OCR Psychology A Level Book 2 sample

Psychodynamic explanation of major depression Loss and depression Freud believed that depression closely resembles grief. We grieve when we lose something or someone dear to us—this is a normal response. In psychodynamic terms, a loss can be real (death of a loved one) or symbolic (rejection by a parent). Sometimes a response to loss can be pathological because it is excessive and persistent. Freud called this melancholia (i.e. depression). A key feature of depression that distinguishes it from normal grief is self-hatred . The experience of loss leads to ‘anger-turned-inward’. This originates in experiences of being parented in childhood. A child whose parents are cold and rejecting yet demanding feels anger towards them. But the child cannot express this directly out of guilt or fear of punishment, so the anger is repressed into the child’s unconscious. The anger turns inward and the process of self-hatred begins—the child constantly feels they are not good enough, but at the same time tries their hardest to regain parental love. Depression occurs in adulthood when an adult experiences a loss (real or symbolic) and they re-experience the repressed unconscious feelings of self-directed anger and loss from childhood. Attachment theory John Bowlby (1980) also linked depression to loss. A young child forms a close bond with their mother figure. If the child subsequently ‘loses’ their mother figure through, for example death or divorce, this creates a vulnerability which will make it more difficult for the individual to cope with future losses. Bowlby also believed that a child cannot fully understand the experience of loss at a young age. This means they grow up with unresolved mourning which could be triggered by adult experiences of loss, again resulting in depression. Research evidence Brianna Coffino (2009) conducted a longitudinal study in which she collected data from 164 male and female participants from infancy through to 26 years of age. She found that the strongest predictor of adult depression was the loss of a parent between the ages of five and eight years. However, loss experienced earlier than this was not associated with adult depression. Although high quality caregiving before and after the loss did reduce the risk of depression in adulthood, it did not eliminate it entirely. The study gives partial support to the psychodynamic explanation of depression. The results are consistent with a view of depression as resulting from early experience of loss. But they do not tell us whether the mechanism involved is a re-experiencing of self-directed anger. Background Alternatives to the medical model Topic 3 Psychodynamic principles The tripartite personality Freud proposed that personality is made up of three parts, which he called the id , the ego and the superego . • The id is the innate and primitive part of personality. It obeys the pleasure principle because it demands satisfaction of our impulses and desires immediately. • The ego develops not long after birth. It is the logical, rational and mostly conscious part of personality which responds to reality (e.g. social expectations). • The superego develops a few years after birth and is essentially our conscience, our sense of right and wrong, and our idealised self. Ego defence mechanisms The ego is under constant attack from the id and superego and risks being overwhelmed by their conflict. The primitive urges of the id expose the ego to strong feelings of anxiety. Fortunately the ego is able to cope with the onslaught by using ego defence mechanisms to protect itself. The demands of the superego to behave morally and achieve your best also create anxiety, which is again coped with by using ego defence mechanisms. Three common ego defence mechanisms used in explaining mental illness are: • Repression – The ego actively ‘pushes’ disturbing thoughts, feelings and memories out of conscious awareness into the unconscious mind where we can ‘forget’ about them. • Displacement – The unconscious feelings we have towards one object (and which would disturb us if we acknowledged the feelings) are shifted onto another object which has less harmful consequences. • Regression – Returning to an earlier stage of development in order to avoid having to cope with difficult emotions or situations. Defence mechanisms are essential to allow us to cope but they are only short-term solutions to the threat of anxiety. The specification requires that you study explanations of mental illness that are alternatives to the medical model. Five alternative explanations are identified. You are required to know the behaviourist and cognitive explanations plus one other (humanistic, psychodynamic or cognitive neuroscience). On this spread we look at the psychodynamic explanation of mental illness. This spread covers the essential information you will need on background for the exam but you also need to link the background to issues and debates and to the key research. We will look at these links on page 46. The psychodynamic perspective You are familiar with the psychodynamic perspective in psychology, discussed in our Year 1 book (chapter 7). Psychodynamic explanations attempt to explain mental illnesses in terms of unconscious forces, conflicts and motivations. These have their origins in childhood experiences (e.g. of loss and failed attachments) and personality development. The psychodynamic explanation of mental illness Chapter 1: Issues in mental health 40