Transcript The Psychodynamic Model

Philip Larkin - This Be The Verse
They fuck you up, your mum and dad
They may not mean to, but they do
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats
Man hands on misery to man
It deepens like a coastal shelf
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.
The Psychodynamic Model
• Main assumptions:
• Abnormal behaviour is caused by conflicts in the
unconscious mind
• The causes of these conflicts can usually be traced
back to early childhood experiences
• Psychopathology is psychological in origin resulting
from the dynamic working of the personality, rather
than physical causes
The Unconscious Mind
The conscious. The small
amount of mental activity we
know about.
Thoughts
Perceptions
The preconscious. Things
we could be aware of if we
wanted or tried.
The unconscious. Things
we are unaware of and can
not become aware of.
Memories
Stored knowledge
Bad
Worse
Really Bad
Fears
Unacceptable sexual desires
Violent motives
Irrational wishes
Immoral urges
Selfish needs
Shameful experiences
Traumatic experiences
The Psyche – our personality
Id:
Ego:
Superego:
Instincts
Reality
Morality
Pleasure
principle
Reality
principle
Morality
principle
Id
Ego
Superego
•Freud believed that people are motivated by interactions between
their the parts of the psyche; Id, ego, and superego
If the ego does not balance the demands of the id and superego,
conflicts may arise and cause abnormality
The ego protects itself from anxiety caused by intra-psychic conflict,
by using defence mechanisms (to reduce anxiety)
Structure of personality
• Strong ego: well-adjusted person develops strong
ego capable of coping with demands of id and
superego. Weak ego = dominant id/superego
• Unchecked id impulses: expressed in
destructiveness or immorality, resulting in conduct
disorders and psychopathic behaviour
• Dominant superego: Rigidly restricts id so
person deprived of even socially acceptable
pleasures; causes neurosis, anxiety disorders and
phobias
Early experiences
• Immature ego not developed enough to deal with
traumatic/confusing events in childhood
• These pushed into unconscious – repressed –
because they are too painful for ego to bear or
because child hasn’t developed sufficient
knowledge of world to cope with event
• Repressed thoughts expressed in psychological
disorders such as depression
Psychosexual stages
According to the psychodynamic theory, the child goes through a
series of stages where the id looks for gratification in different
body areas; the erogenous zones
If the developing child is either deprived or over-gratified at a
stage they may become fixated at this stage and this will
influence their adult behaviour
Fixation at a stage may lead to abnormal adult behaviour or a
psychopathology – an anxiety disorder such as OCD could be
the result of fixation at the anal stage
Psychosexual Stages
Oral
Pleasure gained from eating/sucking.
Weaning most important developmental
achievement
Anal
Pleasure gained from expelling or
retaining faeces. Bowel and bladder
control important achievements.
Phallic
Latent
Genital
Child becomes aware of gender, focus on
genitals. Oedipus complex and castration
anxiety for boys, electra complex and penis envy
for girls. Successful development = firm gender
identity.
Focus on social development (calm
before storm of adolescence).
If conflicts experienced during earlier
stages resolved, greatest pleasure comes
from mature heterosexual relationships.
Defence mechanisms
• To balance demands of id and superego, ego
employs defence mechanisms
• Ego defence mechanisms distort reality to
protect ego from distress and allow person to
cope with life
• Defence mechanisms not long term solution and
if used too frequently can create psychological
problems of their own
Defence mechanisms
• Repression:
• Regression:
• Denial:
• Displacement: