The psychodynamic approach believes that mental disorders have psychological, not physical causes and underlying psychological conflicts of which they are unaware. Freud’s psychodynamic approach states that mental illnesses are the result of unresolved childhood conflicts. These conflicts occur between the id which is present at birth and seeks immediate gratification by operating with the “pleasure” principle, the ego, which develops after around one year as a consequence of experiencing reality and is therefore rational. Lastly, the superego develops after around 3-6 years and is the sense of right and wrong and strives for the idea behaviour.
The conflict occurs because they each represent different motives and this conflict causes the individual to experience anxiety. In order to relieve this anxiety, ego defences such as repression (moving unpleasant thoughts into the unconscious), projection (blaming someone else for something a child can not deal with) and regression (behaving like a child) are used. However, if overused, these defences can cause disturbed behaviour.
Early experiences can also cause mental disorders because in childhood, the ego is not developed enough to be able to deal with traumas, such as the death of a parent, leading to a repression of the associated emotions. Later in life, further losses may cause the individual to re-experience this loss which can lead to depression. Unconscious motives may also cause mental disorders because the unconscious mind exerts a powerful effect on behaviour through the influence of previously repressed emotions or trauma. This frequently leads to distress as the individual does not know why they are acting in a particular way and the underlying problem can not be controlled until it is brought into conscious awareness.
However, personality structures are difficult to define and research. This is because the actions which motivate abstract concepts such as the id, ego and superego are at an unconscious level, there is no way for certain that they are occurring. Therefore there psychodynamic explanations have received little empirical support and theorists have to rely largely on case studies. There is also a validity issue with the research because theorists have had to rely largely on case studies. Although they give an in-depth look into a study, they only focus on one person and therefore can not be generalised to others.
Gender also needs to be taken into consideration. Freud’s theories are undoubtedly sexually unbalanced and even he himself has accepted that his theories are less developed for women. However, his research was conducted in Victorian times when women were not seen as equal to men. Therefore, although at the time of research woman were not seen as important, the results can not be generalised to women.