Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

What are the three assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

-Influence of childhood experiences
-The unconscious mind
-Tripartite personality

Question 2

Explain the ‘influence of childhood experiences’ assumption.

Answer 2

There are five stages in childhood development: oral (0-1 years), anal (1-3 years), phallic (3-6 years), latency (7 years-puberty), genital (puberty-adolescnce). Fixations at each stage can lead to problems in adulthood.

Question 3

What effects does a fixation in the oral stage have on adulthood?

Answer 3

Too much gratification (fed as soon as they want, weaned too late): optimistic, gullible, dependent, trusting.

Not enough gratification (kept waiting for food, weaned too early): aggressive, pessimistic, envious, dominating.

Question 4

What effects does fixation in the anal stage have on adulthood?

Answer 4

Happens during potty training.

Anal expulsive - generous, messy, disorganised, rebellious, careless, hoarder.

Anal retentive - orderly (obsessively tidy), stubborn, stingy, rigid, possesive.

Question 5

What effect does fixation in the phallic stage have on adulthood?

Answer 5

Suppression in this stage results in experiencing excessive guilt or shame about sexuality.

Over-indulgence in this stage results in a person being overly sexually confident and arrogant. May have authority problems, may be extremely vain.

Question 6

What happens in the latency stage?

Answer 6

Nothing happens in this stage, there is a pause between psychosexual stages.

Question 7

What effect does fixation in the genital stage have on adulthood?

Answer 7

Libido focused on genitals, and a mature view on the opposite sex. Adult personality is set. Well adjusted, mature, healthy sexual relationships IF successful at progressing through other stages.

Question 8

Explain the ‘unconscious mind’ assumption.

Answer 8

Freud compared the human mind to an iceberg. On the surface, there’s the conscious mind which is all the stuff that we’re currently aware of - e.g. rational and logical thoughts. Below the surface is the preconscious mind, which is what we could be conscious of if we thought about it (memories, knowledge, opinions, attitudes). Then below that is the unconscious mind, where things we aren’t aware of and cannot become aware of are stored (traumatic memories).

Question 9

There are five defence mechanisms in the unconscious mind assumption. What are they?

Answer 9

Repression - the ego buries disturbing and traumatic thoughts and prevents them from becoming conscious.

Denial - blocking external effects from awareness. If a situation is too much for someone to handle, the person refuses to accept or experience it.

Projection - individuals attribute their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings and motives to another person.

Displacement - satisfying an impulse (e.g. aggression) with a substitute object.

Regression - movement back in psychological time when one is faced with stress.

Question 10

Explain the tripartite personality assumption.

Answer 10

Id (the pleasure principle) - We are born with an id that holds all of our selfish demands (demands instant gratification).

Ego (the reality principle) - the ego balances the conflict between the id and superego. Ego develops defence mechanisms to protect our minds from trauma.

Superego (the morality principle) - called the conscience or ‘the voice of your parents’. Helps us to behave in a moral way and feel guilty for doing something we know is wrong.

Question 11

What is the therapy on the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 11

Dream analysis

Question 12

What are the main components of dream analysis?

Answer 12

1) Dreams as wish fulfilment
2) The symbolic nature of dreams
3) Dreamwork
4) Role of the therapist

Question 13

What is the idea behind dreams as wish fulfilment?

Answer 13

Freud proposed that dreams are the unconscious fulfilment of wishes that could not be satisfied in the conscious mind. Dreams therefore protect the sleeper, but also allow the expression of some buried urges.

Question 14

What is the symbolic nature of dreams?

Answer 14

According to Freud, the unfulfilled wishes are expressed symbolically in dreams. The real meaning of the dream (latent content) is transformed into manifest content (what you actually experience in the dream). For example, a penis may be represented by a snake or a gun, and a vagina by a tunnel or a cave. Freud believed that it was necessary to look at the symbols in context of a person’s life. Freud also believed that not everything in a dream was a symbol, “sometimes a cigar is simply a cigar”.

Question 15

What is dreamwork?

Answer 15

The manifest content of a dream is transformed into latent content through the process of dreamwork. Dreamwork consists of condensation, displacement, representation, symbolism and secondary elaboration.

Question 16

Define condensation.

Answer 16

Dream thoughts are rich in detail and content, but these are condensed to the brief images in a dream where one dream image stands for several associations and ideas.

Question 17

Define displacement.

Answer 17

The emotional significance of a dream object is separated from its real object or content and attached to an entirely different one so that the dream content is not ‘censored’.

Question 18

Define representation.

Answer 18

A thought is translated into visual images.

Question 19

Define symbolism.

Answer 19

A symbol replaces an action, person or idea.

Question 20

Define secondary elaboration.

Answer 20

The unconscious mind collects all the different images and ties them together to form a logical story, further disguising the latent content. The actual dream content may be from recent events in a person’s waking life.

Question 21

What is the role of the therapist?

Answer 21

The therapist has to decode the manifest content back to the latent content. They should suggest several interpretations of the dream and allow the client to choose which one feels like it makes the most sense in their life.

Question 22

What points can be used to evaluate dream analysis?

Answer 22

+ve Supporting evidence
Solms (2000) used PET scans to highlight the regions of the brain that are active during dreaming. The results showed that the rational part of the brain is inactive during REM sleep, whereas the centres concerned with memory and motivation are very active.

-ve Methodological issues
Much of the research into dreaming is conducted in sleep laboratories. It can therefore be questioned wether the sleep/dream state is as authentic as when under normal conditions, as the patient is wired to several electrodes. Not the same as everyday life. Ecological validity is questioned.

-ve Therapist-client relationship
Potential power imbalance between therapist and patient. The patient is reliant on the therapist for an insight into their unconscious (over-dependence).

Question 23

What is the classical research for the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 23

Bowlby (1944) 44 juvenile thieves.

Question 24

What is the methodology of Bowlby?

Answer 24

This study was a series of case studies. There was a control group. Bowlby studied 44 children at a guidance clinic in London who had ‘thief’ in their symptoms. There were 31 boys and 13 girls aged 5-17. They were graded on the severity of their stealing - Grade IV were 22 children that had multiple cases of thievery, while Grade I thieves consisted of 4 children who had committed only one theft.

The control group consisted of 44 children who were also at the clinic that were also mentally disturbed, but didn’t steal. They were matched based on sex, age and IQ.

Mothers of the children were interviewed to get information about their history.

Question 25

What was the first step in the procedures of Bowlby?

Answer 25

Initial examination:
Used opportunity sampling. Each child was given a mental test to assess their intelligence. At the same time, mothers were interviewed for details on their child’s early psychiatric history. The psychiatrist then interviewed the child and mother. The research team then went over the children’s school reports and discussed their conclusions.

Question 26

What was the second step in the procedures of Bowlby?

Answer 26

Therapy:
The children continued to meet with the psychiatrist weekly over a period of 6+ months. The mothers talked with the social workers. These meetings and discussions allowed for a detailed case history to be recorded, and for the psychiatrist to diagnose the children’s emotional problems.

Question 27

What were the conclusions of Bowlby’s research?

Answer 27

Diagnosis:
Bowlby found that there were six mai personality types in his sample: normal, depressed, circular (switching between depression and over-activity), hyperthymic (children who tend to be over-active), affectionless (lack of normal affection, shame or sense of responsibility) and schizoid.

The affectionless character:
Out of the 44 thieves, Bowlby found that 14 were classified as ‘affectionless’. 12 of the 14 affectionless children had experienced frequent separations from the mother. Bowlby believed that these frequent separations caused damage to the development of the superego, leading to a reduced sense of right and wrong.

Question 28

What is the contemporary debate of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 28

The mother as the primary caregiver.

Question 29

What are the main arguments in the debate of the mother as the primary caregiver?

Answer 29

-Breastfeeding
-Deprivation damage
-Sex role stereotypes (mothers not the fathers)

Question 30

What evidence is there for/against breastfeeding?

Answer 30

For:
The NHS recommends that infants are breastfed for the first 6 months, as it provides the healthiest possible start for infants.
-Breastfeeding can build a strong physical and emotional bond between mother and baby, since it releases oxytocin. Essential for emotional development.
-Anyone else is limited as the PCG because they can’t breastfeed the baby.

Against:
1950s behaviourists suggested that infants were classically conditioned to associate their mother with a sense of pleasure from food.
Harlow (1959) argued that food ≠ love. Infant baby monkeys were given two ‘mothers’ made out of wire. One had a feeding bottle attached to it, while the other was covered in soft cloth. The monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth mother, especially when frightened.
-Food ≠ love, comfort = love
-Whoever child is most comforted by should be PCG

Question 31

What evidence is there for/against sex role stereotypes?

Answer 31

For:
Mothers are the best PCGs, as they have larger amounts of oestrogen and are therefore more oriented towards emotional relationships than men.
Heerman (1994) found that men are less sensitive to infant cues (e.g. crying) than mothers.

Against:
Research shows that men can become hormonally adapted to parenthood. Getter (2011) suggests that a father’s testosterone level drops in order to respond more sensitively to his child’s needs.

Question 32

What evidence is there for/against deprivation damage?

Answer 32

For:
Bowlby found that prolonged separation from the mother is likely to cause an affectionless character. Maternal deprivation hypothesis - “Mother love in infancy is just as important for a child’s mental health as vitamins and minerals are for physical health.”

Against:
Bowlby (1995) “A child should experience a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with his mother (or permanent mother substitute - one person who steadily ‘mothers’ him)” - ‘mothering’ isn’t exclusive to mothers.