Psychodynamic theories

consciousness

subjective side of a part of the physical processes of the nervous system

(the majority of mental activity happens without conscious awareness)

absence of consciousness

the omission of the contribution of the system of awareness for their regulation

(the system loses one of its regulatory layers - so the unconscious processes function differently or less effectively)

psychodynamic models

• the study of unconscious psychic processes and representations and their influence on conscious experience

unconscious processes and representations 

various forms of experience and mental activities rooted in bodily experiences

bodily experiences of unconscious mental contents and activities 

• instinctual drives

• philogenetically inherited motivations 

• principles of regulation of Nervous Central System (rewards, stress etc.) 

• core affective responses (basic emotions)

• schemes of interaction and self-representation 

representation of bodily experiences

precedes and influence the conscious experience

unexpressed and unrecognized, repressed and unaccessible mental contents and tendencies

manifest themselves at conscious level AS ANGUISH

• distintively characterize the experience that accompany symptoms, mental disorders, character distortions, lack of meaning and personal identity, troubled interpersonal and meaningful relationships, as well other unusual interesting aspects of our ordinary lives

pleasure-displeasure assumptions

Unconscious mental contents become or remain unconscious because of their affective value — that is, because of how much pleasure or displeasure they generate.

• Pleasure = reduction of tension → allowed into consciousness

• Displeasure = increase of tension → pushed into the unconscious

maturational assumption

Normal psychological development requires passing through specific stages of emotional, cognitive, and relational growth.
If development is interrupted, delayed, or distorted, the person can become fixated at an earlier level of functioning.

What remains underdeveloped or fixated?

1. Early instinctual motivations and conflicts

2. Level of recognition and acceptance of reality

3. Tolerance to frustration

4. Unintegrated and discontinuous self–other representations

5. Primitive strategies of regulation and defense

developmental failures

prevent the individual from progressing toward mature psychological functioning, leaving them dependent on early instinctual motivations, limited reality acceptance, low frustration tolerance, fragmented self–other representations, and primitive regulatory and defensive strategies

Understanding the Patient’s World in Psychodynamic Therapy

1. Entering the Patient’s Subjective Experience

   • listening

   • sharing

   • understanding

2. Reframing Mental Suffering

   • recovering active participation, personal meaning and subjective experience

3. Tailoring Treatment

   • taking under consideration personality organization and pathology

the minds forms of reality

1. external reality 

   • sensory input

   • allows logic reasoning

   • helps us adapt to the environment

2. internal reality 

• subjective meaning

• emotional value

• expectations

• memories

  • originally unconscious

  • unformulated or painful representations stay unconscious

psychological disturbance 

the expression of unconscious meaning which seek for expression and opposite defensive operations