Some other therapy techniques use the same type of stream of consciousness method. Free association writing involves writing down thoughts as they come to you. You may do this in a therapy session or as a homework assignment between sessions. The therapist reads what you've written. Then, they'll offer you their thoughts, ask you questions about what certain words mean to you, and explain how your thoughts reveal certain things about you. Some therapists may use a different free association technique by giving you more instructions.
They might tell you to think of a certain situation and share the thoughts that arise from that suggestion. Free association is central to the process of psychoanalysis and certainly important in psychodynamic therapy as well as other treatment methods. Therapists do still use free association, although the technique has changed to some extent.
In modern therapy, the client usually takes a more active role in the process of unraveling the meaning of the apparently unrelated words, phrases, and descriptions. The therapist might also give more instructions and engage with you more than early psychologists like Freud did with his patients.
Because psychotherapy is more readily available, more people are familiar with it and more open to different therapeutic techniques. Free association has also been depicted in everything from books and movies to animated TV series. So, once you begin to engage in the method, it may seem more familiar to you than it was to people in the late s.
This familiarity may make you feel more comfortable with it, and you may relax more as you're doing it. In Freud's day, free association was only used in psychoanalysis and rarely in any other situation. Now, it's not only used in psychoanalysis therapy, but it's also used in psychodynamic therapy and other forms of therapy.
Saying what comes to mind is also familiar to anyone who's been involved in a brainstorming session to create something new or work out problems in a business. Whether your therapist is a psychoanalyst or an eclectic therapist, free association therapy can provide you with many benefits:.
In free association, you don't discard thoughts even if you think they're irrelevant. Because your therapist hears every thought, they can understand things neither of you might have realized before. While you might not see the significance of something that comes to your mind, the therapist has a broader perspective, having spoken to many other people with similar mental health issues. Sometimes, we file away painful thoughts so deeply in our unconscious that even we don't realize they're there.
If those thoughts are important to us, sometimes all it takes is a free association session to reveal them. When this happens, the knowledge of what you've been hiding from yourself can bring you a sense of relief and closure. And, once you know about that thought, you can deal with it consciously and reasonably decide what to do.
People tend to repress feelings that are too painful or confusing to deal with at the moment. You may feel numb about something you think should be upsetting you deeply. For example, if a parent who has lost a child feels nothing about that loss, it can be vital to their mental health to confront those feelings of grief.
During free association, you can tap into your deeper feelings about such issues, experience them in safety, and eventually move on. It's one thing to know you have a problem. It's often more difficult to know what's behind your symptoms. Free association psychology sessions can help you find where the problem began. Free association is central to the process of getting to the root of serious mental health issues, so you can work with your psychologist to create a plan for overcoming them.
Free association can help nearly everyone. However, as a sole method of therapy, it has limitations. It's important to assess its value to you in your situation. Type of Mental Health Issues. The issue you're dealing with is an important consideration. If your issue is that you're trying to change behavior quickly, cognitive behavioral therapy might be more appropriate for you.
On the other hand, if you want to delve into a long-standing and significant problem, free association might be an excellent way to open up the conversation. That doesn't mean free association is only for severe mental illness, though. It can be used to uncover any important memories, thoughts, and feelings. There are therefore multiple levels in the generative model sensory systems, memory, self-representation, etc.
How, then, might we study these different levels and which are the most fundamental? Figure 1. This diagram proposes a synthesis of the passage from the 1 bodily states to 2 the hierarchical structures of the brain to 3 the subjective experience and to 4 the free association that expresses this experience.
There exists between the purely biological level and the subjective experience an ontic chiasm which specifies the differences between the processes of conscious psychic functioning. A Markov blanket operates as a space of delimitation and communication between these two levels in the sense that this blanket forms an organizational boundary which allows for the emergence of the subjective experience.
This mental functioning emerges through symbolization processes shaped by early intersubjectivity and the passage through the other that characterize it. This intersubjectivity at the origin of thought is gradually internalized and takes the form of what Bion calls the Alpha function.
The highest levels of psychic functioning also influence the lower levels thanks to the top—down processes while the bottom—up processes emerge from the biological levels and give birth to the top—down processes.
This is exactly what Freud tried to do by showing the main principles organizing psychic reality pleasure principle, reality principle, principle of constancy, etc. Likewise, the distinction between primary and secondary processes appears to make up the two most significant levels of mental functioning associated with specific principles, as suggested by both Freud and Kahneman As we shall now explore, Solms, Friston, and Carhart-Harris also propose a model that reflects and enriches psychoanalytic models and the modelization of these principles, particularly as they relate to free association.
Mark Solms has opened an important dialogue between research in contemporary neuroscience — especially the work of Karl Friston — and psychoanalytic models concerning the notion of free energy. Solms rather suggests that there is a primary and affective 13 form of consciousness closely connected with the reticular system 14 which exists prior to the cerebral cortex Thus, Solms argues that consciousness depends initially on logics relating to the Freudian id rather than the ego Mental representations may thus attain preconscious and conscious processes when they are transformed by the cortex into a material sufficiently stable to become the object of working memory.
In other words, the transition from primary processes to secondary processes would correspond to the way in which free energy becomes bound by secondary processes, thus permitting the stabilization of mental representations and their access to a secondary or reflexive form of consciousness Solms, But how might this transition from the primary affective consciousness to the secondary consciousness, from free energy to bound energy, arise?
And what is the influence of this transition on our understandings of free association? They suppose that the DMN is consistent with Freudian ideas of the ego that could take part into this transition from primary to secondary processes. The DMN defines a network that develops during childhood and connects several anatomical zones remaining active during the resting state — notably the medial temporal lobe, the medial prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate cortex, the precuneus, and other neighboring regions of the parietal cortex Buckner et al.
It consumes more energy than any other areas of the brain, a fact that signals a high associative density between these other areas. For Carhart-Harris and Friston, the activation of the DMN also corresponds to a decrease in the activity of the lower levels of organization, which suggests that it serves to modulate internal and external inputs or to suppress prediction errors the free energy stemming from lower levels of mental functioning.
The DMN is mainly engaged in higher mental operations, such as meta-cognition and reflexivity, as shown by several imaging protocols Carhart-Harris and Friston, Lastly, the activation of the DMN is inversely proportional with the attention system 18 and its activity appears to decrease with age as well as in people with attention deficit disorders.
More precisely, according to Friston , conscious activity, linked to the processes of the DMN, would constitute a temporary measure of adaptation between the brain and the environment. Dimkov suggests an alternative view in which DMN is co-activated with Centre-Executive Network during regression processes.
Solms argues that this work of articulation and prediction operates during the transition from primary to secondary processes, or from affective to stabilized consciousness The main function of consciousness is then to carry out this work of prediction through the affects self-informing the subject regarding the relevance of its generative model.
The primary relation to the world is thus an affective relation intrinsically linked to the pleasure principle. When the effects of surprise disappear, this form of consciousness is no longer necessary, in the same way that the dancer does not need to reflect upon the movements practiced a thousand times.
Linguistic systems word-representations allow the subject to regulate these primary affects, opening the way to forms of associativity obeying different principles.
Thus occurs a transfer from the primary associative logics to the linguistic apparatus, from affects to word-representations see Figure 2. The latter, as Roussillon et al. Figure 2. The FEP applies at the different levels of mental functioning from sensory stimulation to secondary consciousness. We have here indicated the major neurobiological processes, the type of processes and principles, the equivalents in the Freudian topography, as well as the level of entropy at each level of functioning.
Free association thereby appears as the expression of the work of psychic integration carried out by the DMN. The brain thus appears to have evolved in order to simulate its environment and diminish the effects of surprise thanks to a Bayesian model. Free association can be considered as an echo of this process insofar as it reflects the functioning of psychic reality, itself constructed through a constant relation with the environment virtually simulated via a generative model Hopkins, For Carhart-Harris, the hierarchical structures of the brain are situated within a continuum depending on different levels of organization.
The secondary consciousness, on the other hand, works to diminish high entropy levels resulting from the primary consciousness by organizing and constraining cognition. Depressive states, on the other hand, will demonstrate a difficulty in balancing the uncertainty arising from primary levels of psychic functioning In such states, neuroimaging has revealed a hyper-activation of the DMN, a consequence of hypertrophied introspection and a desperate attempt of the ego to control the entropy stemming from primary processes.
For example, avalanche processes could lead to psychotic collapse showing how the ego is suddenly unable to internalize new energy input Carhart-Harris et al.
Psilocybin alters consciousness through a disorganization of cerebral activity, which translates into a significant decrease in the activity of key brain areas connected to the DMN. Psychedelics can thus generate profound states of insight concerning the self, often referred to as an oceanic feeling Freud, of dissolution of the ego and its borders.
The phases of paradoxical sleep, initial and acute psychotic periods, and certain epileptic states also seem to engender regression to primary consciousness. Thus, as Freud suggested, dreams and psychoses probably pertain to primary forms of consciousness also dominating in infancy , while meta-cognition would develop only secondarily on this topic, see also, Hopkins, In sum, a distinction emerges between two main states of cognition, the first being characteristic of the state of consciousness of the adult, and the second, present in infancy, reappearing through mechanisms of regression.
These two states of consciousness are related to certain frequencies of neuronal activity, in particular the power of alpha waves correlated with reflexive activity Carhart-Harris et al.
Certain cerebral rhythms correspond to a decrease in entropy due to an increase in the exchange of information between neural networks. The use of psilocybin, in particular, induces a decrease in the activity of the alpha spectrum, thus resulting in a subjective feeling of disintegration. Under the effects of such psychedelics, the brain behaves more randomly, its hierarchical functioning becomes anarchic, and the associativity becomes more flexible, regressing to primary modes of functioning The deployment of free association and the passage through high entropic states would allow for a necessary relaxation of the psyche, thereby reviving processes of symbolization.
Examining free association therefore seems crucial for understanding psychic integration between internal and external worlds. To what extent do these theoretical models of free association resonate with, and affect, clinical practice? The work of free association therefore follows the different modes of symbolization in order to share, integrate and transform the internal experience within the present therapeutic intersubjective relationship.
A primary form of free association concerns mainly the emotions emerging within the dialogue of therapy. At a more elaborate level of psychic functioning, the passage through words, to form new signifying chains, breaks this primary and shared form of regression. This work operates more specifically through conscious activity and word-representation, and it reduces the entropy coming from lower levels of mental functioning. The patient may then deploy more elaborated and secondary levels involving the stabilization of mental objects, as Solms suggests.
This work of stabilization may participate in the process of psychic integration as evidenced, for example, by the patient who suddenly becomes able to understand previously unintelligible parts of his or her experience affects, behavior, etc.
Words then come to the rescue of the body and the unrepresented affect. Free association thus emerges as an essential component of this work of symbolization at the intersection of primary and secondary processes.
It permits the subject to diminish its investment in the external environment in order to increase attention to intrapsychic reality.
Akin to the caterpillar metamorphosing in its cocoon, the patient can here safely elaborate the experiences that have not been integrated in the psyche Rabeyron, Free association thereby augments the free energy that was, until then, contained by defense mechanisms such as repression and splitting.
Free association increases the prevalence of primary processes, thereby occasioning regressive and hallucinatory states This regression to primary processes truly allows for psychic integration to occur when coupled with secondary processes as a complementary system necessary for the reflexive metabolization of the subjective experience. Freud had already intuited this function in suggesting that the dream was necessary for the passage from primary to secondary processes.
Bion , however, demonstrated that the dream work is always present in the psyche. The distinction between thinkable and unthinkable thoughts emerges in the passage through the alpha function which distinguishes, by a membrane, the conscious and unconscious processes.
The DMN could be a neurobiological equivalent of the alpha function described by Bion 32 , a function that bridges various levels of psychic integration and more particularly the primary and secondary processes The work of psychic integration requires both the dream regression and the elaboration of past experiences.
Bion model also insists on the idea that the alpha function results from the integration of the alpha function of the mother. This function involves three factors: daydreaming, diffraction-synthesis and contained-container. The first of these factors — daydreaming — occurs as the mother takes care of the child and is the prototype of the alpha function.
The work of articulation between psyche and soma, between the unconscious and consciousness, therefore emerges from the early intersubjective relation between the baby and the mother.
This long and complex process may explain why subjectivity, from a psychoanalytical point of view, takes many years to emerge in the human being.
The emergence of subjective experience through an inter-subjective process has been recently examined by Holmes and Nolte from the perspective of the Bayesian brain. Within psychodynamic therapies, a similar process emerges as the subject develops its capacity for psychic integration through the intersubjective relationship with the therapist. Free association might thereby emerge as the joint connection of two Bayesian brains progressively leading, through their synchrony, to the dissolution of boundaries.
This failure of integration might lead to mechanisms beyond the pleasure principle, such as the repetition compulsion. The analytic work creates a regression to primary processes within the safe environment of therapy, which permits to deconstruct the cleavage resulting from such early traumatic experiences.
Through the practice of free association, the patient may affectively experience these previously unmetabolized agonies. The regression to primary levels would also emerge through daydreaming 36 simultaneous with the free association. Free association would thus connect primary and secondary processes through the modalities of psychic integration permitting the renewal of symbolization processes.
It is perhaps in the crossing from primary to secondary processes that therapeutic gains are the most significant. Following the large body of research already developed concerning primary intersubjectivity and transmodal processes Stern, ; Trevarthen and Aitken, ; Beebe et al.
It results from an intersubjective associativity, as it emerges from the relationship developed between clinician and patient. It explores the primary and preverbal modes of communication involved in the mother-baby relationship, including sequences of motions of the body, rhythms of speech, tone, voice, sounds, facial expressions, etc. Stern, The symbolizing transmodality transforms what the subject tries to explore through another sensory aspect.
Its function is to metaphorize the inner experience as it moves from the most primary and unconscious forms to the more secondary and conscious processes. From this point of view the analytic session forms a containing space for an increase in free energy allowing the subject to safely make prediction errors and confront surprise effects.
Hence this astonishing paradox, as already noted by Reik , of the necessity for patients, as well as clinicians, to preserve the ability to be surprised during therapy Through their echoing — and their own negative capability Bion, — clinicians will favor the effects of surprise in patients. This confusion nonetheless gradually allows the subject to refine its own internal model by managing to differentiate the clinician from this projection Such experiences reveal a form of free association and creativity They allow the patient to organize a set of internal representations through an externalized object supporting the projection of internal associativity.
An encounter with an external object or an Other — whose properties favor processes of symbolization — produce an original subjective experience. The initial experience is thus transferred into the object and allows the subject to benefit from the symbolizing transmodality process During psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapies, the patient passes from one idea to another and deploys a signifying chain composed of affects and representations using both verbal and non-verbal forms of expression.
This free association process is an essential component of psychoanalytic practices and relies on complementary functions as illustrated in Figure 3.
First, free association lets the subject express its intrapsychic world through increased focus on the internal experience and decreased focus on the environment. It allows for the exploration of intrapsychic reality — as a virtual reality generator Hopkins, — by both the patient and the therapist, for the latter is also in a specific state of mental free association. Thus, as Bion , suggests, the dream-like state that accompanies the free association helps the patient to transform non-thinkable thoughts into thinkable thoughts.
Thus, free association becomes an essential tool for the synthesis of the ego. As proposed in this paper, this psychoanalytic understanding of free association also shares a number of theoretical parallels with contemporary neuroscientific models.
The activity of thought appears to correspond to a biological and psychological organization at primary and secondary levels whose cognitive correlates may be found in Kahneman System 1 and System 2. Each of these levels works to limit the effects of surprise and disorganization. The transition between these levels of consciousness and their modes of associativity could emerge through the DMN whose purpose is to integrate and organize internal and external information.
The role of psychoanalytic therapy, therefore, appears to be the reestablishment of this integrative work. To conclude, we propose two further avenues of research that may be useful in orienting future work about free association.
For instance, according to such research, a subject — notably individuals with autism Neufeld et al. An immediate and automatic association from one sensory perception to another may thus emerge, which cerebral development would normally inhibit Ward, Innovative research joining, for instance, clinical and cognitive paradigms related to phenomena of synesthesia may thus lead to better understandings of free association and symbolization processes.
The goal of free association would be to release his anger in therapy. And maybe plan a party for himself on his birthday. A research review suggested free association might benefit both research and individual clients by:. A research review questioned whether psychoanalysis and free association are still relevant to psychiatry. Still, the author concluded, psychoanalysis will always be important for having taught therapists how to listen closely to life histories.
Shah and others believe that free association is helpful for aiding long-term self-understanding. If you are having a mental health crisis or have relationship concerns that feel urgent, you may benefit from starting a different type of therapy specific to your current mental health needs before trying free association therapy.
Free association can lead you to some exciting insights and emotional release, priming you to make beneficial changes in your present life.
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