Psychodynamic

• The underlying principle is that all behaviour is caused by the conscious and largely unconscious drives
• Our personality is developed and shaped during the psychosexual stages of development in childhood. The unconscious drives interact with our personality structure to produce our behaviours
• The tripartite personality structure consists of the ID, the ego and the superego
• The ID is present from birth and is present in the unconscious mind. It contains libido (psychic energy: spark of being alive) and it operates on a pleasure principle.
• The ID and the superego conflict a lot due the opposite natures on which they operate on. The ID focused on pleasure and the superego focused on morality.
• The superego is in the unconscious mind and develops at around 3-6 years old. It operates on the morality principle as it internalises societal rules.
• Guilt stems from the superego as if you feel you have gotten away with breaking a rule then you will internally punish yourself
• The ego is present in the conscious and unconscious mind and develops around 2-4 years old. It regulates interaction with the world and balances conflicts and demands of the ID, world and superego. It operates on a reality principle.
• The ego requires defence mechanisms to protect you from conflict that could hurt you as it may conflict with the view we have of ourselves to find out our true unconscious desires.
• Denial is the refusal to accept an event has happened even in the face of direct evidence
• If an impulse or behaviour becomes overly excessive then it is classified at neurotic and not healthy
• Repression inhibits memories or desires that are unconsciously stifled. Also applicable to protecting the ego from things that can cause it pain/ unwanted desires
• Displacement is unacceptable drives that are unconsciously redirected at more acceptable/ accessible targets.
• The conscious part of the ego is not in control of the defence mechanisms as it is not able to be aware of them otherwise they would not be able to protect the ego.
• Each stage of psychosexual development focuses on a different erogenous zone as the ID seeks gratification in different ways
• If there is an over- gratification of deprivation of the IDs desires in a psychosexual stage then a fixation is developed of libido (psychic energy gets trapped in that stage meaning a portion of the personality does not develop)
• A fixation in a psychosexual stage leads to disordered adult behaviour
• The oral stage is from birth- 18 months. The focus of pleasure and gratification of the ID is through the mouth. Under feeding (deprivation) can lead to an orally aggressive character: pessimistic, envious and suspicious. Over feeding ( over- gratification) can lead to an orally receptive character: highly optimistic and gullible
• The anal stage is from 18 month- 3 years and pleasure and gratification of the ID is gained through retaining and expelling faeces. It is the child’s first experience of control. Only allowing the child to go to the bathroom when needed and embarrassing the child (deprivation) leads to anal retentive: neat, OCD and stingy. Being allowed to deficate whenever (over- gratification) leads to anal expulsive: disorganised, reckless, opposed to following rules
• The phallic stage is between 3-6 years old and the focus of pleasure is the genitals and the gratification of the ID through genital stimulation. This stage is when key gender differences occur.
• Boys go through the Oedipus complex in the phallic stage. This initials sexual love for their mother leading to them resenting and wanting to kill their father due to their fear that their father wants to castrate them. Due to the idea that they believe the father knows what they are thinking and feels threatened, also leads to feeling guilty. Can be resolved through identification with the male parent.
• Identification is the process of which a child identifies with their same sex parent by internalising their characteristics and morals. If the same sex parent is absent then that can lead to the child taking in characteristics of the opposite sex parent leading to gender issues and queerness.
• Girls go through the electra complex in the phallic stage (Karl Young neofreudian developed) meaning they have sexual desire for their father. Their desire manifests into penis envy. Both lead to fear for the mother as is scared she knows how the daughter feels and anger to the mother as she didn’t give her a penis. Resolved through identification. However, penis envy cannot fully be resolved meaning females cannot be fully psychologically developed meaning they aren’t morally responsible
• The latency stage occurs at around 5- puberty in which the psychosexual energy/ libido is dormant
• The genital stage is from puberty and onwards. The focus of pleasure is now on other peoples genitals. One of the healthiest stages as pleasure is being shared with others.