Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
The Psychodynamic Approach - Coggle Diagram
The Psychodynamic Approach
The tripartite personality:
The structure of personality created by Freud
Consists of the conscious, preconscious and unconscious mind
Conscious mind
- small amount of mental activity we know about
Preconscious mind
- things we could be aware of if we wanted or tried (Ego)
Unconscious mind
- things we are unaware of and cannot become aware of (Super Ego, ID)
Three parts of our personality:
ID
- instincts, wanting whatever makes them happy in the moment
EGO
- reality, making decisions based on ID and Super Ego
Super Ego
- morality, behaving in a way that is morally acceptable (learnt)
States of mind:
Healthy - equal ID, EGO and Super Ego
Neurotic - Super Ego takes over the ID and Ego
Psychopathic - no Super Ego, ID takes over Ego
Psychotic - ID in control of the Super Ego and Ego
The psychosexual stages:
Oral - 0-1yrs
Focus of pleasure comes from the mouth, mother's breast is the object of desire
Consequence of unresolved conflict - smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical
Anal - 1-3yrs
Focus of pleasure comes from the anus, child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces
Consequence of unresolved conflict - anal retentive = perfectionist, compulsive , anal expulsive = messy, thoughtless
Phallic - 3-6yrs
Focus of pleasure is the genital area, child experiences the oedipus/electra complex
Consequence of unresolved conflict - deviancy, sexual dysfunction, narcissistic
Latency - 6-12yrs
Earlier conflicts are repressed, develop defence mechanisms
Genital - 12yrs +
Sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty
If all stages were successfully completed then the person should be sexually matured and mentally healthy
Defence mechanisms:
Repression - pushing things from the conscious to unconscious mind
Regression- behaving more child-like
Displacement - taking the feeling out on something/someone else
Projection - putting your feelings onto someone else
Denial - saying it is something/someone else
The role of defence mechanisms:
An unconscious strategy that the Ego uses to manage the conflict between the Id and Superego
Prevents us from being overwhelmed by temporary threats/trauma
Involves some sort of distortion of reality
An unhealthy/undesirable long term solution
Evaluation:
S - Effectiveness of treatment
First time psychological rather than bio factors were shown to have an influence on behaviour
Maat et al - psychoanalysis of patients showed improvements for many years after treatment
W - Testability
Model relies heavily on ideas and constructs whose existence is difficult to test (Ego, ID, Super Ego are unfalsifiable)
W - Evidence
Much evidence is retrospective (difficult to validate and possibly unreliable)
S - Evidence
Lost of evidence from clinical case studies links childhood trauma with adult psychological problems
W - Gender bias
Freud's views of female sexuality were less well developed than that of males and seen as problematic (most patients were middle class Viennese women)
W - Culture bias
Psychoanalysis has little relevance for people from non-western cultures
Little Hans