Psychodynamic mind map

Psychodynamic mind map

1. History and Context

   • Originated in the work of Sigmund Freud.
     • Age of 29, worked with French psychiatrist Jean-Martin Charcot.
     • Wondered whether some parts of the mind could be inaccessible under normal conditions.
       • Defined later as the Dynamic Unconscious.
     • Published his work 'The interpretation of dreams' in 1900.
       • Setting out early ideas on the unconscious mind and repression of materials into the unconscious.
     • 1910 - Founded the International Psychoanalytic Association.
   • Charcot had patients with symptoms such as paralysed legs without any cause.
     • Experimented with hypnosis treatment.
       • Found success as some patients recalled events and feelings that they had little awareness of in their daily lives. Symptoms also improved.
   • Freud worked with Joseph Breuer who was treating Bertha Pappenheim (Anna O).
     • Phobia of drinking water.
     • Under hypnosis remembered event where her Governess let a dog drink from her glass.
     • Once event was recalled, irrational fear of drinking water was removed.
   • Developed over the years by neo-freudians
     • Alfred Alder
     • Melanie Klein
     • Carl Jung

2. Structure of personality

   • According to Freud - Three components
     • Id = Instinctual basis of personality present from birth/ Drives us to satisfy biological needs such as eating.
       • Operates on the pleasure principle. Gratification of Id causes pleasure. Frustration of Id leads to tension.
       • If id in charge behaviour would be hedonistic and pleasure-seeking.
     • Ego = Rational planning part of personality, arbitrates between demands of the Id and superEgo. Starts to appear at the ago of two.
       • Develops as child develops reasoning ability. Learns that they cannot have exactly what they want when they want.
       • Planning part of personality that operates on the reality principle.
     • Superego = Moral aspect of personality which develops at around 4 or 5.
       • Produces feelings of guilt for wrongdoing, also includes an ego ideal (a guide on how we should behave). Works on the morality principle.
       • If dominant, person would suffer guilt towards even socially-accepted pleasures.
     • Adult has strong ego to mediate between the two other components.

3. Role of the unconscious

   • Freud convinced large area of mind = inaccessible except under specific circumstances.
     • Mind structured into zones.
       • Concious - Contains all that we are currently aware of.
       • Preconscious - Contains store information that is capable of being made conscious. For example what you had for breakfast or date of your birthday. This is accessible memory.
       • Unconscious - A vast area of the mind that is inaccessible. Contains (memories/fantasies) that would be distressing to the conscious mind.
   • Freud - Repository for material that was distressing, painful or embarrassing. Damage the psyche if recalled.
   • Material could leak during dreams, Freud described as the 'Royal Road to the unconscious'.
   • Dreams contain hidden desires and wishes which are often sexual or aggressive in nature.
   • A process called dream work ensured that unconscious desires were disguised through symbols.
   • Accessed through free association.
     • Patients asked to say the first thing that comes into their head in response to a word or image.
       • Hesitation/Stumble = Link to unconscious information. Which leads to further probing.
   • Freudian slips- Saying something in error that reveals subconscious feelings could also reveal the unconscious.

4. Defence Mechanism = Unconscious methods of protecting the ego from unpleasant or potentially disturbing feelings.

   • Repression = Unpleasant material is pushed into the unconscious mind. Most fundamental.
     • Pushing material out of the conscious into the unconscious mind
       • Anna O had done with drinking water.
   • Denial = Unpleasant material is ignored.
   • Displacement = Feelings caused by one person or event are pushed onto another unrelated person or event.
     • Example = Taking something that happened in college out on your family.
     • Influential in the explanation of racial prejudice where unpleasant attributes are displaced onto members of minority groups.
   • Used to reduce anxiety and to neutralize threatening material that could potentially damage the ego.

5. Psychosexual stages

   • Freud noticed in his practise that patients recalled sexual events from childhood.
     • At first believed this implied widespread sexual abuse of young children.
     • Over time concluded that this suggests that unconscious contained unaccepted fantasies and desires often relating to parents.
   • Freuds definition of sexual - Any type of bodily stimulation that produces sensation of pleasure.
   • Infants stages of pleasure
     • First stage (Birth to 18 months) - Oral stage. Pleasure is obtained through feeding, sucking and biting. Babies around 6 months put most things in their mouths.
     • Second Stage (18 months to 3 years) - Anal stage. When the focus for a child becomes the retention or expulsion of faeces. Toilet training is achievable.
     • Third stage - Phallic stage. Experiencing pleasure in self exploration and masturbation.
       • Oedipus complex - Boys pursued their mother as a love object and experience feelings of hostility and aggression towards their Father who they see as a rival.
         • Feelings are uncomfortable so repressed into the unconscious mind and the young boy identifies with his Father, copying him and developing a masculine gender role.