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Essay about The Psychodynamic Model of Abnormality

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The Psychodynamic Model of Abnormality

The psychodynamic model of abnormality is useful to an extent. However it has many weaknesses.

The psychodynamic model of abnormality was initiated by Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud was very interested in hysteria. This is the manifestation of physical causes. He became convinced that unconscious mental causes were responsible not just abnormality but also normality. Freud developed Psychoanalysis. This is a set of techniques for treating the unconscious causes of mental disorders and built up a psychoanalytic theory of how human personality and abnormality develop from childhood. His …show more content…

Freud (1923) divided the psyche into three parts. The first being the Id (unconscious mind). This is the largest part and is innate. It is the source our desires. It is selfish and operates on the pleasure principle and only wants the gratification it desires. The second is the Ego (Conscious mind). This is fully formed from around two years of age and develops from the Id. The Ego works on the reality principle and is concerned with keeping our thoughts and actions in step with the real world. The third is the Superego and contains moral values.

Psychoanalysis had a very fixed set of assumptions that later psychodynamic theorists agreed with to different extents. One of the assumptions was the unconscious processes, where many important influences on behaviour come from the unconscious part of the mind, which we have no awareness of. Another assumption is psychodynamic conflict. This is where the different parts of the mind are in a constant struggle with each other and the consequences of the struggle are important in understanding behaviour. Freud also believed that that behaviour is motivated by emotional drives. Particularly sexual and aggressive drives. These drives create psychic energy that builds up if it cannot be released. Development is another of the assumptions, where personality is shaped by relationships,

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