The psychodynamic approach Flashcards
What is the assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
Is that behaviour can be explained by unconscious thoughts and motivations, and the effect of childhood experiences in shaping personality.
Explain the conscious part of the mind.
The ‘tip of the iceberg’ Freud proposed that conscious awareness only makes up a small proportion of the mind.
Explain the unconscious part of the mind.
The rest is made up of the unconscious- desires and drives that we are not aware of. Behaviour is motivated by unconscious drives and conflicts between different elements of the personality.
Explain the preconscious part of the mind.
The part of the mind just below conscious awareness.
This is revealed through dreams, that represents the unconscious conflict which hasn’t been resolved, or a desire that hasn’t been satisfied. This is also shown through ‘Freudian slips’.
Define the term Freudian slips.
Is what seem like mistakes, but are actually insights into desires we aren’t aware of. Accidentally calling a teacher ‘mum’ instead of ‘miss’ could be interpreted as the student seeing the teacher as a substitute parent figure in their unconscious.
What is the structure of personality?
Freud suggested that there are three ‘parts’ to everyone’s personality, so it is ‘tripartite’. This include id, ego and superego.
What is the id?
Present from birth, this is the ‘pleasure principle’, as it is selfish, motivated by primitive drives (sex and aggression) and demands instant gratification.
What is the ego?
Starts around two years old.
Is the ‘reality principle’. It works to reduce the conflicting demands of the id and superego and recognises that instant satisfaction of needs isn’t possible. The ego uses tactics to balance the demands of the other two parts of the personality- these are defence mechanisms.
What is the superego?
Develops at around five years of age, and is the ‘morality principle’. It is the internalised standards of right and wrong, and represents perfect moral behaviour. Punishes the Ego through guilt.
What is the psychosexual stage
Freud claimed that children go through stages of development, where the id’s psychic energy is focused on a particular part of the body, so children gain pleasure from using that part of the body. Children progress through the stages, but may become fixated on a particular stage if they are over or under-indulged at that stage. This leads to possible problems in later life.
What are the defence mechanism?
Repression - pushing unpleasant thoughts down into the unconscious mind.
Denial - refusing to accept the reality of the situation.
Displacement - transferring unpleasant or undesirable thoughts from one source to another.
What are the strengths of the psychodynamic approach?
Real-world application.
Explanatory power.
What is the real-world application of psychodynamic approach?
It introduced the idea of psychotherapy.
Psychoanalysis - The first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically.
The new therapy employed a range of techniques designed to access the unconscious, such as dream analysis.
Psychoanalysis claims to help by bringing their repressed memories into their conscious mind.
‘Talking therapies’, such as counselling have been established.
Give a counterargument of the real-world application.
Claimed success for clients with mild neurosis.
Regarded as harmful for people experiencing more serious mental disorders.
Why would psychoanalysis be inappropriate for schizophrenic patients?
Many of the symptoms of schizophrenia, such as paranoia and delusional thinking mean that those with the disorder have lost their grip on reality and can’t articulate required by psychoanalysis.