Critical Evaluation of the Psychodynamic Approach

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Critical Evaluation of the Psychodynamic Approach The psychodynamic approach, developed by Freud, emphasizes the interplay of unconscious psychological processes in determining human thought, feelings, and behaviour. The basis of this approach is that psychological factors play a major role in determining behaviour and shaping personality. Freud divided the human psyche into three; the ID, ego and superego. He said you were born with ID which was in your unconscious and it comprised of selfishness and lack of awareness. The other two parts; the ego and superego were said to be in your conscious. The ego was comprised of awareness and consciousness and the superego of definite conscious where you begin caring about others. Freud believed that personality develops in psychosexual stages; in each stage a part of the body becomes the child's main source of pleasure. Failure to resolve conflicts at any stage can cause fixation, an unconscious preoccupation with the pleasure area associated with that stage. Personality characteristics are a reflection of each person's fixation. The oral stage occurs during the first year of life because the mouth is the center of pleasure. Babies obtain gratification through sucking and biting. As adults, when you bite your nails, comfort eat, etc, you are regressing to the oral stage. The anal stage occurs during the second year when toilet training begins. The ego evolves during this stage as the child vacillates between id impulses and parental demands. It focuses on potty training and the expulsion and retention of faeces. Excessive retention means the child is likely to have been potty trained to... ... middle of paper ... ...ntative sample: his own patients, who were predominantly upper-class Viennese women with mental problems. Freud never examined patients from, or his theory with regard to, other cultures. I think that perhaps past mistakes, if an individual can learn from them, can help improve the future for those with problems in the future. To conclude, I think that Freud’s psychodynamic approach does make sense, although it may be explained in other ways, and does explain a lot about a person’s personality and habits and why they have these certain traits. Even though Freud was known as being a bit too over the top and eccentric with his ideas and theories, they do make great sense and are of great use to finding out about a certain person’s personality and why they are like the way they are. It can be useful in further research.

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