Psychology – psychodynamic

• Assumption 1

  INFLUENCE OF CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES

  Psychological development takes place in a series of key, developmental stages.

  Called psychosexual stages.

  Oral , anal, phallic, latency, genitor.

  Example – little hans
• Assumption 2


  THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND

  mind is like an iceberg, what goes on inside, lies underneath the surface.

  Conscious mind, – logical

  Unconscious mind, not logical, ruled by pleasure speaking

  Example – anorexia study
• Assumption 3


  TRIPARTITE PERSONALITY

  Adult personality, structured to 3 parts

  Id– present at birth, gain pleasure at any cost.

  Ego – two years old, balancing ID demands an acceptable way

  Super ego – four years old, child sense of right/wrong, seek perfection

  Example – criminal study
• Relationship formation


  PARENT AND CHILD RELATIONSHIP

  Child, born with ID

  Behaviour is selfish, and they want everything immediately

  Role of parent is to provide right and wrong, train, balanced behaviour, promote ego and super ego

  If successful – trusting and safe relationship is formed
• Bowlby research methods


  Series of case studies
• Bowlby – characteristics of PPS


  Thieves – average intelligence, 44 PPS, 31 boys, 13 girls. Went to guidance clinic.

  Control – 44 children, attends clinic, emotionally disturbed, did not steal
• Bowlby procedures


  INITAL EXAMINATION- opportunity, sampling. on arrival, each child is given a mental test to assess their intelligence. Emotional attitude of child is also noted. Social worker interviews the mother

  THERAPY – children continue to meet with the psychiatrist weekly for six months or more. Mothers talked over their problems with social worker.
• Bowlby – findings


  Table
• Bowlby findings

  Six main personalities – normal, depressed, circular, hyperthymic, affection less, schiziod.

  Bowlby found out of 44 thieves, 14 were classed as affection less, of these 14, 12 had experienced frequent separations from their mother.

  , 17 had mothers, who were extremely anxious, five had fathers who expressed their hate for them,
• Bowlby conclusions


  Children wouldn’t have become offenders if they hadn’t had experiences that were harmful to healthy development. Damage to a relationship between mother and child affects development of super ego, lead into reduce sense of right and wrong. The earlier the diagnosis the easier to treat and cure .
• Bowlby methodology


  Series of case studies, control group, two groups of PPS. 44 children would describe the thieves, somewhere too young to be charged 31 boys, 13 girls aged 5 to 17. Graded in terms of seriousness of stealing. Grade IV thieves, stealing for over three years Grade I theives, one theft, which was 4 children. Thieves – average intelligence.

  Control group – 44 children, similar age, sex, IQ to the thieves. Emotionally disturbed – did not steal. 88 children were involved in this study.

  Mother – interviewed to assess the case histories of the children
• Bowlby, evaluation of methodology and procedures

  NO CASUAL FINDINGS - may be other variables that caused emotional problems may not be mother separation

  BIASED DATA- his perceptions may be biased by his own beliefs. Case histories is largely based on recollection of parents on events that happened many years previously..

  THE SAMPLE - 88 children were emotionally disturbed, may not be able to generalise. Useful to examine a sample of children, appearing in court, for stealing in order to determine whether all cases of delinquency have a similar explanation.
• Bowlby, social implications


  Frequency separation from mother – issue

  Childcare – clear implication

  If childcare and mother, return – consistency – no negative effect

  Bowlby raised awareness of importance of quality of care for a child development
• Psychodynamic approach strengths

  Strength 1 - NATURE NURTURE

  Freud claimed adult personality– product of innative drives, and childhood experiences.

  Four, ID is instinctual, driven by eros.

  Influence of nurture – psychosexual stages. FS theory considers the influence of both nature nurture.

  The interactionist nature of this approach is a key strength
• Psychodynamic strength

  PROVIDE USEFUL IN MANY WAYS

  Highlights childhood is a critical period in development – who we become is greatly influenced by childhood experiences. Ideas given by F influenced therapies used to treat mental disorders.

  Approach is useful in helping to understand mental health problems
• Psychodynamic weakness

  REDUCTIONIST

  Ignores important influences on behaviour, such as biochemistry and genetics

  Over simplification, and ignoring other important factors
• Psychodynamic weaknesses

  DETERMINIST

  F infant behaviour as determined by inniative forces. Adult behaviour determined by childhood experiences. We have no free will, and who we become as our personality is shaped by forces. We can’t change. Weakness – we can change if we want to

  Gives people plausible excuse for unreasonable behaviour/excuse for criminal behaviour. Implies people cannot be responsible for their own behaviour.
• Dream analysis - dream as wish fulfilment

  Freud thought dreams = unconscious fulfilments of wishes that could not be satisfied in the conscious mind. Dreams protect the sleeper, allow some expression to these hurried urges
• Dream analysis - Role of the therapist

  Reverse the dreamwork process - to decode manifest content back to latent content. Not offer one interpretation of dream but suggest various based on patients feedback