APPROACHES - Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

Assumptions made for the Psychodynamic approach

Answer 1

• Assumptions we must make of the psychodynamic approach are…
• The driving force behind our behaviour is the unconscious mind.
• Instincts and drives motivate our behaviour.
• Early childhood is pivotal in making us the person we are.

Question 2

What are the 3 levels to the MIND Freud believed there to be?

Answer 2

• The conscious mind contains thoughts, feelings and memories that a person is currently aware of.
• The preconscious mind contains the thoughts, feelings and memories that a person could access if they wanted to.
• Freud argued that the largest part of the mind is inaccessible. He referred to this as the unconscious mind.

Question 3

Explain the unconscious mind by Freud

Answer 3

• Freud believed that most of our everyday actions and behaviours are not controlled consciously but are the product of the unconscious mind, which reveals itself in slips of the tongue (Freudian slips), in creativity and in neurotic symptoms.
• The unconscious is the driving/motivating force behind our behaviour/personality
• The unconscious protects the conscious self from anxiety/fear/trauma/conflict.
• Traumatic (repressed) memories drive our behaviour
• The underlying unconscious drive is sexual

Question 4

What happens if a conflict is experienced during one of the psychosexual (oral anal phallic latent genital) stages?

Answer 4

It will affect the adult personality

Question 5

Why do we rarely actively worry about previous traumatic experiences?

Answer 5

• The mind actively prevents traumatic thoughts, feelings and memories in the mind from reaching the conscious mind because they would cause the person anxiety.

Question 6

How is the unconscious mind accessed?

Answer 6

• During psychoanalysis or hypnosis the psychoanalyst tries to access the unconscious mind of their patients using free association and dream interpretation.

Question 7

What is free association?

Answer 7

where a patient is encouraged to speak or write every thought that comes to mind, regardless of coherency.

Question 8

What is the structure of personality according to Freud?

Answer 8

Personality has a tripartite structure; the Id, the Ego and the Superego. Experience and conflicts in childhood shape the development of the three parts of personality, affecting how a person behaves.

Question 9

Explain the Id

Answer 9

• formed between birth and 18 months of age.
• It is in the unconscious mind.
• focuses on the self, and is irrational and emotional.
• It deals with feelings and needs, and seeks pleasure.
• It operates on the pleasure principle.

Question 10

Explain the Ego

Answer 10

• formed from 18 months to 3 years of age.
• It is in the conscious mind.
• It is rational and obtains a balance between the id and the superego.
• It operates on the reality principle.

Question 10

Explain the Superego

Answer 10

• formed between 3 and 6 years of age.
• It is in the unconscious mind.
• The superego acts as a conscience or moral guide based on parental and societal values.
• It operates on the morality principle.

Question 11

What are Defence Mechanisms in the Psychodynamic approach?

Answer 11

stop an individual from becoming consciously aware of any unpleasant thoughts, feelings, or memories that they may be experiencing (repression, denial, displacement)

Question 12

Explain Repression as a defence mechnaism in the psychodynamic approach

Answer 12

This is the unconscious blocking of unacceptable thoughts. These repressed thoughts continue to influence behaviour. For example, a person who is abused as a child may not remember the abuse but could still have trouble forming adult relationships.

Question 13

Explain Denial as a defence mechanism for the psychodynamic approach

Answer 13

This is the refusal to accept reality to avoid having to deal with any painful feelings that may be associated with a traumatic situation. For example, an alcoholic may deny that they have a drinking problem.

Question 14

Explain Displacement as a defence mechanism for the psychodynamic approach

Answer 14

This occurs when the focus of a strong emotion (e.g. anger) is expressed on an alternative person or object. For example, a student who has been given a detention by their teacher might kick their locker or shout at their friends

Question 15

Explain the Psychosexual stages by Freud

Answer 15

• Freud believed that personality developed through a sequence of five stages. (oral anal phallic latent gential)
• These are referred to as psychosexual stages to emphasise that the most important driving force in development is the need to express sexual energy (libido).
• At each stage this energy is expressed in different ways and through different parts of the body.

Question 16

What would happen if there was too much or too little gratification at any of the psychosexual stages?

Answer 16

a process called fixation could occur in which the child’s later adult personality could show permanent signs reflecting the stage at which fixation occurred.

Question 17

Explain the anal psychosexual stage of personality development

Answer 17

• Between 1 and 3 years old
• Focus of pleasure is the anus (gain pleasure from withholding/expelling faeces)
• Allows the individual to deal with authority figures
• If unresolved, can result in anal retentive/expulsive personality..
• Retentive = perfectionist and obsessive
• Expulsive = thoughtless and messy

Question 18

Explain the oral psychosexual stage of personality development

Answer 18

• Between birth and 1 year old
• Focus of pleasure is the mouth (sucking, tasting, biting)
• Allows the individual to trust and to be able to give/receive affection
• If unresolved, oral fixation occurs…
• smoking, biting nails, sarcastic and critical.

Question 19

Explain the phallic psychosexual stage of personality development

Answer 19

• Between 3 and 5 years old
• Focus of pleasure is the genital area (experience of the Oedipus/Electra complex)
• Allows the individual to adopt the traits of the same sex
• If unresolved, results in the individual being…
• Narcissistic, reckless and possibly homosexual

Question 20

Explain the latent psychosexual stage of personality development

Answer 20

• Between 6 and 12 years old
• Focus is on the mastery of the world and social relationships
• Earlier conflicts are repressed and early years are forgotten

Question 21

Explain the genital psychosexual stage of personality development

Answer 21

• Beyond 12 years of age
• Sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty
• Individual becomes a well-adjusted adult
• If unresolved, could result in difficulty forming heterosexual relationships

Question 22

Oedipus Complex

Answer 22

During the phallic stage, boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mother and a hatred for their rival in love – their father. Fearing that their father will castrate them (castration anxiety), boys repress their feelings for their mother and identify with their father. In doing so, they internalise his gender role and moral values (his superego).

Question 23

Electra Complex

Answer 23

During the phallic stage, girls experience penis envy and so desire their father. They also believe they have been castrated and blame their mother for this. Over time, girls give up their desire for their father and replace this with a desire for a baby. In turn, they identify with their mother and internalise her gender role and moral values (her superego).

Question 24

AO3 Psychodynamic Approach

Answer 24

• Development of psychoanalysis - A strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it led to the development of psychoanalysis – a therapy for the treatment of anxiety disorders. This laid the foundation for psychotherapy in modern psychiatry. (+)
• Untestable - The key concepts of the psychodynamic approach such as the unconscious mind and defence mechanisms lack falsifiability because they are unconscious processes and therefore difficult to test. They cannot be seen, measured or observed and are not very scientific or objective (-)
• Childhood only - The psychodynamic model can be criticised. Freud tends to focus on childhood traumas and problems that a patient might have had, and this is seen as the cause of abnormality. Freud would ignore any current problems that the patient is having, and would solely focus on childhood alone. (-)
• Caspi - Research conducted by the psychologist Caspi would support Freud’s work. Caspi found that the role of childhood personality has an impact later on in life. Children who had an inhibited personality at age 3 tended to become depressed adults by the age of 21. Children who were impulsive and lacked control at age 3, tended to develop anti-social personality disorder by age 21. (+)

Question 25

AO3 Psychodynamic Approach - development of psychoanalysis

Answer 25

A strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it led to the development of psychoanalysis – a therapy for the treatment of anxiety disorders. This laid the foundation for psychotherapy in modern psychiatry.

Question 26

AO3 Psychodynamic Approach - untestable

Answer 26

The key concepts of the psychodynamic approach such as the unconscious mind and defence mechanisms lack falsifiability because they are unconscious processes and therefore difficult to test. They cannot be seen, measured or observed and are not very scientific or objective (-)

Question 27

AO3 Psychodynamic Approach - childhood only

Answer 27

The psychodynamic model can be criticised. Freud tends to focus on childhood traumas and problems that a patient might have had, and this is seen as the cause of abnormality. Freud would ignore any current problems that the patient is having, and would solely focus on childhood alone. (-)

Question 28

AO3 Psychodynamic Approach - Caspi’s research

Answer 28

Research conducted by the psychologist Caspi would support Freud’s work. Caspi found that the role of childhood personality has an impact later on in life. Children who had an inhibited personality at age 3 tended to become depressed adults by the age of 21. Children who were impulsive and lacked control at age 3, tended to develop anti-social personality disorder by age 21. (+)