The Pychodynamic Theory Of Depression

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The cognitive triad are three forms of negative thinking that are typical of individuals with depression. These are mainly negative thoughts about the self, the world and the future (Psychological Theories of Depression). As these components interact, they are seen to interfere with normal cognitive processing. This leads to impairments in perception, memory and problem solving with the person becoming obsessed with negative thoughts. This is represented in the feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness that are seen in many depressed individuals. This can also lead to suicidal behavior, feeling like the world is not worth living in any longer. Beck also believed that people prone to depression develop an entire negative self-schema. This means …show more content…

Psychodynamic theories first came around in the mid 1800’s. This was the point when psychodynamic theorist Sigmund Freud came into the clinical picture. Sigmund Freud is considered the founder of the psychodynamic theory of psychology as well as psycho analysis. He is a very important figure head for this branch of psychology. Freud focused his entire attention to the mind. To explain his theory of psychology, he used an analogy of an iceberg. On the surface of the conscious part of our mind, including the thoughts that are the focus of our attention in the now, these are seen as the tip of the iceberg. This is what you can see, but we all know that great depths lie underneath the tip of an iceberg. These were seen as the unconscious mind. This is where the processes of most behavior are derived from. He believed that like an iceberg the most important part of the mind was that that you cannot see. Psychodynamic theorists as a whole believe that a person’s behavior, both abnormal and normal, is the result of certain underlying forces. We are conscious of only a small portion of our mind. Nevertheless, the unconscious aspects of our mind exert a tremendous influence over our conscious thoughts, emotions and behavior …show more content…

The assumptions are that there is inwardly directed anger, introjection of love object loss, severe superego demands, excessive narcissistic, oral, and anal personality needs, loss of self-esteem, and deprivation in the mother child relationship during the first year. It was first Freud’s belief, and then other psychodynamic supporters. Freud also believed that many different cases of depression were in fact biological. He stated that there had to be triggers to make these changes in the brain. One life change that he focused a large amount of research on is depression can be connected to loss or rejection by a parent early on in life. Depression is much like grief in this sense, it is a reaction to the loss of an important relationship or person. These findings are supported better than most other research in the field of psychology. But there are still room for so many questions.
Lastly I will introduce the behavioral theory of psychology. The behavioral theory of psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on people’s behaviors. This includes their actions, emotions, and thoughts. It also focuses on how the environment can shape our behaviors. The primary focus is on observational behavior and conditions through which people will learn certain behaviors. This is mainly through the processes of classical conditioning and operant

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