What is the “Psychodynamic Theory”?

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and his later followers used the psychodynamic theory to explain the origins of human behavior. The psychodynamic approach encompasses all the theories in psychology that oversee human functioning, based on the interaction of drives and forces that exist inside a person subconsciously, and between the different structures of the person’s personality. Our behavior and feelings are strongly affected by our unconscious motives. A human’s unconscious mind consists of mental processes that are not available for the conscious self, but that strongly influences the person’s judgements, feelings or behavior. Freud hypothesized that the unconscious mind is the primary source of our human behavior. Similar to an iceberg, the most important part of our mind is that what is not seen to the human eye. Our every action, motive, decision and feelings are always powerfully influenced by our past, and stored in our unconscious mind.

The psychodynamic theory states that our childhood can leave a lasting imprint on our adult lives and shaping our future personality. Hence, any traumatic events that might occur in our childhood can haunt us in our adult lives. Our personality is molded by the drives that get modified by the different conflicts or hurdles we encounter at different points in our childhood (phase of psychosexual development). The psychodynamic theory is a strong determinant as it views our behavior as being shaped entirely by the unconscious factors that happened in our childhood, over which we have no control. Unconscious thoughts and feelings can be transferred onto the conscious mind in the form of parapraxes, which are more commonly known as Freudian slips or simply slips of the tongue. When that happens we unintentionally reveal what is really going on in our mind by saying something that we had no intention of saying in the first place. Freud proposed that these slips of the tongue in fact, provided an insight into our subconscious mind and that there were in fact no accidents and every behavior was intended and significant.

In more recent years, quite a few psychodynamic frameworks have evolved to explain our personality development and its dynamics. The most noteworthy among these is the object relations theory. This theory purports that personality can be understood as a reflection of our mental images of significant people in our lives, especially our parents. Since we are in constant touch with them since our early years, they play an important role in shaping our personality as well. These mental images, also known as introjects serve as a template for us in our later years, to shape our interpersonal relationships with others. So, if you have created a positive image of your parents as being warm and loving persons, thats what you would expect from your future relationships with others as well, and will exhibit the same kind of nature towards others. If on the other hand, you have an internalized a negative image of your parent as being critical and judgmental individuals, that is how you might end up being in future relationships and always find yourself inadequate to live up to other’s expectations and standards.

The psychoanalysis theory is now not used in its original form that much, but maybe used in shorter versions. The theory received the greatest criticism as being unscientific in its analysis of the human behavior. Quite a few of the concepts that are key to Freud’s theories are subjective and as such hard to testify scientifically. In that respect the theory has been challenged as not being possible to scientifically investigate our subconscious mind owing to the complexity.

References:

https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychodynamic.html

Wilson, T. D. (2004). Strangers to ourselves. Harvard University Press.

https://nobaproject.com/modules/the-psychodynamic-perspective