Bowenian vs. Psychodynamic
In order to live in mental harmony, an individual is expected to recognize forces that shape his or her values and attitudes. Various psychological approaches focus on different forces, including internal, such as death instinct, and external, for example socioeconomic status. The present paper compares between two psychological approaches to forces shaping one’s beliefs and attitudes. The first approach is psychodynamic. The second one is Bowenian family therapy.
While comparing and contrasting between these approaches, the paper collects insights into maintaining a harmonious relationship with oneself and the world around.Psychodynamic Therapy The roots of psychodynamic approach can be traced in 1895, when Dr. Joseph Breur and his assistant Sigmund Freud wrote a book Studies in Hysteria. Later, Freud elaborated on it in his first work The Interpretation of Dreams, giving rise to psychoanalytical movement.The main idea underlying psychodynamic approach is that an individual’s behavior is influenced by unconscious motives (Bornstein, 2015). The idea came from observing the case of Anna O. suffering from hysteria. When examining it, Breur and Freud concluded that hysteria was a result of traumatic experience that could not be integrated into an individual’s understanding of the world (McLeod, 2007).Psychodynamic approach rests on four pillars. The first pillar suggests that the major causes of human behavior have their origin in the unconscious (McLeod, 2007). The primacy of unconscious was later confirmed by Bornstein (2010), Wilson (2009), and other experts asserting that memories, feelings, and other mental activities are inaccessible to consciousness.The second pillar of psychodynamic approach is a conviction that all behaviors have some cause.
An illustration of this idea is an individual’s decision to marry. In terms of psychodynamic approach, this decision is preconditioned by Eros, sex drive, or Thanatos, death instinct.The third pillar suggests a constant struggle between different part of the unconscious mind – id, ego, and super-ego. Id, a primitive component of one’s personality, is in struggle with one’s ego, a mediator between it and the external world. In turn, ego is in constant struggle with super-ego that incorporates the learned social norms and values.The fourth pillar of psychodynamic approach is a belief that all behaviors and attitudes are rooted in childhood experiences (McLeod, 2007). This assumption stems from the view that ego and superego are formed at an early age.While relying on these four assertions, a psychodynamic therapist helps a patient to address a problem that he or she faces through understanding of the causes of specific behaviors. Psychodynamic approach is suggested to be helpful for individuals facing with immediate disappointments in relationships. Such case is described by Tamplin (2014). Wendy and Steve have been married for 29 years, and have two adult children. Over an eight month period, Wendy attended eighteen appointments, and when her husband learned about them, he insisted on divorce. The couple sought the services of a psychodynamic therapist, who helped them to look at Wendy’s divorce from a different angle.
Based on the assumption that each behavior has its reason, the therapist encouraged Wendy …
