1. Freudian Psychodynamic
Theories of Behaviour
Robert Averbuch, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry
University of Florida
Modified/edited and illustrations added by Lina Medaglia-Miller, Ph.D.
For âThe Great Pretender: The Art of Passingâ GSSC 1073
3. Freudâs Theories, in Context
ī¯ Freud was originally trained as a
Neurologist- biological approach to
illness
ī¯ Treated mostly Hysteria (conversion
disorders)
ī¯ Applied findings from abnormal
patients to ânormalâ development
4. Freud: A Sign of the Times?
ī¯ Time period:
late 1800âs
ī¯ Victorian times:
conservative, repressed
society
ī¯ Prohibitions against
sex
5. Selected Contributions of Freud
ī¯ Psychic Determinism/ Dynamic Model
ī¯ The Power of Catharsis
ī¯ Transference and Countertransference
ī¯ Topographical Model of the Mind
īŽ Unconscious, Preconscious, Conscious
6. Selected Contributions of Freud
ī¯ Structural Model of
the Mind
īŽ ID, EGO, SuperEGO
ī¯ Defense Mechanisms
7. Behavior is Predetermined
ī¯ Freud sees people as
passive; behaviors
determined by interaction
of external reality and family
with internal drives
ī¯ Psychic Determinism:
all behaviors driven by
past experiences
īŽ âThere are no accidentsâ
8. Conflict and Behavior
ī¯ Instinctual Drives (libidinal:
sexual, aggressive) instincts
drive people
ī¯ Behaviors result from conflicts:
īŽ Between instinctual (libidinal)
drives and efforts to repress
them from consciousness
9. Catharsis
ī¯ Inherent benefits
come from releasing
pent-up tension
ī¯ Some inherent value
in the âtalking cureâ:
being able to âunload,â
or âget stuff off your
mindâ
12. Countertransference
ī¯ Traditionally refers to
the physician projecting
her own feelings
(âissues,â âemotional
baggageâ) onto her
patient
ī¯ The corollary to
âTransferenceâ
14. Topographical Model
ī¯ Freudâs first model of
psychopathology
ī¯ Division of the mind into three
different layers of consciousness:
īŽ Unconscious
īŽ Preconscious
īŽ Conscious
16. Unconscious
ī¯ Contains repressed
thoughts and feelings
ī¯ Unconscious shows
itself in:
īŽ Dreams
īŽ Hypnosis
īŽ Parapraxes (Freudian
slips)
ī¯ Driven by Primary
Process Thinking
17. Primary Process Thinking
ī¯ Not cause-effect; illogical;
fantasy
ī¯ Only concern is immediate
gratification
(drive satisfaction)
ī¯ Does not take reality
into account
ī¯ Seen in dreams, during
hypnosis, some forms of
psychosis, young children,
psychoanalytic psychotherapy
18. Freudian Slips (Parapraxes)
ī¯ A âslip of the tongueâ
ī¯ Errors of speech or hearing that
reveal oneâs true but unconscious
feelings
20. Conscious
ī¯ Fully and readily
accessible
ī¯ Conscious mind does
not have access to the
unconscious
ī¯ Utilizes Secondary
Process Thinking:
īŽ Reality-based (takes
external reality into
consideration), logical,
mature, time-oriented
23. The ID
ī¯ Home of
instinctual Drives
ī¯ Completely
Unconscious
ī¯ Present at birth
ī¯ âI want it and I
want it NOW!â
(Governed by Pleasure
Principle)
24. The Superego
ī¯ Internalized morals/
values- sense of right
and wrong
ī¯ aka Conscience
ī¯ Suppresses drives of ID
(thru guilt and shame)
25. The Superego
ī¯ Mostly unconscious
ī¯ Develops with socialization,
and thru identification
with same-sex parent
(Neo-Freudians
acknowledge that
identifications can be
with either parent)
26. The EGO
ī¯ Mediates between
the Id, Superego,
and reality
ī¯ Mostly conscious
ī¯ Governed by
Reality Principle
33. Repression
ī¯ Keeping an idea or
feeling out of conscious
awareness
ī¯ The primary ego
defense
ī¯ Freud postulated that
other defenses are
employed only when
repression fails
34. Acting out
ī¯ Behaving in an
attention-getting,
often socially
inappropriate
manner
to avoid dealing
with
unacceptable
emotions
or material
39. Splitting
ī¯ Selectively focusing
on only part of a person
ī¯ Seeing people as
either all-good or
all-bad (Black and
White thinking)
ī¯ Serves to relieve the
uncertainty engendered by
the fact that people have both
bad and good qualities
40. Displacement
ī¯ Redirection of
unacceptable feelings,
impulses from their
source onto a less
threatening person
or object
īŽ Mad at your boss,
so you go home and
kick the dog
41. Reaction Formation
ī¯ Transforming an
unacceptable impulse
into a diametrically opposed
thought, feeling, attitude, or
behavior; denying
unacceptable feelings and
adopting opposite attitudes
īŽ Ex. Person who loves
pornography leads a
movement to outlaw
its sale in the neighborhood
42. Magical Thinking
ī¯ The idea that one can
control external events
just by thinking a certain
way, or by doing
something
thatâs unrelated
(superstitious behavior)