Psychodynamic Theory was developed so as we are able to understand the speaker’s issues such as their life situations, behaviours and feelings. This is done by getting a deeper insight into their early life influences as a way to increase self-knowledge. This is the oldest of the theories and the approach is to look back into the speakers past and from there being able to find the causes of their own behaviours, Values, beliefs, thoughts, and feelings.
With this Theory the listener will lead and guide the sessions, albeit will remain mostly silent, while the speaker will do most of the talking. In general Psychodynamic Theory is not short term, and work with the speaker may go on for months if not years with several sessions a week. With the teachings of Freud in the late 19th to the early 20th centuries, the theory considers the workings and inter-connections between different mind states of the pre-conscious, conscious and ego.
Freud contended that a deep instinctive drive (id) works with the Ego (part of the Id which has been internalised from reaction to external influences) and the Super Ego (our own internal conscious “policeman”) to drive our feelings and behaviours. Together with the concept of conscious, preconscious and unconscious mind states, Psychodynamic theory aims to increase an individual’s level of self-awareness by making the unconscious become conscious. Psychodynamic Theory is interested in exploring the dynamics between the individual and others. Psychodynamic Theory has been developed and some of the basic principles have been built on since the days of Freud.
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