Depth Psychology: Treatment, Effects & Risks

The existence of an unconscious mind is controversial. In depth psychology, it is assumed that in addition to conscious processes, there are also unconscious ones that have a strong effect on human behavior, although they are not perceived. These unconscious mental processes are to be gradually uncovered in order to gain insight into a person’s behavior and needs. Therefore, depth psychology aims to penetrate as far as possible below the surface of consciousness in order to analyze unconscious processes that might influence conscious life.

What is depth psychology?

Depth psychology aims to penetrate as far as possible below the surface of consciousness in order to analyze unconscious processes that might influence conscious life. Philosophers like Nietzsche, Leibniz or Schopenhauer presupposed in this sense a psyche that lies hidden. The first scientific approach of a systematic investigation was made by Sigmund Freud, who founded psychoanalysis. He dealt extensively with the behavior and experience of man in order to discover certain patterns in it, for which he developed a corresponding method of treatment. In doing so, he put forward the thesis that repressed and unconscious feelings can make people ill, even cause physical symptoms. Freud attributed the conflicts particularly strongly to the suppression of sexual needs, which are then transformed into energy elsewhere. If this is not done, however, physical and mental disorders occur, of which psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression are only a few. The treatment he proposed involves the psychotherapist sitting behind the patient, invisible to him, so that he can concentrate entirely on himself. The concept of depth psychology itself was developed by Eugen Bleuler, a Swiss psychiatrist who also coined the terms schizophrenia and autism. He did not assume any separation between illness and mental health. Then one of the greatest representatives of depth psychology was Carl Gustav Jung, who presupposed archetypes that unconsciously guide behavior in every human being. Finally, processes of drive regulation and conflict processing were assumed to always underlie conscious behavior. Thus depth psychology soon divided into three major schools. Alongside Freud’s, Jung developed analytical psychology, and Alfred Adler soon called individual psychology into being. All schools follow the thesis that in the depth of the unconscious there are psychological processes of drives and similar motivational processes, which differ from school to school as the respective driving force. Freud started from the sexual drive, Jung, a disciple of Freud, presupposed a non-specific drive energy, and Adler the simple striving for power in man.

Treatments and therapies

Accordingly, depth psychology is not synonymous with psychoanalysis. They differ in treatment and, accordingly, in form, goal, and duration. While psychoanalysis aims to change the whole personality, treatment often takes place lying down, on the familiar couch, and lasts for several years, depth psychology treatment takes place sitting down and lasts no more than two years. It pursues the goal of discovering conflicts that lead to depression, for example, without wanting to transform the patient or change him from the ground up. People usually develop what are called relationship patterns in childhood. These determine how he approaches other people or perceives the environment. At the time when he developed these patterns, they gave meaning and determined the reactions. They only become a problem when the behavior is suddenly inappropriate. Disputes and upbringing by parents, as the most important reference persons in childhood, are maintained especially according to a certain pattern and determine in later life the contact with other people and likewise the relationships that a person enters into. Often the same mistakes are then made again and again, without the person being able to interpret this behavior himself. Similar to this is the relationship that the patient then builds up with the psychotherapist, who through the treatment tries to uncover these patterns and make them conscious. This is called transference. It is one of the most important means of such therapy.A transference is always to be sought where there are ideas, expectations, fears or desires that have been formed before and are revived again and again like a template. These patterns and fears are intentionally revived and evoked in therapy. In the process, the psychotherapist pays increased attention to his or her own behavior, to his or her emotional response to the patient. This is called countertransference in psychoanalysis. It is also used for treatment. The goal is not a complete analysis of the patient’s life so far, but only the change of certain unfavorable life circumstances, so that complaints and symptoms disappear. Accordingly, the symptoms are not treated directly, but their causes are resolved in the treatment of the deeper layers.

Diagnosis and methods of examination

Depth psychology is used for people who suffer, for example, from sleep disorders, depression, concentration disorders, obsessions, acute crises, from states of exhaustion or disorders of sexual functions. People who have had stressful experiences, in the sense of trauma, can also find help in depth psychology. Scientifically proven, these methods are extremely successful. Patients with eating or acute anxiety disorders, on the other hand, are less suitable for depth psychology treatment. Most therapies follow the usual pattern. From time to time, however, the psychotherapist advises temporary medication, which affects the mind and psyche and must always be prescribed by a doctor. These include various psychotropic drugs, which are useful in particularly severe crises to make the patient more stable in advance and to enable treatment that does not run the risk of being blocked by psychic episodes and breakdowns. Depth psychology as a therapy can take place on an outpatient basis, but also on an inpatient basis. For the latter conditions there are psychosomatic clinics specialized in it. Such measures are appropriate when, for example, the affected person needs a certain distance from his everyday life, job or family. In therapy, the patient can then concentrate on the treatment in peace and take courage to change.