Application of Psychodynamic and Humanistic Perspectives - Assignment Example

?Running head: THE PSYCHODYNAMIC AND HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVES APPLIED TO ANXIETY The Psychodynamic and Humanistic Perspectives Applied to Anxiety Insert Name Insert Course Title Insert Instructor’s Name 19 October 2011 The Psychodynamic and Humanistic perspectives applied to Anxiety Introduction Psychodynamic perspective refers to all theories in psychology that characterize human functioning as being largely shaped by interaction of drives and forces within the person’s different elements of personality that are mainly controlled by unconscious activities (McLeod, 2007). This approach originates from the Sigmund Freud psychoanalytic works that were later modified by the ideas of scholars such as Carl Jung, Adler, Erikson and others. It revolves around the inner conflicts that are shaped by unconscious dynamics and how they influence human development. According to this perspective, the inner conflicts begin in childhood, developing gradually, and can eventually lead to mental illness. For this to happen, the development of the three systems that form the human psyche must have been disturbed. The three systems include: “the id, which control innate sexual and aggressive drives; the ego, which the conscious part of the brain that mediates between reality and unconscious; and the super ego, which controls the primitive impulses of the id and often represents” (Motley, 2006). For psychologist, mental disorders are as a result of psychodynamic conflicts not being well controlled by the defense mechanism. Humanistic perspective differs from psychodynamic perspective by emphasizing that conscious choice and personal freedom are key features that shape personality. Generally, humanistic approach puts more weight on free will, personal growth resilience, and the achievement of human potential (Wade & Travis , 2007). This perspective was largely shaped by the works of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, which emphasized that rather than unconscious mind or environment, all people naturally are endowed with the ability to make free choices that drive them towards self actualization and the ultimate fulfillment of their greatest desires and potential (Nevid, 2008, p.500). For humanists, mental illness occurs when a person fails to understand meaning of his/her life or when events stop them and cause them to lose the drive. Application of psychodynamic and humanistic perspectives to anxiety According to psychodynamic perspective, anxiety later in life is mainly due to earlier experiences, especially from childhood. Thus, anxiety arises from the conflict between demands made on the ego, which has to balance the instinctual needs of the id with constraints of the super ego (Redfern & Ross, 1999, p.45). Therefore, the anxiety comes from unhealthy behaviors that result from incomplete understanding of the unconscious causes of our behavior. Additionally, people use defense mechanisms to control anxiety or stress (Kearney & Trull, 2011). Hence, people with anxiety over-rely on less effective defense mechanisms or their defense mechanisms do not work well for them, leading to them becoming more stressed. On the other hand, humanistic perspective uses existentialist ideas to perceive anxiety as being influenced by feeling of meaninglessness and incompleteness of the world. For humanist, people with anxiety experience personal or other obstacles to self-actualization. Thus, they feel as if they lack control over events and they are helpless to change anything; hence, their drive towards self-actualization and psychological health is frustrated, leading to anxiety disorders (Kearney & Trull, 2011). The psychodynamic therapy focuses on making the unconscious more conscious, while humanistic approach relies on client-centered therapy that is based on unconditional positive regard and empathy. Usefulness of the psychodynamic and humanistic theory to anxiety One of the key principles of psychodynamic perspective is that, childhood experiences greatly influence adult functioning. Thus, psychodynamic theory has helped us to focus on better environments for our children in order to avoid future anxiety. Children, unlike the adults who can escape or avoid the stress of dysfunctional homes or dangerous surroundings, are need to be protected. The psychodynamic theory of defense mechanisms helps us to use defenses to keep off anxiety and cope with psychological threats in our environment. The psychodynamic theorists mainly concentrate on personality models of mental disorder, with the treatment normally involving better insight with the help of a therapist. Humanistic perspective has major strengths in focusing on human choice, growth, and responsibility (Kearney & Trull, 2011). This perspective emphasizes that people should take responsibility of their recovery, thus it is very useful for people with disorders such as anxiety and depression. By participating in treatment, people with anxiety get better results than people who participate less. Under this perspective, therapists develop a warm and supportive environment for the clients to enhance self-disclosure. Mainly, the therapeutic environment is based on respect, empathy, and full acceptance of client expressions, since the client must be in a position to reveal private thoughts without fear of rejection or ridicule (Nevid, 2008). This kind of therapy may be helpful for people who want to express grief or share personal problems. Both the psychodynamic and humanistic perspectives focus specially on internal variables, but they lack empirical support and are not applicable to many people with mental disorders and complications such as schizophrenia, suicidal, in pain, mentally retarded and children. Methods used by psychodynamic and humanistic perspectives Psychoanalysis is the most known psychodynamic therapy that involves individual’s unconscious thoughts being analyzed. Shaped by views of Freud, the therapist uses free association to encourage patients to loudly reveal whatever comes to their mind no matter how trivial or embarrassing, to allow for emotional release. Then the therapist interprets the dreams, free association, statements and behaviors in effort to grasp the underlying symbolic meaning. Another feature that enhances success of psychoanalysis is transference, which is the interactive relationship that is fostered between the client and therapist, leading to reliving of more information. Humanistic therapies encourage clients to understand themselves and grow personally. Client-centered therapy is one of the well known of these theories and is based on providing the client with comfortable and friendly environment in order to improve self awareness and insight about the problems. The therapist uses unconditional positive regard, openness and active listening to shape this kind of environment. Gestalt therapy emphasizes on the wholeness of a person’s experiences, including their thoughts, feelings and actions, and concentrates on what is happening from one moment to the next (Anon, 2005). The therapists focus on promoting clients’ awareness of their feelings and tackling of their problems. In this therapy, role playing and confrontation are used from time to time in bid to assist the client. Conclusion Both perspectives have found much use by psychotherapist in evaluating clients internal variables. But due to lack of empirical support and limited application scope, these perspectives are not used in analysis of many mental disorders. Their main significance lies in having formed basis for other perspectives to be shaped from them. It is advisable for people seeking psychological disorder to understand their mental health professional, use the prescribed therapy for some time before deciding its usefulness, and finally, to be careful recipient of these services. Reference list Anon. 2005. Therapies. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. (Online). Available at: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072937769/student_view0/chapter14/ Kearney, C. A. & Trull, T. J., 2011. Abnormal Psychology and Life: A Dimensional Approach. CA: Cengage Learning. McLeod, S., 2007. Psychodynamic Approach. (Online). Available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/psychodynamic.html Motley, L. S. P., 2006. Psychodynamic, Humanistic, and Cognitive Theories. (Online). Available at: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/21688/psychodynamic_humanistic_and_cognitive_pg2.html?cat=72 Nevid, J. S., 2008. Psychology: Concepts and Applications. 3rd edition. OH: Cengage Learning. Redfern, S. J. & Ross, F., 1999. Nursing older people. 3rd edition. London: Elsevier Health Sciences. Wade, C. & Travis, C., 2007. Invitation to Psychology. NY: Prentice Hall PTR. Read More