Essay about cognitive approach

Submitted By socialthinking111
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Psychoanalytic Essay
Sigmund Freud, one of the founders of the Psychoanalytic theory said he was able to cure most of his patients from what back then they called "hysteria" by putting that theory into practice. In 1885 Sigmund Freud with the help of his friend/colleague (Josef Breuer) developed the Psychoanalytic theory and put it into practice, the first patient to receive this "talk therapy" was a lady called 'Anna O' her real name was (Bertha Pappenheim). Anna O was Josef Breuer's patient and Freud never met her but when Breuer talked to Freud about how letting his patient talk about specific events in her life managed to relieve her symptoms of hysteria, it led him to write a book called "Studies on Hysteria" co-written by 'Josef Breuer' which was then published in the year 1895.
The names of Freud's other famous patients were:
• The Rat Man (Ernst Lanzer)
• H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
• The Wolf Man (Sergei Pankejeff)
All of these patients were in Freud's words "cured" from their mental illness due to using his Psychoanalytic approach i.e. (Talk Therapy).

Freud's Psychoanalytic approach was most dominant after his and Breuer's published book in 1895 right up until the 1930's, What influenced Freud's main theory was not only his curiosity to understand why humans behave the they do but there were also another five physicians four of which you might not have heard of, there was the not so famous:
• Frank Brentano- was born January 16, 1838 and died March 17, 1917 he was a psychologist and philosopher.
• James Braid- also referred to as "Father of Modern Hypnotism" he was born June 19, 1795 and died March 25, 1860, he originated in Scotland and was a physician specializing in muscular and eye conditions.
• Pierre Marie Felix Janet - was born May 30, 1859 and died February 24, 1947, he specialized in the field of traumatic memory and dissociation, he was also the first psychologist to connect someone's past to their present day trauma.
• Georg Groddeck- was born October 13, 1866 and died June 10, 1934. This man influenced Freud because he also thought that you could treat a person's physical problems by using some form of psychological process.
And the last but most famous and well known-
• Josef Breuer - was born January 15, 1842 and died June 20, 1925, is known as being the psychologist/physician on the 'Anna O' case.
All of these psychologists/physicians influenced Freud's Psychoanalysis (Psychoanalytic) Theory due to their beliefs on past traumatic experiences causing present day trauma.

Freud believed that past traumatic events are to blame for a person's present behaviour for example:
If a person at a young age; let's say 2/3 years old, was physically hurt by someone they trusted then Freud says that it can result in traumatic and radical behaviour as an adult but according to Freud's Psychoanalytic theory (talk therapy) a person's trauma/mental illness and radical behaviour can be cured by getting the patient to talk about his or hers past, hence the name 'talk therapy'.

Although there is no scientific evidence to approve or disprove Freud's theory, Freudians say that "Freud never intended for his theories to be scientific". Freud knew his psychoanalytic approach worked due to using it in his case studies involving the people mentioned earlier in this report.

Cognitive Approach

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