Psychoanalysis & Psychodynamic Psychology
iii. contemporary Psychodynamic ideas about Dreams
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| iii. contemporary Psychodynamic ideas about Dreams A. Many of today’s psychoanalysts are less focused on dreams as the royal road to the Unconscious and more likely to view dreams as having meaning in the context of the relationship between analyst and patient. B. Some psychoanalysts have challenged Freud’s theory that all dreams are wish fulfillments. Kohut (see Lesson VI) saw some dreams (self-state dreams) as symbolic representations of a person’s unconscious feelings about himself and his own mind. C. Freud and later analysts observed that some recurrent dreams were attempts to master a trauma by reliving it. See Activity 2: Developing a Dream Chart (p. 25) lesson iV. Psychodynamic theories of motivation and emotion i. Psychodynamic theories of motivation One of the distinctive features of psychodynamic theories of motivation is the idea that much of what motivates us is unconscious, or outside of awareness. Psychodynamic theory suggests that many of our basic, underlying motives are disturbing to us, and therefore repressed or distorted by other defense mechanisms that permit self-deception. There are several different subtheories within psychodynamic theory about basic human motives: 14 A. Drive or instinct theory—Freud focused on biologically based drives and a dual instinct model. At first, he posited asexual drive and a self- preservative drive as the dual instincts later he revised this duality to a life instinct (Eros-Love) and a death instinct (Thanatos–Aggression). B. Modern structural theory—In this theory, motivation is more complicated because of the influence of the Ego (similar to the self, but partly unconscious-–see Lesson Plan I) and the Superego (conscience) in addition to the instinctual Id. The Ego tries to channel Id instincts (e.g., sexual and aggressive wishes) into acceptable outlets through compromise formations in which the Id, Ego, and Superego are all partially satisfied. For example, a man with strong exhibitionistic sexual motives might end up as an actor, thereby both satisfying and disguising his underlying unconscious motives to exhibit himself. See Activity 3: Id, Ego, Superego Identification Activity (p. C. Object-relational theory and attachment theory—Object-relational and attachment theorists emphasize the need for human contact and relatedness as a primary motive as strong as or stronger than sexual and aggressive motives. These theorists emphasize the basic human needs for caretaking, protection, safety, nurturance and the like, rather than seeing people as primarily pleasure-seeking organisms. D. Self-psychology—In Kohut’s self-psychology (see Lesson VI, the basic human need is for relationships that foster the development of a cohesive, strong sense of self and self-esteem. Kohut viewed sexual and aggressive motives as secondary to these relational needs for example, aggression is seen as a response to the frustration of unmet self needs. Download 283.67 Kb. Share with your friends:
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