Psychodynamic_model psychology..model.ppt

Psychodynamic model

1. PSYCHODYNAMIC MODEL

2. In science, models are important as they enable the
presentation of complex phenomena in a form that
facilitates communication, prediction and explanation.
The scientific understanding of abnormal behaviour is at
an early stage.
Psychopathology is multi-dimensional and presents in
complex patterns of syndromes and antecedent
conditions.
Models of abnormal behaviour are tentative, theoretical
structures which organize and symbolize our
understanding of abnormal behaviour.
ADVANTAGES:
i) Models assist by identifying variables and events which
can be further studied;
ii) Models provide a context or framework within which

3. Information can be integrated.
iii) Models enable an accurate specification of the
relationship between variables and events.
PROBLEMS:
i) It is possible to over-generalize beyond the domain of the
model. For eg. once certain behaviours can be explained by a
model, one tends to use the model to explain all behaviour;
ii) Faithful adherence to a model may result in “professional
blinders” that restrict advancement of scientific
understanding. For eg. learning theorist may look for
reinforcement which is maintaining behaviour and ignore
other important aspects.
iii) models are by nature of their “as if” quality, incomplete
and tentative. They serve as guides that must be continuously
modified.

4. This model is based on the work of Freud and others who
followed in this tradition.
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS:
1. Unconscious processes play a central role in
influencing behaviour.
2. 3 psychological agencies, id, ego and superego,
interact whenever a conflict occurs and must be resolved.
3.Adult functioning is influenced by the effectiveness of
resolution of conflicts at various psychosexual stages of
development.
4. Psychological conflict leads to anxiety which the ego
attempts to reduce by employing unconscious defense
mechanisms.

5. The idea of unconscious processes as determinants of
behaviour is based on a division of human experience
into 3 types:
1. Conscious experience is that which is in current
awareness.
2. Preconscious experience includes all thoughts, ideas
and memories available to the person but not currently in
awareness.
3. Unconscious holds all the memories, fears, impulses
and hopes seldom available to the person. This material is
psychologically painful and is not easily brought into
consciousness. It remains hidden and causes pain and
aberrant behaviour whenever touched by psychological
conflict.

6. Freud emphasises 3 psychological structures – id, ego and
superego. The demands of these structures are conflictual
and it is the ineffective resolution of such conflicts that
is implicated as the prime source of psychological
problems. Eg. An individual may be unable to cope with
excessive id impulses and would be in conflict with social
rules or an individual may lead a rigid life because of the
superego’s fear of harm.
The model is “dynamic” because it focuses on the
constant interplay of inner thoughts and feelings as
expressed by the id, ego and superego.
This model places greater emphasis on the person’s
experiences in infancy and early childhood and their
effects on current interaction patterns of the id, ego and
superego.

7. Traumatic experiences that exceed the infant’s ego
capacity for coping are repressed in the unconscious as
painful psychological wounds.
This predisposes the person to experience anxiety in
similar adult situations, even if the ego should now be
able to cope with the trauma.
Instead of handling the anxiety effectively, the individual
uses child-like defense mechanisms such as, denial and
projection as the pain caused by the unhealed wound
interferes with rational problem-solving and action.
EVALUATION:
Critics have suggested a number of weaknesses:
1. The psychodynamic model has been unable to
withstand the rigorous standards of science. This is

8. manifested in the following ways:
a) Theoretical formulations are difficult to verify
empirically as most of the model deals with nonobservable
events, psychic structures and hidden conflicts between
the id, ego and superego.
b) When empirical tests of the model are attempted, the
data often fails to support the theory.
c) Freud’s data for the development of the model came
from individual cases – the client’s he saw were middle-
class Jews, which was a restricted sample, lacking in the
diversity of psychological problems.
On the positive side, the psychodynamic model offers a
rich theory that considers subtle psychological
phenomena such as the unconscious.

9. The model integrates normal personality development
with the development of psychological illnesses.
It focuses on the uniqueness of intricate operations
within people.