Evaluate the Extent to Which Freud's Theory of Psychosexual Development Can Help Us to Understand a Client's Presenting Issues Essay Example
Evaluate the extent to which Freud’s theory of psychosexual development can help us to understand a client’s presenting issues
Introduction
Freud’s approach to understanding human behaviour – psychoanalysis – has had a profound effect on psychology. His approach is one of many that share some common assumptions, while differing fundamentally in others. Contemporaries of Freud, such as Jung and Adler were inspired by Freudian theory, but emphasised different issues in human development and experience. Collectively these theories are described as “psychodynamic” because they emphasise the factors that motivate behaviour (i.e. the dynamics of behaviour). They challenged the biomedical view that mental disorders had physical origins. The psychodynamic approach views abnormal behaviour as caused by unconscious, underlying psychological forces.
Key features of the psychodynamic approach Freud believed that all behaviour – normal and abnormal – derived from unconscious forces and that psychopathology arose from the dynamic working of the personality (psyche), rather than from physical causes. In other words psychopathology is psychological in origin. According to Freud, the psyche consists of three interrelated structures, the id, the ego and the superego. He believed that the human mind had conscious and unconscious areas.
• The unconscious part of the mind was seen as being dominated by the “id” – a primitive part of the personality that pursues pleasure and gratification. The id is not concerned with social rules, but only with self-gratification and is driven by the pleasure principle. It allows us to get basic needs met as a newborn with no thought for the needs of others. This disregard for the consequences of behaviour is referred to as “primary process thinking”.
• The second area is the “ego”, which dominates the conscious mind. This part of our mind is in contact with the outside world and considers the consequences of an action, and understands that
Introduction
Freud’s approach to understanding human behaviour – psychoanalysis – has had a profound effect on psychology. His approach is one of many that share some common assumptions, while differing fundamentally in others. Contemporaries of Freud, such as Jung and Adler were inspired by Freudian theory, but emphasised different issues in human development and experience. Collectively these theories are described as “psychodynamic” because they emphasise the factors that motivate behaviour (i.e. the dynamics of behaviour). They challenged the biomedical view that mental disorders had physical origins. The psychodynamic approach views abnormal behaviour as caused by unconscious, underlying psychological forces.
Key features of the psychodynamic approach Freud believed that all behaviour – normal and abnormal – derived from unconscious forces and that psychopathology arose from the dynamic working of the personality (psyche), rather than from physical causes. In other words psychopathology is psychological in origin. According to Freud, the psyche consists of three interrelated structures, the id, the ego and the superego. He believed that the human mind had conscious and unconscious areas.
• The unconscious part of the mind was seen as being dominated by the “id” – a primitive part of the personality that pursues pleasure and gratification. The id is not concerned with social rules, but only with self-gratification and is driven by the pleasure principle. It allows us to get basic needs met as a newborn with no thought for the needs of others. This disregard for the consequences of behaviour is referred to as “primary process thinking”.
• The second area is the “ego”, which dominates the conscious mind. This part of our mind is in contact with the outside world and considers the consequences of an action, and understands that