Psychodynamic Approach

• assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?

  • behaviour is driven by the unconscious
  • Early childhood experience shapes our adult life
  • Case studies should be used to study individuals
• What is a case study?

  research method focused on gathering detailed, qualitative information about an individual/small group
• what are the states of consciousness?

  • conscious - what we are aware of (e.g everyday thoughts and feelings
  • preconscious - thoughts and memories accessible with effort
  • Unconscious - biological drives and instincts that have a significant influence on behaviour. It also contains dark shameful thoughts, feelings and memories we have repressed.
• The tripartite personality - the Id

  • the pleasure principle
  • part of the unconscious
  • principle which needs immediate satisfaction
  • repressed thoughts, desires and shame live here
  • instinctive and impulsive animal drives
  • selfish and demands instant gratification
• The tripartite personality - the Ego

  • reality principle
  • the mediator and decision maker
  • uses defence mechanisms to mediate between the Id and superego
• The tripartite personality - the superego

  • the morality principle
  • sense of right and wrong
  • emphasis on control and ideal self
• What is a defence mechanisms

  They are a way of protecting your ego from extreme situations it can't reconcile.

  • they are unconscious
  • they balance conflict between the Id and superego
  • inorder to deal with fixations and continue with development, the ego uses defence mechanisms
  • without using defence mechanisms we become overwhelmed
  • an overuse of defence mechanisms can cause anxiety
• what does the tripartite personality consist of?

  • id
  • ego
  • superego
• types of defence mechanisms

  • denial
  • displacement
  • repression
• defence mechanisms - denial

  • refusal to accept reality
  • completely rejecting thoughts and feeling
• defence mechanisms - repression

  • pushing uncomfortable feelings and memories into the unconscious part of your mind
  • therefore forgetting they happened
• defence mechanisms - displacement

  • taking out your emotions on a substitute target
• What are stages of psychosexual development?

  • all children go through developmental stages with age
  • child's personality develops through different areas of pleasure as they grow up
  • parent's treatment of children is significant, if a child's conflict goes unresolved, they develop fixations
• What are fixations?

  • each stage of psychosexual development involves conflict the child has to resolve inorder to deal with reality
  • if a conflict can't be resolved, they are buried by the ego and leave unconscious psychological scars called fixations
  • later in life these scars can resurface and we unconsciously regress to when the conflict happened
  • fixations can lead to psychological distress and issues later in life
• Stages of psychosexual development - Oral stage

  • from birth to 1 year old
  • babies are born as just an Id
  • focus of this stage is the mouth (Sucking, biting, breastfeeding)
  • babies get pleasure from oral activities
  • if needs aren't met (too little/too much), child might develop an oral fixation like thumb-sucking or overeating later in life.
• stages of psychosexual development - Anal stage

  • from 1 year old to 3 years old
  • the focus is bowel and bladder control
  • the ego forms
  • Toddlers controlling their bowel movements (toilet training)
  • How parents handle this training can cause anal fixations - impacting personality later in life
  • Anally retentive - neat and tidy adult due to very strict toilet training
  • Anally expulsive - messy and unorganised adult due to very lenient toilet training
• stages of psychosexual development - phallic stage

  • 3 years old to 6 years old
  • the focus is the genitals
  • the superego forms
  • children develop 'feelings' for opposite sex parents
  • this is called the oedipus complex for boys and the electra complex for girls
  • children become aware of their bodies and gender
  • resolved feelings help with gender identity
• Oedipus complex

  • boy develops unconscious attraction towards his mother
  • At the same time he sees his father as a rival for his mother's attention and feels jealous/competitive towards his father
  • He fears his father might punish him for this by taking away his penis (castration anxiety)
  • Resolution - over time the boy starts to identify with his father and sees him as a role model which helps to resolve these conflicting feelings
  • This leads to the development of gender identity and the acceptance of men's societal roles
• Electra Complex

  • young girl develops an unconscious attraction or attachment towards her father
  • At the same time she sees her mother as a rival for her father's attention and feels jealousy/resentment towards her
  • Girls also experience something called 'penis envy' where they feel a sense of inferiority because they don't have a penis like their father
  • this leads to them turning their affection towards their father, who posses their desired characteristic
• stages of psychosexual development - latency stage

  • 6 years old to puberty
  • the focus is social interactions
  • Sexual feelings take a backseat and children focus more on developing social skills, friendships and learning
• stages of psychosexual development - genital stage

  • the focus is mature sexual interests
  • As teenagers individuals develop strong sexual interest in others
  • healthy development here leads to well-balanced relationships and personal development
• What is an mnemonic to remember the stages of psychosexual development?

  Old - Oral

  Age - Anal

  Pensioners - Phallic

  Love - Latency

  Guiness - Genital
• strengths of the psychodynamic approach

  Real World Application

  • it introduced new ideas of psychotherapy as opposed to physical treatment, introducing a new form of treatment called psychoanalysis, using a range of methods to access the unconscious
  • psychoanalysis was a forerunner for many modern forms of talking therapy like counselling

  Explanatory Power

  • despite being controversial and bizarre Freud's work was used in the 20th century to explain personality disorders, moral development, the origins of psychological disorders and gender identity
• Limitations of the Psychodynamic Approach- counterpoint to real world application

  Counterpoint to Real World Application

  • psychoanalysis claimed to be a success for many clients however this kind of treatment would only work for those suffering with neurotic disorders not those suffering psychotic disorders like schizophrenia
  • this is because those suffering with schizophrenia experience delusional thinking and hallucinations, meaning their thoughts and feelings can't be articulated as required for psychoanalysis
• limitations of the psychodynamic approach - Untestable concepts

  Untestable concepts

  • much of the psychodynamic approach is untestable
  • it is falsifiable, and it isn't open to empirical testing
  • This is because much of freud's theories e.g (tripartite personality) is said to happen on an unconscious level making it impossible to test
  • Freud used subjective case studies of individuals, making them inapplicable to all human behaviour, suggesting Freud's work is pseudoscientific
• limitations of the psychodynamic approach

  Psychic Determinism

  • Freud said most of our behaviour is determined by rooted conflict in the unconscious, he didn't believe in accidents
  • Critics say this is an extreme view and it dismisses the influence of free will on behaviour

  Catch 22

  • Freud is hard to criticise as he claims for his treatments to work patients must gain insight (understanding) or the negative energy caused by the fixation can't be released
  • Meaning that if a treatment didn't work the patient simply didn't understand what the therapist was saying
• What is a freudian slip?

  • also known as a para praxis
  • where unconscious thoughts slip out