Psychodynamic approach describes an individual’spersonality in the state of unconscious psychological processes that startsfrom birth.
Freud’s psychoanalysis approach explores the individualsunconscious mind and focuses on emotions and thoughts to gain a betterunderstanding of one’s self. Freud’s theories are clinically based on whatindividuals told him during therapy sessions. This therapy is used to treatmental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. Freud suggests theunconscious mind is the main foundation of human behaviour and all behaviour asa cause and becomes determined. Freud explains this by using an icebergrepresenting the mind.
The most vital part of the mind we cannot view, is ourmotives, feelings and decisions which are influenced by our past experiencesand stored in the unconscious. Our childhood events have a great influence onour adult life, shaping personality. Events that happened in our childhood canremain in the unconscious and cause problems in our adult years. Freud’spsychodynamic theory suggested that our personality is made up in three parts,id, ego and super-ego. The id plays an important part of our personality asnewborns, and based on our pleasure principle. When a child is hungry, the idwants food, so the baby cries.
If a child is in pain or discomfort or wantsattention, the id speaks up until the needs are met. The id does not care aboutreality, only it’s needs and satisfaction. The ego understands that individualshave needs and desires. This part of the personality is responsible for meetingthe needs of the id, while considering the reality of the situation. Like theid, the ego seeks pleasure and avoids pain on the basis of devising a realisticplan to get pleasure.
The super-ego is the moral part of our personalitydeveloping values, social rules and morals of society learnt from parents andothers. The super-ego’s function is to control the id’s impulses such as socialprohibitions, sex and aggression.
