Phobias with a deeper meaning- a psychodynamic perspective
Mansi Khurana- 2137433
Department of Psychology, CHRIST (Deemed to be University)
MPS 351: Psychopathology-II
Dr. Alafia J
July 23, 2022
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Phobias with a deeper meaning- a psychodynamic perspective
Freudian psychoanalysis has placed much
importance on intrapsychic conflicts generated in one’s childhood that are kept from coming
to the conscious realms because of their anxiety provoking nature. He first studies neurotic
anxiety and the pathology of phobia in a 5-year-old boy named Hans who had a phobia of
horses because of his castration anxiety. Castration anxiety is one of the universal
experiences according to Freud. It occurs in the phallic stage of the psychosexual stages of
development. And with normal transitioning through all these stages, people are able to
resolve such conflicts and more
Virtually, everyone uses defense mechanisms to cope against this anxiety, however,
psychopathology manifests in case of rigid and maladaptive ways of defending against the
unwanted unconscious content that in turn impedes normal functioning of people.
What is deeper meaning?
Freud believed that the conscious mind is just the tip of the iceberg; the majority of
our experiences are entirely unconscious to us and some of the experiences can be brought
into the conscious mind with effort, the subconscious mind. The deeper meaning in this sense
is the unconscious content that is the running force behind the conscious symptomatology we
see in not just anxiety but virtually all mental disorders.
From a psychoanalytic perspective phobia in particular are a result of unresolved
conflict between the ego and ID or the ego and superego.
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Uncovering the symbolic meaning
Symbolic manifestation of intrapsychic conflicts can be observed through the
recurrent themes generating in the psychodynamically oriented therapy. Those themes will
hint at the childhood repressed experiences and unresolved conflicts. However, it is not
always that a pathology is apt to be understood from a psychodynamic lens. It is only under
those circumstances wherein the overt pathology may symbolize a hidden unresolved conflict
that this perspective is adopted.
Hints dropping towards a deeper meaning
Intense affective response and associated feelings

More complex physiological response

Significant distress

Rigid defense responses

Unresolved conflicts from childhood

Symptom substitution witnessed when treatment is successful for one symptom and
the patient develops a different symptom. It can be said that the since the original
source of anxiety is not managed, these overt descriptions of the psychopathology is
incomplete.
The defenses in action
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Freud proposed that those childhood conflicts were defended against by the means of
repression or displacement. In either case, the object of phobia is not the original source of
anxiety.
Repression
This is an unconscious defense mechanism of blocking the anxiety inducing content from
entering into the conscious realms. From a psychodynamic perspective, our childhood
experiences pose a great degree of challenges that can be anxiety inducing; to cope with our
ego simply pushes back those memories into oblivion; “it cannot be feared if it is not
known”. Freud believed that the unconscious manifests into a wide array of conscious
symptoms- simple phobias
Displacement
At times, after a certain traumatic memory, event or an idea is repressed, the ego
displaces its psychic energy onto other less threatening objects, events or situations. This is
called displacement. This can result in specific phobias; presumably it will be a lot easier for
someone to deal with this newly associated object of anxiety than facing the original source
of anxiety or the hidden conflict.
Resolution of this conflict
Here comes resident psychoanalytic concept of transference into play; Freudian way
of treating phobias was to through unravelling the unconscious element made conscious in
the transference relationship with the therapist.
Understanding through a case description
Psychodynamic case conceptualisation
Mr. A is 16-year-old boy who presents with the problem of having excessive fear of
aging or gerascophobia that has risen to the level where he has stopped eating in order to
prevent himself from growing. A more careful examination into his childhood reveals an
insecure attachment style marked by separation anxiety. He also had been physically bullied
while growing up. He is a victim of sexual abuse. In summary, major concerns included loss
of appetite/weight loss, depressive mood, body dysmorphia and excessive fear of rejection, all
of which are severely impeding his normal day to day functioning
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The above flowchart can help explain the given case; his unresolved childhood
conflicts of separation anxiety can be explained by psychodynamic theories of object
relations, Mahler, Melanie Kleine and so on.
The critical part of the self has been internalised which may have been the root cause
for all the problem emerging now including body dysmorphia and fear of rejection. The
original source of anxiety is too overwhelming; so the defense mechanism of repression
comes into action. In case it renders unhelpful the secondary defense mechanism of
displacement comes into action. For the patient, now fear of development is the displaced
source of anxiety. Hence, he is indulging in the avoidance behaviour of not eating. The
avoidance behaviour is what is the symptom of the specific phobia that is fear of ageing.
A psychodynamic perspective can be used in cases where psychopathology is more
pervasive and where problems can be linked to childhood experiences of trauma. With this
logic, psychodynamic school of thought places an important role in understanding of
developmental psychopathologies
Psychoanalysis and neuroscience
There has been empirical data supporting the Freudian theory of conscious and
unconscious processing in the form that emotional processing (more automatic), and the brain
areas activating during the same have been found to be different in case of conscious
processing (Garcia, 2017)
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Psychodynamic perspective has an influence on the connectionist model, also referred
to as Parallel Distributed Model or PDP. The PDP model talks about the underlying neural
circuitry that is responsible for several mental states including belief, values, desires and
fears). Under certain circumstances that can be internal or motivation or emotion dependent
as well as external or situational these connections can be get cut off from brain cortical
areas, thereby degrading their strengths.
Further, evidence exists for the effect of adverse childhood experiences on the brain
neurochemistry. For instance, Fonagy and Target found that child's distress led to a reduced
hypothalamic pituitary adrenaline response.
Overall, with psychoanalytic neuroscience emerging, more and more empirical
studies are being conducted which essentially proves the traditional Freudian notions of the
unconscious dynamics and its idiosyncratic conscious manifestations.
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Appendix
Link for the blog
https://psychology469468981.wordpress.com/2022/08/23/phobias/
(Group name: Phobias- A beginner’s guide)
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References
Garcia, R. (2017). Neurobiology of fear and specific phobias. Learning & Memory, 24(9),
462–471. https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.044115.116
Lazarus, A. A. (1991). A plague on Little Hans and Little Albert. Psychotherapy: Theory,
Research, Practice, Training, 28(3), 444–447. https://doi.org/10.1037/00333204.28.3.444
Perales-Blum, L., Juárez-Treviño, M., & Escobedo-Belloc, D. (2014). Severe Growing-Up
Phobia, a Condition Explained in a 14-Year-Old Boy. Case Reports in Psychiatry,
2014, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/706439
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