Psychodynamics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Psychodynamics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: In general, psychodynamics studies the transformations and exchanges of "psychic energy" within the personality.^[5] A focus in psychodynamics is the connection between the energetics of emotional states in the id, ego, and superego as they relate to early childhood developments and processes. At the heart of psychological processes, according to Freud, is the ego, which he envisions as battling with three forces: the id, the super-ego, and the outside world.^[4] The id is the unconscious reservoir of libido, the psychic energy that fuels instincts and psychic processes. The ego serves as the general manager of personality, making decisions regarding the pleasures that will be pursued at the id's demand, the person's safety requirements, and the moral dictates of the superego that will be followed. The superego refers to the repository of an individual's moral values, divided into the conscience - the internalization of a society's rules and regulations - and the ego-ideal - the internalization of one's goals.^[10] Hence, the basic psychodynamic model focuses on the dynamic interactions between the id, ego, and superego.^[11] Psychodynamics, subsequently, attempts to explain or interpret behaviour or mental states in terms of innate emotional forces or processes.



 Freud used the term psychodynamics to describe the processes of the mind as flows of psychological energy (libido) in an organically complex brain.^[2] The idea for this came from his first year adviser, Ernst Brucke at the University of Vienna, who held the view that all living organisms, including humans, are basically energy-systems to which the principle of the conservation of energy applies.^[12] This principle states that "the total amount of energy in any given physical system is always constant, that energy quanta can be changed but not annihilated, and that consequently when energy is moved from one part of the system, it must reappear in another part."^[12] This principle is at the very root of Freud's ideas, whereby libido, which is primarily seen as sexual energy, is transformed into other behaviours. However, it is now clear that the term energy in physics means something quite different from the term energy in relation to mental functioning.



According to American psychologist Calvin S. Hall, from his 1954 Primer in Freudian Psychology:

“

Freud greatly admired Brücke and quickly became indoctrinated by this new dynamic physiology. Thanks to Freud’s singular genius, he was to discover some twenty years later that the laws of dynamics could be applied to man’s personality as well as to his body. When he made his discovery Freud proceeded to create a dynamic psychology. A dynamic psychology is one that studies the transformations and exchanges of energy within the personality. This was Freud’s greatest achievement, and one of the greatest achievements in modern science, It is certainly a crucial event in the history of psychology.

”

At the heart of psychological processes, according to Freud, is the ego, which he sees battling with three forces: the id, the super-ego, and the outside world.^[4] Hence, the basic psychodynamic model focuses on the dynamic interactions between the id, ego, and superego.^[11] Psychodynamics, subsequently, attempts to explain or interpret behavior or mental states in terms of innate emotional forces or processes. In his writings about the "engines of human behavior", Freud used the German word Trieb, a word that can be translated into English as either instinct or drive.



At present, psychodynamics is an evolving multi-disciplinary field which analyzes and studies human thought process, response patterns, and influences. Research in this field provides insights into a number of areas, including:

1. Understanding and anticipating the range of specific conscious and unconscious responses to specific sensory inputs, as images, colors, textures, sounds, etc.
   
2. Utilizing the communicative nature of movement and primal physiological gestures to affect and study specific mind-body states.
   
3. Examining the capacity for the mind and senses to directly affect physiological response and biological change.
   

In psychodynamic psychotherapy, patients become increasingly aware of dynamic conflicts and tensions that are manifesting as a symptom or challenge in their lives. Together with the clinician, patients are assisted to bring conflicting aspects of their self into awareness, and through time, begin to integrate the conflicting parts and resolve aspects of the tension. This is talked about in different ways in each of the psychodynamic psychological theories, but all share the common goal of attempting to describe the dynamic nature of the tension between conflicting parts, assist the client in coming to terms with the tension, and begin the process of integration and healing.




Cognitive psychodynamics is a blend of traditional psychodynamic concepts with cognitive psychology and neuroscience.