Freud states that when we examine the act of climbing stairs and steps in a dream, there is a rhythmic movement here, the person becomes increasingly breathless, and the rhythmic cycle that occurs in sexuality is represented in climbing stairs.
This article also focuses on changes related to technique. Freud states that the counter-transference is now aware and the patient can influence the unconscious thoughts of the analyst. The person working analytically must become aware of his/her counter-transference, and the way to realize this is to go through one's own psychoanalysis.
Savage Psychoanalysis (1910)
Freud added a note to this article. He begins by talking about the female patient's application to him. The female patient is in her late forties and has anxiety problems following her divorce. The doctor he went to before Freud gave him various suggestions. He even claimed that choosing one of the following three ways would be healing: 1. Returning to his divorced wife, 2. Finding a new lover, 3. Satisfying himself. He directs the patient to Freud for psychoanalysis to confirm what he said. Freud asks: “If what needs to be done is so obvious, where does psychoanalytic work fit into these three options?” If my role is simply to confirm what the doctor says, what is the function of me conducting a psychoanalytic study, then why was the patient referred to me for psychoanalysis? Freud emphasizes that this patient is in a position to think about these options that the doctor suggests to him, therefore the doctor does not suggest anything to him that he cannot think of himself, which means that the treatment requires another method. The in-depth study that psychoanalysis offers goes beyond these three options.
Freud defines this type of physicians and other analysis practitioners who do not follow the conditions required by psychoanalysis as 'wild analysts'. The way to avoid taking responsibility for wild analysts is to gather under one roof practitioners who follow what the circumstances require. This framework is the IPA (International Psychoanalytic Association), which Freud founded in 1910. The names of analysts who declared that they followed the IPA framework at that time are published. Nowadays, there is a long process required to become an IPA analyst; going through one's own analysis, years of training, seeing an analysand under supervision, etc. Freud underlines that knowing psychoanalysis does not mean knowing a few findings about psychoanalysis. He emphasizes that psychoanalysis is not something that can only be learned from books. He states that psychoanalysis can be learned from people who have expertise in this field.
The psychoanalytic approach requires a relatively long contact between the psychoanalyst and his patient. It is technically unacceptable to rush the patient from the very beginning and brutally give him secrets that the doctor might know. Wild analysts cause more harm to psychoanalysis than they do to their patients.
Consideration of Dream Interpretation in Psychoanalysis (1911)
In this article, Freud talks about the importance of dreams and their interpretation in psychoanalysis. and talks about his technique. He states that dreams are important for psychoanalysis work, but that psychoanalytic work can be done without dreams. When there are dreams in psychoanalytic study, he emphasizes that special importance should be given to the study of dreams. However, dream work should not be considered as a separate study, but analytical work should be considered as a whole. The majority of dreams occur due to analytical work.
Dream work is done with the cooperation of the analyst and the patient. The analyst's own attempt to interpret the entire dream is contrary to analytic work; the patient must work on his own dream. Symbols in dreams that cannot be interpreted will come to the fore again and again with new dreams and new symbols, so when new dreams come, one should not feel uncomfortable about not turning to the old ones.
Freud argued that different dreams formed in one night have the same meaning. It indicates that they have different appearances. He also recommends that the entire meaning of a dream cannot be interpreted in a single session, and that interpretation should be continued in subsequent sessions. It means that continuing to interpret will bring new dreams. Some dreams can be understood months later. It may even be necessary to wait for the analysis to be completed for a complete interpretation of some dreams.
Recommendations for Psychoanalytic Practitioners (1912)
In this article, Freud discusses the technique of listening with free and fluctuating attention. gets. This technique refers to listening without directing attention to anything in particular. Careful and focused listening may lead to selection from the material brought by the patient, which is undesirable for analytical work. If the patient tells exactly what comes to his mind, the necessary consequence of this technique is that the psychoanalyst listens without making a conscious choice and pays equal attention to everything that is said. The danger in making a conscious choice is that the listener will gravitate towards his own expectations and tendencies. Listening should be left to the unconscious. When resting with fluctuating attention, some of what is listened to is open to conscious use, leading to associations, while some of it sinks to the bottom to be removed from the unconscious when it coincides with what will be explained later.
According to Freud, in order to achieve success in a psychoanalytic study, the psychoanalyst must confront his patient. It must appear without purpose, without preparation and without assumptions.
The Dynamics of Transference (1912)
In this article, Freud discusses the concept of transference in the analytic relationship. Freud states that in psychoanalytic work, the patient directs his libido towards the psychoanalyst. The patient, whose need for love is not sufficiently satisfied by reality, directs his libidinal expectation designs towards the psychoanalyst as a new person. This orientation includes both conscious and unconscious parts of the libido. The psychoanalyst will become attached to one of his patient's psychic mechanisms. Libido tends to regress, partially or completely, and childish images are revived. The purpose of analytical work is to enable consciousness to reach libido and to make libido compatible with the reality principle. This work creates conflict whenever the libido is present. Recession of libido
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