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Psychodynamic Theory Essay

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Psychodynamic Theory Essay
Sigmund Freud developed Psychodynamic theory which gave a detailed description of the levels of awareness (conscious, preconscious and unconscious) and explained how the thoughts and feelings of an individual can affect his or her actions. Today, this theory is successfully used in modern psychology. Many psychotherapists use psychodynamic psychotherapy which helps the patients to understand their feelings. Psychodynamic psychology treats depression, a widespread illness in our modern society which includes problems with concentration and decision making, apathetic behavior, serious changes in feelings and physical well-being. (Horowitz & Mardi, 1998, p.17) According to Freud’s Psychodynamic theory, there are three distinctive parts of human …show more content…
Thus, the first law of thermodynamics which states that “energy can neither be created nor destroyed” was applied to the main concepts of Freud’s Psychodynamic theory. He studied human personality and human emotions “as a form of physical energy”. Sigmund Freud was sure that physical energy concerning human personality can be transformed from one state to another but it cannot be created or destroyed. According to his theory, most personalities are shaped on the basis of their childhood experiences. Freud states that any individual passes some psychosexual stages from his or her child birth to puberty. Moreover, “the pleasure seeking energy” of id focuses on different “pleasure sensitive zones” of the human body during different stages of life. (Ahles & Scott, 2004, …show more content…
However, human personality is hidden in the individual’s unconsciousness. Moreover, he states that the individual’s ego is connected with the real anxiety while the id is connected with neurotic anxiety and the individual’s superego with his moral anxiety. Two last anxieties can be explained by the conflict which took place during one of the psychosexual stages, in the childhood. Sometimes, the above mentioned anxieties are repressed into the individual’s unconsciousness as a so called “defense mechanism”. (Horowitz & Mardi, 1998,

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