Positive Psychology: WJEC: Psychodynamic Approach

The approach sees the mind has been influenced by powerful unconscious/subconscious forces.

Freud saw the mind as an iceberg, the tip of it represents a conscious mind, the unconscious part is ‘underwater’.

The unconscious mind harbours our deepest thoughts, desires and feelings; it is constantly present urging us to seek pleasure.

From repressed memories of early traumatic experiences in our lives.

id: Present from birth and is unconscious and operates on the pleasure principle.

ego: Develops around the age of 2 to meet the demands of the age and socially acceptable way. This is the conscious part of our mind.

superego: Emerging from five years of age, unconscious, and our acts on the morale of tea principle, or the individuals conscience regarding feelings of right and wrong..

OAP-LG

Oral stage.

Anal stage.

Phallic stage.

Latency.

Genital stage.

Developing between 0 to 1 years old, satisfaction is gained from putting things in the mouth and relates to how we engage in trusting relationships later.

Developing between one and three years.

Pleasure is gained from going to the toilet, with conflict emerging when parents ask the child to use a potty;

This relates in Freudian thinking to how we deal with authority figures later on in life.

Between three and five years old.

The child has unconscious sexual desires for the opposite sex parent and fears punishment from the same-sex parent.

This can cause psychological conflict.

Gradually the values of the same-sex parents are internalised and resolve the conflict leading to development of moral and gender identity.

Developing between five and 12 years old.

This is a period of consolidation in which the child is busy learning gender roles, social roles and developing self-confidence.

Sexuality is dormant and leads to well-adjusted adulthood.

From 12 upwards.

This is a time of adolescent sexual experimentation, the successful resolution of which is settling down in a loving relationship in one’s twenties.

ADDENDUM:

In Freud’s time, sexual attraction was assumed to be heterosexual; his thoughts on homosexuality initially saw it as a failure to break through one of the key stages of development, but ultimately, as one psychotherapist writes, he “did not think homosexuality was pathological in the sense that it was the consequence of degenerative physiology or psychology. He found homoeroticism compatible with normal psychological functioning and even associated it with elevated capacities and superior psychic and moral qualities. However, Freud did believe homosexuality represented stunted individual psychosexual development and from this perspective saw it as inferior sexuality in a mature adult.” (https://psychotherapypapers.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/kirby1/) That is one thinker I came across, no doubt the literature to explore is vast and Freudians will offer a variety of opinions on (a) what Freud concluded and (bu) what his approach can mean without Freud! -ed.

1) Evidence based:
Fisher and Greenberg (1996) found supporting evidence for Freud’s oral and anal personalities
2) Deterministic:
The theory provides an explanation for dramatic behaviour has been determined in childhood experiences.
3) Case studies:
Freud’s case studies provide rich and detailed information about individuals

1) Unscientific:
Concepts such as the unconscious, it ego and superego cannot be tested scientifically.
2) Deterministic (in a bad way!)
Freud was deterministic in his approach to psychological issues, and therefore ignored free will or other factors.
3) Lacking generalisability
Freud’s case studies involve a narrow sample of adults, hence is a representative and lacks generalisability.

Drawing on Freud, Bowlby researched how children reacted to early traumas, rather than through fantasy and unconscious drives. the most important events in the first year of a child’s life is how well they attached to a primary caregiver..

0 to 3 months, the child is indiscriminate with whom he or she is, and enjoys any kind of company.

3 to 6 months, the infant starts to recognise carers and shows behaviour directed more towards the caregivers then complete strangers.

After six months, there is a secure base behaviour in which behaviour is directed towards the main caregiver, and the infant may show signs of of separation anxiety when the care giver is away; also shows fear and suspicion with unfamiliar people.

Using a longitudinal study of 76 people from birth to 30, and interviews and questionnaires, the adults who had received better care as infants were more psychologically healthy.

Those who had received multiple traumas in infancy were significantly less healthy psychologically speaking.

Freud’s “Royal Road” to the unconscious, and the belief that through dreams a person could express what is being repressed in the unconscious mind.

Dreams often present symbolic forms that may need interpreting.

A sense of release after opening up repressed memories and blocked mental images.

C-DSS

1) Condensation, in which a number of elements are combined in one dream.
2) Displacement: the repressed emotion is centred on a different person/thing from the one which the client is really repressing subconsciously.
3) Symbolisation: dreams present symbols such as: gun for penis, bag for vagina, ploughing for coitus, playing the piano for masturbating, queen for mother, king for father, apple for breast…and many others.
4) Secondary revision: a narrative creates coherence and structure for a dream, almost like a movie that you are directing.

Eysenck (1952) argued that dream analysis provides no benefits beyond that which could naturally occur without treatment.

Recently, it’s estimated “that only 1 in 6 therapists feels confident about working with clients’ dreams (BACP Research Conference, May, 2005).

This is due largely to a lack of training and the lack of a coherent theoretical treatment model (Bryson, Mastin, Pilgreen, & Bryson, 2008; Tien, Lin & Chen, 2006).” So a lack of training leads to a dismissal of the therapy.

Bell and Cook (1998) found quantitative evidence that dream content reveals important personality characteristics of dreamers, which appear in dreams as compensation for their repression in waking states.

According to their study, dreamers who minimize the personal importance of their dreams also display personality traits consistent with higher levels of repression in waking life.” (http://drdouglasthomas.com/DT_images/WRITING_Dreams&EBP.pdf)

As with most therapies, it is the relationship of power over the patient that the therapist has which is ethically questionable (Grunbaum, 1993);

Dreams may have no meaning whatsoever and hence an ‘interpretation’ may give a patient an irrelevant notion or belief system about what is going on in his/her mind.

Add in the notion that the therapist can never be wrong, and that the therapist is the main interpreter of the dreams and if they have not had good training, that could also be detrimental as well as being very personal.

On the other hand dream therapists cannot explain every thing that the therapy will be about because they do not want to create demand characteristics in the patient.

Meeting once or twice a week for about an hour, individuals can share emotional issues and past painful events, stimulating conversation and interaction within the group.

Individuals can see themselves from the perspective of others and the members begin to act as informal therapist for each other.

BASICALLY

Sharing experiences - helping help oneself - helping to help others - emotionally letting go - revising memories; or more technially:

Information giving (sharing stories about a common problem)
Altruism (helping others can improve self-esteem)
Interpersonal skills (helping improve each other social skills)
Catharsis (sharing long repressed painful experiences to bring a sense of relief)
Correcting past family experiences through role-play and conversation.

Helping people to deal with negative, abnormal behaviour but also aspirations and creativity.

Helps individuals gain a sense of commonality with others and that they are not alone

The focus may be more on the analysis of group process rather than individual needs and issues.

The therapy can take a long time.

It may be difficult for members who are emotionally fragile and who do not like hearing criticism.

CRET =>

CONFIDENTIALITY, RESPECT, EQUALITY, TRUST.

The therapist must ensure that individuals are not subject to abusive or offensive comments within the group.
That all members are equal and tolerant.
Newcomers must be advised of expectations, rights and obligations.
That's the group meeting is based on trust and confidentiality is of paramount importance.