Psychodynamic approach

• Assumptions of the psychodynamic approach:

  • unconscious mind determines behaviour - psychic determinism (no free will)
  • We possess inate instincts that drive motivation
  • Tripartite explanation of personality
  • Importance on childhood experiences determining our personality in adulthood
• Methods that the psychodynamic approach use:

  • Based on case studies
  • treatment through psychoanalysis 'talking cures;
  • Free association - Repressing immediate and unconscious thoughts as they happen
  • Dream interpretation - analysis of the underlying meaning (latent content) of what was remembered from a dream (manifest content)
• Levels of consciousness:

  - The conscious mind = the things we are aware of (the tip of the iceberg)

  - The pre-conscious contains thoughts and memories which are accessible if needed

  - Accessible through dreams and parapraxes

  - Unconscious mind stores biological drive

  - Unconscious mind has a large influence on behaviour and personality

  - Threatening and disturbing memories
• Three parts of the tripartite personality:

  • ID
  • Ego
  • Superego
• ID:

  • Primitive (early stages) of our personality
  • operates on a pleasure principle (selfish, get's what it wants)
  • Seething mass of unconscious drives and instincts
  • Only aspect of personality present at birth
• Ego:

  • Works on the reality principle
  • Mediator between the ID and the superego
  • Develops at around 2 years
  • Manages the use of defence mechanisms
• Superego:

  • Formed around 5 years
  • Internalises a sense of right from wrong
  • Based on the morality principle
  • Internalises the moral standards of the same-sex parent (Daughter learns from the mother)
  • Punishes the ego for wrongdoing through guilt
• Defence mechanism:

  • Used unconsciously (role of the unconscious)
  • Balance the Id and the superego
  • Prevents the ego from feeling overwhelmed
  • May distort reality
  • Unhealthy and undesirable for the long term
  • E.G Denial, repression, displacement and avoidance
• Freud studied the psychosexual stages
• Psychosexual stages:

  • Oral
  • Anal
  • Phallic
  • Latency
  • Genital
• Oral stage:

  Age: 0-1 years

  Definition: Focus is on the pleasure in the mouth, mother's breast is the desire.

  Conflict : Weaning

  Consequence of unsolved conflict: Smoking, nail biting, sarcastic
• Anal stage:

  Age: 1-3 years

  Focus on pleasure is the anus. Child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces

  Conflict - toilet training

  Consequence of unsolved conflict:

  Anal retentive - perfectionist, obsessive

  Anal expulsive - thoughtless, messy
• Phallic stage:

  Focus on the pleasure of the genital area

  Conflict - lack of father figure

  Fixation - narcissistic, reckless, homosexual

  (3-6 years)
• Opedius complex:

  • Boy's
  • develop's incestuous feelings for mum and a hatred for the dad
  • fearing castration
  • take on father's gender role
• Electra complex:

  Girls :

  • desire father and hate father
  • have penis envy
• Latency stage:

  Age: 5-12 years

  Earlier conflicts are repressed, this represses sexual urges
• Genital stage:

  Age = 12 years plus

  Sexual desires become conscious alongside the start of puberty

  Conflict: sexual urges

  Consequence of unsolved conflict: Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
• Strength of psychodynamic approach: Real life application

  • Has an impact on modern day therapies such as counselling.
  • This shows the theory has helped treat disorders
• Limitation of the psychodynamic approach: Not fully effective

  • Not appropriate or effective for all disorders.
  • For example people with Schizophrenia may not be able to access the appropriate therapies due to their symptoms
• Limitations of the psychodynamic approach: Unscientific methods

  • Use case studies over experimental testing.
  • Specifically Freuds studies which are difficult to test scientifically which makes them very subjective.
  • Therefore this lacks scientific credibility and decreases the internal validity