PSY234 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Hypersensitivity, Impulsivity, Psychopathology
2 Jun 2018
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PSY234 – Week 2: Psychodynamic approaches since Freud/Ego Psychology
Psychoanalytic theory (revision):
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
o Personality = id, ego/sense of self and superego (internalized sense of
morality – what is right and wrong)
o Unconscious and conscious mind
o Defense mechanisms
o Psychosexuality stages – children go through oral, anal, phallic,
latency, genital
Current psychodynamic theories
• “contemporary psychoanalysis is not a theory about id, ego and superego…
nor is it a theory about ‘fixations’ or sexual and aggressive instincts, or
repressed memories, or the Oedipus complex, or penis envy, or castration
anxiety. One could dispense with every one of these ideas and the essence of
psychoanalytic thinking and therapy would remain intact… Many
psychoanalysts reject every one of them” (Shedler, 2006)
• Core features of psychoanalysis regardless = unconscious processes, defense
mechanisms, childhood
Current psychodynamic approaches:
• Pluralism = anywhere between 12-20 psychoanalytic schools
• Each school emphasizes and/or rejects various elements in Freud’s theory
• Problems with pluralism
• Unified methodology = generally qualitative/clinical approaches e.g. case
studies
Post-Freudian developments
• Ego psychology → emphasis of ego rather than id
• Object relations approaches → emphasis on relationships rather than drives
• Attachment theory → mentalisation and theory of mind
• Neuropsychoanalysis → affective neuroscience
Ego psychology –
• Accepts id theory but ego has central role
• Emphasis on person-(social) environment relation in the here and now
• Emphasis on ego’s function and strengths/weaknesses (e.g. resilience)
• Anna Freud: ego and the mechanisms of defence
• Erik Erikson: psychosocial stage theory
• Heinz Hartmann: ego functions and adaptation
Hartmann’s ego psychology –
• ‘Rider’ – drive-autonomous ego functions
• Greater emphasis on conscious (cognitive processes) over unconscious
processes
• Greater focus on normal rather than pathological development (growth)
• Defence mechanisms and coping strategies and processes
• Looks at ego strengths and adaptive functioning
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Freud = ego not present at birth
• Hartmann = inborn ‘ego functions’
• Functions include e.g. reality testing, impulse control, judgement, defence and
coping strategies, synthetic function and self-representation (identity),
cognitive and perceptual processes (e.g. memory)
• Ego’s function = adapting person’s internal needs to the environment
Ego psychology:
• Therapy = strengthening the ego (Hartman’s belief)
• Healthy ego = ‘conflict free sphere’ of the ego (Hartman’s description)
• Acting without conflict/better adjustment
• Recent developments;
o Integration with evolutionary perspectives
o Ego as biopsychological processing system
• Criticism:
o Not enough attention paid to socialization
Object relational approaches –
• Freud (1915): we satisfy drives via ‘objects’ e.g. hunger drive satisfied
through food, sexual drive = love object
• Cupboard-love theory (2 degree drive) → developed love through satisfaction
• This approach:
o Moves away from drives
o Greater emphasis on the ‘person’
o Innate desire for relationship
o Early relationships shape the mind and personality
• Fairbairn’s object relational approach
o Fairbairn (1952): critical of Freud’s belief of impersonal drives; rejects
‘impulse’ (id), biological psychology
o Believes libido is object seeking
▪ “Relationship with the object, and not the gratification of
impulse, is the ultimate aim of libidinal striving”
o Primary aim of personality is to form relationships
• Fairbairn’s model of personality
o ‘Central ego’ at birth – we have a central sense of self when born
o Frustrating object relations lead to repression
o Repression causes splits in the ego
o Central ego (rejection occurs) leads to → libidinal ego → anti-libidinal
ego
o Schizoid states – people desire relationships, but some people cut
themselves off and do not enjoy relationships (hidden internal states)
• Fragmented ego and internal objects
o Ogden (1983): object relations theory ‘is fundamentally a theory of
unconscious internal object relations in dynamic interplay with current
interpersonal experience”
o Fairbairn’s theory believes internal = intrapersonal
o We internalize relationships
o Introjects and internal world
o Object relations within a single personality system
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Psy234 week 2: psychodynamic approaches since freud/ego psychology. Current psychodynamic approaches: pluralism = anywhere between 12-20 psychoanalytic schools, each school emphasizes and/or rejects various elements in freud"s theory, problems with pluralism, unified methodology = generally qualitative/clinical approaches e. g. case studies. Post-freudian developments: ego psychology emphasis of ego rather than id, object relations approaches emphasis on relationships rather than drives, attachment theory mentalisation and theory of mind, neuropsychoanalysis affective neuroscience. Mentalisation and object relations: mentalisation = the capacity to understand ourselves and others in terms of mental states, analysis of 750 cases from anna freud centre, relationships are essential for learning about one"s own and others" minds. Instinctive behaviour differences exist between the two conceptual systems : attachment theory and psychodynamic approaches, commonalities . Innate need for relationship: early relationships shape personality, relational deficits and psychopathology, main differences , actual, real life events vs. fantasy/private thought/meaning, ethology/mainstream research methods vs. clinical case approach.
