psychodynamic approach

• The psychodynamic approach was created by Sigmund Freud.
• Freud proposed the notion of the unconscious, which lies at the root of his hugely influential theory.
• Three main parts of the psychodynamic approach:

  Personality

  Psychosexual stages

  Defence mechanisms
• Psychodynamic approach Personality - has a discernible structure ( ID, ego, superego ) and is constructed through the psychosexual stages
• Psychodynamic approach Psychosexual stages - stages of development throughout infancy and adolescence
• Psychodynamic approach Defence mechanisms - the unconscious conflicts in the psyche are mediated by processes called defence mechanisms
• Psychodynamic approach Defence mechanisms:

  Repression

  Denial

  Displacement
• Defence mechanism Repression:

  Occurs when a traumatic or distressing memory is forced out of conscious awareness and into the unconscious mind
• Defence mechanism Denial:

  A refusal to accept the truth or reality of a situation acting as though nothing distressing has happened
• Defence mechanism Displacement:

  When the feelings towards a target individual cannot be expressed directly and are therefore transferred onto someone or something else
• Freud psychoanalysis ideas:

  Early experiences have a lasting effect on our personality and behaviour

  Our behaviour is also effected by interactions between the id ( pleasure principle ) the ego ( reality principle ) and the superego ( morality principle )

  Conflict between the id, the ego and the superego may lead to repressed emotions, which are repressed into the unconscious mind where they exert an influence on our behaviour
• Freud believed that most every day actions were not controlled by the conscious mind but the unconscious part.

  This part shows it self through slips of the tongue ( Freudian slips ) in creativity and in neurotic symptoms
• The Tripartite model of personality:

  The Id

  The Ego

  The Superego
• The Id - a pleasure principle - demands immediate pleasure and is not concerned with the consequences of an action
• The superego - a morality principle, our sense of right and wrong. It is characterised by the inner voice that tells us when we have crossed into the boundaries of unacceptable behaviour. This is an internalised parent developed in response to parental discipline around five years old
• The ego - a reality principle tasked with taming the Id and balancing the demands of the superego. This is not present at birth and arises in response to control by others at around two years old
• The superego can punish the ego through feelings of guilt
• According to Freud, everything is motivated by the two drives that we have:

  Sex

  Aggression
• Freud says sex represents our drive to live, prosper and produce offspring

  When sexual instinct is high, the id demands gratification and triggers behaviours that will result in sexual or sensual gratification, however in most civilised societies this is not something that can be achieved without considering social morality
• Freud says that aggression represents our need to stay alive and get rid of threats to our existence
• Psychosexual stages: People move through a series of development stages and Freud believes an individual's libido is fixated on a part of the body during particular periods related to the phases of development
• Psychosexual stages:

  Oral

  Anal

  Phallic

  Latent

  Genital
• Psychosexual stages Oral:

  Time: birth - 2 years

  The mouth is the way in which the child expresses early sexual energy e.g. though sucking and biting
• Psychosexual stages Anal:

  2 - 3 years

  Bowel and Bladder elimination is a source of pleasure - the ability to control

  The beginnings of the ego development, the child starts to become aware of demands of reality and the need to conform to the demands of others

  Toilet training where the child learns to control the expulsion of waste
• Psychosexual stages Phallic:

  3 - 6 years

  Sexual energy focused on the genitals

  The major complex at this stage is the Oedipus complex, the male child unconsciously wishes to possess their mother and get rid of the father, as a result of this, boys experience castration anxiety, and in order to resolve this, the child identifies with the father
• Psychosexual stages Latent:

  6 - 12 years

  The child develops mastery of the world around them, and during this stage the conflicts and issues of the previous stages are repressed with the consequence that children are unable to remember much of their early years
• Psychosexual stages Genital:

  12 + years

  The culmination of psychosexual development and the fixing of sexual energy in the genitals, directing us towards sexual intercourse and the beginning of adult life
• Psychosexual stages - if we receive too much or too little gratification we become fixated in a particular stage

  Freud believed to deal with fixation we must regress to that stage and resolve issues that led to fixation
• Psychodynamic approach AO3. Freud's ideas have been massively influential in both the practice of psychology and in our understanding of how culture operates. The evidence for these ideas is almost entirely clinical rather than empirical, so its scientific credibility is questionable. However, not many people would argue that there are not any unconscious motives and demonstrable defence mechanisms. This has allowed Freudian theory to maintain some hold on psychotherapeutic techniques, like psychoanalysis
• Psychodynamic approach AO3. There is scientific research supporting the effectiveness of psychoanalysis, Biskup et al ( 2005 ) reported a naturalistic study of 36 patients that found at the end of psychoanalytic therapy, 77 % of the patients showed significant improvement. Bachrach et al ( 2000 ) conducted a meta analysis of every major study on the effectiveness of psychoanalysis and found that it is effective for many patients. This suggests that despite a lack of scientific support, psychodynamic theories are effective for treating disorder
• Psychodynamic approach AO3. Freud's ideas demonstrate significant gender bias. The focus on the Oedipus complex is extremely androcentric, and many would claim that this makes it irrelevant to the understanding of women. But female psychologists like Melanie Klein have shown that even gender biased theories can be adapted to provide useful insights into female behaviour. This means that while Freud's ideas have significant gender bias, his work has been used to develop influential theories that apply to women.
• Psychodynamic approach AO3. Psychoanalytic theory has been criticised for being culturally biased. All of Freud's patients came from the Viennese middle class, and his universal generalisations were based on this highly unrepresentative sample. He called his therapy the talking cure, and there is significant evidence to suggest that it is only suitable for cultures where the discussion of personal problems is encouraged. This casts doubt on the effectiveness of any therapeutic approach for other cultures based on psychoanalytic ideas