The psychodynamic approach is a set of all psychological theories that aim to explain the origin of human behavior based on interaction forces within a person, notably unconscious and different personality structures. This approach emphasizes three essential aspects: the importance of the unconscious, early childhood experiences, and psychic causality. It depicts that most psychological processes occur without conscious awareness, such as fear and feelings. Additionally, it also focuses on childhood experience and argues that it plays an integral part in shaping a person's personality in his/her later life as an adult. Lastly, the psychodynamic approach also contends that any mental activities reflected through behavior, motives, emotions, among others, do not occur randomly. Exploring various theories under the psychodynamic approach will provide a comprehensive understanding. These theories include Freud's psychoanalytic, Jung's analytical psychology, Adler's psychology, and ego psychology.
Freud's psychoanalytic theory focuses on explaining human behavior and personality based on unconscious psychological conflicts. This theory claims that an individual's behavior is significantly influenced by an id, ego, and superego (Eliot, 2015). However, Freud argued that the conflict between the three components of the brain evolves and advances in age, explaining why children appear to be irrational than adults. The theory claims that the id is the most elementary part of the brain that satisfies an immediate need and desire. On the other hand, the superego constitutes morals and rules. One's id suggests an irrationally thought-action; the superego focuses on moral aspects and regulations.
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Consequently, it opposes the id ideology. Lastly, based on Freud, the ego acts as a rational part of a human being's personality. It balances the id and superego's ideas and reinforces logical actions in a real-world situation. I have encountered conflicting incidences several times, especially when I see someone eating my favorite snack. I may feel the urge to ask for some; however, it does not feel right, and in most cases, I end up purchasing mine instead. This personal experience explains how Freud's psychoanalytic theory operates.
Jung's analytical psychology theory focuses on the psychotherapy approach. He acknowledges that a person's past experiences contribute significantly to his/her current situations. It also considers the current issues that pose threats to an individual's future developments. Therefore, it acts as a prospective approach to resolve the current issues presented in therapy. The therapist improves the patient's mental wellbeing by focusing on the past experiences and also shapes his/her future development by resolving the possible current problems.
Similarly to Freud, Jung' acknowledges that childhood experiences and complexes caused by unconscious factors affect a person's behavior and personality. However, he also discovered that human beings are affected by external unconscious factors. From personal experience, I can justify that childhood experiences affect a person's personality as an adult. As a child, my family members would continuously intimidate my vocals. Every time I sang, they would laugh at me. Their actions affected my life up to date. I cannot sing in public of the intimidation I received as a child.
Adler's psychology theory claims that a human being's behavior and thoughts are associated with individual fighting for superiority and power to compensate for his/her inferiority. He argued that even though human beings have their personal lives, they are not exempted from encountering societal problems. Consequently, they may feel inadequate and unworthy at a certain point, thus exhibiting defeat, withdrawal, and competition symptoms. Such people require words of assurance and encouragement. I can relate with Adler's psychology theory based on my perspective toward athletics and sports. Most of the time, I feel incapable of performing better in sports than my peers; therefore, I withdrawal from such activities due to the fear of facing defeat.
Lastly, ego psychology theory roots its ideology on Freud's psychoanalytic concept. The theory argues the ego part of the brain, as stated by Freud, possesses the ability to help human beings adapt to their environment by enhancing attention, memory, and language (Danzer, 2011). Furthermore, the theory argues that the ego abilities that help human beings to adopt do not necessarily develop from mind conflicts, as illustrated by Freud in his approach. On the contrary, ego psychology claims that in an average environment without dispute, the ego operates independently without cognitive conflicts. This theory created a foundation for effective therapeutic interventions to neutralize conflicted impulses, thus enabling people to adapt to their environment quickly. From a personal perspective, I can relate to this theory based on learning a foreign language. I did not think I had the cognitive ability to understand a foreign language within a short period; however, I did, which can be explained through ego psychology theory.
References
Danzer, G. S. (2011). From ego psychology to strengths, from victim to survivor. Journal of aggression, maltreatment & trauma , 20 (2), 175-198.
Elliott, A. (2015). Psychoanalytic theory: An introduction . Macmillan International Higher Education.
