Psychodynamic Approach

ID
1. Driven by the pleasure principle
  1. Innate drive to seek immediate satisfaction
2. Irrational and primitive
3. Unconscious
Ego
1. Driven by the reality principle
2. Developed when child cannot get what it wants
  1. Makes child accommodate to the demands of the environment
  2. By age 1
3. Conscious and rational part of the psyche
Superego
1. Develops at age five
2. "Above-I"
3. Embodies our conscious
4. Sense of right and wrong
Ego defences
1. Ego mediates between id and superego
  1. Constant conflicting demands
2. Reduces the anxiety experienced because of the conflict
  1. Repression
    1. Putting the memory in the unconscious
  2. Projection
    1. Blaming someone else
  3. Denial
  4. Displacement
    1. Venting anger somewhere else
  5. Intellectualisation
  6. Regression
    1. Behaving like a child
Outline of approach
1. Mental disorder result from psychological sources, not physical
  1. Unresolved childhood issues
2. Unresolved conflicts cause mental disorder
  1. Ego defence mechanisms
    1. Cause the changes in behaviour
3. Early experiences can cause mental disorder
  1. In childhood ego is not developed enough to cope with trauma
    1. Loss
      1. Parent
      2. Close relative
    2. Trauma
      1. Car crash
      2. Illness
    3. Tragic events
      1. Made homeless
      2. Loss
      3. Trauma
4. Unconscious motivations can cause mental disorder

Resource summary

	Created by Megan McLean about 10 years ago