The psychodynamic approach is one of the main psychological approaches to understanding a personās personality and the direction of therapeutic work with disorders in his emotional sphere. Its founder is the famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, who created the theory of psychoanalysis. Therefore, this approach is often called psychoanalytic.
The main psychological approaches
In psychology, the human psyche is considered from various angles. Researchers take into account one or another facet of it, study and form various theoretical concepts on the basis of the data obtained. Some of them are very similar to each other in basic postulates, therefore they are conditionally assigned to one group. So, today there are several basic psychological approaches, which include the following:
- psychodynamic;
- behavioral;
- cognitive;
- humanistic;
- existential;
- transpersonal;
- integrative.
The psychodynamic approach proceeds from the position that the human psyche is not static, but is in constant dynamics, proceeding at an unconscious level. The behavioral approach is aimed at replacing ineffective behaviors with effective ones, and the cognitive approach , in a similar way, at changing beliefs.
The humanistic approach focuses on empathy and the adoption of a psychotherapist in relation to the client. The existential approach has its roots in philosophy and raises questions about the meanings of human being. The transpersonal approach focuses on the religious, mystical, peak experiences of man. In other words, it works with altered states of consciousness. An integrative approach involves the support of a therapist at the same time on several approaches.
The basic postulate of the psychodynamic approach
The term "psychodynamics" refers to the mobility of the human psyche: development and extinction, assistance or confrontation of internal impulses. The psychodynamic approach in psychology is based on the assumption that in the human psyche there are own unconscious movements and interactions of various energies that are not reduced to physiological or social influences.
The basic postulate on which this approach is based is that human-conscious processes taking place in his psyche are the result of the independent dynamics of his psyche, and not a consequence of external circumstances, arguments of reason or volitional efforts.
Psychoanalysis as the origin of the approach
The well-known psychiatrist Sigmund Freud developed the psychodynamic approach to personality, creating his theoretical concept - psychoanalysis. Therefore, this approach is often called psychoanalytic. The scientist's views were revolutionary for that time. He proceeded from a psychodynamic understanding of mental phenomena. He sought not only to describe and classify phenomena, but to understand them as a struggle of mental forces.
The cornerstone of Freud put unconscious motives that work in concert with each other or are at war with each other. He was the first to suggest that a personās personality and behavior are the result of the efforts of the Ego to reconcile unconscious mental conflicts and the demands of the real world.
The Purpose of Freud's Psychoanalysis
According to Freud, helping the patient should be so that he can better understand his unconscious conflicts, the underlying problems that concern him. Psychoanalysis is a system that offers special psychological procedures that contribute to this understanding, for example:
- conducting a systematic study of the relationship between the history of a personās life and current problems for him;
- focusing on his thoughts and emotions during treatment;
- the use of the relationship between the patient and the therapist for therapeutic purposes.
Theory of personality in Freud's psychoanalysis
Integral elements of the psychodynamic approach are consciousness, unconscious, limiting factors. Freud drew an analogy between a personās personality and an iceberg. At the same time, he correlated consciousness with the visible tip of the iceberg. And the main mass, which is located under water and is invisible, is with the unconscious. According to Freud, personality includes three main components.
- Eid is the unconscious. Freud imagined it as a huge reservoir of unconscious energy, which gave the name "libido". All the basal instincts, impulses, desires with which people are born, belong to the Id. He generalized them into two basic instincts: Eros and Thanatos. The first is the instinct of pleasure and sex, and the second is the instinct of death, which can provoke destructiveness or aggression both in relation to oneself and to others. The main principle of Eid is the pursuit of pleasure. His worries about social norms are alien to him; he does not care about the rights and feelings of others.
- The ego is the mind. The ego is busy looking for possible ways to satisfy instincts in compliance with social norms. The ego seeks to compromise between the unreasonable desires of the Eid and the rules of the real world. The principle of the ego is reality. The ego tries to satisfy the needs of the person in such a way as to protect him from the emotional and physical damage possible due to the awareness of the impulses emanating from the Id. Or at least minimize it.
- The superego is a conscience that is formed in the process of education and is the result of the assimilation of parental and social norms and values. Itās internalized by a person in childhood as āgood-badā, ānecessary - impossibleā. The superego strives to commit actions and actions based on moral principles, the violation of which causes a feeling of guilt.
Eid, Ego and Superego or instincts, reason and morality often do not get along with each other. As a result of their confrontation, intrapsychic or psychodynamic conflicts develop. A small number of conflicts or their effective resolution is associated with adaptive behavior and is considered the norm.
Methods Used in Psychoanalysis
Multiple, severe, uncontrollable or poorly managed conflicts between the components of the personality of the Eid, Ego and Superego lead to abnormal personality traits or entail mental disorders.
One of the most important functions of the Ego is the formation of protective mechanisms against feelings of anxiety and guilt. Psychological defense mechanisms are an unconscious psyche tactic that helps protect a person from unpleasant emotions. These include denial, repression, substitution, intellectualization, rationalization, projection, regression, reactive education, sublimation. Freud regarded neurotic anxiety as a signal of a threat that unconscious impulses could overcome protective barriers and reach consciousness.
Due to the action of protective mechanisms, it is difficult to study the field of the unconscious. Therefore, the main feature of psychoanalysis methods is their focus on overcoming protective barriers for the patient to become aware of the conflict between his consciousness and the unconscious.
To this end, Freud developed and used methods of interpreting free associations, dreams, analysis of projections, erroneous actions, for example, reservations, typos, transfers, work with resistance. The main goal of psychological influence is to achieve a greater level of harmony between the Eid, Ego and Superego.
The development of a psychoanalytic approach
In modern psychotherapy of emotional disorders, there are different types of personality theories, diagnostic methods and psychotechnics in a psychodynamic approach. Some areas are less focused than classical Freudianism on Eid, the unconscious and the past.
They pay much more attention to the urgent problems of man and how to use the power of his ego for their successful solution. In these types of therapies, clients are helped to realize how their deep feelings of insecurity, anxiety and inferiority entail emotional disturbances and problems in relationships with others.
Objectives of the approach
All types of psychotherapy and any methods of a psychodynamic approach pose two main tasks:
- To achieve insight in the patient, that is, awareness of the intrapsychic or psychodynamic conflict.
- To assist him in the elaboration of the conflict, that is, to help track how this conflict affects current behavior and relationships with other people.
Representatives of the approach
The psychodynamic approach in psychosocial work was used by many eminent psychologists. First of all, this, of course, is Z. Freud himself. In the footsteps of his father went a daughter - A. Freud. C. Jung was his student and subsequently developed his own version of psychoanalysis. Representatives of this approach also include such well-known psychologists as A. Adler, O. Rank, G. Sullivan, K. Horney, E. Fromm.
Psychotherapeutic approaches
To date, in practical psychology, within the framework of the psychodynamic approach, such most popular areas as transactional analysis, psychodrama, and body-oriented psychotherapy work.
Transactional analysis leads a person to a rational analysis of his and others' behavior in order to understand the essence of interaction with other people and the internal programmed life style - a scenario.
Psychodrama involves staging real problems by distributing roles among participants in group therapy. A person during the theatricalization of his usual scenarios or patterns of behavior reaches understanding, catharsis. As a result of this, an internal insight occurs, which helps to take a fresh look at the situation, comprehend it and get rid of limiting ineffective scenarios.
Body-oriented therapy is based on the interaction of the psyche and body. In order to relieve internal tension, provoking unconscious factors are identified and work is underway to release closed emotions, to free the mind and body.
The benefits of dynamic psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy is insight oriented. Therefore, the therapist leads the client to the awareness of intrapsychic conflicts, the struggle of internal forces, to understanding his unconscious. Interpretation is the most important procedure, and study is the longest part of psychotherapy. Working out involves mandatory independent work of the client outside of psychotherapeutic sessions.
The psychodynamic model of social work finds its application in situations related to the development of personality, rehabilitation and adaptation. This approach helps to develop self-esteem, allows the individual to make the necessary social changes to the system.
The psychoanalytic or psychodynamic approach is designed to help a person find ways to realize his instincts and desires in a socially acceptable way. In this way, the mind and the unconscious are reconciled, intrapersonal conflicts are eliminated, and emotional balance is restored.