Outline and Evaluate the Psychodynamic Approach (16 marks)
The psychodynamic approach is most closely associated with the work of Sigmund Freud. He
suggested that most of our mind is made up of the unconscious: a vast storehouse of
biological drives and instincts that has a significant influence on our behaviour and
personality. The unconscious also contains threatening and disturbing memories that have
been repressed, locked away, and forgotten.
Freud described personality as “tripartite”, consisting of the id, the ego, and the superego.
The id operates on the pleasure principle and is made up of selfish aggressive instincts that
demand immediate gratification. Only the id is present at birth, and it is entirely unconscious.
The ego develops around the age of two. It works on the reality principle and is the mediator
that balances the conflicting demands of the id and the superego. It manages this by
employing a number of defence mechanisms, such as repression, denial, and displacement.
The superego is formed at the end of the phallic stage, around the age of five. It is our
internalized sense of right and wrong. Based on the morality principle, it represents the moral
standards of the child’s same-sex parent and punishes the ego for wrongdoing through guilt.
Freud proposed the psychosexual stages of development and claimed that child development
occurred in five stages: the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stage. Each stage apart
from latency is marked by a different conflict that the child must resolve in order to progress
successfully to the next stage. Any psychosexual conflict that is unresolved leads to fixation,
where the child becomes “stuck” and carries certain behaviours and conflicts associated with
that stage through to adult life.
One strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it has useful real-world practical
applications. Freud brought to the world a new form of therapy: psychoanalysis. Employing a
range of techniques designed to access the unconscious, such as hypnosis and dream analysis,
psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many modern-day psychotherapies that have since been
established. In a review of psychotherapy studies for disorders such as depression and
anxiety, deMaat et al concluded that psychoanalysis produced significant improvements in
symptoms that lasted years after treatment. However, psychoanalysis is not appropriate for
individuals suffering from more serious “psychotic” disorders such as schizophrenia. Many
of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia, such as paranoia and delusional thinking,
mean that sufferers have lost their grip on reality and cannot articulate their thoughts and
feelings in the same way as others. Thorough analysis of such a patient’s “unconscious” by a
relative stranger is likely to exacerbate these symptoms rather than relieve them.
Moreover, Freud’s theory was based on the intensive study of single individuals who were
often in therapy. For example, the case study of Little Hans, who supported Freud’s concept
of the Oedipus complex, the idea that little boys develop incestuous feelings towards their
mother and a murderous hatred for their father. Hans was a five-year-old boy who developed
a phobia of horses after seeing one collapse in the street. Freud suggested that Hans’ phobia
The psychodynamic approach is most closely associated with the work of Sigmund Freud. He
suggested that most of our mind is made up of the unconscious: a vast storehouse of
biological drives and instincts that has a significant influence on our behaviour and
personality. The unconscious also contains threatening and disturbing memories that have
been repressed, locked away, and forgotten.
Freud described personality as “tripartite”, consisting of the id, the ego, and the superego.
The id operates on the pleasure principle and is made up of selfish aggressive instincts that
demand immediate gratification. Only the id is present at birth, and it is entirely unconscious.
The ego develops around the age of two. It works on the reality principle and is the mediator
that balances the conflicting demands of the id and the superego. It manages this by
employing a number of defence mechanisms, such as repression, denial, and displacement.
The superego is formed at the end of the phallic stage, around the age of five. It is our
internalized sense of right and wrong. Based on the morality principle, it represents the moral
standards of the child’s same-sex parent and punishes the ego for wrongdoing through guilt.
Freud proposed the psychosexual stages of development and claimed that child development
occurred in five stages: the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stage. Each stage apart
from latency is marked by a different conflict that the child must resolve in order to progress
successfully to the next stage. Any psychosexual conflict that is unresolved leads to fixation,
where the child becomes “stuck” and carries certain behaviours and conflicts associated with
that stage through to adult life.
One strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it has useful real-world practical
applications. Freud brought to the world a new form of therapy: psychoanalysis. Employing a
range of techniques designed to access the unconscious, such as hypnosis and dream analysis,
psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many modern-day psychotherapies that have since been
established. In a review of psychotherapy studies for disorders such as depression and
anxiety, deMaat et al concluded that psychoanalysis produced significant improvements in
symptoms that lasted years after treatment. However, psychoanalysis is not appropriate for
individuals suffering from more serious “psychotic” disorders such as schizophrenia. Many
of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia, such as paranoia and delusional thinking,
mean that sufferers have lost their grip on reality and cannot articulate their thoughts and
feelings in the same way as others. Thorough analysis of such a patient’s “unconscious” by a
relative stranger is likely to exacerbate these symptoms rather than relieve them.
Moreover, Freud’s theory was based on the intensive study of single individuals who were
often in therapy. For example, the case study of Little Hans, who supported Freud’s concept
of the Oedipus complex, the idea that little boys develop incestuous feelings towards their
mother and a murderous hatred for their father. Hans was a five-year-old boy who developed
a phobia of horses after seeing one collapse in the street. Freud suggested that Hans’ phobia
