Front row: Sigmund Freud, G. Stanley Hall, Carl Jung; Back row: Abraham A. Brill, Ernest Jones, Sándor Ferenczi, at: Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Psychodynamics in its broadest sense, is an approach to psychology that emphasises systematic study of the psychological forces that underlie human behaviour, feelings and emotions and how they might relate to early experience. It is especially interested in the dynamic relations between conscious motivation and unconscious motivation.^[1]

It is also used by some to refer specifically to the psychoanalytical approach developed by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and his followers, although such use becomes confusing, because some of those followers, in particular, John Bowlby opposed the founding principles of Freud's theory, forming opposing factions. Bowlby's attachment theory, still described as 'psychodynamic' in approach, is widely considered to be the basis of most current research, and to have put the field formerly known as psychoanalysis on a more scientifically based, experimentally testable, footing. [1]

Freud himself 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 proposed in his published "Lectures on Physiology", that "all living organisms are energy-systems governed by the first law of thermodynamics, which states, in effect, that the total amount of energy in any given physical system is always constant, that energy quanta can be changed but not annihilated, and consequently that when energy is moved from one part of the system it must reappear in another part." [2] This principle is at the very root of Freuds ideas, whereby libido, which is primarily seen as sexual energy, is transformed into other behaviours. Brucke's original statement is now discredited as Pseudoscience without foundation, because the term energy in physics means something quite different from the term energy in relation to mental functioning, making this use of the term psychodynamics particularly confusing.

In the treatment of psychological distress, psychodynamic psychotherapy tends to be a less intensive, once- or twice-weekly modality than the classical Freudian psychoanalysis treatment of 3-5 sessions per week. Psychodynamic therapies depend upon a theory of inner conflict, wherein repressed behaviours and emotions surface into the patient’s consciousness; generally, one conflict is subconscious.^[3]

Overview [edit]

In general, psychodynamics, also known as dynamic psychology, is the study of the interrelationship of various parts of the mind, personality, or psyche as they relate to mental, emotional, or motivational forces especially at the unconscious level.^[4][5][6] The mental forces involved in psychodynamics are often divided into two parts:^[7] (a) the interaction of the emotional and motivational forces that affect behavior and mental states, especially on a subconscious level; (b) inner forces affecting behavior: the study of the emotional and motivational forces that affect behavior and states of mind.

Freud proposed that psychological energy was constant (hence, emotional changes consisted only in displacements) and that it tended to rest (point attractor) through discharge (catharsis).^[8]

In mate selection psychology, psychodynamics is defined as the study of the forces, motives, and energy generated by the deepest of human needs.^[9]

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.

History [edit]

Ernst von Brücke, early developer of psychodynamics.

Psychodynamics was initially developed by Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler and Melanie Klein.^[5][6] By the mid-1940s and into the 1950s, the general application of the "psychodynamic theory" had been well established.^{[citation needed]}

In his 1988 book Introduction to Psychodynamics - a New Synthesis, psychiatrist Mardi J. Horowitz states that his own interest and fascination with psychodynamics began during the 1950s, when he heard Ralph Greenson, a popular local psychoanalyst who spoke to the public on topics such as “People who Hate”, speak on the radio at UCLA. In his radio discussion, according to Horowitz, he “vividly described neurotic behavior and unconscious mental processes and linked psychodynamics theory directly to everyday life.”^[12]

In the 1950s, American psychiatrist Eric Berne built on Freud's psychodynamic model, particularly that of the "ego states", to develop a psychology of human interactions called transactional analysis^[13] which, according to physician James R. Allen, is a "cognitive behavioral approach to treatment and that it is a very effective way of dealing with internal models of self and others as well as other psychodynamic issues."^[13] The theory was popularized in the 1964 book Games People Play, a book that sold five million copies, giving way to such catch phrases as “Boy, has he got your number!”.

Early French Researchers [edit]

Early researchers in France set the scene for the Psychodynamic approach. Jean-Martin Charcot, for example, lectured on Mesmerism or Hypnosis, ideas that Sigmund Freud, who attended his lectures, would later take up.

William James and Boris Sidis - The Subconscious Mind [edit]

William James was an early user of the term 'Subconscious Mind'. His student Boris Sidis and published books on topics that formed the foundation for much of Freud's work, though he used the terms 'Unconscious' and sometimes 'Preconscious'.

Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalytic Theory [edit]

According to American psychologist Calvin S. Hall, from his 1954 Primer in Freudian 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.^[14]

In the 1930s, Freud's daughter Anna Freud began to apply Freud's psychodynamic theories of the "ego" to the study of parent-child attachment and especially deprivation and in doing so developed ego psychology.

Carl Jung and Analytical Psychology [edit]

At the turn of the 20th century, during these decisive years, a young Swiss psychiatrist named Carl Jung had been following Freud’s writings and had sent him copies of his articles and his first book, the 1907 Psychology of Dementia Praecox, in which he upheld the Freudian psychodynamic viewpoint, although with some reservations. That year, Freud invited Jung to visit him in Vienna. The two men, it is said, were greatly attracted to each other, and they talked continuously for thirteen hours. This led to a professional relationship in which they corresponded on a weekly basis, for a period of six years.^[15]

Carl Jung's contributions in psychodynamic psychology include:

1. The psyche tends toward wholeness.
2. The self is composed of the ego, the personal unconscious, the collective unconscious.^[16] The collective unconscious contains the archetypes which manifest in ways particular to each individual.
3. Archetypes are composed of dynamic tensions and arise spontaneously in the individual and collective psyche. Archetypes are autonomous energies common to the human species. They give the psyche its dynamic properties and help organize it. Their effects can be seen in many forms and across cultures.
4. The Transcendent Function: The emergence of the third resolves the split between dynamic polar tensions within the archetypal structure.
5. The recognition of the spiritual dimension of the human psyche.
6. The role of images which spontaneously arise in the human psyche (images include the interconnection between affect, images, and instinct) to communicate the dynamic processes taking place in the personal and collective unconscious, images which can be used to help the ego move in the direction of psychic wholeness.
7. Recognition of the multiplicity of psyche and psychic life, that there are several organizing principles within the psyche, and that they are at times in conflict.

John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth - Attachment Theory [edit]

John Bowlby was a follower of the Freudian tradition at the Tavistock Clinic in London, who broke away from Freud's key ideas and revolutionised the field. Freud had based his theories on the concept of a given source of psychic energy or libido in the human mind, which was transformed or diverted by mental functions. His only basis for this idea was Brucke's misunderstanding of the first law of thermodynamics, which could never be relevant to thought processes. Bowlby's inspiration came from reading the work of Konrad Lorenz, the famous Nobel-Prize winning founder of the field of Ethology or animal behaviiour. In particular Bowlby was struck by the phenomenon of Imprinting, which Lorenz had studied in Birds, and he saw the possibility that infants might imprint on their mother in a similar way. Along with his student Mary Ainsworth he studied infant behaviour, and developed what he called Attachment theory. He rejected Freud's ideas of damage caused by frustrated impulses, in favour of the idea that maternal privation or deprivation is a major cause of disturbed development and later psychological problems. Later he realised that infants need a stable, safe person or persons to provide a feeling of security from which they can venture out and explore. Many other workers in the field have since carried out experiments on infants and on animals which seem to confirm and refine this idea.[3]

Bowlby's work led to a major change in hospital practice in the UK, where children admitted to hospital had not been allowed visits from parents during their stay. Contact with parents was said to unsettle the children and interfere with ward routine. Many people who were admitted to hospital, often for routine tonsillectomy, in the 1950s, remember being traumatised by the way their parents deceived them into thinking they were going on special outings and then left them in a strange place without any explanation. On top of the trauma such children were often left with distrust and anger towards their parents for the rest of their lives. An account of such a case is related in the book Hilary and Jackie in respect of the famous Cellist Jacqueline du Pre. Today, parents are encouraged to stay with their children in UK hospitals, or visit whenever they want.

Harry Harlow [edit]

Harry Harlow famously experimented on Rhesus Macaque monkeys in isolation, and monkeys with surrogate objects in place of mothers. These studies were motivated by John Bowlby's World Health Organization-sponsored study and report, "Maternal Care and Mental Health" in 1950, in which Bowlby reviewed previous studies on the effects of institutionalization on child development. Though not necessarily directly applicable to humans, his work strengthened the body of evidence concerning maternal deprivation and lasting psychological damage.

Current [edit]

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:^[17]

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.^[18]

See also [edit]

• Cathexis
• Ego, superego, and id
• Ho'oponopono
• Object relations theory
• Reaction formation
• Society of mind

References [edit]

Further reading [edit]

• Brown, Junius Flagg & Menninger, Karl Augustus (1940). The Psychodynamics of Abnormal Behavior, 484 pages, McGraw-Hill Book Company, inc.
• Weiss, Edoardo (1950). Principles of Psychodynamics, 268 pages, Grune & Stratton
• Pearson Education (1970). The Psychodynamics of Patient Care Prentice Hall, 422 pgs. Standford University: Higher Education Division.
• Jean Laplanche et J.B. Pontalis (1974). The Language of Psycho-Analysis, Editeur: W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0-393-01105-4
• Raphael-Leff, Joan (2005). Parent Infant Psychodynamics – Wild Things, Mirrors, and Ghosts. Wiley. ISBN 1-86156-346-9. 
• Shedler, Jonathan. "That was Then, This is Now: An Introduction to Contemporary Psychodynamic Therapy", PDF
• PDM Task Force. (2006). Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual. Silver Spring, MD. Alliance of Psychoanalytic Organizations.