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strengths and weaknesses of psychodynamic theory
my understanding of the psychodynamic approach
psychodynamic approach psychology
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Recommended: strengths and weaknesses of psychodynamic theory
What is it to be human through the lens of psychodynamics? Most
psychodynamic came in the idea from the development of a early life of
childhood, which are in some part of the unconscious. Evolutionists
have recognized that evolutionary psychoanalysis have a big gap
between psychoanalytic theory and the extrospective biological and
social sciences. As for their methods, they observed more closely in
perspective’s contributions and it become very important in
psychodynamic theory to the study of psychology. For psychodynamic
considerations there are four main topics. Reductionism,
falsifiability, universality and retrospective accounts and fallible
memories. As Reductionism is the idea to explain the behaviors of
human reducing the way of explaning the psyche function of
psychodynamic. It is often in literary psychobiographies, which
explains the behavior of some famous person but it cant hurt anyone,
except it might ruin the persons reputation on the subject.
Fasifiability it’s “ theory that is impossible to disconfirm in
principle is not a scientific theory, which you can’t prove it.”
(Tavis & Wade, 2000) This made many of the psychologist theories being
disconfirmed, so they only depends on the popularity of their
proponents than on their content. Universality is what involved with
everyone. An example, “if a gay man goes into therapy for help with
emotional problems, a therapist cannot logically conclude that all gay
men have emotional problems, gay men who are not in therapy would have
to be studied." (Tavis & Wade. 2000) The last topic is the
Retrospective accounts and fallible memories of patients.
Psychodynamic theorists worked in backward that are based on themes in
adult’s recollections of childhood to find the origins of their
emotional problems. "It creates the illusion of causality between the
events." (Tavis & Wade, 2000) As putting together psychodynamic
theories, the tracing of evolution begins from Freud’s and it
influenced on other people like Jung, Horney, Erikson and Adler.
However, Psychodynamic theories are basically the study of human
behavior that includes internal processes, personality, motivation,
drives, and the importance of childhood developments.
The psychodynamics theory which was introduced by Freud to understand the human mind and psyche, reached a new level in the continuous analysis from therapists. Psychodynamics originally has been explained as a study of various psychological forces that affect human behavior which is related to early experiences. It specifically discusses the connection between the conscious and subconscious motivations. The theory was further analyzed and developed by Melanie Klein, Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. Based on the theory, the psychodynamic therapy evolved to help patients through psychoanalysis. With time other therapies like individual, group and family therapy evolved to offer treatment by understanding the present day complexities in more detail. The main aim of the therapy is self –awareness through identifying the various influences of many past events in life. The therapies are continuously evolving since it was introduced by Freud to help in solving a variety of psychological disorders within people.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the developer of psychoanalysis. His work created psychoanalytic views of human nature. He interpreted the individuality as a closed energy method, made up of conscious and unconscious parts, defense systems, unconscious instincts, anxieties, and biological drives. Biological instincts and childhood experiences determine who a person will be. Therefore human nature was seen as biologically driven and determined, instead of a combination of learned behaviors to be exploited or a certain possibility for self-actualization.
Anders Behring Breivik was a Norwegian extremist and a terrorist who had bombed a government building and then shot and killed a number of youths at a camp. His actions were not impulsive, but instead meticulously planned. For years he fostered feelings of hatred and aggression, particularly after his failed businesses and his involvement with the right wing terror organization whose ideology was on anti-Islam and anti-mulitculturism. Breivik perceived that Muslims were invading Europe and conspiring with politicians to take over Norway. Hence, his decision to destroy the present and future politicians of government. Allport (1920), in his theory of Social Facilitation, fleshes out the impression that the presence of others (the social group) can facilitate certain behaviour (McLeod, 2007).
Psychodynamic theory focuses on exposing unconscious relations through a process of seemingly irrelevant associations. While the relationship between these associations is not apparent to the patient, the analyst uses them to expose the subject's unconscious patterns of thought that they do not seemingly use or that prevent expression of their true desires.
The psychodynamic approach lends itself to being a controversial yet highly influential theory in the history of psychology. The theory has become one of the most significant psychological approaches and its originator, Sigmund Freud, has become a major influence in modern psychology. The psychodynamic approach largely focuses on motivation and past experiences which develop and individual’s personality. Freud used the iceberg metaphor to outline the three states of consciousness and argued that only twenty percent of the mind represents the conscious. In addition he theorised that there was a pre-conscious mind which represents general memory. Finally, the unconscious mind which is essentially the reservoir of repressed or hidden experiences and desire.
Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist, was the principle proponent of the psychoanalytic personality theory. Psychoanalytic personality theory is tells us that the majority of human behavior is motivated by the unconscious, a part of the personality that contains the memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings urges, drives, and instincts that the individual is unaware, and that only a small part of our psychological makeup is actually derived from the conscious experience. The problem is our unconscious mind disguises the meaning of the material it contains. As such, the psychoanalytic personality theory is ver...
It is important to be clear about the meanings of certain terms that you may come across and throughout the handout you will find footnotes clarifying certain terms. Firstly though, a word about the terms psychoanalysis and psychodynamics. Psychoanalysis refers to both Freud’s original attempt at providing a comprehensive theory of the mind and also to the associated treatment. The term encompasses both Freudian theory and therapy. You will also come across the term psychodynamics. This term is used to denote the approach which began with psychoanalysis but which has now broadened into a much more diverse collection of theories and models developed by other psychologists, all of which nevertheless retain some of the main ideas of Freud’s original theory.
The theory our learning team is studying is the psychodynamic approach or what is sometimes called psychoanalytic approach. The main contributors to Psychodynamic approaches was the founder Sigmund Freud (1859-1939), Anna Freud (1895-1982) gave significant contribution to the psychodynamics of adolescence and Erik Erickson (1902-1994) called the “new” Freud but with an emphasis on ego (conscious) forces, termed as psychosocial theory (Craig & Dunn, p 11-13). Psychodynamics is the explanation or interpretation (as of behavior or mental states) in terms of mental or emotional forces or processes (www.merriam-webster.com)
Sigmund Freud created strong theories in science and medicine that are still studied today. Freud was a neurologist who proposed many distinctive theories in psychiatry, all based upon the method of psychoanalysis. Some of his key concepts include the ego/superego/id, free association, trauma/fantasy, dream interpretation, and jokes and the unconscious. “Freud remained a determinist throughout his life, believing that all vital phenomena, including psychological phenomena like thoughts, feelings and phantasies, are rigidly determined by the principle of cause and effect” (Storr, 1989, p. 2). Through the discussion of those central concepts, Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis becomes clear as to how he construed human character.
There have been many theorists that have tried to give a definition to the concept of mental health. Many of these theories deal with the different aspects of individual functioning. If someone was to ask me what mental health means, I would say it deals with a person and their condition regarding their psychological and emotional well-being. When someones mental health is not well, they may have a minor condition and have some forgetfulness or they might have a serious condition to where they don't even know how to function on a daily basis. Our mental health deals with more than just our mind, it also includes our psychological, social, emotional well being. It affects our day to day lives with how we think, feel and act as we go through
Performing a background evaluation on my client using the theories of Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud, and Lawrence Kohlberg are an accurate assessment of what stage of life the client is experiencing. At some degree, it is a valuable tool in examining where a person’s life should exist at certain stages. It is a guideline to moving forward with a treatment and helping an individual lead a normal productive life as much as conceivable.
The first theory Psychodynamic theory presented by Sigmund Freud, is based on how a person’s self-awareness and understanding of the past on present behavior. Psychody...
Psychodynamic approach studies unconscious activities in the mind to elaborate on human thoughts, feelings and behaviour (Bernistein, 2013). Freud was able to treat clients by making them recall negative aspects of their past through psychoanalytic techniques such as free association, dream interpretation and transference (Wollheim, 2008).
Introduction When most laymen think about psychology, a version of the psychodynamic theory is surely what comes to mind. Most people have heard of Freud and the somewhat ridiculous notions that he brought about over a century ago. What many people may not understand is just how advanced the psychodynamic theory was at the time it came about. Although this theory definitely has some flaws, it has some astonishingly valid aspects to it as well. An analysis of this Freudian theory shows that there are both strengths and weaknesses to the psychodynamic theory, and that it can still be applicable to modern-day social work.
Personality is an individual’s characteristic pattern of feeling, thinking and acting. Psychodynamic theories of personality view human behavior as a dynamic interaction between the conscious mind and unconscious mind, including associated motives and conflicts (Myers & Dewall, pg# 572, 2015). These theories focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences. Psychodynamic theories are descended from Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, which is his ideology of personality and the associated treatment techniques. Psychoanalysis attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. This theory also includes the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions. He proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality. Freud’s historically significant psychoanalytic theory became part of the human cultural legacy.