6.psychodynamic approach

• psychodynamic approach was associated with Sigmund Freud
• the psychodynamic approach is a perspective that describes the different forces (most are unconscious) that operate on the mind and direct human behavior and experience
• Freud suggested that our mind we know about and are aware of is the conscious mind
• most of our mind is made up of the unconscious mind
• the unconscious mind contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed
• repressed memories can be accessed during dreams or through ' slips of the toungue'
• the preconscious mind contains thoughts and memories which are not currently in conscious awareness but we can access if desired
• Freud described personality as 'tripartite' which composed of three things: Id, Ego and Superego
• the Id operates on the pleasure principle, it gets what it wants
• only the Id is present at birth
• the ego works on the realty principle
• the ego develops around the age of 2
• the role of the ego is to reduce the conflict between the demands of the id and superego by using defense mechanisms
• the superego is formed at end of phallic stage
• the superego is based on the morality principle
• the psychosexual stages are: oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital
• Freud claimed that child development occurred in 5 stages
• oral stage is at 0-1 years old
• anal stage is at 1-3 years old
• phallic stage is at 3-5 years old
• the focus of the pleasure for the oral stage is the mouth and the mothers breast is the object of desire
• the consequences of having an oral fixation is smoking and biting nails
• the focus of pleasure at the anal stage is the anus where a child gains pleasure for withholding or expelling poo
• anal retentive is a perfectionist and obsessive
• anal expulsive is thoughtless and messy
• the focus of pleasure for the phallic stage is the genital area, children experience the oedipus and electra complex
• the consequence of unresolved phallic stage is having a phallic personality where they are reckless and narcisstic
• the latency stage is where earlier conflicts are repressed
• the genital stage is where sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty
• the consequence of unresolved genital stage is difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
• repression is forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind
• denial is where you refuse to acknowledge some aspect of reality
• displacement is transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target
• defence mechanisms are unconscious strategies that the ego uses to manage the conflict between id and superego
• the consequences of unresolved anal fixation is anal retentive and anal expulsive
• the oedipus complex is where little boys develop the phallic stage develop incestuous feelings towards their mother and murderous hatred for their rival in love - father
• evaluation - explanatory power +

  • psychodynamic approach has been used to explain many things, such as personality development, abnormal bhevaiour, moral development and gender
• evaluation - the case study method +

  • freud based his theory on individual studies such as Little Hans - some people believe he cannot make universal claims based on studies of a small number of individuals
• evaluation - untestable concepts -

  • as freuds concepts occur at an unconscious level, they are impossible to test
• evaluation - practical application

  • freud brought out a new form of therapy - psychoanalysis (range of techniques to access the unconscious - dream analysis)
  • criticised for being inappropriate or harmful for those with mental illnesses