Freud's Psychodynamic Approach

• What is Freud's theory based on?

  Disordered human behaviour he observed in psychoanalytic therapy
• What is the underlying principle of the Psychodynamic theory?


  Behaviour is caused by conscious and (largely)

  unconscious drives

  • Unconscious drives = innate urges and motivations we aren't aware of

  The interactions of these drives are a result of:

  ➔ Personality structure

  ➔ Psychosexual development in childhood
• What is the Tripartite personality structure made up of?


  ➔ Id

  • Desires

  ➔ Superego

  • Judge of desires

  ➔ Ego

  • Conscious eye
• The Id

  
  

  • Present from birth
  • Largely in unconscious mind
  • Contains libido (psychic energy)
  • Operates on pleasure principle
  • Conflicts with reality + Superego
• The Superego

  • Largely in unconscious mind
  • Develops in later childhood (4-6)
  • Operates on morality principle
  • Internal moral authority (internalised societal rules = morals, internalised punishment = guilt)
  • Conflicts with Id
• The Ego

  
  

  • Conscious + unconscious mind
  • Develops in early childhood (2.5-4)
  • Regulates interactions with world
  • Balances demands/resolves conflicts of Id, reality + Superego
  • Operates on reality principle
• Why does the Ego require defence mechanisms?

  Protects Ego from conflicts causing psychological trauma
• Ego defence mechanisms:

  
  

  • Displacement
  • Denial
  • Repression
  • Projection
  • Regression
  • Sublimation
• Displacement

  • Unconscious unacceptable drives redirected at more acceptable targets
  • If impulse excessive = neurotic
  • Neuroses = knowing behaviour is wrong but being unable to stop it
  • Psychosis = break with reality
  • Freud: healthy to displace anger to an extent
• Repression

  • Inhibited memories/desires stifled in the unconscious
  • Disorders caused if unsuccessful
  • If impulse excessive = neurotic
• Projection

  • Knowledge of flaws in yourself = psychological pain = hatred
  • Hatred projected onto other people
  • Projecting person becomes hostile
• Regression

  • Regressing to earlier stage of psychosexual development when they felt safe + the trauma was not a problem
• Sublimation

  • Negative feelings converted into productivity
• Development through psychosexual stages

  • 5 phases
  • Each age = different erogenous zones (pleasure principle focused on different erogenous zones at different points in life; different centres of pleasure e.g clitoris)
  • Id seeks gratification in different ways
  • Deprivation/over-gratification = fixation of libido (it gets stuck)
  • Fixation = disordered adult behaviour
• Oral stage

  • Birth - c. 18 months
  • Feeding = pleasure (mouth is erogenous zone)
  • Gratification of Id through mouth
  • Frustration/overindulgence = fixation
  • Frustrated fixation = oral aggressive character -> pessimistic, envious, suspicious
  • Overindulged fixation = oral receptive character -> optimistic, gullible (vulnerable), expecting everything to go right for them
• Anal stage

  • c. 18 months - 3 years
  • Anus = focus of pleasure
  • Gratification of Id through retaining/expelling faeces = first experience of control
  • Frustration/overindulgence = fixation
  • Frustrated fixation = anal retentive character -> obsessed with hygiene/neatness, stingy, controlling
  • Overindulged fixation = anal repulsive character -> disorganised, defiant, reckless
• Phallic stage

  • c. 3 years - 5/6 years
  • Gratification of Id through genital stimulation
  • Key stage: 1st gender differences occur (due to complexes being different for girls + boys -> necessary for healthy psychological development)
• Phallic stage -> boys

  • Oedipus complex (kill father + marry mother)
  • Sexual rivalry with father
  • Fear of father castrating them + guilt for hating him
  • Identification with father through getting closer with him due to guilt = complex resolved
• Phallic stage -> girls

  
  

  • Electra complex (desire for father but knows she can’t have him so wants to be like him + hates mother for not making her male)
  • Penis envy (wants to be like father + penises = more societally acceptable)
  • Fear + guilt (fear of mother killing her because she wants to kill mother + guilt for hating mother)
  • Identification with mother through getting closer with her due to guilt = complex resolved
• Latency stage

  • c. 5/6 years - puberty
  • Libido = dormant
• Genital stage

  • Puberty onwards
  • Libido focused on others
• A&E point 1: research evidence support

  • Anna O case study -> psychoanalytic therapy = repressed trauma brought into conscious = symptoms disappeared
  • Shows that making unconscious traumas/complexes conscious = resolution
  • Psychoanalytic therapy = effective treatment
• A&E point 2: psychodynamic approach isn‘t scientific = evidence weakened

  • Subjectivity -> interpretation of Anna O’s symptoms may have been wrong + she may have got better through talking to a man she admired + paid attention to her
  • Psychodynamic approach may not be accurate as research support is subjective
• A&E point 3: psychodynamic approach’s key concepts = unfalsifiable

  • Tripartite personality/defence mechanisms/unconscious drives/unconscious mind = impossible to measure objectively + can’t be tested empirically
  • We can’t recognise what it would take to disprove these concepts -> too unscientific
• A&E point 4: psychodynamic approach has great explanatory power to support it

  • Humans frequently show irrational behaviours = hard to account for unless existence/impact of conscious mind acknowledged
  • E.g. denial explains now a person will keep drinking alcohol despite it becoming a problem
• Case study 1: Little Hans

  • Boy with Oedipus Complex (feared horses as they represented his father + wanted to marry his mother)
  • Complex resolved once he talked about it openly with his father (complex brought into conscious mind)
• Case study 2: Anna O

  • Woman with psychosomatic symptoms whose father had just died
  • Psychoanalytical therapy (Freud's 'talking cure') brought complex into conscious + resolved it = her symptoms disappeared