Psychodynamics in the Field of Psychology - Essay Example

Psychodynamic Model Of Counselling. Psychodynamics in the field of psychology entails the study of the interrelationship of the various parts of mind, personality or psyche as it relates to mental, emotional or motivational forces, most essentially, at the subconscious level. Psychodynamics is an attempt to understand or interpret behaviour or mental states in relation to innate emotional forces or processes (Guide to Psychology, 2006). Psychodynamic counselling is thus a model that utilises the various psychoanalytic concepts to explain human growth and development and the nature or causes of psychological problems. The model makes use of the therapeutic relationship (between counsellor and client), to gain useful insight into the unconscious relationship patterns that have evolved from childhood (Psychodynamic Theory and Therapy, 2006). The memories and other evidences of early relationship that arises from such interrelationship help to make better sense of present conditions. Psychodynamic counselling and skills have come a long way from the humble beginnings in the past centuries. The skills and the theory can be quite valuable in many working and social environments, as the insight and understanding about human functions gained from psychodynamics can enhance the life of both client and counsellor. This fact is further buttressed by the fact that contemporary psychodynamic counselling is based on acceptance, empathy (as against sympathy) and understanding, with more emphasis on developing a solid working alliance that fosters truth (Psychodynamic Theory and Therapy, 2006). Psychodynamic counselling has its origin in psychoanalytic theories, from where it heavily draws basic assumptions about human growth and development and most especially, the impact of unconscious forces in the way the human mind works (Busch et al, 1999). Historically, psychodynamic theories started with the works of Sigmund Freud (1856-1936), who was born in the Czech Republic but later moved to Germany, with his family, when he was young, and then later to Vienna, where he spent the most part of his life. Freud, a trained neurologist, wanted to find explanations for the severally varied and numerous psychological conditions prevalent in his time, and was influenced by the work of the scientist von Helmholtz and secondly, by steam power, which was the predominant technology of his time (Freud's Psycho Dynamic Theory, 2006). Von Helmholtz under whom Freud studied was involved with physics, physiology and psychology, this coupled with the fact that steam power occupied almost every part of the daily life then, shaped the beginning of Freud's theorising. He became interested in the laws of thermodynamics, essentially, the thermodynamics of steam power and thus sought similarities between thermodynamics and the human personality. Freud therefore utilized an analogy of thermodynamics to explain his theories of psychodynamics. The fist law of thermodynamics; energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but can be converted from one form to the other, was the predominant law guiding Freud psychodynamic theory. To demonstrate this to be true with human personality, Freud adopted Darwin's assumption that emotion is a form of physical energy (Ritvo, 1990) and thus argue that psychic energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but only transformed from one form to the other. This served as the basis for his assumption that the bulk of an individual's personality is shaped from childhood experiences (Myers, 1986). According to Freud, the human personality can be categorised into three distinctive parts; the id, ego and superego, he used thermodynamic as an extended metaphor to explain this division. The id was described as our biological needs and drives, such as hunger, thirst and sex. According to Freud's analogy, the id provided energy for the system just as fire provides energy in thermodynamics. Freud described the super ego as the societal rules, our voice of conscience and compares it to the lid on the apparatus that contain the water to be converted to steam. The ego, on the other hand, is the conscious mind that contains an individual's thoughts, judgements, feelings and memories (Myers, 1986). Thus in Freud's view, the ego plays the role of mediator between the id, the superego and the external world, to balance our primitive drive, our morals, ideals, and taboos, and the limitations of reality. In his early writings, Freud associated ego with an individual's sense of 'self', but subsequently, he portrayed it more as a set of psychic functions including reality testing, defence, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, memory etc. Whereas, superego stands in opposition to the desires of the id, norms and values that as a child, an individual absorbs from both parents and the environment, at a tender age. It is thus our conscience and do includes the sense of right and wrong and maintaining specific taboos that arise due to a child's internalisation of parental culture (Richmond, 2006). The id represents the primal process of thinking, an individual's most primitive needs and gratifications impulses. It is thus organised around primitive instinctive drives of sexuality and aggression. Freud proposes that from a child's birth until adulthood, he or she passes through psychosexual stages of development. During these different psychosexual stages of growth, Freud believed that the id's pleasure seeking energy occupies different pleasure sensitive areas of the body. During the first stage, which lasts from birth to about eighteen month of life, it centres on the mouth and this stage is called the oral stage. From eighteen months to three years of life is the anal stage and during this period, the stimulation of the bladder and bowel brings about gratification. From the third year to the sixth year of life known as the phallic stage, the pleasure seeking areas move to the genitals. The other stage is the latency period, which last until just about puberty. During this stage the child's sexuality is said to be 'torpid'. At puberty, the child enters the genital stage and begins to feel sexual attraction and feelings towards others (Myers, 1986). Freud's psychodynamic theories assume that an adult's personality develops from how he deals with the conflict that arises during any one of the psychosexual stages. He argued that negative energy or anxiety from our childhood conflicts could not be destroyed. People who successfully resolve such conflicts do not have psychological problems later in adult life, but in those who do not, the anxiety is pushed down and out of consciousness. This defence mechanism was termed 'repression' (Myers, 1986). For example, during practise, Freud would show his patients ambiguous pictures and would try to get the patient to tell a story about the pictures. If a theme appears from the patient's story, he would explore these themes in a bid to find out what had been buried in the client's unconscious (Myers, 1986). In a bid to establish a psychodynamic model that was presentable in the scientific community, Freud constructed an analogy between thermodynamics and his psychodynamic theories. He hypotheses that only the ego was in direct contact with the external world, with the most of the human personality believed to be buried below the surface, in the unconscious. Thus, he asserts that ego deals with reality anxiety, while id deals with neurotic anxiety and superego with moral anxiety. Freud also believes that anxieties of the id and the superego were a result of a conflict during a childhood psychosexual stage of development (Freud's Psycho Dynamic Theory, 2006). Furthermore, Freud analyse that the ego, which is the part of our personality that we can see, is able to show signs of anxiety, either acknowledge or repressed. However, the anxieties of the id and superego are often repressed into the unconscious as protective mechanism (Freud's Psycho Dynamic Theory, 2006). Thus, Freud's psychodynamic model analysed three processes of personality and levels of consciousness (Counselling Theories and Therapy, 2004). The levels of consciousness, as proposed by Freud includes the Perceptual conscious, which consist of the very minimal mental events presently occupying one's mind, the Pre-conscious, which consist of information and impulses, though not in the centre of one's attention, can be retrieved with much ease. The third level of consciousness is the unconscious, which holds a large mass of information, events and impulses. The unconscious part of the mind holds forgotten and repressed memories. These repressed memories are not subject to rational control, they therefore, live on, and constitute the most dominant forces in an individual's personality (Counselling Theories and Treatment, 2004). To sum it all up, Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theories of the unconscious assumes a private and personal mind; a mind that is populated with wishes, desires and needs that have a biological intra-psychological origin and which follow endemic mechanical laws (Ratner, 1994). Initially, Freud's theories were rejected and heavily criticised, essentially because, the theories were not easily subjected to any form of scientific testing or verification. However, subsequently, the ideas attracted several theorist and thinkers who elaborated on different parts of Freud's theories. Several contemporary theorists have also continued with further refinement of the psychodynamic concepts, resulting in a multi-disciplinary approach which analyses the human thought process, response patterns and influences (Counselling theories and treatment, 2004). Carl Jung argue that individual's are born with certain knowledge, for example, people are afraid of the dark and fire, right from birth. According to him, these archetypes form the basis of personality and account for why people are not just driven by their past experiences, but also strive to grow and become something better. Jung, thus saw the self as striving to be 'whole'. Alfred Adler also elaborated on Freud's emphasis on biological urges (psychosexual) as determinant of behaviour. He saw 'self' as enabling us to fulfil our lifestyle, to become more than our genes have endowed us. Adler set the stage for the current emphasis on human potential or 'self'. Karen Horney, Harry Sullivan, Erik Erikson, Erick Fromn and several other authors all stressed the role of the social relationships on psychological development, as against Freud's psychosexual explanations (Mitchell and Black, 1995). Also, Carl Rogers believe that each individual lives in a continually changing world of experience of which they are the centre. He asserts that no one is capable of understanding an individual's private world as well as the individual does. Also, extensive effort has gone into detailing the ego's various functions and how they are impaired in psychopathology. Several central ego functions include reality testing, impulse-control, judgment, affect tolerance, defence, and synthetic functioning. The first major conceptual modification to Freud's theory was made when Heinz Hartmann argued that the healthy ego includes a sphere of autonomous ego functions that are independent of mental conflict. Memory, motor coordination, and reality testing, for example, ought to be able to function without the intrusion of emotional conflict. According to Hartmann, psychological approaches and treatment attempts to expand the conflict-free sphere of ego functioning. By doing so, Hartmann argue, psychodynamics facilitates adaptation, that is, more effective mutual regulation of ego and environment. David Rapaport systematized Freud's model and Hartmann's revisions of it. Rapaport argued that the central principle of Freudian psychodynamic model is that mental processes are motivated and shaped by the need to discharge tension. Clarifying Freud's work, Rapaport portrayed the mind as divided into drives and structures. Drives contain fluid energy that pushes for rapid discharge through the immediate gratification of wishes. And because it is rare that wishes can actually be immediately gratified, the mind develops the capacity to delay gratification or achieve it through detours. Consequently, drive energy becomes tied up in the relatively stable mental structures comprising the ego. Rapaport defined structures as mental organizations with a slow rate of change, slow in comparison with the more fluid drives. Arlow and Brenner, on the other hand, argued that Freud's earlier theory of the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious systems of the mind ought to be abandoned, and the structural model used as the sole theory of the mind (Mitchell and Black, 1995; Counselling Theories and Therapy, 2006). Through the work these numerous psychological theorist and authors, the psychodynamic field has become diverse and subsumes a number of different psychoanalytical approaches towards psychotherapy. The common derivations of the psychodynamic model includes the structural model, which also sees the mind as tripartite mental agencies or structures, id, ego and superego; the conflict model which categorises human mind into basic units called compromise formations, these formations consisting of wishes, feelings of discomfort about the wishes and the defence utilised to eliminate the feeling of discomfort. The product of the three emotions being described as the compromise between the three emotions. The object relational theory is another product of the psychodynamic model. This theory assumes that individuals internalise childhood experiences with other people and that our patterns of thinking, wishing and feeling are organised by such experiences. The most recent of these theories is the Intersubjective theory, which appears to be very closely related to the object relational theory. This theory believes that all of our experiences are heavily influenced by the interaction between our subjectivities and those of other people we come in contact with. This theory has led several counsellors to reconsider their stand on the origin of repression and other defence mechanisms, since the theory proposes that defence mechanism are shaped in formative intersubjective interaction in which particular experiences are treated as unspeakable (Richmond, 2006; Mitchell and Black, 1995). Essentially, over time, the psychodynamic model of psychotherapy has developed into a less intensive and less expensive form of psychotherapy when compared to other procedures and approaches. Despite the several modifications and realignments of several aspects of the model, the core ideas of the technique still relate, far more, to the original Sigmund Freud's conception about the role of insight in psychological therapy (Counselling Theory and Therapy, 2006). The main strength of psychodynamic techniques, however, is that unlike other psychological approaches, like the cognitive-behavioural model, in which the patient is seen as a consequence of several external stimuli, psychodynamic techniques perceives the client as a player in his or her own behaviour and personality and therefore seeks to help him or her understand the meaning and dynamics of the prevailing psychological troubles. This 'insight into the symptoms' approach is valuable and seen as a more helpful and lasting treatment than the attempt at merely getting 'rid of the symptoms' (Richmond, 2006). Furthermore, the insightful approach of the psychodynamic model and the continuous research in this area has shed more light on a number of topics including: Understanding and anticipating the range of specific conscious and unconscious responses to specific sensory inputs, such as images, colours, textures, sounds etc Utilising the communicative nature of movement and primal physiological gestures to affect and study specific mind-body states Examining the capacity for the mind and senses to directly affect physiological responses and biological changes (Psychodynamic counselling, 2005). Skills Required For Counselling. As with every other counselling techniques, a psychodynamic counsellor needs to exhibit deep sincerity and warmth towards the client. He or she is not suppose to take the position of a judge, not to assign guilt or innocence, but to assist and encourage objective evaluation of beliefs, standards and values. Also, a psychodynamic counsellor should be open minded and posses the strength to be objective and exhibit flexible acceptance of others without a judgemental attitude or the attempt to impose personal values on clients. Empathy involves seeing the world of others from their own eyes, as against sympathy. This should be one of the core qualities of a psychodynamic counsellor. This should be reflected in genuine respect for others and deep sense of understanding that creates a safe and welcoming environment for introspective discussion with the client. The success of a counselling process depends largely, on the ability of the counsellor to hold a discussion, manage silence and follow leads. Communicative and listening skills become very handy here. The psychodynamic counsellor should be able to hold on discussion and to lead discussion when the opportunity presents itself. The ability to manage silence is an important skill for the counsellor. To use silence effectively the counsellor needs to accept its worth, to feel confident about allowing it to continue, and to be sensitive to timing (Psychodynamic counselling, 2006). Approaches. In most cases, psychodynamic counselling approaches are centred on the idea of maladapted function developed in the course of growing up, usually in early childhood, which in the most part is unconscious. The maladapted function, also known as defence mechanism, does not go well as it formed instead of a healthy or normal function. The patient later starts feeling the discomfort when they realise (or do not realise) that the maladapted function causes problems. Thus the roles of a psychodynamic counsellor or analyst is to first treat the discomfort associated with the poorly formed function, make the patient aware of the existence of such maladapted function and then attempt to change, remove or replace it with a proper one, though with the will of the patient (Richmond, 2006, Counselling Theory and Therapy, 2005). The basic method employed in this regard is the transference and resistance analysis of free association. The patient, in a relaxed mood, is encouraged by the counsellor to say whatever comes to mind. Dreams, hopes, wishes and fantasies are all of interest, as they reflect recollections of early life. Generally, the counsellor listens and chips in comments and statements when, from his or her professional judgement, an opportunity for insight arises. The counsellor attempts to maintain an attitude of empathic neutrality, a non-judgemental stance all aimed at creating a safe and warm environment. The counsellor requires the client to be honest and free with whatever comes to awareness, and then attempts to interpret the patterns and inhibitors that appear in the client's speech and other behaviour (Counselling Theory and Therapy, 2005). Apparently, psychodynamic techniques involve a great deal of introspection and reflection on the part of the client. Normally, this level of insight is unencumbered when the client readily wants to be helped or is encouraged by families and friends. In this regard, the client must be able to dig into the past and must also possess the resilience and ego-strength to deal with or make use of the torrents of feelings that a whole new perspective brings. As a rule, more insight oriented techniques are employed with stronger or healthier patients, while a more supportive approach is employed with fragile or more disturbed patients, or at times, very fragile patients may need to be treated with a different technique, such as the cognitive technique (Counselling Theory and Therapy, 2005). From the foregoing, it becomes apparent that the objective of psychodynamic therapy is the experience of 'truth'. This truth must be encountered through the breakdown of psychological defences. In a word, psychodynamic techniques aim to teach honesty to the patient. Obviously, this is a herculean task and most often requires considerable effort, time and money. This is especially the case, because patients of psychological disorders or deep-rooted personality disorders often times come from confusing, manipulative, dishonest or even violent families and childhood. For this set of people, honesty with one's feelings could be a terrifying process (Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, 2006). Psychodynamic Model in Relation to Other Models. The major psychotherapeutic models beside psychodynamic include the biological and the environmental models. The Biomedical model of therapy sees psychological disorders as an illness, the result of biological or anatomical abnormalities. Thus, drugs are usually used to alleviate symptoms. The environmental model on the other hand claims that personality and behaviours are as a result of environmental factors. It is divided into two main categories; the behaviour (learning) and the cognitive (thoughts) theories (Tori and Blimes, 2002) The behavioural theory proposes that human behaviours are learnt over time, from past experiences, and thus, can be unlearned or changed by learning new ways. Whereas the cognitive theory contends that our behaviours are influenced by more than just direct relationship between environment and our response. Rather, what an individual think, believes or expects influence how he or she behaves. These negative thoughts, therefore, have to be changed (Counselling Theories and Treatment). There are several kinds of Cognitive-Behavioural therapies and they all appear to make use of the same general principle: in contrast to the psychodynamics' emphasis on insight into unconscious motivation, the cognitive-behavioural therapies emphasize the ability of people to make changes in their lives without having to understand why the change occurs. Also, the clients are usually required do considerable work; such as homework writing assignments and practice of techniques learned counselling visits. Failure to complete such tasks is considered as lack of motivation and unwillingness to change behaviours. For instance, the not-so-pure Aaron Beck's Cognitive Therapy focus on changing certain thought patterns. The principle here, according to Beck, is that "the way we perceive situations influences how we feel emotionally," and so by changing thoughts, then behaviours will also change. The pure behavioural therapies, such as classical conditioning or operant conditioning, focus on changing behaviours. And some forms of treatment such as Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)-developed by Albert Ellis-mix cognitive and behavioural elements. REBT used to be called Rational Emotive Therapy (RET); the name change reflects the understanding that rational beliefs, emotions, and behaviours are all interdependent and that psychotherapy should work on all these levels. In comparison, it should be noted that the psychodynamic models focus on understanding experiences, and, as a "side effect," thought processes and behaviours are changed as well (Busch et al, 1999) Critically examined one will observe that cognitive-behavioural models, in the pure forms e.g. conditioning-is really not much different from animal training. You can teach an animal to respond to behavioural or verbal commands, but the animal doesn't have to understand a thing about it's own behaviours; it responds simply to reinforcement or fear of punishment. Though, they do involve some amount of thoughtful awareness. Still, this sort of awareness need not be all that extensive. It is easily comparable it to learning to drive a car and stopping at a stop sign simply because you tell yourself that if you don't stop you run the risk of being pursued by the police and fined. There's some philosophical processing going on here, but it's not necessarily all that sophisticated. And so, in the same way, learning to take deep breaths when angry, for example, is relaxing, but it's a relatively simple process. In contrast, and using the example of driving, psychodynamic psychotherapy is a bit like learning to drive by developing the understanding of the reason for stopping at stop signs such as the need to be cautious when entering any intersection lest you collide with something; and also you extend this basic reason to other behaviours. So, the individual learns to look beyond "simple" behaviour into its motives and consequences And so ones learns, when feeling angry, for example, to track the anger back into similar earlier experiences and feelings, many of them previously unconscious; thus one come to realise the components of current feelings, and become enabled to take actions with full awareness of the origins and consequences of the motives. However, with that said, the major limitations of the psychodynamic models, when compared to the cognitive-behavioural models, include the length of time and the cost involved with this procedure. Psychodynamic approached tend to be time consuming and rather expensive, because of the detailed introspective and insightful search into the unconscious, necessary for a successful therapy (Richmond, 2006). Also, psychodynamic techniques tend to be far more demanding, mentally, perhaps, due to the degree of introspection, self-searching and analysis required for a successful outcome. Although, this perhaps, tend to guarantee a more effective lasting therapy as observed in several successful psychodynamic cases. Summary Psychodynamic counselling is a model that utilises the various psychoanalytic concepts to explain human growth and development and the nature or causes of psychological problems. The model makes use of the therapeutic relationship (between counsellor and client), to gain useful insight into the unconscious relationship patterns that have evolved from childhood (Psychodynamic Theory and Therapy, 2006). Psychodynamic counselling and skills have come a long way from the humble beginning. Psychodynamic counselling has its origin in psychoanalytic theory, from where it heavily draws basic assumptions about human growth and development and most especially, the impact of unconscious forces in the way the human mind works The fist law of thermodynamics; energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but can be converted from one form to the other, was the predominant law guiding Freud psychodynamic theory. Freud's psychodynamic theories assume that an adult's personality develops from how he deals with the conflict that arises during any one of the psychosexual stages and the relegation of unresolved conflicts to the unconscious. This defence mechanism was termed 'repression'. In a bid to establish a psychodynamic model that was presentable in the scientific community, Freud constructed an analogy between thermodynamics and his psychodynamic theories. To sum it up, Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theories of the unconscious assumes a private, personal mind; a mind that is populated with wishes, desires and needs that have a biological intra-psychological origin and which follow endemic mechanical laws (Ratner, 1994). Several authors and theorist have refined Freud's psychodynamic model. Alfred Adler, for instance, elaborated on Freud's emphasis on biological urges (psychosexual) as determinant of behaviour. The first major conceptual modification to Freud's theory was made when Heinz Hartmann argued that the healthy ego includes a sphere of autonomous ego functions that are independent of mental conflict. According to Hartmann, psychological approaches and treatment attempts to expand the conflict-free sphere of ego functioning. David Rapaport systematized Freud's model and Hartmann's revisions of it. Clarifying Freud's work, Rapaport portrayed the mind as divided into drives and structures. The object relational, conflict, intersubjective theories are products of the psychodynamic model. However, despite the several modifications of the psychodynamic concept by several contemporary authors and theorist, the model has maintained its core values and finally developed into a less intense and less expensive psychotherapeutic approach. Psychodynamic counsellor is required to be open-minded, warm and be able to maintain empathic neutrality and a non-judgemental stance to create a conducive environment for the client to open up. Compared to other models, psychodynamic techniques does not just train clients on behavioural changes without any knowledge of the underlying reasons, like in animal conditioning. With psychodynamic therapy, the client is made to understand and appreciate the role of past experiences on present emotions, to understand the reasons for any behavioural change and the impact of such change. Thus, the client come to realise the components of current feelings, and become enabled to take actions with full awareness of the origins and consequences of the motives. However, this process could be more demanding, its shortcoming, therefore, is the time, effort and resources that is put into it for a successful outcome, especially when compared to the same outcome achieved with the cognitive-behavioural approach. Conclusion. Psychodynamic model of counselling is an insightful approach to psychological problems. Though, the theories and techniques have underwent several modifications since Sigmund Freud first proposed the theories from his understanding of thermodynamics and Darwin's assumption that emotional energy was also a form of energy, psychodynamic approaches has maintained its key concepts till recent times. Essentially, the model seeks to make conscious, the several mental conflicts and emotions which have been repressed and relegated to the unconscious, through encouraging the client to freely speak what comes to mind and thus bringing out what was formerly repressed into the unconscious. This allows dreams, wishes, resistances and the transference that occur between the client and the therapist to be critically examined. In this process, thoughts, feelings and emotions which have been repressed since childhood come to the fore creating a new perspective and better outlook on life. In several regards, contemporary psychodynamic therapies have been found to be quite effective with most individuals and look more promising as a therapeutic approach to psychological disorders. References Busch, Fredric N Barbara L Milrod, Meriamne B Singer (1999), Theory and Technique in Psychodynamic Treatment of Panic Disorder, The Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research 8:234-242. Counselling Theories And Treatments (2006). Internet Article. Last Updated, Jan. 2006, Accessed, Mar. 2006, Freud's Psycho Dynamic Theory and Thermodynamic (2006), Institute of Human Thermodynamics, Last Updated Jan. 2006, Assessed Mar. 2006, Guide to Psychology (2006). [Essay], Accessed 6th Mar 2006 Myers, David G (1986), Guides to Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers, Inc., Mitchell S and Black M. (1995), Freud and Beyond: A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought. Psychodynamic Counselling (2005), University of Leicester Online, Last Updated 2005, Assessed, Mar. 2006, Ratner, C. (1994). The Unconscious: A Perspective from Sociohistorical Psychology, Journal of Mind and Behavior. Autumn, Vol. 15, No. 4, pgs 332-342. Richmond Raymond Lloyd (2006), A Guide to Psychology and its Practice, Available online, Last Updated, Jan. 2006, Assessed Mar. 2006, Ritvo, L. (1990), Darwin's influence on Freud. New Haven: Yale University Press. Tori, C.D. and Blimes, M (2002), Cross-cultural and Psychoanalytic Psychology: The Validation of defense measure in an Asian population. Psychoanalytic psychology, 19(4), 701-421. Read More