Which is NOT an Ego Sustaining technique?

• A. Sustainment
• B. Exploration/description/ventilation
• C. Person-situation reflection
• D. Dream analysis

Answer: (D)

Ego sustaining techniques are about maintaining the ego’s functioning and a sense of stability for the client when stress or anxiety is high. Sustainment provides ongoing support, routines, and reassuring structure to keep the self’s functioning from breaking down. Exploration/description/ventilation gives the client a safe space to tell their story and express feelings, which helps organize experience and reduce internal chaos, thereby strengthening ego integrity. Person-situation reflection prompts weighing internal needs against external realities, promoting adaptive ways of coping and a sense of agency within the environment.

Dream analysis, by contrast, is a psychodynamic method aimed at interpreting unconscious material revealed in dreams to gain deeper insight into underlying conflicts. While valuable in certain therapeutic contexts, it is not primarily a technique for sustaining the ego in the face of immediate stress, which is why it’s not considered an ego sustaining technique.