After you have submitted your initial post, review some of your classmates’ posts and respond to at least 2 of your classmates. Your responses to others should be at least 100 words in length and substantive.

Unit 6 Discussion

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Gina Holland posted Jun 3, 2018 3:59 PM

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Hi Professor and Classmates,

To what extent does Mallory's behavior in this interview exemplify transference (see Chapter 12)?

Mallory feels as though she is not important enough for anyone to take out the time to listen to her. She feels as though she is wasting Dr. Santos’ time and just wanted to leave in the middle of the session. She interrupted herself more than one time to say what she assumed was happening with the Dr. as she was talking. She is showing transference by assuming that the Dr. does not care or have time for what she is saying.

To what extent does Dr. Santos' behavior during the session influence your judgment regarding Mallory's behavior as transference?

Dr. Santos urges Mallory to stay and made sure that Mallory knew that she was indeed interested in what she had to say. Dr. Santos is aware that Mallory is using transference on her and she is trying not to react in a way that will discourage Mallory from staying and continuing to talk about her issues. Dr. Santos uses direct eye contact and talks very little about anything to do with herself. Dr. Santos is displaying active listening.

If it is transference, what, exactly, is Mallory transferring? From whom, might you speculate, is she transferring it?

Mallory may be transferring behaviors of her mother. Mallory’s mother may have been too busy to listen to Mallory. She may have had more important things to do then listen to Mallory. She could have demeaned anything Mallory tried to talk to her about.

If it is transference, and Dr. Santos is a psychodynamic psychotherapist, what is an ideal way for Dr. Santos to handle it? What if Dr. Santos was a humanistic psychotherapist, would she handle this situation differently?

Dr. Santos should help Mallory be aware of her transference tendencies. She can let her know how this can affect her relationships with others and with her own life and offer interpretation of transference. If Dr. Santos was a humanistic psychotherapist, she may not act differently but she might see that Mallory’s transference is a chance for her to grow toward self-actualization and psychological wellness (Pomerantz, 2013).

Describe several of the defense mechanisms. (Please select several that have not all been described already by other students if possible.) Do any of those you described seem to be applicable to Mallory? How so?

A defense mechanism could be the fact that Mallory has repressed a lot of her feelings with her Mother. When the id has an impulse and the superego rejects it, the ego can repress conscious awareness of the impulse and id/superego conflict around it (Pomerantz, 2013).

Another defense mechanism Mallory could be using is projection. She could be projecting her feelings she had as a child when her mother was too busy for her onto herself when trying to explain to Dr. Santos what is happening with her. When the id has an impulse and the superego rejects it, the ego can project the id impulse onto other people around us (Pomerantz, 2013).

I believe that the repression sounds about right for Mallory. She may have repressed the painful memories including the ones she had as a child when her mother seemed to not have time for her.

Gina Holland

Reference:

Pomerantz, A. M. (2013). Clinical Psychology: Science, Practice, and Culture, 3rd Edition. [Purdue University Global Bookshelf]. Retrieved fromhttps://purdueuniversityglobal.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781452285795/