Psychodynamic

• Psychodynamic approach - Emphasises development in an individual and focuses on unconscious desires and motives
• Freud believed behaviour was determined by psychological factors, and they we are born with basic instincts, but are largely controlled by the unconscious mind
• the iceberg analogy - 3 levels of the mind

  1. conscious (thoughts/feelings)
  2. pre-conscious (memories/stored knowledge)
  3. unconscious (selfishness/instincts)
• the unconscious - levels of personality

  1. id (wants)
  2. superego (settles conflicts)
  3. ego (morals)
• defense mechanisms - unconscious devices which kick in if the ego and superego fail to cope with anxiety. for example:

  1. repression (blocking thoughts)
  2. denial (avoiding/refusing reality)
  3. displacement (blaming others)
• freud’s psychosexual stages:

  1. oral
  2. anal
  3. phallic
  4. oedipus
  5. electra
  6. genital

  unresolved conflicts at any stage can lead to issues in later life
• anna o - fell ill and wanted treatment for various symptoms (hallucinations, speech problems etc.). Freud and his teacher helped to treat problems of hysteria by encouraging her to recall forgotten memories of traumatic events (psychoanalysis). they noticed this relieved stress and therefore, her symptoms
• little hans - 5 year old had a phobia of horses. at 3, he was obsessed by his own and others’ penises and his mother threatened to cut his off if he didn’t stop playing with it. Freud treated his fear by linking it to a fear of the horse’s large penis (it was unconsciously representing his father). he let little hans fantasise having a large penis and being married to his mother which cured his phobia
• the rat man - tormented by visions of rats chewing at his father’s anus. Freud diagnosed him with OCD, analysed him for 11 months, then found that events from his childhood caused the reoccurring fantasies.
• Psychodynamic AO3 -

  :( ignores other factors

  :( unfalsifiable - id, superego, ego

  :( culture bias - china avoids discussing issues

  :) supporting research

  :) practical applications - psychoanalysis