Unit 2 – Psychodynamic Approach

It is concerned with the unconscious mind – that is the mental processes of which are not consciously aware –
feelings, thoughts and behaviour of an individual. It also stresses the importance of early childhood in our
development.

Definitions
Id The instinctive personality of the person – operates on the
pleasure principle.
Ego Logical part of the personality that responds to reality.
Superego The moral part of the personality that represents society’s rules.
Oral The focus of organ pleasure is with the mouth e.g. sucking. If
fixated the person will be passive, dependant and may smoke.
Anal The focus of pleasure is with the anus (potty training). If fixated
here the person will be anally retentive and tidy.
Phallic Masturbation starts. Oedipus complex for bots and Electra
complex for girls. Compete for opposite sex affection and
identifies with same sex parent. In the Oedipus complex the boy
fears castration and undergoes penis envy.
Latent No psychosexual development takes place. The difficulties of the
Oedipus complex are repressed and happy relations with parents
result.
Genital If no problems through the psychosexual stages, they desire for
the opposite sex.
Repression Forgetting an unpleasant memory or the strong emotion attached
with it, by pushing it into the unconscious so it cannot be
retrieved.
Oedipus Complex Boys identify with their father. Genitals are the area of pleasure
from 3-6 years. This leads to feelings of fear and guilt as the boy
wants to take his father’s place and be with the mother. The fear
takes the form of castration fear (superego). The guilt of fear is
resolved by identifying with the father and becoming his father.
The boy therefore takes the masculine behaviour of the father.
Supported by Little Hans (1909).
Defence Mechanisms Freud (1894) proposed that we use mental strategies called
defence mechanisms to protect ourselves from painful, frightening
or guilty feelings. E.g. repression or denial.
Conscious Processes of which we are fully aware, including memories that
can be easily recalled.
Preconscious Mind compromises memories that can be recalled to
consciousness under particular circumstances.
Unconscious Involves material that can never be recalled – particularly the
instincts and repressed memories. Libido is the life instinct that
manifests our sexuality and Thanatos is the death instinct,
manifesting itself in aggression and destructiveness.
Studies in Detail
Little Hans (1909)
Aim Collecting data for analysis for Freud’s research and to help Hans
with his disruptive dreams and phobia for horses.
Method Case Study
Case Description Hans was a 5 year-old boy with a phobia. He showed anxiety and
fear. Freud listened to Hans’ father who sent letters and analysed
symbols from the dreams that were of particular importance. Hans
often played with his ‘widdler’ but his mother threatened to cut it
off. Hans wanted his father to go away on business, showing the
desire to be alone with his mother. He also feared that a white
horse would bite him which affected his behaviour. This fear was
thought to be down to his large penis. Over a few weeks his
phobia worsened and he feared to leave the house. His fear
reduced to simply white horses with a bridle – his father
interpreted this as being his moustache. He had imaginary
children – mum was his mum and the father was granddad. He
dreamt that a plumber came to fit him with a bigger ‘widdler’ which
ended his phobia of horses.
Interpretation Freud saw Hans’ phobia as an expression of the Oedipus
complex. Horses, in particular those with bridles, represented his
father. The Oedipus complex was happily resolved as Hans
fantasised himself with a bigger ‘widdler’ like his father, married to
his mother with his father as the granddad.
For Against
Hans’ case was evidence for the stages of Bias as it was the father’s interpretation – he was a
psychosexual development. known fan of Freud.
Qualitative data collected. The concepts were not measurable – not scientific.
Useful, valid application in the treatment of phobias. Cannot generalise.
Evaluation

Axline (1964) – The Case of Dibs

Aim To use play therapy to help Dibs unlock his problems and fill his
potential.
Method Case Study.
Case Description A small boy who did not join in at school, would not be taught and
was violent towards others. A teacher did not think Dibs was
lacking intelligence but was disruptive and would have to leave
the school. Axline came to help Dibs and she used a therapy that
allowed Dibs to be himself and play as he liked.
Case Analysis Dibs talked to Axline: “I was clear that he was very intelligent and
could read well for his age, as well as use difficult concepts.”
Axline discovered that Dibs’ mother thought he might have
learning difficulties so she spent a lot of time in the early years
testing him. Axline thought perhaps this excessive testing and
anxiety – and also from the father who seemed not to love him
and criticised him a lot. Which had led to Dibs’ misbehaviour.
Axline used therapy to gain ‘objective’ data. Dibs worked through
his anger by using play and symbols. This links to Freud’s idea of
unconscious feelings. Dibs’ behaviour could have come from the
demands of the Id because the superego had become controlling
through his parents expectations. The Id had been repressed and
 needed to be released. As Dibs was 5 years old and wanted to
get rid of this father, this could be the Oedipus complex.
Evaluation
For Against
Shows how the 3 parts of the personality need balancing. Difficult for reliable as Dibs was very young.
Shows that if problems are acted out, a balance can be There are links to theory but they are very
achieved. difficult to apply.
Qualitative data – rich and in-depth with real words used by
Dibs.
Used many different methods e.g. interviews, questionnaires,
and play-therapy
High validity

Content
Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development
Freud (1905) proposed that psychological development in childhood takes place in a series of fixed stages.
These are called the psychosexual stades because each stage represents the fixation of libido in a different
area of the body. Libido is manifested in childhood as organ-pleasure, centred on a different organ in each of
the first 3 stages of development.

Psychosexual Stages Oral (0-2 years)

Anal (2-3 years)
Phallic (3-6 years)
Latent (6 years – Puberty)
Oedipus Complex Boys identify with their father. Genitals are the area of pleasure
from 3-6 years. This leads to feelings of fear and guilt as the boy
wants to take his father’s place and be with the mother. The fear
takes the form of castration fear (superego). The guilt of fear is
resolved by identifying with the father and becoming his father.
The boy therefore takes the masculine behaviour of the father.
Supported by Little Hans (1909).
Evaluation
For Against
Freud was correct to say that our early years Freud overemphasised the importance of body parts, libido
and our early relationships with family are and sexual nature of children’s development.
extremely important in development. Although some ideas have some validity, others do not and
Aspects such as dependency, separation, and are very difficult to prove.
rivalry can be important aspects of development. Overemphasised the importance of the Oedipus complex.
Strong support for oral and anality – e.g. Modern research shows some families live perfectly normal
distinguishing between different types of criminal lives with just a single/gay parent/s where no Oedipus
(Huprich et al (2004)). Anal characteristics are complex is experienced. However, this is debated.
associated with political views, stinginess etc.

Defence Mechanisms (1984)

Repression Forgetting an unpleasant memory or the strong emotion attached
with it. Supported by Bateman & Holmes (1995) where a man who
was depressed recalled that his mother committed suicide. His
depression could be explained by repression.
Denial Refusal to admit an unpleasant fact – Willick (1995) – woman
went to hospital 2 days after her husband died. She was
convinced he was alive and was being kept from her.
Reaction Adopting an attitude directly opposed to one’s feelings, e.g.
homophobia (Adams et al 1996). Adams found more homophobic
 men were aroused by gay pornography that the heterosexual
man. Suggesting homophobia could be a defence mechanism to
being gay.

Use of Freudian Theory to explain gender development

The concept of gender identity is the individuals’ experience of being male or female. From a biological
perspective male-female differences are due to biology, so sex and gender effectively mean the same thing.
The psychodynamic angle is a little more complex. Freud believed that gender differences and gender identity
result not so much from biological differences but from the individual’s reaction to those differences. To Freud
the crucial events in gender development take place when children realise they do or don’t have a penis.
Freud (1925) pointed out that both boys and girls realised by the phallic stage that they may or may not have a
penis. Freud believed that this was threatening as it implied that the penis can be removed. Boys, who are at
this point in a rivalry with their father for mother’s affection, are undergoing castration anxiety. Through the
Oedipus complex they identify with their father and take on the dominant male role.
Having no penis means that girls go through a different process. When they realise they lack a penis through
inferiority known as penis envy. They also blame the mother for having removed their penis. They experience
the Electra complex which works in the same way as the Oedipus, in that girls later associate with their mother
and take on the female role and a female identity. Freud believed that girls’ desire to have a baby comes about
as a substitute for wanting a penis, and that both babies and penises are a sign of social power.
However Freud’s account of gender identity is his least credible work – whilst children are particularly
interested in their genitals, they are generally aware of their own gender at an earlier age (Fagot & Leinbach,
1993). The idea of castration anxiety and penis envy are impossible to investigate. Also he receives much
criticism from feminists in stating women are inferior – his work was undisputedly sexist.

Methodology
Credibility of Freudian theory – Masson, 1989
Child Abuse Freud avoided the issue of child abuse as being part of the
Oedipus complex.
Power The analyst has power over the patient, which could lead to false
memories – cases of this in America.
Sexist Focused on boys (Oedipus complex and castration). Girls were
less important.

The Case Study Method

The research aspect of the case is secondary to the mire pressing aim of helping a patient or client in difficulty.
In addition clinical case studies tend to be written up afterwards to prove a point. This is quite difficult to an
experimental study which is generally written to find something out in the first place.
Furthermore the researchers may write up more interesting cases to share with colleagues that include
background information and details of the symptoms followed by a description of the therapeutic work and the
outcome. This is demonstrated by Kilberg (2004) which illustrates the link between childhood experience and
reactions to adult events.

Subjectivity Being subjective involves looking at something from the

perspective of that individual with biases and distortions to go with
it. Objectivity is looking at something directly.
Importance of the inevitability that case studies are subjective:
 The participants are known extremely well. Nobody can study
a person they know objectively.
 Psychodynamic practitioners interpret what they see in the
light of particular theories,
  Practitioners selectively choose cases and aspects that fit
neatly with the psychodynamic theory.
 Psychodynamic practitioners have a vested interest in
recording and publishing cases that support their own
perspective.
All this causes clinical cases to be limited as they are simply too
subjective.
Generalisability A single well recorded case can provide evidence to support that
a phenomenon can occur. It does not however tell us how
common it is. It makes it very difficult to generalise Freud’s
studies of problems as they are quite simply too individual. There
is also evidence challenging how well the studies are recorded
e.g. Ramos (2003) shows serious problems with the case of Anna
O.
Reliability Means consistency. In psychodynamic psychology the inter-rater
reliability tends to be a problem because different psychologists
tend to have different interpretations on each topic.
Validity The extent to which we are really assessing what we set out to do
– this is difficult as we can never know to what extent the
psychologist’s interpretation is correct. There is no way to validate
an interpretation but it is likely to have a positive effect on the
patient in psychotherapy.
Cross-Sectional + Longitudinal Studies A cross-sectional study is a research method where data is
collected at the same time for people in different age categories. It
contrasts with the method, known as longitudinal study, where the
same group of subjects are studied over time. One confounding
variable (or weakness) of the cross-sectional study is that its
subjects, in addition to being different ages, are also born in
different years, and their behaviour may thus be influences by
differences in education, cultural influences, and medical
treatment.
Issues of Ethics and credibility e.g. Anna O. Freud published much detail of her childhood which
of personal data in case studies he should have kept confidential. Published without consent
although it was not released until after her death in 1954. Ron
could have been recognised by those who knew him well and
Little Hans was unethical as he was a child and therefore consent
was from parents.
Correlational Design Technique used to measure the likelihood of two behaviours
relating to each other. Sometimes two measurements are
associated so that when the value of one increases, so does the
other – a positive correlation. On the other hand, one value may
increase systematically as the other decreases – negative
correlation.
Correlations Either positive or negative. +0.97 would be strong positive
correlation. Cannot exceed 1 or go below -1.

Key Issue – False Memories and Repression

When someone is under psychoanalysis will they agree to the analyst’s interpretation of a memory? The
debate is over the power of an analyst, and whether the memory is false or not. It can, however, be true in
which case it has been repressed.
  Psychoanalyst uses various techniques as encouragement for the client to develop insights into their
behaviour and the meanings of symptoms including free association, interpretation, and resistance
analysis.
 Anxiety disorders such as phobias, panic attacks, OCD, and PTS are obvious areas where
psychoanalysis is assumed to work.
 Aimed to assist the patient in coming to terms with their identity impulses or to recognise the origin of
their current anxiety in childhood relationships that are being relieved in adulthood. If the problem is
caused by repressed emotions, it can be brought into consciousness by psychoanalysis.
 It has been claimed that in doing so, false memories such as sexual abuse, have been recalled, which
never happened have led to wrongful convictions, and a great deal of trauma for the families involved.
If the memory is true and has been repressed then psychoanalysis does work. However, if it is false, then it
goes against psychodynamic explanations as it is undesirable.

According to psychodynamic theory, traumatic memories are pushed into the unconscious by the ego to help
the personality gain a balance. Defence mechanisms are used which leads to the trauma being forgotten fitting
with the idea that false memories are not false but buried. There have been cases which have shown
memories were false e.g. Beth Rutherford who claimed her father forced her to have an abortion when he
didn’t. Masson suggested the power given to the analyst can be abused although it is not always deliberate.

Evaluation

For Against
Psychoanalysis has shown to be successful; we accept childhood Unconscious mind cannot be tested
experiences do have an impact on personality. It might lead to a cure so there is no scientific
or simply tackle some of the emotional factors of the underlying cause. measurement or evidence.
Debate highlights the problem with
the approach that the issue cannot
be tested.
Psychoanalysis is expensive and
time-consuming.

Freudian Theory
The Hydraulic Model Life instincts such as libido and thanatos have psychic energy. It
can be stored, converted but not destroyed. The process of
discharging this psychic energy is known as catharsis. A common
disorder at Freud’s time was hysteria which is now known as
conversion disorder. It is illustrated by the case of Anna O –
Breuer & Freud (1895).

Freudian Slips (1914) Freud suggested one way in which we observe the unconscious
mind in action is during slips of the tongue. The influence of the
unconscious mind leads us to substitute an unintended one. It is
known as Parapaxis – e.g. please don’t give me big bills – a
patient not wanting big bills to swallow by a doctor experiencing
problems with debt.

Dreaming (1900) This is one way in which the unconscious mind manifests itself – it
provides valuable clues to how the unconscious mind actually
operates. It has manifest content – the scenes which we are
aware of and the latent content, the underlying wish of the dream.
The purpose of dream work is to transform the forbidden wish into
a non-threatening form, so reducing anxiety and allowing us to
sleep in peace.
  Children’s dreams tend to express innocent wishes.
 Adults usually have an underlying meaning, but memory
of vivid and aggressive dreams are normally repressed as
they can harm us mentally.
Structure of Personality The ‘it’ ‘I’ and the ‘above I’
Id The instinctive personality of the person – operates on the
pleasure principle.
Ego Logical part of the personality that responds to reality.
Superego The moral part of the personality that represents society’s rules.
Evaluation
For Against
Freud has successfully described the experience of Ideas such as id and ego, even instinct, are rather
being pulled in different directions when making abstract and very difficult to study. Many
decisions. The structural model can thus be said to be psychologists are uncomfortable with concepts like
helpful in the phenomological model. this. If a concept cannot be studied significantly its
Freud produced a very complete model of human scientific status is poor.
experience. The concepts of id, ego, and superego take
into account the three influences of instinct, logic, and
society on both human behaviour in general and
individual differences.