Psychodynamic Approach Essay

561 Words2 Pages

The psychodynamic approach

Freud claimed personalities are made up of three parts Id (primitive and instinctive), Ego (decision maker), and Superego ego (values and morals) (McLeod,2017). This approach is based on concepts that are not directly observable, or testable. This means that there is no way to scientifically verify any findings, and therefore it is impossible to establish cause and effect links https://getrevising.co.uk/grids/evaluation_of_psychodynamic_approach.

Freud believed that children pass through five psychosexual stages of development, and that each stage was marked by behaviour from which the child achieved an almost sexual satisfaction. The stages are; oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. Fraud only studied …show more content…

Simplifying the human mind into the id, ego and superego and the five psychosexual stages makes the approach reductionist. (McLeod, 2017)

Freud claimed that the adult personality is the product of innate drives- i.e. Urges we are born with and childhood experiences, for example we way we are raised. Freud ‘rehumanised’ the distressed, making their suffering more comprehensible to the rest of society. Psychoanalysis depends strongly on the therapist’s interpretation of what the client says. Freud said that if the client accepted the interpretation then it was probably correct. The client’s conscious mind could reject an unacceptable but accurate interpretation. (LinkedIn Learning).

Behaviourism refers to a psychological approach which emphasises scientific and objective methods of investigation. It concentrates on the 'here and now' rather than rooting into the past (like the psychodynamic model) - this is an advantage since many people do not know the past causes of their abnormal behaviour and it is more important to sort out present issues. It recognises the importance of the current environment shaping our behaviour it can explain cultural differences in behaviour. (McLeod,

More about Psychodynamic Approach Essay

Open Document