psychodynamic

• Who created the psychodynamic approach?

  Freud
• How was mental illness addressed pre-Freud?

  Superstition/supernatural - trepanning+asylums
• What is the definition of neuroses?

  Mental illness by environmental causes such as stress/anxiety
• What is the definition of psychosis?

  Mental condition that causes a loss of touch with reality
• What are the basic assumptions of the psychodynamic theory?

  • Our unconscious mind has the greatest influence over our behavior
  • Sexual and aggressive acts motivate our behaviour
  • There are three parts to the human personality - ID/superego/ego
  • Early childhood stages determine psychological development - the first 5 years are the most important
  • Human development occurs through psychosexual stages
• What is the definition of the unconscious mind?

  Refers to the main part of the mind where all thoughts originate

  Some thoughts can enter conscious awareness or preconscious awareness but most are repressed
• What is the definition of the conscious mind?

  Refers to current thoughts, emotions, ideas and perceptual awareness
• What is the definition of the preconscious mind?

  Refers to the info/ideas that we are currently not aware of/thinking about but can be accessed

  e.g, memories
• What are the psychoanalytical steps Freud suggested to tap into the unconscious mind?

  • Free association - patient freely shares thoughts/ emotions and can be used to explain unconscious thoughts
  • 'Slips of the tongue'/Freudian slips - patient means to say one thing but says another
  • Dream analysis - patient shares recent/recurring dreams and patterns are used to interpret
  • Symbol analysis - patient shares recent/recurring dreams and replaces themes with symbols
• What is Freud's hypothesis mental illness is caused by?

  A repression of feelings that brings guilt
• What are the two focal points of the mind?

  • Eros - life instinct
  • Thanatos - death instinct
• What is the Eros?

  Life instinct - Focus on self-preservation and sexual energy

  • Too much eros - urges from the unconscious - leads to arousal
  • Humans are instinctively driven to reduce arousal
• What is the Thanatos?

  Death instinct - inhibits sexual energy

  • Exhibits itself as aggression (can be productive)
• The thanatos and eros instincts balance themselves out in a healthy person as they each provide the energy to inhibit each other
• What is the ID?

  The innate, instructive part of our personality

  Drives the demand for needs to be satisfied

  • Develops from birth
  • Acts according to the pleasure principle
• What is the ego?

  The rational part of the personality balances the ID and superego by satisfying their needs

  • Develops at 18 months of age
  • Acts according to the reality principle
• What is the superego?

  Represents the internalized moral standards and values that are given by rules/society/parents

  • Develops 4-6 years old
  • Acts according to the morality principle
  • Includes 'ego ideal' - idea people have of what they 'should' be like
• What is the definition of the gratification centers?

  Part of the body the child receives pleasure from

  • In different parts of body at different stages of growth
• What is the definition of fixation in the psychodynamic approach?

  A focus on the gratification center that is caused by a lack of pleasure

  • Could occur at any stage causing unresolved conflicts that shape personalities
• What are the 5 psychosexual stages of development?

  • Oral
  • Anal
  • Phallic
  • Latency
  • Genital
• Outline the oral psychosexual stage

  • Occurs at 0-1 years old
  • Mouth = erogenous zone - sucking/biting receives pleasure
  • Children need to feel safe/secure - receive stimulation when needed
  • Lack of stimulation = orally aggressive/orally retentive/addictive personality
  • Orally aggressive = sarcastic/hyperactive/nervous/edgy/pessimistic
  • Orally passive = over-enthusiastic/overweight/gullible/indecisive
• Outline the anal psychosexual stage

  • Occurs at 1-3 years old
  • Anus = erogenous zone
  • The child may withhold expulsion of faeces or struggle to withhold expulsion of faeces
  • Anally expulsive = untidy/lazy/risk-taker/struggle to maintain a relationship
  • Anally retentive = overly tidy/OCD/possessive/compulsive time-keeper
• Outline the phallic psychosexual stage

  • Occurs at 3-5/6 years old
  • Penis/clitoris = erogenous zone
  • Sensitivity is concentrated in the genitals
  • The child notices physical differences between genders
  • A critical stage in moral development as the superego develops here
  • Experiences Oedipus/Electra complex
• Outline the latency psychosexual stage

  • Occurs at 5/6 years - puberty
  • No erogenous zone
  • Child develops self-identity and gender identity by using parents as role models
  • Fairly stable stage
• Outline the genital psychosexual stage

  • Occurs at puberty - adulthood
  • Hormone levels change and provided Oedipus/Electra complexes successfully negotiated the child will develop heterosexual behaviors and seek relations to opposite sex
  • Problem in phallic stage = sexual problems (linked with criminal psychology )
• What is the Little Hans study?

  Freud's case study of a young boy who had a fear of horses

  • Linked fear of horses to fear of father and male genitals due to threatening of castration and suppressed envy due to desire for mother
• What are the weaknesses of Little Hans?

  • Low validity - no empirical evidence + lack of scientific methods to verify assumptions
  • Behaviorists would explain the association of the horse that fell with funerals/death - classical conditioning
• Outline the Oedipus complex

  The boy has incestuous desires for his mother and becomes jealous father shares the bed, has a larger penis, and is stronger

  The child feels guilty for their desires and represses them
• Outline the Electra complex

  A girl has incestuous desire for her father and is jealous of her mother

  Has penis envy

  The child feels guilty for their desires so represses them
• What is the definition of a defense mechanism?

  repression of unpleasant feelings at an unconscious level

  e.g, anxiety
• What are the three main types of defense mechanisms?

  • Repression
  • Denial
  • Displacement
• Outline the repression defense mechanisms

  Unconscious mechanism employed by the ego to keep threatening/disturbing thoughts becoming conscious

  Repress thoughts that result in guilt from superego

  • Arguably most important
  • e.g, Oedipus complex - aggressive thoughts about same-sex parent
• Outline the displacement defense mechanism

  Redirection of an impulse (usually aggressive) onto a substitute target

  e.g, uncomfort with sexual desire = fetish

  frustration at work = verbal/physical abuse of family at home
• Outline the denial defense mechanism

  Blocking external events from awareness

  Situation too much to handle = refusal to experience

  Primitive + dangerous defense - cannot disregard reality for too long

  Can operate by itself or in combination with other, more subtle mechanisms that support it

  e.g, smokers don't admit smoking is bad for their health
• What are the ways we can recover unpleasant experiences from our unconscious?

  • Psychoanalysis
  • Hypnosis
  • Dream interpretation
• How do defense mechanisms shape our behaviour?

  • Protecting us from anxiety or threatening emotions that get out of proportion

  = development of neuroses - phobias/obsession/hysteria
• Outline the Anna O case study

  Lead to the beginning of psychoanalysis

  Treatment:

  • Relieve distress by allowing her to talk freely - would only speak in fairy tales at first
  • Hypnotism to remember painful emotions at the passing of father
  • Talk about occurrences that trigger hysterical symptoms - symptoms should then disappear
  • Opportunity to make unconscious thoughts conscious = cure
• What did Freud conclude about the Anna O case study?

  Freud believed symptoms were the result of repressed memories/trauma

  Co-authored book = 'Studies on hysteria'

  Physical symptoms = surface manifestations of deeply repressed conflicts

  Transference

  Heartbreak for father's death = Electra complex
• What is the definition of transference?

  patient's feelings for a significant person are redirected onto the therapist
• What are the weaknesses of Anna O's case study?

  • Freud never directly treated - secondary evidence
  • Anna O deteriorated after being treated