The Psychodynamic Approach
Introduction
to the Psychodynamic Approach
Freud and
Psychoanalysis
Dreams and
their Meaning
Repression,
Memory, and Abuse
Carl Jung's
Theory
Adlerian
Theory
Other
Psychodynamic Theorists
Publications
Related to the Psychodynamic Approach
In many ways, 1900 was a
significant moment in time. Just as we recently experienced "millenium
madness", so, too, the turn of the century was seen as a social and
cultural landmark. From the perspective of psychology, the discipline was
still in its infancy: Wilhelm Wundt had established the first experimental
laboratory only 25 years earlier, and William James's Psychology,
the first notable general text , had appeared only ten years earlier, in
1890. However, one could argue that even more significant, in terms of
ultimate impact on both psychology and society, was the publication in
1900 of Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams.
The Interpretation of
Dreams was a landmark, for it represented the first of Freud's books
to capture popular as well as academic interest. Scientifically, Freud's
ideas about dreaming and other mental processes were often controversial
among his peers, and the controversy has not subsided in the 60+ years
since his death. Yet whether one accepts or rejects Freud's theory, there
is little doubt that psychoanalysis had significant impact. His study of
motivation and mental processes laid the foundation for all psychodynamic
theories, and changed our culture by changing how we see ourselves.
Understanding just how much
our world was changed because of Freud's work can be difficult to grasp,
for we are immersed in a world of Freudian concepts. Every time we make
reference to doing something "unconsciously", or refer to
someone as having a big "ego", we are using Freudian terms.
(Most people in our culture in fact find it hard to believe that some
cultures have no concept of "unconscious" processes!) As a
result, it can be useful to explore the background of Freud's life, and
the nature of our culture before his ideas so profoundly altered it.
Resources
The
Freud Web--Overview of Freud's life and ideas; part of larger site on Victorian
Era which was created by George Landow of Brown University. Useful for
understanding the social context in which psychodynamic theories
developed.
Sigmund
Freud: Conflict and Culture--Online version of exhibit which appeared
at the Library of Congress, Fall, 1998, and later travelled to several
international sites. Provides many photos and materials to explore
relationships between Freudian theory and our culture.
Psychoanalysis--Part
of the Great
Ideas in Personality website created by psychologist Scott Acton;
provides interactive diagram discussing issues in the scientific
evaluation of psychoanalytic theory along with many links and other
resources.
All psychodynamic theories
stem from psychoanalysis, for Freud first developed the basic ideas which
underlie the approach as a whole--particularly the idea that understanding
behavior requires insight into the thoughts and feelings which motivate
our actions. While the textbook deals extensively with the basic concepts
of psychoanalysis, in many ways the theory is intertwined with the man.
Indeed, one could argue that in no other approach has one person had such
a dominating influence, not even Watson for Behaviorism, or Rogers for
Humanistic Psychology. Consequently, it should not be surprising that
Freud was ranked higher than any other psychologists on various lists of
scientists and thinkers of the last millenium. While many other
psychodynamic theories exist today, Freud still casts a long shadow, as
the following resources show.
Resources
The
Freud Museum--Site maintained by Freud Museum in Vienna (Freud's home
and office for almost 50 years); variety of resources, from chronology to
video clips. Also includes biography of Anna Freud (under
"Themes").
Sigmund
Freud--The Father of Psychoanalysis--Austrian National Tourism Office
site, providing information on Freud's life and work.
FreudNet--Website
for New York Psychoanalytic Institute; contains on-line articles and
various other resources.
Freud's The Interpretation
of Dreams attracted public interest in his theory, but he was
certainly not the first person to suggest that dreams have a meaning.
Indeed, from Biblical times, people have sought to understand their
dreams. What distinguished Freud's interpretation was the way he related
it to his broader theory of mental processes and behavior, by invoking the
concept of a dream censor whose function is to hide the true
meaning of the dream from the person's conscious mind. Thus, Freud saw
dreams as having a symbolic meaning that could only be fully understood in
the context of the individual's overall behavior. This view is still
controversial, with some physiological researchers arguing that dreams are
simply an artifact of brain activity during sleep, with no true
significance. Clearly, psychodynamic theorists view dreams differently--as
do many individuals. For those who are curious, the resources below
provide a starting point for further explorations of dreaming.
Resources
The
Interpretation of Dreams--Full text of English translation of
third (1911) edition of Freud's classic work; from Christopher Green's
History of Psychology web site at York Univ., Toronto.
Outline
for a Theory of Dreaming--Article by psychoanalyst Ernst Hartmann, a
well-known writer on dreaming, which appeared in Dreams, a
publication of the Association
for the Study of Dreams, in 1996.
The
Quantitative Study of Dreams--Site created by two psychologists at the
Univ. of Calif., Santa Cruz; provides extensive resources on the
scientific study of dreams.
DreamUp--A
site devoted to dreaming, including discussions and an online collection
of dream reports. NOTE: this link is a commercial site which sells
software for recording dreams; it is NOT an academic site, and is included
primarily for its examples of dream reports!
Quotations
about Dreaming--Dreams have long intrigued writers, thinkers, and
ordinary people, as this extensive set of quotations shows; part of Brain
Candy, a site devoted to entertaining while providing food for thought.
Imagine a situation: An adult
seeks therapy because of distress about personal relationships. In the
course of treatment, the individual comes to recall traumatic experiences
from childhood--in particular, of being sexually abused by a family
member. Recalling these experiences seems to produce therapeutic
benefit--but also leads the individual to seek criminal prosecution of
their presumed tormentor. The incidents seem to have happened more than
twenty years previously, and there is no corroborating evidence. What
should the individual do? What should society (in the form of the legal
system) do?
From a psychoanalytic
perspective, this situation would not be considered unusual: in essence,
the therapy has led to remembering traumatic events which were repressed.
The concept of repression is fundamental to Freud's theory, since
it provides the basic explanation of how thoughts and experiences end up
in the unconscious. Freud encountered such reports many times in his
clinical practice--though he ultimately concluded that most such reports
represented fantasies, not real experiences. As noted in the text, both
his original interpretation (that many adult problems relate to childhood
traumas, including abuse) and his subsequent reassessment (that most such
reports are fantasies) have attracted controversy. Today, given increased
awareness of sexual abuse, many mental health professionals tend to
support Freud's original view, that most reports represent repressed
memories.
While our society has become
more sensitive to abuse of children, the attempt to seek justice through
the criminal law, rather than simply therapeutic release, has made the
issue more controversial. Although circumstances sometimes lead to
independent evidence to indicate the repressed memories are true, the
situation is more problematical in instances where there is no
corroborating evidence, but simply therapeutic reports of experiences
decades earlier. Not surprisingly, individuals who are accused of such
crimes tend to vigorously defend against the charges, and the concern
arises as to whether the events really happened or not. (Recall Freud's
doubts.). In some cases, the defendant will draw upon expert testimony by
cognitive psychologists like Elizabeth
Loftus, who notes that recall can be distorted and--at least in the
laboratory--people can be induced to recall events that never happened.
(See text, and Cognitive
Approach.) Thus, critics have argued that at least some reports of
repressed memories of abuse represent fantasies misinterpreted by inept
therapists.
In the end, the issue involves
both scientific questions about the nature of memory (represssion vs.
reconstruction) and social questions about the justice system (burden of
proof vs. false accusations). As the links below discuss, there is no
absolute answer--some reports are doubtless true, but some may well be
distorted or false, and there is no simple way to determine which is
which. Indeed, the nature of memory makes it unlikely that we can find a
technique to assess uncorroborated reports of abuse which will fully
satisfy the needs of the justice system. As a result, the controversy is
unlikely to disappear in the forseeable future.
Resources
Questions
and Answers about Memories of Childhood Abuse--Official statement by
American Psychological Association, providing non-technical discussion of
the topic.
Scientific
Research on Recovered Memories--Extremely detailed review of the
existing literature on recovered memories of sexual abuse, by psychologist
Jim Hopper. Tends to support idea that memories can be repressed, but
nonetheless provides careful discussion of findings and citations for
published studies.
Memory
and Therapeutic Action--Guest editorial/article by Peter Fonagy in International
Journal of Psychoanalysis (1999), reviewing relation of psychoanalytic
and cognitive-neuroscience views of memory.
Hidden
Memories: Fact or Fantasy? Article by two psychologists at Simon
Fraser University, arguing against the validity of recovered memories of
abuse.
Among psychodynamic theorists,
the name Carl Jung is probably second only to Freud in terms of popular
recognition. Though at one time he was a close friend of Freud, and seen
by Freud as his potential successor, Jung was already a practicing
therapist before he first made contact with Freud. As the text notes,
Freud had a poor track record in terms of mentoring, with many of his best
students ultimately separating from him on bad terms, usually because of
disputes about the theory of psychoanalysis. (Freud was a pioneer, but he
seemed to have little tolerance for critics.)
Jung ultimately developed his
own theory, which differed in important respects from Freud's. Most
significant were his de-emphasis of the importance of sexuality and
aggression as motives, and his division of the unconscious into the
personal (much like Freud's original concept) and the collective
(a universal unconscious, containing symbolic patterns called archetypes).
(For more information, see text and or links below.)
Resources
The
C. G. Jung Page--Site developed by Jungian analyst Donald Williams;
contains extensive information about Jung and Jungian analysis, including
a large archive of online articles.
Carl
Jung--A chapter from an electronic book, detailing Jung's life and
theory, by George Boeree of Shippensburg University.
Carl
Gustave Jung--Site includes biography, discussion of Jung's theory,
and on-line essay by Jung on the relation of analytical psychology to
poetry.
The
Keirsey Temperament Sorter--An online personality test, based on
Jung's concept of psychological types. The test is similar to the
Myers-Briggs test, and has the same 16 basic types. NOTE: including this
link implies no sanctioning of the test's validity or reliability, but it
may nonetheless be instructive and/or entertaining.
There are several similarities
between Jung and Alfred Adler. Both men trained as doctors, over time
sought out Freud to learn about psychoanalysis, were seen as potential
successors by Freud, but eventually broke from him over theoretical
disputes. While both men disagreed with the emphasis Freud placed on
sexuality as a motive, the similarities in their views end there. To
Adler, the most important motive is the feeling of inferiority,
which he felt originated in the sense of dependence and helplessness which
infants experience. (Many biographers see a parallel between Adler's
theory and his often experience of being sickly as a child.)
Adler's theory in many ways
seems more straight-forward than Jung's, since his focus on striving
for superiority seems less abstract than Jung's concept of individuation
as the goal of growth. This is also seen in other aspects of this theory,
such as style of life as a n individual's pattern of personality
and adjustment. (Note Adler had little interest in Jung's concepts of
archetypes and the collective unconscious.) In the end, his theory faces
many of the same difficulties as other psychodynamic theories, in terms of
evaluating its validity. (See text.) Nonetheless, there is little doubt
that Adler has had significant influence within the psychodynamic
approach, and as the following links illustrate, his theory still has many
supporters.
Resources
Alfred
Adler--Another chapter from Boeree's online personality text,
detailing Adler's life and theory.
Alfred
Adler--A briefer biography and overview of Adler's theory, along with
a timeline and set of links to other Adler sites.
Classical
Adlerian Psychology--Website of Adler Institute of San Francisco;
contains variety of background material related to Adler, as well as
articles on Adlerian therapy.
There are many forms of
psychodynamic theory, beyond those discussed above. Some, described
as neo-Freudians, retained many of the concepts proposed by Freud. Among
these are the "ego psychology" school pioneered by Freud's
daughter Anna, which focusses on the strategies used to preserve the ego,
especially defense mechanisms. The "object relations" school
(emphasizing the importance of relationships, especially to the mother in
early childhood) includes a number of theorists, including Melanie Klein,
Donald Winicott, and John Bowlby. Other psychodynamic theorists diverged
significantly from the Freudian tradition--even some who were trained
originally in psychoanalysis, like Karen Horney, Erik Erikson (a student
of Anna Freud), and Erich Fromm (who, while often described as a
neo-Freudian, is actually closer to the humanists than to traditional
Freudian theory). It is impossible to address all of the variants here,
either historical or contemporary, but the following links can provide a
starting point if seeking information on a specific theorist.
Resources
Personality
Theories--George Boeree's online text, containing individual chapters
discussing the lives and theories of most of the well-known neo-Freudian
and non-Freudian psychodynamic theorists, including Horney, Erikson, etc.
Selected
Biographies--A set of online biographies of various individuals in the
history of psychology, including a number of the major psychodynamic
theorists; part of Muskingum College "History of Psychology"
site.
Free
Associations: Psychoanalysis and the Public Sphere--On-line journal
edited by Robert M. Young of Sheffield University.
International
Journal of Psychoanalysis--Provides effective search tools, with some
on-line content and access to contents pages in archive.
Journal
of the American Psychoanalytic Association--Provides
archive of contents pages, but not full texts.
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