Social Work Theories: Psychodynamic Theory and Systems & Socio-ecological Theory

Running head: SOCIAL WORK THEORIES 1
SOCIAL WORK THEORIES
Name
Institution

SOCIAL WORK THEORIES 2
Assignment
Apparently, social work is an everyday job that involves taking care of people thus
bringing a change in their lives. This, however, does not include trying to provide theoretical
explanations of as to why individuals get into challenges. Conferring to Australian
Association of Social Workers code of ethics, it is evident that social work is dedicated to
tracking down and maintenance of human well-being (Miley, O'Melia and DuBois, 2016). It
targets to make the most of individual potential and the realisation of human needs, over and
done with an equivalent assurance to; helping people in achieving good stages of own and
social well-being and trying to realise social justice through social development and social
change (Padgett, 2016). Various social work commitments includes preserving people’s
interests and rights, improving peoples access to social, economic and political resources,
helping others in order to improve their well-being, educating people on structural inequities,
having policies and practices that help in fair allocation of social resources and promoting
social change to reduce social barriers, inequality and injustice
For any social worker, theories based on psychological practices are vital tools that are
useful in carrying out their activities. These theories try to explain why people act the way
they do this by understanding these theories, a social worker helps people in stopping the bad
habits and teaching them good behaviours that will help them in succeeding in life (Payne,
2015). In this paper we are going to explore two theories; psychodynamic theory and systems
& socio-ecological theory and how concepts and principles of gender role development,
personality, aggression, and moral development are applied.
Psychodynamic Theory
This is a theory by Sigmund Freud which is majorly utilised by many social workers.
Earlier contributors to social work theories such as Mary Richmond, Charlotte Towle,
Gordon Hamilton and Florence Hollis have used psychodynamic theory to aid in explaining
various complex human behaviours (Hepworth, Rooney and Strom-Gottfried, 2016). This

SOCIAL WORK THEORIES 3
resulted in them in research in areas dealing with stages of psychosexual development, roles
of drives in human motivation and ego defence mechanisms. This theory tries to explain
human behaviours & motivation based on conscious and unconscious forces and the
relationship between them (Netting, McMurtry and Thomas, 2016). Sigmund Freud believed
that drives are one of the major factors that determine the behaviour of humans. Drives can
be explained as biologically – based impulses that seek gratification. According to Freud, sex
and self-preservation were the main examples of drives but He later suggested that
destructive or aggressive drives as examples of drives. Individuals always find themselves in
frustrations (imposed by the external world) when trying to seek gratifications of their
erogenous drives (Turner, 2017). This can be seen clearly seen in our case scenario whereby
Jimmy feels angry since his mother acts as a barrier to him of fulfilling his desires. These
desires do not only depend on external individuals but also can originate from an individual
due to factors such as ego and superego. Ego in an individual is helpful as it helps an
individual in adapting to reality, understanding the world better and to the ability to control
drives. Superego in an individual is formed when a child is growing due to parental ideals
and prohibitions. Superego helps in providing direction and limiting an individual's
behaviour.
Many theorists explained more about Freud’s idea of ego as drive regulation and
included organizational and function for instance judgement, reality testing, thought
processes, regulating external and internal stimuli, regulating self-esteem and bringing
together the conflicting aspects of an individual. Many modifications of these theories depict
ego psychology as where individuals derive satisfaction by exploring and manipulating their
surrounding environment (Greene, 2017). In the case scenario, Jimmy is tired of being held
up in one place and he feels that he should find his mother another carer so that he can go and
explore the outside world. Erikson, who is a psychoanalyst, suggested that that as an
individual is ongoing development there are various stages that one undergoes that broaden

SOCIAL WORK THEORIES 4
the process of personality development. These stages present an individual with unique tasks
and opportunities which lead to further identity development and refinement (Rook, Hellwig
and Kets de Vries, 2016).
Theorists Greenberg and Mitchell depicts a shift in psychodynamic theory whereby
they suggest that there is a relationship created through repeated interactions with children
and their caregivers (Thyer, 2017). This theory generally deals with an individual who takes
care of another person. The caretaker is therefore supposed to take good care of an individual
since they depend and feel safe around the on the caregiver. In our case scenario, Jimmy's
mother solely depends on Jimmy help, she, therefore, feels safe beside his son and trusts him.
Theorist Kohut explains that individuals requiring care are isolated, fragmented and
vulnerable. He further explained that individuals are extremely sensitive to failures,
disappointments and slights (Bob and Pec 2017). In our case scenario, Jimmy had started
becoming angry with his mother since he could no longer take good care like in the incidence
where she fell down. Jimmy becomes disappointed since his mother is not recovering and
that he needs to ‘get a life’.
While a couple of various schools of thought overwhelmed the early years of
psychology, the quantity of topics contemplated by psychologists has developed drastically
since the mid-1960s. There are various approaches to consider human behaviour and conduct.
The numerous viewpoints in present-day psychology give social workers an approach to
approach distinctive issues and find better approaches to clarify and anticipate human
conduct and also grow new treatment approaches for problem behaviours.
Each topic in psychology can be looked at various distinctive ways. For instance, on
the issue of aggression, a psychologist who lays emphasis on biological perspectives would
look at how the mind and the sensory systems strengthen aggressive activities. Another
diverse approach should seriously think about how culture and social impacts add to forceful
or aggressive practices. Social learning scholars would take a look at the good examples to