Therapies 513-Psychotherapy

Therapies 513-Psychotherapy

Therapies 513-Psychotherapy

Any psychological technique used to facilitate positive changes in a person’s personality, behavior, or adjustment.

Demonology In medieval Europe, the study of demons and the treatment of persons “possessed” by demons.

Hysteria (now called somatoform disorders) An outdated term describing people with physical symptoms (such as paralysis or numbness) for which no physical causes can be found.

Psychoanalysis A Freudian therapy that emphasizes the use of free association, dream interpretation, resistances, and transference to uncover unconscious conflicts.

Free association In psychoanalysis, the technique of having a client say anything that comes to mind, regardless of how embarrassing or unimportant it may seem.

Resistance A blockage in the flow of free association; topics the client resists thinking or talking about.

Slowly, Freud became convinced that hysteria was related to deeply hidden unconscious conflicts and developed psychoanalysis in order to help patients gain insight into those conflicts (Knafo, 2009). Because it is the “granddaddy” of more modern therapies, let’s examine psychoanalysis in some detail.

Therapies 513-Psychotherapy

One reason for the rise of demonology may lie in ergot- ism (AIR-got-ism), a psychotic-like condition caused by ergot poisoning. In the Middle Ages, rye (grain) fields were often infested with ergot fungus. Ergot, we now know, is a natural source of LSD and other mind-altering chemicals. Eating tainted bread could have caused symptoms that were easily mistaken for bewitchment or madness. Pinching sensations, muscle twitches, facial spasms, delirium, and hallucinations are all signs of ergot poisoning (Matossian, 1982). Modern analyses of “demonic possession” suggest that many victims may have been suffering from epilepsy, schizophrenia (Mirsky & Duncan, 2005), dissociative disorders (van der Hart, Lierens, & Goodwin, 1996), and depression (Thase, 2006). Thus, many people “treated” by demonologists may have been doubly victimized.

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