Psychodynamic approach

• Psychodynamics is the study of the unconscious mind and how it develops in childhood and how it influences behaviour, personality and mental state.
• In Freud's psychodynamic theory, the psyche (mind) has three divisions:

  • Conscious,
  • Preconscious,
  • Unconscious.
• Conscious mind includes thoughts we are aware of and can talk about, including ideas, decisions and emotions.
• Preconscious thoughts are not immediately accessible but can be brought to conscious awareness.
• Unconscious mind (believed to be the largest) holds thoughts and memories that are not accessible to awareness but influence behaviour and feelings. These include desires, impulses and repressed memories.
• The role of the unconscious:

  • Behaviours are shaped by unresolved unconscious conflicts among different parts of our personalities, as well as experiences in early developmental stages (psychosexual stages). Problems during these stages can result in fixation (when a person remains stuck in a particular stage, expressing certain negative personality traits).
  • Unconscious protects the conscious mind from harmful thoughts, traumatic memories, fears and intense desires. This helps reduce anxiety by using defence mechanisms.
• The structure of personality:

  • The id - A selfish aspect of the mind focused on only satisfying personal needs and desires. Operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification for its wants.
• The structure of personality:

  • The ego - Forms at around 18 months. Known as the reality principle and starts the formation of the conscious mind. It uses rational thinking to manage the id's demands. This development marks a critical stage in an individual's ability to interact with the world in a more realistic manner.
• The structure of personality:

  • The superego - Forms at around 3 years. Known as the morality principle and forms a section of the unconscious mind. Child internalises the values and norms of their parents and society. It influences behaviour by inducing guilt when actions conflict with strict standards.
• The 5 psychosexual stages:

  Freud argues that as children develop biologically, the pass through 5 stages. At each stage, they experience and unconscious conflict that must be resolved. If the child is unable to resolve said conflicts, they become fixated and this could alter their personality, resulting in mental disorders (called neuroses).
• The 5 psychosexual stages:

  • Oral (0-1 years) - Baby receives pleasure from their mouth during breastfeeding. During weaning, the infant learns it does not control the environment and develops delayed gratification. Fixation results in an immature personality.
• The 5 psychosexual stages:

  • Anal (1-3 years) - Child gets pleasure from holding onto and expelling faeces. If parents are too strict when punishing potty training mistakes, this can result in fixation (anal retentive) and becoming an overly organised and fussy adult.
• The 5 psychosexual stages:

  • Phallic (3-5 years) - Libido is now focused on genitals.
  • Boys experience the Oedipus complex (a sexual desire for their mother but fear the father due to castration anxiety. Boy later learns he cannot compete for mother and so identifies with his father instead, imitating his behaviour, so developing a male gender identity).
  • Girls experience the Electra complex (an attachment to the father and a dislike for the mother). This was proposed by Jung.
• The 5 psychosexual stages:

  • Latency (6-12 years) - Sexual energy (libido) is dispersed across the body and previous conflicts, desires and memories from early childhood are repressed into the unconscious.
• The 5 psychosexual stages:

  • Genital (12+ years) - This is the point of puberty and sexual desire is now conscious and in the final adult from.
• Defence mechanisms:

  The ego's role is to resolve conflicts between the id and the superego. Defence mechanisms are strategies that the ego can use to manage the unresolvable conflicts. These reduce the anxiety felt by the conflict between the id and superego.

  • Denial - Refusal to accept reality.
  • Displacement - Strong emotion is moved from the source and placed onto a substitute target which generally tends to be weaker.
  • Repression - Unpleasant memory or painful emotion is placed into the unconscious mind and is no longer accessible to the conscious mind.
• Strengths of the psychodynamic approach:

  • Practical application - Psychoanalytic therapy has been seen as appropriate for neurotic disorders (eg - anxiety and eating disorders) rather than for the psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. It is also used for depression but its effectiveness in this area is more questionable because of the apathetic nature of the depressive patients.
• Strengths of the psychodynamic theory:

  • Practical value - Theory had significant influence on the modern scientific psychological theories today. The emphasis on the importance of early experiences and the lasting impact of trauma on adulthood had influenced Bowlby (who build upon Freudian concepts do develop attachment theories).
• Limitations of the psychodynamic theory:

  • Lack scientific credibility - Developed through case studies and by interpreting his clients memories, introspections and dreams. The case of Little Hanz was used to support the psychosexual stages of development but his parents were fans of Freud's work and so recorded events and conversations supporting the theory were likely to be biased.
• Limitations of the psychodynamic theory:

  • Falsifiability - Freud often framed his theories in ways which were made them untestable. For example, arguing criminal behaviour is the result of an overdeveloped, underdeveloped or deviant superego meant the theory could include almost any criminal's background, claiming it as evidence for his theory. This adaptability means that his concepts lack falsifiability.
• Limitations of the psychodynamic theory:

  • Limited approach - Bachrach suggests that psychoanalysis may not be appropriate for patients suffering from OCD in that it may inadvertently increase their tendency to over-interpret events in their life.