psychodynamic approach

Question 1

AO1: what is the psychodynamic approach

Answer 1

a perspective that describes the different forces that operate the mind and direct human behaviour

Question 2

AO1: unconscious, preconscious and structure of personality

Answer 2

unconscious- part of the mind that directs much of our behaviour but we are unaware of
preconscious- thoughts and memories which are not currently in conscious awareness but we access if desired

structure of personality:
Id- unconscious, selfish and aggressive instincts
ego- balance conflicting demands of Id and superego
superego- moralistic part, represents the ideal self

Question 3

AO1: psycho sexual stages and defence mechanisms

Answer 3

psychosexual stages:
oral (0-1) focus of pleasure is mouth
anal (1-3) focus of pleasure is the anus
phallic (3-6) focus of pleasure is genital area
latency- earlier conflicts are repressed
genital (puberty)- sexual desires become conscious

repression- forcing distressing memory out of conscious mind
denial- refusing to acknowledge aspects of reality
displacement- transferring feelings from the true object of anxiety onto a substitute target

Question 4

AO3: strength- real world application

Answer 4

P: introduces the idea of psychotherapy
E: which has a range of techniques designed to access the unconscious
E: for example dream analysis, brings repressed emotions into conscious mind to be dealt with. This can help with eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia and help them deal with the conflicts in their lives.
HOWEVER,
p: psychoanalysis is regarded as inappropriate for serious mental disorders
E: for example schizophrenia, as the symptoms include paranoia and delusion
E: meaning they’ve lost their grip on reality and can’t articulate their thoughts in the way required
L: this shows it doesn’t apply to all mental illnesses

Question 5

AO3: strength- universal

Answer 5

P: the psychodynamic approach is universal
E: this means it can be applied to anyone no matter race, culture, religion, where you are brought up etc
E: this explains why the approach has been so successful long term
L: this shows that the approach can be used anywhere and is still being used today 100s of years later.

Question 6

AO3: limitation- unscientific data

Answer 6

P: unscientific data
E/E: Freud used case studies making the population validity low. He also mostly analysed Viennese middle class women which creates gender bias, culture bias, class bias and makes it hard to generalise to target population. He also was doing the psychoanalysis himself which creates researcher bias, as well as not taking any notes which doesn’t give any evidence.
L: all of this combined makes the approach very unscientific