Psychodynamic Approach Sigmund Freud is the founder of the psychodynamic approach. This approach focuses on the unconscious mind to explain behaviour, and also to treat people suffering from mental illness. This approach also looks into our behaviour and feelings as adults, as our childhood experiences and Interpol relationships can explain this. Freud believes that what drives our behaviour is conflict that arises between three parts of our psych, the id, superego and the ego. The three personalities of the psych are usually out of sync with each other.
Throughout many articles, discussion took place around the idea that traumatic events such as sexual assault, mental, emotional and physical assault impacted what a person could remember of their childhood and more specifically of their earliest memory. Because of the negative memory associated with these assaults, the retrieval of particular memories would be difficult if not impossible for children and/or adults to remember
Psychopathy: Diagnosis, Theory, and Treatment Jama R. Young College of Saint Mary Psychopathy: Diagnosis, Theory, and Treatment What is a Psychopath? Psychopathy is a disorder, which is defined and “characterized in part by a diminished capacity for remorse and poor behavioral controls” (Blair, 2003, p. 5). Defining psychopathy gives shape to meaning behind the mental illness, but what does this mean? Those with the disorder are “ruthless social predators” (Cavadino, 1998, p .5). Persistently irresponsible, they are impulsive violators of what are considered social norms.
Individuals do this to make the pain go away which ultimately they really just defense mechanisms (Gottdiener, Murawski, & Kucharski, 2008). “According to psychoanalytic conflict theory, defense mechanisms are activated when the individual experiences any form of displeasure, especially anxiety or depressive affect” (Brenner, 1982). Failures of ego control are related to individuals with substance use disorders. “Ego control refers to the efforts of the individual to control thoughts, emotions, impulses and ability to perform tasks and attention processes” (Baumeister & Vohs, 2004, p. 2). The article also addresses the result of consistent failures in ego control.
There are different theories established by psychologists, which explain where personality originates. The highly important individual who played a role in the psychoanalysis theory was Sigmund Freud. Freud believed an individual’s personality was influenced by the unconscious, which there is no way to control. He based understanding of personality on analysis of patient’s dreams as well as his own dreams. Adler theorized that personality was motivated by the influence of society and fighting for triumph.
Psychoanalytical theories of personality stress the individual’s unconscious motivations which can be identified through dreams, slips of the tongue and fantasies (McCrae & Costa, 2003; 21). “The psychoanalytical theory views personality as biologically based, relatively unchangeable and determined by the need to control sexual and aggressive instincts which are unconscious in nature” (Rust & Golombok, 1989, 131). Sigmund Freud was the founder of the psychoanalytical approach to personality although many academics have expounded on his research since then (Bernstein, 2001; 125). This contrasts with the humanistic theory which was adopted by leading 20th Century psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow (Nicholas, 2008; 226). Robert Ewen suggests that
How would you react if someone told you that all of your behaviors are motivated by unconscious thoughts, which you can not control? Would you accept it as truth, or try to prove them wrong, even if partially? Well, you would be taking this argument to Sigmond Freud himself. He proposed a psychological view that states, “behavior is motivated by unconscious, inner forces over which the individual has little control,” the psychodynamic perspective (Feldman). The psychodynamic perspective is one of the five major perspectives in psychology.
Behaviorism vs. Psycho-analysis Abstract The most common definition of psychology is the study of mental processes, human behavior, and how they affect an individual’s physical state, mental state, and external environment. The most comprehensive theory developed to explain the given definition of psychology is psychodynamics, a theory of how thoughts and feelings affect our actions. Watson’s failure to focus on the unseen phenomena that is the subconscious and the conscious is what leads to the inevitable fading of his theory among psychologists. This paper argues against Watson’s claims, and for the Psychodynamic theory. “Psychology as the behaviourist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science.
Although Freud was not the first person to suggest there was an unconscious part to our mind, he was the first to develop a detailed theory of how our mind operated. Freud claimed that one of three levels: conscious, preconscious and unconscious were operated by memories and other psychic influences. Freud believes that we only see and recognise a small part of ourselves and the greater part of our mind is what hold our passions, fears, deepest thoughts and more. It has been realised that the unconscious mind is full of hidden anomalies and has more control over our behaviour than what the conscious mind does. The three levels, conscious, preconscious and unconscious appear under a term used by Freud - the iceberg, which helps describe our state of mind and is the theory
This element is innate – it is present from birth. The superego, or the morality principle, is the conscience of the mind- it understands right from wrong. It is in constant conflict with the Id, and develops during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. The third element, the Ego, acts as a mediator between the two and at times uses defence mechanisms to shield the conscious from the Id and its desires. Freud also proposed a theory he understood to be the “structure of the mind”.