PSYCHOLOGY
- Sigmund Freud coined: Psychoanalysis.
- He is the 'Father of Psychoanalysis'.
Transference and Countertransference
Transference
- Feelings of a patient towards the therapist.
- Can be conscious or unconscious.
- Based on past relationships with a significant figure.
- Can be negative and positive.
- Example Scenarios:
- Negative: 30yo female to 50yo therapist: "you are very rude just like my stepfather."
- Positive: 30yo female to 50yo therapist: "you are very kind just like my father."
- Used in therapy to know unconscious feelings.
Countertransference
- Feelings of a therapist towards the patient.
- Can be conscious and unconscious.
- Can be negative and positive.
- Example Scenarios:
- Therapist missing appointments.
- Therapist sleeping during an interview.
Catharsis vs. Abreaction
Catharsis
- Sharing, ventilation, expressing, processing of emotions by the patient.
Abreaction
- Excessive expression of a repressed emotion.
- Mnemonic: Abnormal reaction
Delivering Bad News – SPIKES Protocol
- S – Setting: Private, safe, comfortable environment.
- P – Perception of the patient.
- I – Invitation for the patient to voice concerns.
- K – Knowledge sharing by the doctor.
- E – Emotions of the patient: Validated.
- S – Summarization / strategizing.

Projective Tests
- Ambiguous stimuli used to tap into the unconscious.
- Rorschach ink blot test
- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
- Sentence completion test
- Draw a person test

Rorschach inkblot test

- Developed by Herman Rorschach.
- Most frequently used projective personality test.
- Consists of 10 inkblot cards
- ambiguous,
- symmetrical
- Patient is asked what they see in the cards.
- Projective test:
- Patient projects internal conflicts onto the test.
- Personality is assessed based on answers.
Thematic apperception test (TAT)

- Consists of 20 pictures of individuals in various activities.
- Person is asked to make stories about them.
- Projective personality test.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
- Objective personality test
Grief
Stages of Grief – Kubler Ross
- Denial – Ostrich phenomena
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression / Loneliness
- Acceptance
- Note: Can occur in any sequence.
Pathological Grief
Type | Features |
Absent grief | Absence of emotions |
Hypertrophic grief | Excessively intense feeling of grief. Example: Suicidal thoughts, loss of appetite |
Chronic grief | Prolonged period of grief ICD-11: > 6 months DSM-V: > 12 months |
Delayed grief | Onset ≥ 2 weeks after triggering event |
Anniversary grief | Annual occurrence of grief |
Traumatic grief | Hypertrophic grief present chronically |
Management
- Antidepressants – Short term
- Anxiolytics – Short term
- Grief counselling
Sigmund Freud's Theories
1. Topographical Model of Mind
- Mind divided into three parts:
- Conscious:
- Content is in our awareness.
- Preconscious:
- Content not in awareness.
- Can be brought to conscious awareness by focused attention.
- Unconscious:
- Content kept away from conscious awareness.
- Ways Content Might Cross Repression Barrier:
- Free association:
- Therapist sits near the couch, not visible to the patient.
- Patient speaks uninterrupted.
- Advised to say whatever comes to mind without censoring.
- Outcome: Patient may speak thoughts from the unconscious mind.
- Slip of the tongue (Parapraxis):
- Sigmund Freud: not a simple mistake.
- May be important information about the unconscious mind.
2. Structural Theory of Mind

- Mind divided into three parts:
- Id:
- Immediate gratification
- Consists of instinctive drives.
- Based on pleasure principle.
- Operates under primary process.
- Lacks capacity to delay urges.
- Lies in the unconscious mind.
- Example: Id says, "Let's Go out and Party."
- Ego:
- Executive organ of the mind.
- Works on reality principle.
- Balances id, superego, and the real world.
- Present in unconscious, conscious, and preconscious parts.
- Defence mechanism of ego resides in the unconscious.
- Example: Ego says, "Let's study half a day and then let's go out."
- Superego:
- Moral compass.
- Insists on socially acceptable behaviour.
- Development: 5-6 years (after Oedipus complex resolution).
- Lies in the unconscious part;
- has some conscious components.
- Example: Superego says, "Study for exams."
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Défense Mechanisms of Ego




- Tools used by Ego to overcome friction between Id and Ego.
- Help prevent excessive anxiety.
- Important: Most defence mechanisms are in the unconscious mind.
- Important: All mechanisms are unconscious, except suppression.
Projection:
- Person projects his own desires onto someone else.
- Seen in psychosis.
- Example: Mr. P has an affair but is convinced his wife is having one.
Acting out:
- Unconscious wishes enacted in behaviour to avoid awareness.
- Seen in impulse control disorders (ICD).
- Example: Student angry with a friend, throws a book at him (unintentionally).
Regression:
- Return to an earlier developmental stage to avoid anxiety.
- People may act childish/younger.
- Example: Husband, after a stressful day, converses with his wife in baby talk.
Inhibition:
- Unconsciously limiting an aim.
- Accepting partial fulfillment of desire.
- Example: Person fails MBBS entrance, becomes a veterinary doctor.
Intellectualization:
- Excessive use of intellect to escape painful emotions.
- Example: After a metastatic tumor diagnosis, a person discusses its technical aspects.
Isolation of affect:
- Separation of emotions from a stressful event.
- Reality is accepted.
- Example: Man tells his family about his lung cancer without emotion.
Displacement:
- Unconscious shifting of impulses from one object to another.
- Example: Man angry with boss, shouts at wife, who shouts at son, who punches a toy.
Dissociation:
- Separation of mental functions to avoid distress.
- Example: Kidnapped and tortured person says it was like floating on the ceiling watching it.
Undoing:
- An act to nullify a previous act.
- Example: Man sexually provoked by a woman, leaves, and buys flowers for his wife.
Rationalization:
- Giving logical explanations for unacceptable behaviors.
- Seen in Substance Use Disorders.
- Example: Person says he drinks alcohol to kill germs.
Reaction formation:
- Unacceptable impulse transformed into its opposite.
- Example: Boy fascinated by porn organizes an anti-pornography campaign.
Repression:
- Idea/feeling eliminated from consciousness.
- Cannot be accessed.
- You forget, then forget that you forgot.
- Example: A child abused by his mother has no memory of it.
Altruism:
- Constructive service to others to deal with own feelings.
- May be harmful to the person.
- Example: After husband's death from smoking,
- wife starts a 'No smoking' campaign, neglecting her own health.
- Mnemonic: ALternate Service
Suppression:
- Conscious decision to postpone attention to a conflict.
- Example: Student decides to forget an upcoming exam and take a day's break.
Humor:
- Using humor to deal with unpleasant situations.
- Example: Man laughs after being scolded by his boss.
Defence Mechanisms in OCD
- Inhibition
- Isolation
- Displacement
- Undoing
- Reaction formations
- OCD guy → isolated () area displacement () - inhibited () others - undoing () works - formed reaction ()
Stages of Psychosexual Development
- Freud proposed 5 stages.
- Fixation:
- Development arrested at a stage,
- leading to psychiatric disorder.
Oral stage
- Age: Birth - 1.5 years.
- Site of pleasure: Oral cavity (biting, sucking, chewing).
- Fixation:
- Schizophrenia,
- Substance dependence.
Anal stage
- Age: 1.5 - 3 years.
- Site of gratification:
- Anal (pleasure through excretion).
- Fixation:
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Phallic stage
- Age: 3 - 5 years.
- Site of pleasure:
- Genital area (stimulation).
- Fixation:
- Hysteria, Sexual deviations.
- Oedipus complex:
- Attraction towards mother.
- Fear of castration by the father.
- Mnemonic: Mom (m-male child, o-oedipus complex, m-mother).
- Resolved by identification with the father.
- Electra complex:
- Mnemonic: FEM (female, electra, Male)
- Female child → attraction towards father
- Discontent with female genitalia.
- Fantasy of losing a penis.
- Desire to bear a penis.
- Resolved by identification with the mother.
Latent stage
- Age: 5/6 - 11/13 years.
- Relative sexual quiescence (inactivity).
- Oedipus/Electra complex resolved at the start of this stage.
- Superego is formed.
- Mastery of skills (child learns new skills).
- Fixation: Neurotic disorders.
Genital stage
- Age: 11/13 years - Young adulthood.
- Maturation of genital functioning.
- Development of adult sexuality & identity.
- Fixation: Neurotic disorders.
MCQ DISCUSSION
- Q. Patient says 'I am Tom, I am a con, my friend is gone...'.
- A. Tangentiality
- B. Preservation
- C. Loosening of association
- D. Flight of ideas
- Flight of ideas
- Speed is increased in Flight of ideas;
- normal in loosening of association.
- Words like Tom, con, gone show clang associations, seen in Flight of Ideas.
Explanation:
- Q. Resident asks a patient, 'What will he do if he sees his neighbor's house on fire?'.
- A. Test judgement
- B. Insight
- C. Abstract thinking
- D. Social judgment
- A. Test judgement
- Psychiatrist asked a hypothetical question.
- Insight: asking about one's own mental illness.
- Abstract thinking: assessed by proverbs, similarities.
- Social judgment: assessed by social behavior.
Explanation:
- Q. 64M, 2nd post-op day after bypass, says irrelevant things, thinks he's home, irritable, tries to remove catheter.
- A. Schizophrenia
- B. Mania
- C. Acute psychosis
- D. Delirium
- D. Delirium
- Impairment of consciousness suggests delirium.
- Keywords: age, surgery, irritable, 'saying irrelevant things' confirm delirium.
Explanation:
- Q. Schizophrenic patient, non-responsive to haloperidol/thioridazine. Started on Drug A. Side effects: sialorrhea, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia. Requires blood monitoring.
- A. Clozapine
- B. Risperidone
- C. Aripiprazole
- D. Ziprasidone
- A. Clozapine
- Clozapine for treatment-resistant schizophrenia.
- Hypersalivation and metabolic side effects are observed.
- Agranulocytosis is a serious side effect, requires regular blood monitoring.
Explanation:
- Q. Female, 3 weeks post-delivery. Appears fearful, irritable, has suicidal thoughts.
- A. Postpartum blues
- B. Postpartum psychosis
- C. Postpartum depression
- D. Panic disorders
- C. Postpartum depression
- Symptoms started 3 weeks after delivery.
- Suicidal thoughts without psychotic features suggests Postpartum depression.
Explanation:
- Q. Patient has 5-6 episodes/month for 6 months, 30 min each. Symptoms: anxiety, palpitations, sweating, breathlessness, chest pain, feeling of impending doom/heart attack.
- A. Depression
- B. Panic disorder
- C. GAD
- D. Agoraphobia
- B. Panic disorder
- Sudden anxiety symptoms, last <30 mins, fear of heart attack/impending doom is a panic attack.
- Repeated panic attacks constitute a Panic disorder.
Explanation:
- Q. 17yo female eats by arranging food in pieces, takes small bites, spends a lot of time eating.
- A. Anorexia nervosa
- B. Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- C. Panic disorder
- D. Generalized anxiety disorder
- B. Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Arranging food in pieces, taking small bytes are examples of OCD rituals.
- Question is not related to an eating disorder.
Explanation:
- Q. 3yo child not developing appropriately. Poor eye contact, doesn't play with others, continuously bangs chin against wall, confined to himself.
- A. Social phobia
- B. ADHD
- C. Depression
- D. Autism
- D. Autism
- Deficit in social communication.
- Repetitive behaviors (banging chin).
- These are diagnostic of Autism.
Explanation:
- Q. 40M with tremors, sweating, anxiety for 2 days. History of alcohol use for 13 years, stopped for 2 days for religious reasons. LFTs deranged.
- A. Thiamine
- B. Diazepam + thiamine
- C. Lorazepam + thiamine
- D. Lorazepam
- C. Lorazepam + thiamine
- Symptoms on stopping alcohol indicate withdrawal.
- Since LFT is deranged, Lorazepam (safer in liver dysfunction) with thiamine is used.
Explanation:
- Q. Male with marital conflicts, complains of early ejaculation. Useful non-pharmacological method?
- A. Squeeze technique
- B. CBT
- C. Exposure and response prevention
- D. Relaxation
- A. Squeeze technique
- Squeeze technique and start-stop technique are behavioral therapies for premature ejaculation.
Explanation:
- Q. 21yo female with depression symptoms. Increased body weight. Image shows callus on knuckles.
- A. Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- B. Anorexia nervosa
- C. Bulimia Nervosa
- D. Binge eating disorder
- Russel sign: Callus on knuckles (from self-induced vomiting).
- Can be seen in Anorexia nervosa (binge/purge type), but increased body weight points to Bulimia.
- Bupropion is contraindicated due to seizure risk.
Explanation:
- Q. 25yo female on lithium for bipolar disorder. Which statement is incorrect?
- A. Lithium decreases thyroid function
- B. Thiazides increase lithium toxicity
- C. Lithium is avoided in pregnancy due to its teratogenic effects
- D. Hemodialysis is not useful in lithium toxicity
- D. Hemodialysis is not useful in lithium toxicity
- Hemodialysis is done for severe lithium toxicity.
- Lithium causes hypothyroidism.
- Thiazides reduce lithium clearance, increasing toxicity.
- Causes Ebstein's anomaly; avoided in pregnancy.