Freudian Psychodynamic
Theories of Behaviour
Robert Averbuch, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry
University of Florida
Modified/edited and illustrations added by Lina Medaglia-Miller, Ph.D.
For “The Great Pretender: The Art of Passing” GSSC 1073
Who Was
Freud?
Freud’s Theories, in Context
 Freud was originally trained as a
Neurologist- biological approach to
illness
 Treated mostly Hysteria (conversion
disorders)
 Applied findings from abnormal
patients to “normal” development
Freud: A Sign of the Times?
 Time period:
late 1800’s
 Victorian times:
conservative, repressed
society
 Prohibitions against
sex
Selected Contributions of Freud
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Psychic Determinism/ Dynamic Model
The Power of Catharsis
Transference and Countertransference
Topographical Model of the Mind
 Unconscious, Preconscious, Conscious
Selected Contributions of Freud
 Structural Model of
the Mind
 ID, EGO, SuperEGO
 Defense Mechanisms
Behavior is Predetermined
 Freud sees people as
passive; behaviors
determined by interaction
of external reality and family
with internal drives
 Psychic Determinism:
all behaviors driven by
past experiences
 “There are no accidents”
Conflict and Behavior
 Instinctual Drives (libidinal:
sexual, aggressive) instincts
drive people
 Behaviors result from conflicts:
 Between instinctual (libidinal)
drives and efforts to repress
them from consciousness
Catharsis
 Inherent benefits
come from releasing
pent-up tension
 Some inherent value
in the “talking cure”:
being able to “unload,”
or “get stuff off your
mind”
Transference
and
Countertransference
Transference
 Aka “emotional
baggage”
 UNCONSCIOUS
misattribution of
feelings, attitudes,
and expectations
from an important
childhood relationship
to a current one
Countertransference
 Traditionally refers to
the physician projecting
her own feelings
(“issues,” “emotional
baggage”) onto her
patient
 The corollary to
“Transference”
Freud’s
Topographic
Model
The “Landscape”
of the Mind
Topographical Model
 Freud’s first model of
psychopathology
 Division of the mind into three
different layers of consciousness:
 Unconscious
 Preconscious
 Conscious
Freud conceived of these levels as
parts of a “mental iceberg”
Unconscious
 Contains repressed
thoughts and feelings
 Unconscious shows
itself in:
 Dreams
 Hypnosis
 Parapraxes (Freudian
slips)
 Driven by Primary
Process Thinking
Primary Process Thinking
 Not cause-effect; illogical;
fantasy
 Only concern is immediate
gratification
(drive satisfaction)
 Does not take reality
into account
 Seen in dreams, during
hypnosis, some forms of
psychosis, young children,
psychoanalytic psychotherapy
Freudian Slips (Parapraxes)
 A “slip of the tongue”
 Errors of speech or hearing that
reveal one’s true but unconscious
feelings
Preconscious
 Accessible, but not immediately
available
 Always running in the background/
behind the scenes
Conscious
 Fully and readily
accessible
 Conscious mind does
not have access to the
unconscious
 Utilizes Secondary
Process Thinking:
 Reality-based (takes
external reality into
consideration), logical,
mature, time-oriented
Structural Theory
ID, EGO, and SuperEGO
The Structural Model
The ID
 Home of
instinctual Drives
 Completely
Unconscious
 Present at birth
 “I want it and I
want it NOW!”
(Governed by Pleasure
Principle)
The Superego
 Internalized morals/
values- sense of right
and wrong
 aka Conscience
 Suppresses drives of ID
(thru guilt and shame)
The Superego
 Mostly unconscious
 Develops with socialization,
and thru identification
with same-sex parent
(Neo-Freudians
acknowledge that
identifications can be
with either parent)
The EGO
 Mediates between
the Id, Superego,
and reality
 Mostly conscious
 Governed by
Reality Principle
Defense
Mechanisms
Keeping the
unpleasant
stuff out of mind
“Ego” Defense Mechanisms
 They serve to
protect an individual’s
Ego from unpleasant
thoughts or emotions
 Mostly unconscious
Mature/Healthy Defenses
Altruism
Anticipation
Humour
Sublimation
Suppression
Sublimation
 Rerouting an
unacceptable drive in
a socially acceptable
(often constructive)
way
 A healthy, conscious
defense
 Martial arts, sports
Suppression
 Deliberately
(consciously)
pushing
anxiety-provoking
material out of
conscious
awareness
Immature Defenses
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Repression
Acting Out
Somatization
Regression
Denial
Projection
Splitting
 Displacement
 Reaction
Formation
 Magical Thinking
 Intellectualization
 Rationalization
Repression
 Keeping an idea or
feeling out of conscious
awareness
 The primary ego
defense
 Freud postulated that
other defenses are
employed only when
repression fails
Acting out
 Behaving in an
attention-getting,
often socially
inappropriate
manner
to avoid dealing
with
unacceptable
emotions
or material
Somatization
 Unacceptable impulses or feelings
converted into physical symptoms
Regression
 Return to earlier
level of functioning
(childlike
behaviors)
during stressful
situations
 Kids regress
after trauma
Denial
 Unconsciously
discounting external
reality
Projection
 Falsely attributing one’s
own unacceptable impulses
or feelings onto others
 Can manifest as
paranoia
Splitting
 Selectively focusing
on only part of a person
 Seeing people as
either all-good or
all-bad (Black and
White thinking)
 Serves to relieve the
uncertainty engendered by
the fact that people have both
bad and good qualities
Displacement
 Redirection of
unacceptable feelings,
impulses from their
source onto a less
threatening person
or object
 Mad at your boss,
so you go home and
kick the dog
Reaction Formation
 Transforming an
unacceptable impulse
into a diametrically opposed
thought, feeling, attitude, or
behavior; denying
unacceptable feelings and
adopting opposite attitudes
 Ex. Person who loves
pornography leads a
movement to outlaw
its sale in the neighborhood
Magical Thinking
 The idea that one can
control external events
just by thinking a certain
way, or by doing
something
that’s unrelated
(superstitious behavior)
Intellectualization
 Using higher cortical
functions to avoid
experiencing
uncomfortable
emotions; thinking
without accompanying
emotion
Rationalization
 Perceived controversial
behaviors or feelings are
explained in a rational or
logical manner to avoid
the true explanation
The End / Fin