Describe and Evaluate the Pyschodynamic Approach

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Describe and evaluate the psychodynamic approach. Refer to at least one topic in your answer (12 marks) One assumption of the psychodynamic approach is that much of our behaviour is determined by the unconscious. Our behaviour is caused by unconscious mental processes which cannot be accessed. Freud the founder of the psychodynamic approach created a way of trying to understand these unconscious processes called psychoanalysis and is a treatment aimed to gain an insight of a patients repressed conflicts in their unconscious mind. This enables the client to have greater control over their emotions and reduce the likelihood of their symptoms. Psychoanalysis helps treat behaviours that are controlled by our unconscious, therefore showing that the unconscious does govern behaviour. One technique used in psychoanalysis is free association, this involves patient being asked to talk about anything that comes to mind without censoring it, and Freud believed that the unconscious wishes and desires would eventually be revealed suggesting that we our behaviour and actions are instinctual from the unconscious. Psychoanalysis is still used in modern psychiatry therefore showing that our unconscious must play apart in our behaviour. However psychoanalysis is rarely used on its own in the treatment of mental disorders, only useful when combined with drug treatment in which the patient’s disorder is under control, therefore suggesting other factors than the unconscious mental processes must be involved showing that it is not a complete approach. The treatment has also been criticised for being lengthy, intensive and expensive so it is only successful with patients who are highly motivated to solve their problems, verbalise their feelings and also have the time and money to undergo it. Another assumption by Freud is that the personality is dynamic and tripartite; it is made
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