The psychodynamic perspective is based on the work of Sigmund Freud. He created both a theory to explain personality and mental disorders and the form of therapy known as psychoanalysis. The psychodynamic approach assumes that all behaviour and mental processes reflect constant and unconscious struggles within person. These usually involve conflicts between our need to satisfy basic biological instincts, for example, for food, sex or aggression, and the restrictions imposed by society. Not all those who take a Psychodynamic approach accept all of Freud's original ideas, but most would view normal or problematic behavior as the result of a failure to resolve conflicts adequately.
Compare and contrast any two perspectives in psychology. This essay is going to discuss the comparisons and differences between the psychodynamic and the behavioural approaches to psychology. The essay will look at the way both approaches explain the cause of mental illness and depression and how they would treat it. The psychodynamic perspective was introduced by Sigmund Freud and in contrast with the behavioural approach he completely ignored the science surrounding the subject and instead tried to get into the minds of the individuals and try to make sense of the way they see the world. Freud believed that the mind was like an iceberg with the majority of it being hidden away, he called this the unconscious part of the mind.
Sigmund Freud is recognised as being one of the great forefathers of modern day psychology. He wrote at a time when society was much more inhibited than it is today, perhaps his views and theories are representative of the socio historical context in which he wrote and conducted his enquires? His theories have done much to develop our understandings of the psyche. Freud’s theory of psycho sexual development is a bio social theory, one that explains the Biological (instinctual) and the Social (Socialization). We live in a world that is in many ways characterised by restraint, conformity and inhibition, Some of Freud’s main works contribute to our understanding of our relationships toward this social world.
Evaluate the extent to which Freud’s theory of psychosexual development can help us to understand a client’s presenting issues A psychodynamic approach is one which tries to explain what drives or motivates development. Many psychological explanations aim to identify what causes behaviour, but this approach looks at the dynamics of the cause. The best known psychodynamic approach is Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. He suggested that we are driven to satisfy biological urges and these motives cause us to interact with our environment in certain ways. This means early experiences play a critical role in our lives.
Freud assumed that our behavior is caused by unconscious thoughts, our desires and impulses which is also how human behaviour is explained in the psychodynamic approach. Psychodynamic approach concentrates on many different factors that may have caused psychological distress, such as childhood experiences, our current and past relationships and exploring the things we do without even being aware of it. Another very important and powerful tool is to use this therapy to interpret the transference relationship. The psychodynamic counselling sessions are more dynamic as the therapist is trying to help the patient in fewer sessions possible comparing to psychoanalysis. This is why the counselor usually presents himself as a ‘blank screen’ and lets the client act out and projects his feelings on to the therapist.
A philosopher such as Freud would agree with me because he argued that our Conscience is a construct of the mind. Freud did not believe in any absolute moral law therefore the content of our conscience is shaped by our experiences - our conscience is learned. He argued that the human mind is split into three separate parts. The id is basic instincts and desires such as hunger, which are present at birth. The ego balances the desires and needs of both the id and the super ego.
In psychology people such as Freud, Maslow and Rogers play an important role in understanding the self, whereas society can be explained by sociological figures such as Durkheim in sociology. The psychologist, Freud’s theory of personality suggests that our personality is structured by the interactions of our id, superego and ego. The id being our pleasure principle; it is the selfish part of our self and causes us to desire things such as food and sex. It is an unconscious part of our personality and present from birth. The superego is our morality principle which we develop from three to six years old, it helps us to define the difference between right and wrong and Freud suggested that it is often in conflict with the id.
Psychology constructs the female: Or he fantasy life of the male psychologist with some attention to the fantasies of his friends, the male biologist and the male anthropologist). Feminism & Psychology, 3(2), 195-210. doi: 10.1177/0959353593032005 1. Weisstein’s (1993) main argument was that the manner of obtaining correct information regarding women and psychology is flawed. The author argued that many theories come from “years of intensive clinical experience” but the discrepancy of the experimentsbased on the bias of the experimenter, and their preconceived ideas of how groups will react. They
Further still, I will discuss the differences between the theories that see the patient’s behavior as coming from patients mind alone versus the theories that see the patient as reacting to his/her environment. Lastly I will describe the concepts and give the vignette that explains how the Kohut theory works. Psychoanalytic theory Psychoanalytic theory was first developed by Sigmund Feud and refers to the dynamics of personality development (Asch. M, 2004) He had interacted so much with mentally ill patients and through a series of close examination of his patients; he came to discover that human behaviors are controlled by the unconscious desires. He also linked some childhood desires with the development of ones personality.
The behaviorism start to make the field of psychology a mainstream scientific by observing one behavior. The field of psychoanalysis is another school of thought. Sigmund Freud best known for his work in psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is a term that was used to refer the different parts of Freud's research, which would include the Freudian therapy and how he developed this theories through his research. Psychoanalysis deals with the thoughts and motivations that are outside of our awareness which is influence our behavior.