Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards
What are the assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
1) Devised by Sigmund Freud
2) Our behaviour is caused by unconscious motives
3) Childhood is a critical period in development
4) Mental disorders arise from unresolved, unconscious conflicts originating in childhood
What are the 5 psychosexual stages? What is a fixation at each stage?
1) Oral - mothers breasts
2) Anal - withholding or expelling faeces
3) Phallic - experiences the Oedipus or electra complex
4) Latent - Earlier conflicts
5) Genital - sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of of puberty
What are the causes and consequences of each stage?
1) Oral
Cause = deprivation of love or food -
Consequence = smoking, nail biting, sarcastic
2) Anal
Anal retentive (cause) = perfectionist, obsessive (consequence)
Anal expulsive (cause) = thoughtless, messy (consequence)
3) Phallic
Cause = no father figure, dominant mother
Consequence = narcissistic, reckless, possibly homosexual
5) Genital
Consequence = difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
What role does the unconscious play in our behaviour?
- Part of the brain is inaccessible to conscious thought.
- This is made up of majority of the mind and contains disturbing memories that have been repressed.
What is the ID?
~ Unconscious part of the brain
~ Present at birth
~ Primitive and irrational
What is the ego?
~ Conscious part of the brain
~ Develops during first 2 years
~ Mediates between ID and superego
What is the superego?
~ Conscious part of the brain
~ Develops around age 5
~ Represents moral standards (Impacting by societal expectations)
What is a defence mechanism?
Methods we use to unconsciously reduce anxiety.
What is repression? Give an example.
Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind.
Example - being unable to recall a family member funeral.
What is denial? Give an example.
Fail or refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality.
Example - continuing to turn up to work even though you have been fired.
What is displacement? Give an example.
Transferring feelings from the true object of anxiety onto a substitute object.
Example - after getting frustrated with your boss at work, you go home and take it out on your partner.
What is the practical application of the psychodynamic approach?
- New form of therapy - psychoanalysis
First attempt to treat mental illnesses psychologically rather than physically.
Fore runner to modern day ‘talking therapies’ such as counselling that have since been established.
What is a strength of the psychodynamic approach?
Supporting evidence - there is evidence to support aspects of the approach e.g little Hands - evidence of Oedipus complex and displacement.
What are the criticisms of the psychodynamic approach?
1) Unscientific -> case studies are subjective + small group samples (unrepresentative)
2) Untestable concepts -> hard to falsify - Karl pepper argued that the psychodynamic approach does not meet the scientific intention of falsification - suggests freuds theory was pseudoscientific.
3) Psychic determinism -> critics claim it is an extreme view because it demises possible influence of free will in behaviour - approach states any action you do is determined by childhood experiences that you can’t control.
4) May not apply to all mental disorders ->psychoanalysis is regarded as inappropriate and even harmful for people experiencing more severe mental disorders (such as schizophrenia)
Symptoms of schizophrenia = paranoia, delusions - cannot articulate their thoughts needed for psychoanalysis.
