Psychodynamic approach and psychoanalysis

Unresolved conflicts cause mental disorder.

Freud proposed that personality is made up of 3 elements:

ID- present from birth. Based on pleasure principle. Irrational, primitive part of personality. Libido- refers to energy of the id. 

EGO- Develops during early childhood. Consequence of reality. Based on reality principle. Balances demands from ID with self gratification and moral rules imposed from superego. 

SUPEREGO- Emerges at age of 5. Personal moral authority or concsience. Develops through identification with one or other parents when the child internalises. Moral rules and social norms of society. 

Freud- Childhood experiences are crucial to our developemnt. Unresvoled issues and conflicts- MENTAL DISORDERS. 

Psychosexual stage of development. 

Id develops in the oral stage. (birth-18 months)

Ego develops in the anal stage (18 months- 3 years)

Superego in the phallic stage (3-5 years)

Later stages- Latency stage and genital stage.

Erogenous Zones- instinctive energy of the id looks for gratification in bodily areas. 

If a child is deprived or over gratified it becomes fixated- therefore effecting behaviour.

Example.-In the oral stage- Id impulses are satisfied by feeding. Fixation could lead to a smoker, or someone who enjoys eating and drinking. This stage involves dependency of infant- fixation-dependency adult may show the dependency.

Perosonality dominated by id- aggresive behaviour. Morality of superego dominates, flooded with guilt- lead to anxiety disorders-phobias or OCD.

Freud- unconscious mind- IMPORTANT.

Psychic conflict betweens, id, ego, superego and unresolved issues relating to to childhood deveopment are unconscious.

Our lives are largely controlled by internal forces. 

We have No Control. 

Ego defence machanisms-Prevent anxiety 

Distorts reality. 

Useful to protect ego- not a long term solution. If used to frequently or get out of proportion can create psychological problems. 

Repression- Putting threatening or unacceptable desires, motivations, memoies or emotioms into unconscious. These repressed conflicts eventually emerge as symptoms of anxiety or other emotional disorders. E.G someone who is normally relaxed, acts violnet, then no recollection of this. 

Displacement- Unacceptable drive- angery or hatered is divertted from primary target onto more aceptable.- Child whos angery at parents would resort to bullying a younger child at school.

Denial- The refusal that events havve happened or that they are experience anxitey provoking emotions. E.G An alcoholic may deny they are dependent. 

D- Deterministic- product of our past. Individuals are viewed as having very little conscious involement in their own development. Psychoanalysis can free people from their negattive past experiences. 

R- Reductionist- Ignores that psychopathology have a strong biological bias. Diathesis stress hypothesis tries to bring biological and psychological factors together by proposing that people inherit genetic vulnerability.

E- Ethical doesnt blame people for their abnormal behaviour. Does tend to blame parents for the development of psychopathology in their children.

S- Unscientific, impossible to test using conventional scientific methodology, however great deal of room for speculation. 

S-Not leading to succseful treatment. Psychoanalysis means people have be able to express them self and not everyone can do this.