Human Services Problem
Problem Definition
The early psychological development of a child will contribute to his overall evolution as an adolescent and later as an adult. Sigmund Freud is known as the father of psychodynamics and this theory relates to the human behavior, studying the dynamics of psychology, the conscious and very important, the unconscious ones. An agitated, inconsequent, associable, anti – social behavior can represent the reflections of a tormented personal psychodynamic development, affected by the early living factors. As such, an event that occurred in childhood, as sexual abuse, exposure to a violent behavior from behalf of the parents or somebody from a child’s group can impact the formation of a child and later on his evolution into adolescence, into an isolated teenager, and into adulthood, with many social problems (Jarvis, 2004).
Purpose Statement
Freud’s theory of psychodynamics consists in the idea that the early energies, especially the mental energy is something that evolves through time, although this might not happen in a conscious manner. These energies are stored throughout a person’s psychological development and they can transform over time, but they cannot be erased, hence, the concept of psychodynamics is associated with mental energies (Jarvis, 2004).
Referring to different energies with which a person interacts, mostly as a child, energies that contribute to the person’s overall psychological development in time, there are various types of energies that will contour the psychological personality. As such, the energies of the family, parents, brothers, friends, with which a child interacts from the early stages of life can affect different parts of the mind and evolve into what a person becomes in adulthood.
Hence, psychodynamics is studying the unconscious mental development, capturing or analyzing various energies that might have contributed to contouring a person’s psychological development. The focus is on emotions, as the psychodynamics study how emotions, or affect influences the human behavior and the cognition (Jarvis, 2004).
Psychodynamic is the science that studies the permanent tensions and conflicts between the internal and external realities within a person. The internal realities are linked to the structural development of a person, which happens during childhood. There are three stages, as structured by Freud, which defines a child’s internal development: id, ego and superego, also linked to sexual stages: oral, anal and phallic. These define the connection between the instinctual, sexual development and the society (Pearce, “Psychoanalytic”).
Importance and Significance
Each of these stages occurs in the pre-developmental phase, specifically in the first five years of life. They are associated with the period in life in which a child attributes the most importance to one of his erogenous body parts (according to each stage of the process), which gives him pleasure, in an unconscious level. These aspects influence the sexual development into adulthood, which is linked to social development and the individual psychodynamics.
The continuous and permanent exposure of children to various sexual forms marks their development as characters, transforming the natural course of their personality. Mostly, in the case of sexual abuses or inappropriate sexual treatment, they are gathering sexual frustration, concentrating it within them, usually becoming introverts. As children usually do not know how to distinguish between good and bad, they are experiencing sensations of shame, sometimes feeling even that it is their fault, that they are to blame for the sexual abuses, or that they are stigmatized. Therefore, they develop a fear and a deep shame to speak about the abuses upon them. Like this, all the shame and fear that they hide for years turns into frustrations (Heineman, 1998).
These frustrations, hided or kept inside for years might develop into other negative feelings, which may contribute to changing one’s personality, tormenting it, depriving it. The person who suffered from sexual abuses or molestation during childhood will always remember, even if sometimes at a subconscious level, the things that he/she was exposed to and he/she will manifest his/her emotions in relation to those memories through his/her behavior or personality and this conducts to changing one’s personality in time. This is why the need of studying the psychopathology development (Bradley & Westen, 2005).
Leiper and Maltibi observe that in general, people hold emotions in themselves that can develop into emotional difficulties, depending on the way they manage the change. There is a struggle carried on within the individuals with their own feelings, emotions or memories, and its success and lack of it can mark the human existence (2004). The entire process of handling and managing emotions is dependent on the dynamics of change, or the dynamics of the development of emotions.
Psychodynamic studies the changes that occur in a person’s development throughout time and it can be also very helpful in discovering the children who were abused. This is the first step of finding a solution to treat them from their fears and frustrations, or from the feelings of guilt, or shame.
However, as specified above, the negative emotions or state of mind influence the development of personalities, which is visible under behavioral or attitudinal changes. These changes can be perceived by the closed ones, friends and family, but they can be really identified as related to specific childhood problems, by a professional, usually through utilizing therapy.
Leiper and Maltiby reflect on the idea that when people need to take action about their psychological development they turn towards psychotherapy (2004). However, there is actually one problem with this perception. While it is true that in this modern world people turn to psychotherapy for everything and that it has become a trend, there might be other types of people, who do not consider that they have problems and that they have psychological developmental problems, or they would not admit this to themselves.
In this case, the problem becomes very stringent – to identify the ones who would need psychotherapy, applied through psychodynamics, and determine them to actually consider that they need help. The first task is very challenging, mostly if the psychotherapist do not know the victims of the abuse. It is also difficult for them to predict what type of abuse were the victims suffered from in their childhood, which affected their personality, around what age where they abused, or how long the abuse lasted, during what period.
Freud proposed that a modality to perceive when people lack the normal development is through “love and work” (Leiper and Maltiby, 2004, p. 4), which actually means that the professionals should be able to identify through some signals that they are dealing with people that have been molested or abused. Based on Freud’s concept of psychodynamics, through this therapeutic style the specialists should be able to communicate and explore the processes that lead to specific behavioral expression within individuals. They should understand the difficulties with which people are confronting and to find solutions for determining them to understand that they have problems, without augmenting their fears and frustrations (2004).
The necessity of understanding a person’s reaction and the sexual development stages in his/her early existence stands in the fact that the predominance of a certain sexual stage in a person’s development will affect his/her overall evolution, which will be visible in his/her reactions or uncontrollable expressions or gestures.
This matter, regarding using the psychodynamics as a therapy modality of treating the victims of sexual abuse is specifically interesting for me, as I have been working with abused children who influenced me. Within my social assistance volunteering work I have met teenagers who suffered abuse as they were growing up. It is not facile to speak about a common feature that defines them, which indicates the fact that they were victims of abuse. They manifest differently the way in which the abuses affected them. If, however, there would be a common aspect to define them is that they interiorize their experience, they want to hold all in. The way this interiorization evolves is personal to each individual.
In these conditions, for me is very important to be able to read behind a face that is hiding feelings of frustrations, of fear, of disgust and so on. Learning how to read specific signs would lead my way to a deeper understanding of how to identify the people who were victims of sexual abuse, or are still exposed to such type of treatment, and try to help them.
References
Bradley, R. & Westen, D. (2005) The psychodynamics of borderline personality disorder: a review from developmental psychopathology. Emory: Emory University.
Heineman, T., V. (1998) The abused child: psychodynamic understanding and treatment. New York: The Guilford Press.
Leiper, R. & Maltby, M. (2004) The psychodynamic approach to therapeutic change. London: Sage Publications.
Pearce, P. (n.d.) Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic developmental theories. Retrieved from http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/0335206360.pdf.
