Psychodynamic approach

• The godfather of this approach was Freud
• this perspective seeks to explain human behaviour as an interaction between innate drives and early experiences
• assumption 1 = influence of childhood experiences
• Assumption 2 = the unconcious mind
• Assumption 3 = tripartate personality
• specified in treating neurotic disorders like hysteria, which had no physical cause
• Lead freud to belive in phychic determinism - behaviour is determined by psychological factors rather than physical conditions
• This is a holistic approach, as it recognises the complexity of human behaviour
• Psychic determinism = nothing happens by chance, everything we say or do is determind as an expression of our mind, free will is an illusion
• This approach is deterministic - no acknowledgement of free will
• This approach has a successful application in dream therapy
• This approach is reductionist - complex idea into a simple one
• This approach is interactionist, acknowledges both nurture and nature
• This is a non-scientific approach- cannot be generalised - little Hans