Sigmund Freud's Psychodynamic Case Study

Ellen is a thirty-nine year old women currently in the throws of a midlife crisis. She claims to be seeking therapy due to general unhappiness and dissatisfaction with her life. Ranging from psychosomatic conditions to crying over trivial matters Ellen is not happy with her current situation. She was recommended by her doctor to a psychotherapist. Created by Sigmund Freud, the origins of psychotherapy stem from the belief that there are certain forces that cause human behavior, feelings, emotions and their ability to relate to early life experiences.

Upon reading the case of Ellen, it was evident that there are some major issues that were underlying factors for this case. Firstly, Ellen’s relationship with her mother was toxic. Growing up,

A person who is said to have a strong ego (a part of a person’s conscious mind that serves a mediator between the id and the superego) has a good balance of drives and morality and thus leads a good and happy life. On the other hand, if a person has a weak ego the person could be seen as either immature or too inflexible depending on whether the id or the superego are more powerful. In the case of Ellen, her superego is more dominant than her id; resulting in anxiety. This anxiety is a signal to the ego that it is facing a situation that requires action. The action is usually conquered by defense mechanisms that people unconsciously use to diminish their anxiety and become happier. In psychodynamic theory, symptoms (such as depression) are seen as an intrapsychic conflict resulting from the superego harshly repressing the id. This is the only way the emotions can be concisely acknowledged. Ellen seems to be dealing with introjective depression, a form of depression that occurs when a person feels as of they have failed to meet either their own standards or that of important loved ones. Thus, making them feel like failures. This type of

These experiences from childhood are then internalized and exist in one’s unconscious. When one gets older, the process of internalization switches to that of identification, as the person already has a set of ‘templates’ from all of his past experiences that affect all future relationships. This explains Ellen’s relationship with her husband, as her past templates are the relationships she had with her father and mother which consisted of fear and lack of emotional connection, Ellen does not know anything else and is consequently dealing with an emotionally unavailable