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Psychodynamic Model/Approach Theresa Lowry-Lehnen

RGN, BSc (Hon’s) Specialist Nurse Practitioner, PGCC, Dip Counselling,

Dip Adv Psychotherapy, BSc (Hon’s) Clinical Science, PGCE (QTS), H. Dip. Ed, MEd,

MHS Accredited Emotional Intelligence assessor (Psychology), PhD Psychology

According to the psychodynamic model the roots of some psychological disorders

can be found in unresolved conflicts and traumas from childhood and treatment

based on various techniques designed to permit the client to retrieve repressed

memories and gain insight into their meaning.

(Theorists - Freud/ Jung /Klein)

In contrast to behavioural psychology, psychodynamic psychology ignores the

trappings of science and instead focuses on trying to get ' inside the head' of

individuals in order to make sense of their relationships, experiences and how they

see the world.

The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in psychology that see human

functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person,

particularly the unconscious mind/motives, and between different structures of

personality.

Freud’s psychoanalysis was the original psychodynamic theory, but the

psychodynamic approach as a whole includes all theories that were based on his

ideas, e.g. Jung (1964), Adler (1927) and Erikson (1950).

The words ‘psychodynamic’ and ‘psychoanalytic’ are often confused. Freud’s

theories were psychoanalytic; however the term ‘psychodynamic’ refers to both his

theories and those of his followers. Freud’s psychoanalysis is both a theory and a

therapy.

Sigmund Freud (between the 1890s and the 1930s) developed a collection of

theories which have formed the basis of the psychodynamic approach to

psychology. His theories are clinically derived - i.e. based on what his clients told him

during therapy. The psychodynamic therapist would usually be treating the patient

for depression or anxiety related disorders.

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Psychodynamic Approach Assumptions

* Our behaviour and feelings are powerfully affected by unconscious motives.

* Our behaviour and feelings as adults (including psychological problems) are rooted

in our >childhood experiences.

* All behaviour has a cause (usually unconscious), even slips of the tongue.

Therefore all behavior is determined.

* Personality is made up of three parts (i.e. tripartite). The id, ego and super-ego.

* Behaviour is motivated by two >instinctual drives: Eros (the sex drive & life

instinct) and Thanatos (the aggressive drive & death instinct). Both these drives come

from the “id”.

* Parts of the unconscious mind (the id and superego) are in constant >conflict with

the conscious part of the mind (the ego).

* Personality is shaped as the drives are modified by different conflicts at different

times in childhood (during psychosexual development).

Id, Ego and Superego

Perhaps Freud's single most enduring and important idea was that the human psyche

has more than one aspect. Freud (1923) saw the psyche structured into three parts

(i.e. tripartite), the id, ego and superego, all developing at different stages in our

lives. These are systems, not parts of the brain, or in any way physical.

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The id

The id consists of all inherited (i.e. biological)

components of personality, including the sex

drive (life) instinct Eros(which contains the

libido), and aggressive (death) instinct-

Thanatos.

The id is the impulsive (and unconscious)

part of our psyche which responds directly

and immediately to these instincts. The

personality of the newborn child is all id and

only later does it develop ego and super-ego.

The id demands immediate satisfaction/

gratification and when this happens we

experience pleasure, when it is denied we experience a lack of pleasure or pain. The

id is not affected by reality, logic or the everyday world.

On the contrary, it operates on the pleasure principle (Freud, 1920) which is the idea

that every wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the

consequences.

The Ego

Initially the ego is “that part of the id which has been modified by the direct

influence of the external world” (Freud 1923). The ego develops in order to mediate

between the unrealistic id and the external real world.

Ideally the ego works by reason whereas the id is chaotic and totally unreasonable.

The ego operates according to the reality principle, working our realistic ways of

satisfying the id’s demands, often compromising or postponing satisfaction.

Like the id, the ego seeks pleasure and avoids pain but unlike the id the ego is

concerned with devising a realistic strategy to obtain pleasure. Freud made the

analogy of the id being the horse while the ego is the rider.

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Often the ego is a weak relative to the head-strong id and the best the ego can do is

stay on, pointing the id in the right direction and claiming some credit at the end as if

the action were its own. The ego has no concept of right or wrong; something is

good simply if it achieves its end of satisfying without causing harm to itself or to the

id.

The Superego

The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from

one's parents and others. It develops around the age of 4 – 5 during the phallic stage

of psychosexual development.

The superego's function is to control the id's impulses, especially those which society

forbids, such as sex and aggression. It also has the function of persuading the ego to

turn to moralistic goals rather than simply realistic ones and to strive for perfection.

The superego consists of two systems: The conscience and the ideal self. The

conscience can punish the ego through causing feelings of guilt. For example, if the

ego gives in to id demands, the superego may make the person feel bad though guilt.

The ideal self (or ego-ideal) is an imaginary picture of how you ought to be, and

represents career aspirations, how to treat other people, and how to behave as a

member of society.

Behaviour which falls short of the ideal self may be punished by the superego

through guilt. The super-ego can also reward us through the ideal self when we

behave ‘properly’ by making us feel proud. If a person’s ideal self is too high a

standard, then whatever the person does will represent failure. The ideal self and

conscience are largely determined in childhood from parental values and upbringing.

Brief Overview/ History of the Psychodynamic Approach

* Anna O a patient of Dr. Joseph Breuer (Freud's mentor and friend) from 1800 to

1882 suffered from hysteria.

* In 1895 Breuer and his assistant, Sigmund Freud, wrote a book, Studies on

Hysteria. In it they explained their theory: “Every hysteria is the result of a traumatic

experience, one that cannot be integrated into the person's understanding of the

world.” The publication established Freud as “the father of psychoanalysis.”

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* By 1896 Freud had found the key to his own system, naming it psychoanalysis. In it

he had replaced hypnosis with "free association."

* In 1900 Freud published his first major work, The Interpretation of Dreams, which

established the importance of psychoanalytical movement.

* In 1902 Freud founded the Psychological Wednesday Society, later transformed

into the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. As the organization grew, Freud established

an inner circle of devoted followers, the so-called "Committee" (including Sàndor

Ferenczi, and Hanns Sachs (standing) Otto Rank, Karl Abraham, Max Eitingon, and

Ernest Jones).

* Freud and his colleagues came to Massachusetts in 1909 to lecture on their new

methods of understanding psychological illness. Those in attendance included some

of the country's most important intellectual figures, such as William James, Franz

Boas, and Adolf Meyer.

* In the years following the visit to the United States, the International

Psychoanalytic Association was founded. Freud designated Carl Jung as his successor

to lead the Association, and chapters were created in major cities in Europe and

elsewhere. Regular meetings or congresses were held to discuss the theory, therapy,

and cultural applications of the new discipline.

* Jung's study on schizophrenia, The Psychology of Dementia Praecox, led him into

collaboration with Sigmund Freud.

* Jung's close collaboration with Freud lasted until 1913. Jung had become

increasingly critical of Freud's exclusively sexual definition of libido and incest. The

publication of Jung's Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido (known in English as The

Psychology of the Unconscious) led to a final break.

* Following his emergence from this period of crisis, Jung developed his own theories

systematically under the name of Analytical Psychology. Jung's concepts of the

collective unconscious and of the archetypes led him to explore religion in the East

and West, myths, alchemy, and later flying saucers.

* Anna Freud (Freud's daughter) became a major force in British psychology,

specializing in the application of psychoanalysis to children. Among her best known

works is The Ego and the Mechanism of defense (1936).

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Psychodynamic Approach Summary

Key Features Methodology

Collective Unconscious (Carl Jung)

Psychosexual Development (Freud)

Unconscious Mind (Freud)

Psyche (Freud)

Defense Mechanisms (Freud)

Psychosocial Development

Case Study (Little Hans)

Dream Analysis

Free Association

Projective Tests (TAT, Rorschach)

Slips of the Tongue (parapraxes)

Hypnosis

Basic Assumptions Areas of Application

The major causes of behaviour have their

origin in the unconscious mind.

Psychic determinism: all behaviour has a

cause/reason.

Different parts of the unconscious mind

are in constant struggle.

Our behaviour and feelings as adults

(including psychological problems) are

rooted in our childhood experiences.

Gender Role Development

Therapy (Psychoanalysis)

Attachment (Bowlby)

Moral Development (super-ego)

Aggression (Displacement / Thanatos)

Personality (Erikson, Freud)

Highlighted the importance of the

unconscious mind

Dream analysis

Strengths Limitations

Made the Case Study method popular in

psychology

Defense Mechanisms

Free association

Projective Tests (TAT, Rorschach)

Highlighted the importance of Childhood

Case Studies - Subjective / Cannot generalize

Unscientific (lacks empirical support)

Too Deterministic (little free-will)

Biased Sample (e.g. middle aged women from

Vienna)

Ignores Meditational Processes (e.g. thinking,

memory)

Rejects Free will (Humanism -free will exists)

Unfalsifiable (difficult to prove wrong)

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Psychodynamic Approach Criticisms

The greatest criticism of the psychodynamic approach is that it is unscientific in its

analysis of human behaviour.

Many of the concepts central to Freud's theories are subjective and as much

impossible to scientifically test. For example, it is not possible to scientifically

study/measure concepts like the unconscious mind or the tripartite personality. In

this respect the psychodynamic perspective is unfalsifiable as the theories cannot be

empirically investigated.

Most of the evidence for psychodynamic theories is taken from Freud's case studies

(e.g. Little Hans, Anna O). The main problem here is that the case studies are based

on studying one/ few persons in detail, and with reference to Freud the individuals in

question were most often middle aged women from his own town in Vienna (i.e. his

own patients). This makes generalizations to the wider population (e.g. the whole

world) difficult.

The humanistic approach makes the criticism that the psychodynamic perspective is

too deterministic - leaving little room for the idea of personal agency (i.e. free will).

References

Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. SE, 18: 1-64.

Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id. SE, 19: 1-66.

McLeod, S. A. (2008). Id Ego Superego - Simply Psychology. Retrieved

fromhttp://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YU7_I22zHY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vs8uE8_02E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i7DvpnOHlM