The basis of the psychodynamic perspective is to understand what is going on in the mind of an individual or ‘’to get in the head’’ of a patient to see what is going on in the unconscious part of the mind. This will provide insight into how the patient views his relationships, experiences and the world and how that affects their preferences, behaviors and drives and therefore personality.
Some examples of assumptions that drive the psychodynamic approach are:
•The unconscious is one of the most powerful affects on behavior and emotion.
•No behavior is without cause and is therefore determined.
•Childhood experiences greatly affect emotions and behavior as adults
•The id, ego and super-ego make up personality
•The drives behind behavior are a) the lift instinct and sex drive and b) death instinct and aggressive drive.
•Various conflicts throughout childhood development shape overall personality
The …show more content…
This is called the dynamic unconscious. Behaviour is changed through the unconscious mind because when a bad memory has been stored away and not resurfaced because of the pain it entails it makes someone unconsciously, for example more anxious, erratic and possible scared of certain situations. The unconscious mind has been restricted to potentially harmful memories that might be stored or stirring their bad memories of bad experiences that influence our conscious behaviour even though we are unaware of their impact. Because of this, behaviour is different and changed in someone and the unconscious mind is unaware of it which in conclusion makes the person unable to change their