Outline and evaluate The Psychodynamic model as a way of explaining abnormal behaviour

MOS

CRESSIDA

Q. OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE PSYCHODYNAMIC MODEL AS A WAY OF EXPLAINING ABNORMAL BEHAVIOUR. (18 marks)

The Psychodynamic model was developed by Freud in the late 1970s. The model regards the origin of mental disorders as psychological rather than physical. He believed that these disorders were caused internally.

The main principle is that mental illness arises from unresolved, unconscious conflicts, originating in childhood, which are now repressed.

Freud first made his claim as a way of explaining hysteria, a disorder in which physical symptoms (such as deafness) are experienced, but with no underlying physical cause. He astonished his medical colleagues by proposing that hysteria’s origins lay in unresolved and unconscious sexual conflicts originating in childhood.

He believed that personality has three components and that all behavior is a product of their interaction (the ‘structural model’):

The Id is present at birth and is the impulsive, pleasurable seeking part of the personality. The Id operates on the pleasure principal, seeking immediate gratification. The Ego develops from the Id to help us cope with the external world, and is necessary for survival. The Ego operates on the reality principal, which directs the gratification of the Id’s needs through socially acceptable means. Finally, the Superego is the final part to emerge and is concerned with moral judgments and feelings. It operates roughly as the conscience. This part stops us doing wrong and being anti-social.

The Psychodynamic model states that when these structures are ‘in balance’, normality is maintained. However, Freud saw conflict between them as always being present to some degree and when the conflict cannot be managed, disorders arise, which can cause abnormal behaviour.

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According to Freud, early childhood experiences both normal and abnormal behaviour, and that human development passes through a series of five psychosexual stages. At each stage a different part of the body is the most sensitive to pleasure and therefore most capable of providing satisfaction to the Id. The nature of the conflicts and how they are expressed reflect the stage of development the child was in when the conflict occurred. To avoid the pain caused by the conflict, Freud proposed the existence of defence mechanisms as a way of preventing anxiety-arousing impulses and thoughts from reaching consciousness. All these unconsciously operating mechanisms serve to protect us by distorting reality. Some include repression (forcing a dangerous/ threatening memory/ idea/ feeling out of the consciousness and making it unconscious), displacement (redirecting an emotional response from a dangerous object to a safe one e.g. anger towards one’s boss redirects towards family dog) and denial (refusing to acknowledge certain aspects of reality – refusing to perceive something because it is painful/distressing/threatening).

Mental disorders stem from the demands of the Id and/or superego or ego. If the ego is too weak to cope with such conflicts, it defends itself by repressing them into the unconscious. However, these conflicts do not disappear, but find expression through behaviour, and this is the disorder the person experiences, the abnormal behaviour.

So, according to the Psychodynamic model, abnormality is caused by conflict between the Id Ego and Superego, fixation at psychosexual phases due to conflict, and defence mechanisms that help control conflict.

There are treatments for this. Since the Psychodynamic model assumes mental illness/ abnormal behaviour is the result of unresolved unconscious conflict the treatments are aimed at first identifying the nature of the conflict then resolving it.

The method of therapy is called psychoanalysis. This is often called the ‘talking cure’.

Initially Freud used hypnosis as a means of accessing repressed memories but this was later found an unreliable method.

The unconscious conflicts are accessed by, as well as hypnosis, free association, dreams, and transference.

Free association is where the patient relaxes and is asked to say whatever comes into their mind without the usual censoring of everyday life. The analyst will then analyse this stream of consciousness. Usually there are periods here where the patient may become silent or uncomfortable with what they say and change the subject, and these resistances are seen as a signal that a sensitive area has been found, and the analyst will go deeper into this area.

Freud saw dreams as the ‘rough road’ to the unconscious. Here, during sleep the ego defences are relaxed allowing the normally repressed material to transfer from the unconscious to the conscious in disguised, symbolic forms. The analyst then uncovers these disguised meanings of the dream and thereby provides the patient with insight into the motives and feelings that are causing anxiety.

As the therapy progresses the patient redirects the attitudes and ways of behaving towards important people in their past towards the analyst. This is transference.

The evaluation about the treatment based on the Psychodynamic model is that it is generally very time consuming and very expensive. Also, psychoanalysis depends heavily on the analyst’s interpretations of what the client says, and different analysts may have different theories and explanations.

A positive evaluation is that the patient would usually feel no blame for the disorder.

Therefore in conclusion the Psychodynamic model states that the main principle of abnormal behaviour is due to unresolved, unconscious conflicts originating in childhood.

A positive criticism of this model is that empirical evidence confirms that many patients with mental illnesses did indeed have a history of trauma in childhood.

A negative criticism of this model is that is can be seen as deterministic as our behaviour is said to be innate and we have little conscious involvement in it.