2.4.1.1 - Psychoanalysis and treatment + Psychodynamics

• Psychoanalysis is the study of the unconscious mind and its influence on behaviour
• Psychoanalysis is a treatment in which the patient verbalises their thoughts and feelings through a variety of methods
• Free association can be talking openly, hypnosis, or dream analysis
• Free association can be used to access unconscious, repressed thoughts, which are believed to have led to criminal activity
• The therapist makes the criminal aware of the repressed thoughts and feelings and helps them to understand their thought patterns of criminality
• The therapist's target is to get the criminal to understand their criminal thought patterns and understand how to not give in to them and tend away from the criminal thought process
• Psychoanalysis therapy is probably the least favoured of modern approaches to working with offenders
• Criticism comes from Blackburn (1993) who points out that there are very few positive evaluations of classic psychoanalysis as a treatment method of offenders
• Psychoanalysis is costly and time consuming
• Psychoanalysis gives analysis of power to define what is normal and abnormal
• Imposing definitions in psychoanalysis on what is good and bad could give rise to abuse