Psychodynamic Perspectives

Erikson was a psychologist who was greatly influenced by Freud. Although influenced by Freud there are some differences in there developmental stages. Erikson believed that development in an individual was molded by society, culture, and environment. While Freud’s belief was that development is in some way is influenced by the fixation of sexual interest of different areas of the body. The stages in Erikson’s development theory outline how important social experiences can shape us. While Freud’s theory is mainly based on ones sexuality. Additionally the other significant difference between Erikson’s and Freud’s theories is the outcome of a particular stage. Erikson believed that the outcome of a certain stage was not permanent and that it could be changed later on in life. While Freud presumed that if an individual became fixated on a stage problems associated with that stage would be carried on through life.

Erikson’s views on development made an addition to some aspects of Freud and deviated from some of his other emphases. Erikson proposed that we develop more “Psychosocially” than “Pyschosexually” (Freud’s framework), which crosses the entire life span. His view is deterministic in the sense that adults are effected by their childhood, but he is not reductionistic in suggesting that the entire mold of adult personality is formed only in the early years; rather there is ongoing development throughout life.

In addition to the diagnosis of psychology there are perspectives and treatments that follow these. The first perspective being the behavioral perspective and following that would be the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic perspectives. The third perspective of psychology follows suit with the biological perspective and the fourth being the cognitive. These perspectives all take a different route on explaining psychology and were developed by a number of different characters throughout history. To start off, the behavioral perspective emphasizes the study of one’s behavior and the role that they play in an environment.

The soul that, figuratively saying, is covered by a human body has different ways to show itself. It is a matter of psychology to discover the patterns of behavior. I primarily trust the psychodynamic perspective. However, on the specific topic of aggressive behavior of an individual I find that I favor the biological psychology. It is due to the fact that one perspective may identify things that the other is blind to, that I may choose some other approach to evaluate the issue.

The psychodynamic perspective focuses on trying to get inside the heads of people to see what underlying cause for some of their behaviors might be. This perspective suggests that our behavior is influenced by unconscious motives. One of the approaches of the psychodynamic perspective is that childhood experiences are important in shaping our behavior as adults. A person who goes through a rough experience as a child will be affected by it in their adulthood. This approach splits up the mind into three different levels of conscious awareness: conscious, preconscious and unconscious. The conscious mind contains the information that we are aware of and can be easily accessed. The preconscious mind holds on to information that is easily retrievable

This research paper will compare and contrast two of the most influencial psychologists who helped shape the way we understand the development of the human mind; Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. The paper will focus on the similarities and differences between Freud’s Psycho-sexual theory, and Erikson’s psychosocial theory. Freud was one of the very first influencial psychologists who changed the way we study humans. Erikson recognized Freud’s contributions, and although he felt Freud misjudged some important dimensions of human development, he was still influenced by Freud, which caused some similarities in their theories.

Erik Erikson is the most influential person in the field of psychology. He was born on June 15th, 1902 in Frankfurt, Germany and died on May 12th, 1994 in Massachusetts, Boston. He is known for his theory of psychosocial development comprising eight stages from early infancy to adulthood. Each of these stages, the person experiences a psychosocial crisis that influences personality based on their positive or negative outcomes. However, every human being enters certain stages to reach the full potential of development. In addition to Erikson, he was influenced by Sigmund Freud, who was a psychoanalysis, developed the structural models of personality, and psychosexual stages. Erikson extends on Freudian thoughts

Psychodynamic Perspective is a view that explains personality in conscious and unconscious forces. Sigmund Freud the founder of the psychodynamic perspective believed that there are three level of consciousness. First is the unconscious mind which consist outside of your awareness at all time. Next is your preconscious mind which consist of all the information that you are not currently aware of but that can be recalled. Them the conscious mind is your current state of awareness. According to Freud there are three parts of personality. These are the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id being the first to develop, the Ego the second and the Superego being last. The Id is driven by sexual and aggressive urge according to Freud. The Ego is the balance between the Id and Superego as it has you to think logically. The Superego is the direct opposite from the Id it’s the part which makes you feel guilty and anxious.

The Psychodynamic perspective in Psychology examines the theory that our personality and mental disorders are created outside of our awareness by processes in our unconscious mind. It examines the idea that our unconscious outweighs our actual consciousness and that there is more than what we credit ourselves for and/or are potentially unconsciously blocking. One of the best known approaches of this perspective is by using psychoanalysis. This approach highlights and evaluates dreams, the slip of the tongue and free association. Free association is a theorized step in psychoanalysis where one is in a relaxed state and speaks whatever is on their mind for a period of time and then analyzed to attempt to connect the dots from experiences in our past that are unconsciously hidden by us. It could be said that this method is like tossing puzzle pieces across the floor and using each piece to another until the right jigsaw piece is found. This helps the patient understand the why and how of an issue and is left to the analyst to explain and help evolve the next steps of resolution to the newly understood information. In a sense this promoted that talking about your problems and fears would start to dissipate the mental abnormalities over time by connecting the issues of today by what has happened in the past that has created the present personality or behavior. This perspective can best be explained that the mind is an iceberg. The conscious level

Deciding what theory to conceptualize things during supervision was hard because I had a hard time reminding myself that they weren’t my clients. My theory of choice has always been CBT and as such, I have chosen the same one for supervision. At first, I felt lost and found myself not knowing what to say, which reminded me of my first couple of sessions before I had decided on my theory. I honestly didn’t know that supervisors worked from a theory I assumed that was only during therapy with clients. I remember asking one of my supervisors about this topic several years ago and she stated that she works from an eclectic perspective during supervision. However, she did have a chosen theory when working with clients. I came in with a certain mentality,

Behavior :This perspective allows for us to focus on how we learn from the consequences our actions lead to. Its an if, then action as well as learning from what we see others doing. Behaviorism focuses on observable events instead of events such as thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. In behaviorism it's where the environment can play a role and the individual's behavior.

Erik Erikson is one of the most influential psychoanalysts of the 20th century. He developed the eight stages of psychosocial development. These stages are trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. doubt/shame, initiative vs guilt, industriousness vs inferiority, identity cohesion vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and ego integrity vs. despair. He focused his study on the crisis that arise in adolescence and adulthood. He explained how certain things must be achieved in different stages of your life in order to be an emotionally normal person. These needs are coincidence with each other but take effect during certain time periods of your life and can affect your future. When analyzing his work, you can definitely see how it is relevant today. Erikson’s theory is compared with Freud’s because Erikson expands on the ideas that Freud already presented. Like any theorist, there are criticism that put restraints on his work.

The purpose of understanding and utilizing a variety of psychodynamic approaches is for the humanistic well-being, in connection with the client using a client –centered therapeutic approach. The reason for using a psychodynamic approach is unveiling the conscious and unconscious mind, from the client’s emotional state of mind. The psychodynamic approach focuses on the beginning stages of the clients childhood years, typically analyzing events from birth breaking from six years old. The human mind unconscious and conscious state determines who we are and how we will be from our past carrying over to our present, and dictating our future. Henceforth, the effects of our state of mind come from past events in our subconscious mind, which plays a major role in our adult life. As an illustration, Sigmund Fraud, a psychologist theoretical ordained the importance of childhood events, which play a major part in our daily lives. The definition of psychodynamic approach is unconscious thoughts, pressures of society, family events, people’s childhood event, and biological forces. A professional person in the area of psychology must be in tune, with the client using empathy and code of ethics. For example, the theories are psychoanalysis, analytical, or individual approach which deals with the person’s state of well-being.

Freud´s psychosexual theory underlines the importance of basic needs and biological forces. Erikson´s psychosocial theory is based upon social and environmental factors. Erikson also expands his theory into adulthood while Freud´s ends at an earlier period.

Erik Erikson was born in 1902 in Germany. Erikson married an American woman and moved to America where he began to work with Sigmund Freud. Erikson is responsible for giving us the psychosocial development known as the Eight Stages of Man, the Eight Stages of Man which are: Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, Initiative vs. Inferiority, Identity vs. Role Confusion, Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. Stagnation and Integrity vs. Despair. There is also a ninth stage, that was added by Erikson’s wife. She developed the ninth stage in their later years of life.