Psychodynamics

Front row: Sigmund Freud, G. Stanley Hall, Carl Jung; Back row: Abraham A. Brill, Ernest Jones, Sándor Ferenczi, at: Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Date: September 1909.

Psychodynamics, also known as psychodynamic psychology, in its broadest sense, is an approach to psychology that emphasizes systematic study of the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate to early experience. It is especially interested in the dynamic relations between conscious motivation and unconscious motivation.[1]

The term psychodynamics is also used to refer specifically to the psychoanalytical approach developed by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and his followers. Freud was inspired by the theory of thermodynamics and used the term psychodynamics to describe the processes of the mind as flows of psychological energy (libido or psi) in an organically complex brain.[2]

There are four major schools of thought regarding psychological treatment: psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, biological, and humanistic treatment. In the treatment of psychological distress, psychodynamic psychotherapy tends to be a less intensive (once- or twice-weekly) modality than the classical Freudian psychoanalysis treatment (of 3–5 sessions per week). Psychodynamic therapies depend upon a theory of inner conflict, wherein repressed behaviours and emotions surface into the patient's consciousness; generally, one's conflict is unconscious.[3]

  1. ^ What is psychodynamics? — WebMD rehashing Stedman's Medical Dictionary 28th Edition (2006), Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  2. ^ Bowlby, John (1999). Attachment and Loss: Vol I, 2nd Ed. Basic Books. pp. 13–23. ISBN 0-465-00543-8.
  3. ^ Adapted from Corsini and Wedding 2008; Corsini, R. J., & Wedding, D. (2008) Current Psychotherapies, 8th Edition. Belmont, CA.: Thomson Brooks/Cole. (pp. 15-17).