If a behavioural therapist helped a client reslove a problem, how would a psychoanalyst critique the cure?



Answers:
The psychoanalyst would probably doubt that the behaviour therapist could make a living by actually resolving problems (and thus losing a client).

Less flippantly the psychoanalyst would see issues that needed resolving arising from very early experiences and psychodynamics that don't directly translate into behaviour. S/he would probably accept that the presenting behaviour could be resolved behaviourally but that the underlying issues expressed by the behaviour would still be seeking expression and would appear somewhere else.

If you've ever tried to hang wallpaper you've probably experience airbubbles trapped under the paper. It is easy to fix each bubble - but the problem is that you just move the air into a new bubble. That is approximately the view of the psychoanalyst - all the behaviourist is doing shifting the psychological bubble.

In relation to this they would probably want to question the use of the word 'resolve' - it is only resolved if it does not return and is not replaced by some other undesirable/self-destructive behaviour. (Back to being flippant - the psychoanalyst has no problem with measures of resolving issues and relapse rates since the client never gets that far in one life-time.)

The psychoanalyst might also question whether sufficient time was taken to determine if the presenting problem was the motivating problem. Rather like somebody going to the doctor worrying that they have cancer but just complaining to the doctor of a stomach ache and going away with indigestion tablets. People often don't say what is on their mind, so the behavioural resolution might solve a relatively minor problem but not the one that motivated the client to take action in the first place.
A psychoanalyst would probably surmise that no long lasting change would occur because the behavourist only addressed identifiable behaviours without exploring their root causes.

He / she would probably advocate for looking for the subconscious reasons the client is exhibiting a certain unwanted behaviour and suggest addressing those reasons as a way of manifesting change.
A psychoanalyst would be concerned that changing the behavior alone would be insufficient in effecting long term changes. They would look to see if the patient had identified not only the behavior but the reasons for the behavior.without getting to the root of the problem then behavioral change alone would only be a pacifier or temporary solution.

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