psycodynamic approach Flashcards
what are the 3 assumptions for the psycodynamic approach?
3 assumptions
- Unconscious mind- Freud stated that the mind had 2 parts the unconscious (hidden thoughts and desires) and the conscious (stored memories and what we are currently thinking
- Tripartite personality- ID, ego and superego
- Influence of childhood experience- freud beleieves that we all have LIBIBO- a basic sexual drive. He states that behaviour depends on childhood, and each child goes through the psychosexual stages of development
what is the oedipus confict?
The Oedipus conflict
• At the age of 6 a boy is attracted to his mother
• He wants to marry and have kids with her
• He is jealous of his father with his mother
• But worried his father will punish him
• He is in a conflict
• He resolves the conflict by acting like the father
• He believes acting like this his father will not want to hurt him by castrating him
• He has resolved conflict
what are the 5 pshycosexual stages
The 5 psychosexual stages
Oral- 0-2- mouth pleasure, fixation#
Anal- 2-5- meet restrictions “no”, potty training
Fallic-6-8- Oedipus and Electra conflicts
Latent 7-8- puberty, social and intellectual development
what was bowlbys study, aim and sample
Bowlbys study
Aim: Bowlby argues that all delinquent behaviour was because of separation from mothers, the psychodynamic assumption states that childhood experience influences behaviour
Sample: 44 juvinielle thieves, 44 non delinquent.
what was the procedure of bowlbys study
Procedure:
- Iq tested and Bowlby tested emotional response to this
- intelligence tested using binet scale most between 84-114
- social worker interviewed parent
- psychologist and social worker made reports
- Bowlby interviewed parents and/or child over months
- this created a case study on each child over a longitudinal time
what was bowlbys study findings?
- he found that most thieves were affectionless but there were no affectionless amongst controls.
- Strong accociation between character and stealing.
- 14 of affefcionless had separation from mothers.
- If there were theieves amongst the non separational children, they still had bad relationships with their parents.
- 6 thieves had fathers who openly had issues with them.
Is maternal separation the only explanation: NO
Genetics
11 theieves had at least 1 psychotic parent
3 had close relatives with epilepsy
Overall 22 had parents/ grandparents who were mentally unhealthy
what did bowlby conclude with his study
Bowlbys conclusion: these findings confirm the psychodynamic assumption that early years are a great importance to character development however there are also social problems
what are the strengths and weaknesses of bowlbys study
Strengths of his study- data was rich, indepth and qualitiive, high ecological vaididty as research was through real life investigation
Weaknesses of his study- no interrate reliability, may have been subjective to his aims, he could’ve over reported theiveing groups, his study suggests that women should stay at home and look after their children for the sake of their behaviour.
what is the therapy for the psycodynamic
The aim of dream analysis is to bring the unconscious thoughts to the conscious mind to help the conficts be solved.
There are two types of content manifest content- content experienced in the dream, and latent content. The real meaning of the dream
Examples- Doras dream, wolf man
what are the 3 main components to dream analysis
- Dream as wish fulfilment- our dreams are our supressed fantasies
- Symbolic nature of the dream- content of a dream can be symbolic of anxieties
- Dreamwork- the latent content of a dream is transformed into the manifest content by dream work
what is the process of dream analysis treatement
Process of therapy- 1. Condensation (combination of many emotions and feelings) 2. Displacement (emotional content from a real emotion placed onto one object) 3. Secondary elaboration (stringing the symbols together)
what are the strengths and weaknesses for dream analysis
Dream analysis FOR
SOLMS- did pet scans which proved that during dreams the rational part of our brain is inactive. This supports freud as it tells us during dreaming we have free reign
Time and cost
False memory syndrome- Elizabeth loftus. An event that has happened but has been fabricatied. This can cause distress to patients (ethics) and cause futher consequences
what are some problems with dream analysis
Problems with dream analysis:
- Different interpretations (freud was very sexual)
- No scientific test
- Subjective (who says its right)
- “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”
what is the debate for the psycodynamic approach?
Debate psychodynamic approach- the mother as the primary care giver
For-
Feeding- The NHS recommend breast feeding for 6 months. It builds physical and emotional bond
Freud- psycosexual developmemt (need the mother within the process)
Mothers not fathers- Bowlby “mothers love in infancy is as important for mental health as are vitamins are for health”
Against-
Feeding- Harlow showed that food does not = love, he did a study with monkeys and they were more bothered about the cloth for comfort which is available for children not just from the mother
Freud- “I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as a need for a fathers protection”
Mothers not fathers- western culture now expects fathers to play a greater role number of working mothers have increased.
what are the strengths and weaknesses for the psycodynamic approach as an explanation for behaviour
strengths-
It has given rise to one of the first “talking cure,” psychoanalysis, on which many psychological therapies are now based.
It could be argued that Freud was the first person to highlights the importance of childhood in mental health and this is an idea extensively used today.
The Psychodynamic approach takes into account both sides of the Nature/Nurture debate.
Freud claimed that adult personality is the product of innate drives- i.e., natural motivations or urges we are born with- and childhood experiences- i.e., the way we are raised and nurtured.
weaknesses
Ignores mediational processes (e.g., thinking)
The psychodynamic approach places too much emphasis on the psychological factors, without considering the biological/genetic factors that influence and contribute to mental health problems.
Too deterministic (little free-will)
unfalsifiable (difficult to prove wrong)
Case Studies - Subjective / Cannot generalize results
Simplifying the human mind into the id, ego, and superego and the five psychosexual stages make the approach reductionist.
