THEORY PAPER

Theory Paper

Theory Paper

Intrroduction

This paper provides a comparison of two theories namely psychodynamic and constructivism theory. Psychodynamic psychotherapy utilizes the constructs that inform psychoanalysis proper, but clients typically sit facing their therapists and are seen for one or two appointments per week. Treatments are often of shorter duration and some interventions may be of only a few weeks. More generally, however, psychoanalytic concepts are used in a variety of treatment contexts, including group psychotherapy, assessment, and crisis intervention. Thus, psychoanalysis has been profoundly influential in mental health interventions far beyond the classical format of the patient on the couch.

Psychodynamic theory

Psychodynamic theory is simultaneously a developmental theory, a personality theory, and a theory of intervention. Freud's original instinctual theories emphasized the role of sexuality and aggression. Since that beginning, psychoanalysis has evolved in significant new directions (Sismondo, 1996). Significant developments include object relations theory (which emphasizes the way in which people's history of relationships form part of their psychology and shape them in profound ways), ego psychology (which emphasizes the complex relationship between the evolving ego and reality), separation-individuation theory (which describes the trajectory from psychological symbiosis to a sense of autonomy), self psychology (which theorizes about narcissism as a normal developmental line and about the emotional forces that create and shape people's sense of self), and relational and interpersonal models (which emphasize the interpersonal context of the therapeutic situation and its role in resolving conflicts) (Schmidt, 2001).

Unlike some theories of unconscious perception and cognition, however, the key to the psychoanalytic use of this concept is its emphasis on psychodynamic processes. In other words, it is not only that there are memories, thoughts, and feelings that exist outside of conscious awareness, but also that these influence human motivation and behavior. Furthermore, individuals have a powerful need to keep these thoughts and feelings out of awareness because their emergence into consciousness is all too often associated with problematic feelings such as anxiety, guilt, and shame. Thus, unconscious conflicts form the basis of our motivational processes and they play a complex role in every person's life. This is true not only of specific symptomatic or pathological behaviors and patterns, but also of creative and other adaptive activities such as the choice of intimate partners, careers, and hobbies. The centrality of these unconscious processes makes them a key component to therapeutic efforts to address the problems of human living (Pine, 1990).

A closely related set of assumptions centers on the role and function of psychological defenses such as repression, denial, projection, displacement, and identification in emotional functioning. Anna Freud posited in her classic 1936 book, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense, that defenses were involved in both normal and pathological functioning.

This groundbreaking work clarified the ways in which all people use defenses adaptively as part of their engagement with the reality around them (Pine, 1985). However, when defenses become entrenched, rigid, and immutable, they lead to symptomatic and broader pathological outcomes. For example, a child may not recognize the accumulating evidence that there is ...