Psychodynamic Approach

• Who came up with the psychodynamic approach?

  - Sigmund Freud
• Key Assumptions of Psychodynamic Approach

  - unconscious activity is the key determinant of how we behave

  - treatment for illness through psychoanalysis

  - personality is compromised of: the ID, the Ego, the Super Ego

  - childhood experiences influence our personality in adulthood
• Role of the unconscious - what are the three parts?


  - the Id

  - the Ego

  - the Superego
• Role of the unconscious - the Id


  - operates on the pleasure principle

  - develops from birth

  - demands instant gratification of its needs, entirely selfish

  - unconscious
• Role of the unconscious - the Ego


  - operates on reality principle

  - develops at 2 years old

  - reduces conflict between demands of Id and Superego

  - does this via defense mechanisms

  - both conscious and unconscious
• the Ego - Defence Mechanisms


  - unconscious strategies ego uses to manage conflict between Id and Superego

  
  

  Repression - push it into the subconscious

  Denial - pretend it didn't happen

  Displacement - changing focus of anger onto something else
• Role of the unconscious - the Superego


  - operates on morality principle

  - develops at 5 years old

  - internalised sense of right and wrong, punishes the Id for wrongdoing with feelings of guilt

  - both conscious and unconscious
• Example of psychodynamic - you didn't eat lunch and walk past a cake shop


  Id - get the cake

  Ego - you didn't eat anything, but maybe try to get something healthier

  Superego - wait and get something healthier for lunch
• What are the psychosexual stages of development?


  - Oral (age 0-1)

  - Anal (age 1-3)

  - Phallic (age 3-5)

  - Latency

  - Genital (13+)
• Psychosexual Stages of Development - Oral


  - libido is centered on the mouth

  - children get pleasure from sucking

  - not enough access to sucking may lead to smoking/biting nails
• Psychosexual Stages of Development - Anal

  - libido centered on the anus

  - infants get pleasure from going to the toilet
• Psychosexual Stages of Development - Phallic


  - boys go through oedipus complex

  - girls go through electra complex

  - libido focused on penis for both males and females

  - Freud says this is when sense of gender develops

  - this is when our superego develops

  - people with a single parents are likely to be narcissistic, reckless and possibly homosexual
• Psychosexual Stages of Development - Latency


  - any earlier conflicts are repressed

  eg they don't know if they weren't breastfed for enough
• Psychosexual Stages of Development - Genital


  - sexual desires become conscious alongside puberty

  - difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
• Evaluation - Strength - Real World Application

  - led to development of new therapy known as psychoanalysis

  - this looks at dream analysis, hypnosis and Ink Blot tests to uncover and resolve repressed traumas

  - this is a strength as instead of treatments like electric shock, it paved the way for new helpful talking therapies
• Evaluation - Strength - Has some explanatory power


  - explains concepts like how childhood affects later life and the importance of care

  - this means the approach was positive as it paved the way for late theories and was correct in saying childhood impacts later life
• Evaluation - Limitation - Some concepts are untestable


  - repressed memories and Id etc all happen in the unconscious

  - so there's no way of testing them in a subjective way

  - this is a weakness as it is impossible to know for sure as he used case studies of his own children

  - this wasn't scientific, wasn't falsifiable so has no scientific credibility