Psychodynamic approach

• What is the psychdynamic approach?

  A perspective that describes the different forces, most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience.
• id? 


  entirely unconscious made up of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification
• ego?

  the 'reality check' that balances the conflicting demands of id and superego
• superego? 


  moralistic part of our personality that represents the ideal self- how we ought to be
• defence mechanisms? 


  unconcious strategies that ego uses to manage conflict between id and superego. 3 examples are repression, denial and displacement
• repression? 


  forcing a distressing memory out of conscious mind
• denial? 


  refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality
• displacement? 


  transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target
• psychosexual stages- oral? 


  0-1 years, focus of pleasure is the mouth, mothers breast can be the object of desire.

  consequence- oral fixation- smoking, biting nails, sarcastic and critical
• psychosexual stages - anal?

  1-3 years, focus of pleasure is anus, child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces

  consequences- anal retentive- perfectionist, obsessive and anal expulsive- thoughtless and messy
• psychosexual stages - phallic?

  3-6 years, focus of pleasure is genital area

  consequence - phallic personality- narcissistic and reckless
• psychosexual stages - latency?

  earlier conflicts are repressed
• psychosexual stages - genital?

  sexual desires become conscious alongside onset of puberty

  consequence - difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
• strength of psychodynamic approach?

  p- introduced psychotherapy

  e- freud created psychoanalysis which is first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically. helps patients by bringing their repressed emotions into their conscious mind so can be dealt with. psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many modern day talking therapies like counselling.

  l- shows value of psychodynamic approach in creating new treatments
• CA to strength of psychodynamic approach?

  p- psychoanalysis regarded as inappropriate, harmful for people experiencing more serious mental disorders.

  e- many symptoms of schizophrenia mean that those with disorder have lost their grip on reality and can't articulate their thoughts in the way required by psychoanalysis.

  l- freudian therapy may not apply to all mental disorders
• another strength of Freuds theory/ psychodynamic approach?

  p- ability to explain human behaviour and huge influence on psychology

  e- been used to explain a wide range of phenomena including personality development, origins of psychological disorders, moral development and gender identity. significant in drawing attention to connection between experiences in childhood and our later development

  l- positive impact on psychology
• limitation of psychodynamic approach?

  p- untestable

  e- popper argued it doesn't meet the scientific criterion of falsification. not open to empirical testing. many of freud's concepts said to occur at an unconscious level making them difficult to test. his ideas based on subjective study of single individuals (little Hans) so difficult to make universal claims about human behaviour.

  l- Freuds theory was pseudoscientific.
• little Hans? 


  5y/o boy with phobia of horses after seeing one collapse in street. Freud suggest that Hans phobia was a form of displacement in which his repressed fear of his father was transferred onto horses. so horses merely a symbolic representation of Hans real unconscious fear - fear of castration experienced during oedipus complex.