P8 - ClPy - Q14 - Psychodynamic Approach.
Prepared by: Srinivas Adapa; Content Source: https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychodynamic.html
Key Features
Unconscious Mind
Collective Unconscious
Psyche (Id, Ego, Superego)
Defense Mechanisms
Psychosexual Development
Psychosocial Development
Methodology / Studies
Case Study (e.g., Little Hans)
Dream Analysis
Free Association
Projective Tests
Slips of the Tongue
Hypnosis
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.
Our behavior and feelings as adults (including psychological problems) are rooted in our childhood experiences.
Areas of Application
Gender Role Development
Therapy (Psychoanalysis)
Attachment (Bowlby)
Moral Development (super-ego)
Psychopathology (e.g., Depression)
Aggression (Displacement / Thanatos)
Dream Analysis
Strengths
Freud claimed that adult personality is the product of innate drives- i.e., natural motivations or urges we are born with- and childhood experiences- i.e., the way we are raised and nurtured.
The Psychodynamic approach takes into account
both sides of the Nature/Nurture debate.
It could be argued that Freud was the first person to highlights the importance of childhood in mental health and this is an idea extensively used today.
It has given rise to one of the first “talking cure,” psychoanalysis,
on which many psychological therapies are now based.
Limitations
Ignores mediational processes (e.g., thinking)
The psychodynamic approach places too much emphasis on the psychological factors, without considering the biological/genetic factors that influence and contribute to mental health problems.
Too deterministic (little free-will)
Unfalsifiable (difficult to prove wrong)
Case Studies - Subjective / Cannot generalize results
Simplifying the human mind into the id, ego, and superego and
the five psychosexual stages make the approach reductionist.