The Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

Who was the psychologist behind the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

Sigmund Freud

Question 2

What does the Psychodynamic approach believe about behaviour?

Answer 2

> Much of our behaviour is driven by unconscious motives

> Childhood is a critical period in our development >Mental disorders arise from unresolved, unconscious conflicts originating in childhood

> Resolution occurs through accessing and coming to terms with repressed ideas and conflicts

Question 3

What’s the collective name for the Id, Ego and Superego

Answer 3

Triparte Model of the Mind (Freud)

Question 4

What is the Id?

Answer 4

ID = pleasure principle Devil

Question 5

What is the Super Ego?

Answer 5

Super Ego = morality principle Angel

Question 6

What is the Ego?

Answer 6

Ego = reality principle

Reality

Question 7

How does the Tripartite model of the mind contribute to mental illness?

Answer 7

If they are unbalanced, this can cause a lot of Anxiety and may eventually lead to mental abnormality

Question 8

What is the conscious?

Answer 8

the part of the mind we are aware of all the time- everyday thoughts and feelings

Question 9

What is the Preconscious?

Answer 9

Thoughts and memories, not always accessible but easily recalled

Question 10

What is he unconscious?

Answer 10

the repressed thoughts, memories and feelings

Question 11

What levels of consciousness do the Id, ego and super ego apply to? - according to the iceberg theory [psychodynamic]

Answer 11

Super ego = conscious, preconscious and subconscious
> develops around the age of 5 – sense of morality (conscience) passed on by parents; child internalises this

Ego = Conscious and preconscious
> develops by the age of 3 – child becomes aware that other people have feelings

Id = unconscious
> present at birth – a new-born baby is completely selfish

Question 12

What do variations of the Id, Ego and Super Ego lead to?

Answer 12

• Ego to weak = allows Id and Super Ego to dominate
• Id too strong= selfish, out of control, could become psychotic
• Super Ego to strong= strict, anxious, obsessive, depression, anxiety, OCD

Question 13

Name the 5 psychosexual stages

Answer 13

Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latent
Genital

Question 14

Psychodynamic approach
Psychosexual stages

1. Oral Stage

Answer 14

approx. 0-18 months
– Mouth = main focus of pleasure
– Child enjoys tasting and sucking

– Successful completion: demonstrated by weaning (eating independently)

– No/unsuccessful completion:
> Oral receptive (not allowed to suck freely) = passive, needy; sensitive to rejection; overeats and drinks; bites nails and may smoke > Oral Aggressive (allowed to suck too often/too long) = hostile, really abusive, sarcastic

Question 15

Psychodynamic approach
Psychosexual stages

2. Anal Stage

Answer 15

> 18 months- 3 years
Defecation (expelling or retaining faeces) = main source of pleasure

-Successful completion:
potty training

-No/unsuccessful completion:
> Anally retentive = very tidy, stubborn, likes order and being in control
>Anally expulsive = generous but disorganised, doesn’t like to follow rules

Question 16

Psychodynamic approach
Psychosexual stages

3. Phallic Stage

Answer 16

> Approx. ages 3-6 years
The most vital as child becomes aware of its own gender and focus on the genitals

Oedipus complex

• Boy wants mother as his ‘primary love object’
• Wants father out of the way
• Fears that his father is aware of this and will castrate him as punishment
• Identifies with father to stop castration anxiety

The Electra Complex
(Female Oedipus complex)
-A girl also desires her mother (realises she doesn’t have a penis like her father)
-becomes hostile towards her mother because she believes her mother has castrated her
-Develops attraction to father instead because she believes he can give her a baby, which will act as a penis substitute
-Eventually resolves feelings with mother and identifies with her – doesn’t want to lose her mother’s love

Question 17

Psychodynamic approach
Psychosexual stages

4. Latency Stage

Answer 17

> Age 6-puberty
Sexual urges sublimated into sports and other hobbies
Focus on developing same sex friendships
No particular requirements for successful completion
’Calm before the storm of puberty!’

Question 18

Psychodynamic approach
Psychosexual stages

5.. Genital Stage

Answer 18

> Puberty-adulthood
Focus on genitals but not to the same extent as the phallic stage
Task is to develop healthy adult relationships >This should happen if earlier stages have been negotiated successfully

Question 19

What was Freud’s 1909 Little Hans Study?

[psychodynamic]

Answer 19

Hans developed a phobia of horses during the Phallic stage – associated father with horses and feared them as he saw his father as competition for mothers love (Oedipus complex) and feared castration

Question 20

What are defence mechanisms?

[psychodynamic]

Answer 20

• Constant disagreement between Id, Ego and Superego can lead to anxiety
• daily use of defence mechanisms
• They are subconscious impulses
• Over use of defence mechanisms can lead to psychosis

Question 21

Name the 6 Defence Mechanisms

Answer 21

Repression

Projection

Denial

Regression

Displacement

Sublimination

Question 22

Psychodynamic approach
Defence Mechanisms.

What is Repression?

Answer 22

prevents unacceptable desires, motivations or emotions from becoming conscious. The unconscious repressed drives can influence behaviour, e.g. A person who is normally placid acts in an aggressive way and has not recollection of this

Question 23

Psychodynamic approach
Defence Mechanisms.

What is Projection?

Answer 23

When people own unacceptable faults or wishes are attributed to someONE else. In the extreme, this defence mechanism can become paranoia

Question 24

Psychodynamic approach
Defence Mechanisms.

What is Denial?

Answer 24

complete rejection of a thought or feeling/emotions that provoke anxiety

Question 25

Psychodynamic approach
Defence Mechanisms.

What is Regression?

Answer 25

resorting back to childish ways they found affective as children
> e.g. a 9 year old who resorts to thumb sucking as a result of their parent’s divorce

Question 26

Psychodynamic approach
Defence Mechanisms.

What is Displacement?

Answer 26

diverting emotions onto someone else because the emotions cannot be explained to the person concerned, or because accepting faults in ourselves will cause anxiety

Question 27

Psychodynamic approach
Defence Mechanisms.

What is Sublimination?

Answer 27

Diverting emotions onto someTHING else – socially acceptable form of displacement

Question 28

Evaluate the Psychodynamic approach

Answer 28

Influential :-)
- enormously influential – first model to establish talking therapy as an acceptable form of treatment in mainstream mental health practice
>ideas about the unconscious = profound effect on the way we view what motivates behaviour
>psychodynamic insights = physcoanalysis of movie and literature etc.

Untestable :-(
- difficult to test scientifically
>Kline (1988) claims a theory is not invalidated because of this, the right method just needs to be discovered
>Zeldow (1995) = ‘psychoanalytical theories have inspired more empirical research in the social and behavioural than any other groups of theories

Retrospective Data :-(
- Retrospective data collected in interview (years after the event) could be unreliable

Determinism :-(
- The model claims abnormal behaviour results from unconscious psychic conflict related to innate biological drives, and that early relationships with parents are important to psychological development. Therefore, it is claimed that the theory is deterministic, meaning individuals are portrayed as having very little conscious involvement in their own personality development

Current Experiences :-(
- Freud’s earlier version of the psychodynamic approach; the psychoanalytical approach, has been criticised for underestimating the importance of current difficulties that the client might be facing. Even repressed childhood memories can cause disorders in adulthood, however it is still important to take account of contributing factors (e.g. a relationship breakup) that could cause psychological problems. Later psychodynamic approaches rake adult experiences into account

Ethical Implications :-(
- The implicit assumption of the psychoanalytical approach = people are not to blame for their own abnormal behaviour, but partially responsible for the development of abnormal behaviour in their offspring. This may prove a heavy burden for parents who’ve ‘done their best’ and could also be suffering their own emotional conflicts