PA AO3

• + real world application

  • introduced idea of psychotherapy
  • freud brought psychoanalysis - first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically
  • helps clients by bringing their repressed emotions into conscious mind to be dealt with
  • counselling
  • this shows the value of the PA in creating a new approach to treatment
• - psychoanalysis is regarded as harmful and inappropriate

  • for people who experience more serious mental disorders (schizophrenia)
  • Many of those symptoms such as paranoia and delusional thinking mean those with it have lost their grip on reality and cant articulate their thoughts in the way required by psychoanalysis
  • this suggests that freudian therapy and theory may not apply to all metal disorders
• - untestable concepts


  • Popper argues PA doesnt meet scientific criterion of falsification
  • not open to empirical testing
  • many of freuds concepts occur at unconscious level making them difficult to test
  • his ideas were based on subjective study of single individuals such as Little Hans which makes it difficult to make universal claims about human behaviour
  • This suggests that Freuds theory was pseudoscientific rather than established fact
• + psychic determinism


  • PA suggests that much of our behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts rooted in childhood
  • freud believed theres no such thing as an accident
  • even something random is driven by unconscious forces and has deep meaning
  • critics claim this is an extreme view because it dismisses any possible influence of free will on behaviour