Psychodynamic approach: Freud

DEFINITIONS

• id- this is the aspect of the personality that is entirely unconscious and involves the instinctive and primative behaviours. According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy.
• Ego- this is the component of the personality that is responsible for dealing with reality. It functions in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious mind.
• superego- this is the last component of personality to develop. It's where all of out internalised mordal standards and ideals we aquire from our parents and soceity is formed, and it consists of the ego ideal and the conscience.
• repression- when thoughts are kept in the UNCONSIOUS mind and are not allowed into the CONSCIOUS mind. It is as if they are forgotten- or at least not remembered. it is more a case of motivated forgetting, but this is not done consciously. the thoughts are kept in the unconscious to protect the person from those thoughts, wishes and desires, and the EGO does not have to deal with them. 
• oedipus complex- the boy wishes to possess his mother, he has a rival in the form of his father, he fears castration so represses his wishes, he can possess his mother by becoming his father. 
• defence mechanisms- Anna Freud brought in the idea of defence mechanisms to help the EGO to keep the peace between the demands of the ID and the SUPEREGO, or bewteen conflicting demands of the ID. Defense mechanisms can either push a desire out of the concious thought or transfer a desire onto something safer. 
• denial- this is where something traumatic happens which could be hard to deal with, the person denies that it has happened at all. This isnt a CONSCIOUS process, the person will not realise they are 'in denial'. Denial can protect a person from inappropriate sexual feelings. 
• conscious- this holds the thoughts, ideas, emotions and other aspects of thinking of which the individual is aware.
• preconscious- this holds the thoughts and ideas that can be accessed and are ready to be known about, but are not actually conscious at that time. 
• unconscious-  this is the main part. It is where all thoughts originate, with some becoming conscious and some being allowed into the preconscious. 

structure of personality

• the id is the pleasure principle, which is the biological component. The instincts EROS and THANTOS are associated with the unconcious mind under the ID. The id functions in the irrational part of the mind. 
• the ego functions with the rational part of the mind. It's involved with a growing awareness that you cant always get what you want. The…