If the individual is well adjusted to life’s pressures and demands, they will develop a strong ego and be able to cope. If not, abnormality arises, resulting in conduct disorders as a child and psychopathic disorders as an adult.
When the Ego is managing to balance the two extremes, it employs defence mechanisms to help. These are used to distort or deny reality to help the body to protect the body from distress when trying to cope with the demands of each. Some of the defence mechanisms employed are: Repression – pushing unacceptable desires or emotions to the sub-conscious. Preventing them from being exposed. However, they do not disappear and arise at later date resulting in abnormality, such as unpredictably lashing out at somebody for particular reason.
Freud suggested treatment using the psychodynamic model to solve these problems. Psychoanalysis, also known as the ‘talking cure’ is used to uncover unconscious psychodynamic processes happening in the mind. He also suggested analysing dreams, and that they played a part in revealing the sub-conscious. Another is free association, allowing the client to say whatever comes to mind.
(Evaluation)
Although Freudians psychodynamic theory has been accepted as the first model, to establish talking as therapy, it has been thoroughly criticised by psychologists. Many say that it is difficult to measure its validity, as it cannot be tested scientifically. However Kline in 1988 protested and said that it is not that it cannot be scientifically tested, just that no one has yet discovered a way to do it.
Freud's theories were based on a very limited and unusual set of case study’s, which also gives reason to doubt its validity. The theories of abnormal behaviour explained here, could just as well explained in other theories.
Also, the defence mechanisms can be difficult to demonstrate experimentally, as adults experiencing psychological problems and recalling childhood traumas, cannot be relied on as, the retrospective data is not reliable itself. An adult suffering from a psychological disorder may recall a childhood trauma, but it cannot be relied on. This is because the person is mentally unstable and so recalling distant memories may not be possible or not accurate.
Another criticism is that, the theory proposes your personality cannot be steered by any other factor other than the your own psyche and the parental guiding you received as a child. This suggests that a parent is solely responsible for the development of their child and if they feel they have ‘done their best’ and their child does experience psychological problems, they are to blame. It can make parents of children with psychological disorders feel guilty for their inadequacies as parents, and prevent them from seeking more effective help.
It is also argued that practically all of Freud's clients were women and that the findings cannot be applied universally, as men were not included in the theory.
The treatment this theory offers has been said to be ineffective, costly and time consuming. Eysenck (1967) a classic psychoanalysis supports this. It is also difficult to measure when the treatment ‘helped’ the client or measure the success of the therapy. And, if there is an improvement of behaviour, psychologists argue that you cannot identify or pinpoint exactly what helped the client.
And finally, despite Freud’s attempts to thoroughly explain the subconscious and its direct effects on abnormality and psychological problems, critics have said that the it is very culture bound and it has very little relevance and cannot be applied to modern day.
