Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

what are the Psychosexual stages?

Answer 1

1. Oral (0-1 years):
   - mouth, Mother’s breast is the object of desire
   - Oral-fixation - smoking, biting nails, sarcastic
2. Anal (1-3 years):
   anus, Toilet training, Neatness, messiness
3. Phallic (3-5 years):
   genital area, Child experiences the Oedipus or Electra Complex.
   - narcissistic, reckless, overambitious
4. Latency 6-12 : Time to repress the conflicts in earlier stages
5. Genital (puberty) 12+ : Sexual desire becomes conscious

Question 2

what happens if theres conflict at a stage?

Answer 2

if conflict at a stage is not resolved then it can result in an adult fixation

Question 3

defence mechanisms

Answer 3

Repression - forcing a distressed memory out of the conscious mind

Denial - refusing to acknowledge reality

**Displacement **- transferring feelings from their true source to a substitute target

Question 4

what are the 3 strustures of personality?

Answer 4

● Id (present at birth): primitive part of the personality. It operates on the pleasure principle - it demands instant gratification (satisfaction). The id is greedy and selfish.
● Ego (develops at age 2): works on the reality principle and reduces the conflict between the id and the superego. It uses defence mechanisms to achieve this.
● Superego (develops at age 5): internalised sense of right and wrong, based on the morality principle. Punishes the ego through guilt. Direct opposite to the ID

Question 5

unconscious conflicts between personality

Answer 5

When unconscious conflicts between the id and the superego cannot be resolved by the ego, they create anxiety. To reduce this anxiety, we use defence mechanisms.

Question 6

freud - what is the mind made up of?

Answer 6

● Conscious - what we are aware of
● Pre-conscious - memories and thoughts we are not currently aware of but can be accessed
● Unconscious - we are unaware of the contents of the unconscious → Biological drives and instincts that influence our behaviour

Question 7

the role of the unconscious

Answer 7

• unconscious also contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed and forgotten about
• accessed during dreams or through ‘slips of the tongue’ known as the freudian slip e.g. if you call a teacher ‘mum’ instead of ‘miss’