Psychodynamic Approach To Study Psychology

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"Psychology" derives from the word 'psyche ' meaning 'soul, mind, spirit ' and 'logos ' meaning 'study or science '(etymonline, 2014). Psychology involves the study of complex and abstract things such as emotions, drives, memory and behaviour therefore, psychologists have always shared disagreements over the correct approach to study Psychology thus, a variety of psychological schools were founded. Specific conditions in society created favourable or unfavourable conditions for the development of psychology as a science. Social, political and academic atmosphere of a particular time and location was essential for psychological knowledge. (Danziger, 1990; Leahey; 2002).

The availability of resources; money, laboratories, equipment and
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The goal was to assist the client to 'uncover and resolve unconscious conflicts and to strengthen the ego by redirecting the energy to conscious processes ' (Murdock, 2009). He developed 'talk-therapy ', a technique used to treat neurotic disorders, such as shell-shock experienced by the soldiers on the battle fields during World War I (Pickren, 2010). Freud 's ideas were extremely controversial for the Victorian era and faced a lot of opposition; any critics were accused of some unresolved child-hood trauma or oedipus complex (Eyesenk, 1985). Even his own students, Carl Jung and Alfred Adler, questioned his theories, exploring other causes to neurosis other than sexual tension, founding the neo-Freudian approaches (Eyesenk, 1985). This approach was a dominant field until the 1950 's, when talk therapy methods were replaced by faster more efficient methods of behavioural and cognitive …show more content…
and "touchy feely" personal growth seekers. ' (Aanstoos & Greening, 2000). The humanistic approach developed as a 'third force ' unifying aspects of behaviourism with psychodynamics. (Torg 2012) These previous schools of thought emphasise how our mind and behaviour are influenced by forces beyond our control, humanistic psychology offered an alternative more positive approach to psychology believing in free will and striving for self-growth. 'It is concerned with topics that are meaningful to human beings ' Cartwright (1979). Maslow realised that the humans needed to satisfy their basic needs before being able to achieve 'self-actualization ' - which he demonstrated in his famous hierarchy of needs pyramid still used today. However, Kitayama and Markus (1992) found that Maslow 's ideas had limited power in cultures outside of Western society, as they found in their experiment that Japanese students associated positive feelings with good relations with others instead of individual achievement. (York

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