The Psychodynamic Approach

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The Psychodynamic Approach

The first Psychologist to start this approach was called Sigmund Freud, and is probably the most famous Psychologist to date. Although, many others have followed the approach, they believe Freud has exaggerated some assumptions. These Psychologists are called neo-Freudian and Erikson is probably the most well known from this category.


Sigmund Freud’s theory believes that there’s a close connection between childhood experiences and adult personality characteristics. He believes that many aspects of adult thinking and behaviour can be linked to particular childhood experiences.
 Freud developed a theory of how our personality starts from a very young age and develops through various stages throughout our childhood. The focal objects for the development of the child's personality has five main stages of psychological development.

Firstly, the oral stage, which happens between birth and eighteen months old. The phsyical focus point is the mouth. Sucking is the primary source of pleasure for a newborn baby. The psychological theme is dependency. A baby is very dependent and can do little for itself. If a baby becomes fixated at this stage, Freud felt that he or she would grow to be an oral character. Mostly these people are extremely dependent and passive people who want everything done for them. However Freud also suggests that another type of oral character is the person who is highly independent and that when under stress the orally fixated person may flip from one type to the other.

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The second stage, called the anal stage, happens between eighteen months old until the child’s three years old. The main physical focus during this stage is the anus (elimination). Freud believed the baby’s sexual pleasure centred around the anus at this time. The psychological theme at this age is self-control and obedience. These things are not just related to toilet training but the baby must also learn to control urges and behaviours. What goes wrong here is either parents being too controlling or not controlling enough. Freud was a great believer in moderation. Anal fixation, which Freud reckons is ...

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