Psychodynamic Approach To Psychology

The psychodynamic approach in psychology emphasizes unconscious processes and unresolved past conflicts as influences on behavior. Rooted in Freud’s theories, it explores the interplay of drives, desires, and defense mechanisms in shaping personality and behavior.

Freud’s conception of consciousness can be compared to an iceberg because, much like an iceberg, the majority of an individual’s mind exists below the surface, hidden from immediate view.

Attachment theory and psychoanalytic theory, though differing in certain respects, offer complementary perspectives on human development, relationships, and therapeutic change.

Defense mechanisms are psychological strategies that are unconsciously used to protect a person from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings. According to Freudian theory, defense mechanismss involve a distortion of relaity in wome way so that we are better able to cope with a situation.

A Freudian slip, or sometimes known as a parapraxis, is a verbal or memory mistake (a “slip of the tongue”) that is considered to be linked to the unconscious mind.