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Psychological Approaches: Psychodynamic

Psychology Review

By Cobe WilsonPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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Image obtained from https://www.austincollege.edu/psychology-hub/

When most people think of psychology, they think of psychotherapy. They picture themselves sitting on the couch, talking to a therapist about their problems, their childhood memories and experiences, their dreams, etc. This view, or approach, is but one of many in the broader field of psychology. This approach is often called the psychodynamic approach to psychology.

The psychodynamic approach was created by a man that many people have heard of in some way, whether through education or just in passing. This man was Sigmund Freud. Freud, by training, was a neurologist, a doctor of the nervous system. His interest in psychology was formed when trying to understand why so many of his (and his colleagues') patients were coming to them for treatment. To understand this, Freud set out to understand the unconscious mind, which is where he proposed we push or repress our threatening ideas and desires (such as the desire to procreate, feast, and slap someone across the face). For Freud and his followers (such as Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and his own daughter Anna), the unconscious mind and past experiences were the source of anguish that many people felt in their daily lives in the present. Thus, behavior is predetermined by our unconscious motives and desires. However, despite being founded by Freud, the psychodynamic approach is not his alone, as Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, and Anna Freud all contributed to the growth and redevelopment of Sigmund Freud's theories, creating the modern psychodynamic perspective.

Within this broad psychodynamic perspective, there are many different key features that researchers and therapists alike focus on (both today in the modern psychodynamic perspective and historically as well). Below is a basic description of the key features of the psychodynamic perspective.

Unconscious Mind—As stated before, human behavior according to Freud was determined by the unconscious thoughts, feelings, and experiences, that we as individuals were unaware of completely. This gave rise to Freud's ideas of the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id is comprised of wholly unconscious motives and desires (for Freud, who was focused on the sexual nature of just about everything, he would give an example as the desire to have sex with every attractive person you see). The superego, on the other hand, is comprised of all of the social, societal, moral, etc. norms that counteract the Id (e.g., if the Id says to have sex with an attractive person, the superego says not to because of reasons x, y, and z). The Ego is the mediator between the Id (desires) and Superego (moral compass). The Ego allows individuals to decide whether they should act on the desire, or follow their moral compass.

Collective Unconscious—This feature comes from Carl Jung (after Jung and Freud had a falling out). Essentially, the collective unconscious is comprised of specific behavioral archetypes that the human race shares across the board from our evolutionary past (for instance, a fear of the dark or snakes) that ensures our survival.

Psychosexual development—Freud was adamant that childhood development takes place in five stages labeled the "Five Stages of Psychosexual Development." Each stage is characterized by a fixation on a different bodily area (where the individuals libido is focused). The five stages are oral (mouth), anal (pretty obvious, has to do with potty training), phallic (again pretty obvious), latency (dormant period), and genital (puberty, adolescent sexual experimentation).

Psychosocial Development—Created by Erikson, these stages characterize personality development via various social dilemmas or crises. Each stage can either help or hinder the following stages based on how they are resolved (positively or negatively). These stages are: Trust vs Mistrust, Autonomy vs Shame, Initiative vs Guilt, Industry vs Inferiority, Identity vs Role Confusion, Intimacy vs Isolation, Generativity vs Stagnation, Ego integrity vs Despair. Each stage is characterized by a basic virtue that is obtained if resolved successfully. The virtues are: Hope, Will, Purpose, Competency, Fidelity, Love, Care, and Wisdom (respectively matching the previous stages in order from first to last). These stages can be resolved at a later time if not resolved during early life development.

Overall, the psychodynamic perspective holds various basic assumptions. The major causes of behavior have their origin in the unconscious, Psychic determinism: all behavior has a cause/reason, Different parts of the unconscious mind are in constant struggle, and Our behavior and feelings as adults (including psychological problems) are rooted in our childhood experiences.

While I mentioned in my first blog about the scientific nature of psychology, the psychodynamic approach (as it was under Freud and his followers) was unscientific, and provided no empirical evidence for its theories. However, cognitive psychology (which will be talked about in a separate blog), helps to bridge the gap between empirical evidence and psychodynamic theories in the modern field of psychology as the psychodynamic perspective has undergone major theoretical growth between Freud's time and now.

References

Ciccarelli, S. K., & White, J. N. (2015). Psychology (4th ed.). Pearson Education

Mcleod, S. (2017). Psychodynamic Theory. Retrieved from this website.

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About the Creator

Cobe Wilson

Gamer, writer, poet, academic.

Purchase photography or merchandise here!!! --> https://the-photography-of-cobe-wilson.creator-spring.com/

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