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The Psychodynamic Approach (pdf)

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Added on  2020-05-11

The Psychodynamic Approach (pdf)

   Added on 2020-05-11

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Running head: PSYCHODRYANMIC APPROACHCase study on ‘Little Hans’Name of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor Note
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1PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACHIntroductionSigmund Freud was the originator to the psychodynamic approach towardspsychology and psychoanalysis (Chessick 2014). However, psychodynamic approachincludes the unconscious motives, the childhood experiences, id, ego and superego, theunconscious mind where the defense mechanism is used and lastly, psychosexualdevelopment. Psychodynamic approachThe case study of Sigmund Freud’s ‘little Hans’ in 1909 can be well discussedthrough psychodynamic perspective (Ollendick and Muris 2015). Starting from the child’spsychosexual stages of development Freud has already discussed five stages those are oralstage (0-1year), anal stage (1-3years), phallic stage (3-5 to 6years), latency stage (5years untilpuberty) and lastly, genital stage (puberty to adult) (Newman and Newman 2017). In the casestudy of Hans, the phallic stage is the important phrase where according to Freud the originof Han’s fears. The important feature of this stage is Oedipus complex for boys and Electracomplex for girls. The boy starts developing a sexual desire for his mother and a hatred forhis father. Thus, from there the feeling arises that if his father comes to know about hisdesires he would take away his mother and punish him (Ward 2014). This fear of punishmentturns into castration anxiety where the child thinks that his father might castrate his penis,which is at this point the child’s most loved body part. Moreover, the conflict arises inside thechild and to get rid of that he starts adopting the values, behaviors and attitudes of his fatherso that his father spare from punishing him. This is the concept of identification, which is alsoseen in Hans where he is feeling that if he becomes like his father then he will not show anyhostility towards him. Therefore, the concept of defense mechanism comes into focus wherepainful and socially unacceptable thoughts and memories away from the conscious mind in
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2PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACHthe case of Hans. When the id and superego becomes too burdensome then defensemechanism is used to protect oneself from the anxieties and guilt. In this case, Hans has beenusing identification with the aggressor where Hans is trying to defeat his fear of his father bystruggling to become more like him. Another striking feature of the psychodynamicperspective is the psyche, which has been structured by Freud into three, parts the id, ego andsuper ego. Id is the impulsive or the unconscious part that comprises of the psyche thatresponds immediately to the instincts, ego mainly works on the principle of reality and lastlythe superego that originates in the phallic stage of the psychosexual development. However,little Hans phobia to horses is mainly because in his unconscious mind the horses symbolizeshis father and by using defense mechanism, he could get rid of the guilt and anxieties(Cramer 2012). Evaluation- strength and weaknessThe case study of Hans also has certain strengths and weaknesses. The very firststrength is that in this case study has the capability to disclose and treat the emergence ofabnormal behavior. Some psychotherapy depends on developing long and complete casehistory as assistance to the understanding and helping clients. These types of case studies arevery much helpful in developing an extensive qualitative data. Moreover, Freud has insistedfor this little Hans case study that Hans and his father shared a special and intimate bond thatexhibits such development of the analysis. On the other hand, in this case it has been seenthat little Hans has been related as a single individual, which can be a huge drawback forgeneralizing the findings to the entire population. Another major weakness is that this casestudy deficit in reliability because replication is not possible about what Hans’s father mayhave uttered in one day. This case study of Freud is also not thoroughly defended becausethere are also other reasons behind the major phobia of horses in Hans. In this case, study
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