Preview

Psychodynamic Theory Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
729 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Psychodynamic Theory Essay
Sigmund Freud developed Psychodynamic theory which gave a detailed description of the levels of awareness (conscious, preconscious and unconscious) and explained how the thoughts and feelings of an individual can affect his or her actions. Today, this theory is successfully used in modern psychology. Many psychotherapists use psychodynamic psychotherapy which helps the patients to understand their feelings. Psychodynamic psychology treats depression, a widespread illness in our modern society which includes problems with concentration and decision making, apathetic behavior, serious changes in feelings and physical well-being. (Horowitz & Mardi, 1998, p.17) According to Freud’s Psychodynamic theory, there are three distinctive parts of human …show more content…
Thus, the first law of thermodynamics which states that “energy can neither be created nor destroyed” was applied to the main concepts of Freud’s Psychodynamic theory. He studied human personality and human emotions “as a form of physical energy”. Sigmund Freud was sure that physical energy concerning human personality can be transformed from one state to another but it cannot be created or destroyed. According to his theory, most personalities are shaped on the basis of their childhood experiences. Freud states that any individual passes some psychosexual stages from his or her child birth to puberty. Moreover, “the pleasure seeking energy” of id focuses on different “pleasure sensitive zones” of the human body during different stages of life. (Ahles & Scott, 2004, …show more content…
However, human personality is hidden in the individual’s unconsciousness. Moreover, he states that the individual’s ego is connected with the real anxiety while the id is connected with neurotic anxiety and the individual’s superego with his moral anxiety. Two last anxieties can be explained by the conflict which took place during one of the psychosexual stages, in the childhood. Sometimes, the above mentioned anxieties are repressed into the individual’s unconsciousness as a so called “defense mechanism”. (Horowitz & Mardi, 1998,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Conflicts between the id, ego, and superego create anxiety. The ego protects itself with various defence mechanisms (ego defences). These defences can be the cause of disturbed behaviour if they are overused. In childhood the ego is not developed enough to deal with traumas and therefore they are…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some contributions that Sigmund Freud has brought to the psychological community is the psychodynamic theory. Psychodynamic theory is the behavior of psychological forces within the individual, often outside conscious awareness, (Chapter 11, p. 418). Freud believed that a person’s personality begins to develop in childhood, and the experiences that an individual goes through affects their personality development. Sigmund Freud believed that there were three parts to a person’s personality, there is Id, which involves the collection of unconscious urges and desires that continually seek expression,…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    To Freud, the mind was a mechanistic energy system that derived mental energy from the physical functioning of the body and constantly attempted to moderate this physical effort or tension by restoring it to a quiet steady (quiescent) state. This energy is not evenly distributed to all human purpose or functioning, and if blocked from expression will manifest itself as anxiety, which through cathartic release, prescribes a least resistant path of action. Because anxiety is painful, the mind attempts to cope with this state through a range of defence mechanisms that alter reality and supress feelings that stimulate this state. The mind and its energies (derived from drives or…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sigmund Freud is one of the most famous name in psychology.Many expressions of our daily life come from Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis: unconscious, denial and control. Freud believes that there are three level of consciousness: unconscious which exists outside of your awareness, next is pre conscious one which includes all information that you are not currently aware of it, finally the conscious one which is your current state of awareness. He believed that events in our childhood can have a remarkable influence on our behaviour as adult. He believed that, our behaviour is affected by our childhood experiences. It means that psychodynamic is about two major aspects: subconscious and our past. It can be seen that past…

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psychodynamic perspective developed by Sigmund Freud, and supported by his followers Adler, Erikson, and Jung. The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in psychology, particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the personality.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Freud found out that one important factor which is a concerns of intra-psychic was anxiety. For anxiety not to occur then the ego needs to continue a controlled balance of the ID and superego. At this point an important role takes place which is ego defence mechanisms. One defence mechanism is repression which is (what Freud really said, David Stafford-Clark, 1965) threatening impulses which are repressed in the unconscious, even though they don’t disappear the individual is unware also repressed encounters can then start the symptoms of anxiety or even emotional disorder. Another defence mechanism is displacement which is when your unacceptance drive like hatred. The last defence mechanism is denial which is when the adult or child starts to reject acceptance for an event that happened such as death. Reaction formation is when your consciousness if fixated on some kind of idea, affect or even a desire which is the complete opposites of a feared unconscious impulse. Projection is when an unwanted feeling and regression is a gratification which is from an earlier stages and rationalization is the replacement of the truth which will cause threatening behaviour but it had a sensible explanation. Another defence mechanism is undoing which is where an individual’s goal is the cancellation of previous hostile experiences. Also introjection which is personal related to identification which focuses on solving emotional trouble. Sublimation is also a defence mechanism which is the energy that is participated in sexual impulses. The reason we have defence mechanism is to help protect our conscious self from things like anxiety and if this is unsuccessful then anxiety can result in clinical disorders such as phobias and generated…

    • 1493 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Describe how the psychodynamic approach has been applied in either dream analysis or free association. [12]…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The first psychological theory I am using is the Psychodynamic Approach which was created by Sigmund Freud, Freud believed that early childhood experiences give an explanation for the behaviour you have when you are an adult, he believed that you develop a mental and emotional state from birth to adolescence which is when your personality is set as you have been influenced by family and friends at this point in life. In this theory there are three levels of mind. The first level of mind is conscious, this is where we think and become aware of what is around us, the second level of mind is pre-conscious, this is where we store memories and information that is important to us, we can access this information at anytime with some encouragement,…

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    counselling theory essay

    • 1682 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Dr Sigmud Freud (1856-1939), is the founder of the psychodynamic approach. Dr Sigmud Freud believed that childhood experiences and unconscious thoughts had an effect on people’s behaviour.…

    • 1682 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psychodynamic Essay

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages

    extremities that can occur from long term use of drugs like Risperdal or Clozaril (Barsic 1). In a…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The psychodynamic perspective focuses on the effects of unconscious factors effecting the nature in which we behave. This perspective also focuses on the relationship of childhood experiences effecting adulthood thinking and actions. This theory has many benefits such as being able to provide explanations for the various human behaviors. By looking back at childhood experiences it is believed with the psychodynamic perspective you will be able to find an explanation for the behavior in question. This perspective also has a comprehensive framework to describe the different human personalities. Part of this framework includes the theory of personality having three structures, the id, the ego, and the superego. The…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Defense Mechanism Paper

    • 1625 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Have you ever felt the urge to eat food even though you are not hungry but you are nervous and anxious about something? For some people anxiety means biting your nails or eating food or for others it means the excessive thought about your desires because of how you are feeling. Freud’s description on types of personality describes anxiety as an unbalance of your ID personality. His theory of defense mechanism has to do with his knowledge of the types of personality each individual have.…

    • 1625 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The term psychodynamic perspective refers to the theories and therapies developed by Sigmund Freud and supported by his followers. In addition to Freud, others who researched and practiced the psychodynamic approach, based on Freudian principles, include Adler, Erikson, and Jung.…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Foundation of Psychology

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Scientifically explain deviant behaviors to psychological events in which a person’s actions are linked to feelings as well as thoughts and how these mental episodes take place in the subconscious mind (Epstein, 1994). Psychoanalysis is a…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sigmund Freud

    • 1647 Words
    • 7 Pages

    One of the most prominent figures in the twentieth century was the psychologist and neurologist, Sigmund Freud. Freud, originally aiming to be a scientist, revisited concepts from theories of major scientists and neurologists in the past to create more dynamic theories of the human mind. Marking the beginning of a modern psychology, he determined human behavior by providing well-organized information of inner conflicts and mental forces. Not only was he the founder of psychoanalysis, but he also developed many theories involving dream interpretations, unconsciousness, the structure of the mind, psychosexual stages, and the Oedipal complex.…

    • 1647 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays