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Unit 11 Psychological Perspectives - ALL criterias
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Essay Psychodynamic approach Erikson's Theory Freuds Theory Anti discriminatory practise is promoted in health and social care settings. Social Learning theory
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Unit 11 - Psychological perspectivesAhmed has developed an eating disorder due to being bullied throughout his school
years because of his weight, this has drastically changed his lifestyle as he only eats
a small amount of food during the day and is currently in a specialist treatment
centre recovering.
Taking a psychodynamic approach with Ahmed's eating disorder, allows us to obtain
first-hand knowledge from the individual to understand their experiences,
relationships and how they perceive themselves and society. The psychodynamic
perspective helps illustrate Ahmed’s past experience of bullying and how it has led to
him developing an eating disorder. Freud states that there are three distinct levels of
our mind; the conscious mind, the unconscious mind and the preconscious mind.
Freud’s theory about the mind also suggests that our minds are incredibly powerful
and can control the way we feel and act. He used the analogy of an iceberg to
describe the three levels of the mind. Freud supposed that the unconscious mind
controls our behaviour and is the part of our mind that we are aware and in control
of. Freud believed that the unconscious mind embraces unsettling conflicts of
thoughts and holds a powerful position in how we control and act upon these
conflicted thoughts. He also states that the unconscious mind has a great effect on
our behaviour and personality. Linking Freud’s theory to my client Ahmed and his
eating disorder we can clearly state that he was aware of his developing eating
disorder and that it was a result due to his ‘unsettling conflicts of thought’ which was
because of the bullying. The conscious mind makes up most of your brain, and
handles everything your body needs in order to function adequately this includes
from eating to digesting.
The conscious mind involves all of the things that you are currently aware of and
thinking about. Ergo, taking into account Ahmed’s eating disorder he may have been
constantly thinking about the bullying he had suffered throughout his school years
therefore having an impact on his lifestyle. The preconscious mind refers to the
thoughts which an individual is not actively thinking about but can call to mind easily
given the right trigger.
Ahmed’s eating disorder has developed overtime therefore he may experience
triggers that can alert his preconscious mind about it.
Freud projected that the adult personality has three parts: the id, ego and superego.
The id is the mixture of pleasure pursuing wishes and we are born with it. The ego
matures later and it controls the cravings of the id. The superego is the moralistic
part of personality which grows as a child interrelates with significant others such as
its parents. The superego can be seen as the conscience. It is the role of the ego to
uphold a stability between the id and the superego.
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,Freud also suggested that there is a concept of having a defense mechanism, which
is an adjustment made to your lifestyle either through firsthand action or the
avoidance of action to keep from recognizing personal qualities, this concept is
relevant as Ahmed first handedly chose to react in an unhealthy way where he has
developed an eating disorder.
The three sectors included in Freud's defense mechanism idea include; repression,
where Ahmed is forcing the distressing memory of the bullying out of his conscious
mind. Denial; where Ahmed refuses to acknowledge the respect of reality and the
bullying, as well as the effect it has had on him. Displacement; this is evidently seen
as Ahmed transfers feelings from a true source of distressing emotion onto a
substitute target - which was food entirely which was consumed and forcefully
rejected by Ahmed through oral excretion.
A defence mechanism is always unconscious where a psychological adjustment is
made by our unconscious mind - as Freud stated that the unconscious mind includes
biological drives and instincts, which have a great effect on our behaviour and
personality, as it determines our behaviour. We can therefore see that Ahmed was
not aware of the development of his eating disorder, his behaviour had naturally
changed over time in response to the emotional distress which was picked up by the
bullying. This emotional distress led to an eating disorder developing over time which
went unnoticed till it had become quite severe and a drastic amount of weight was
lost.
Psychologist Erikson argued that an individual's personality is maintained through
the eight psychosocial stages of development; trust vs mistrust, autonomy vs
shame/doubt, initiative vs guilt, industry vs inferiority, identity vs role confusion,
intimacy vs isolation, generativity vs stagnation, and integrity vs despair. - this is
evident through infancy to adulthood. Erikson proposed that individuals are
motivated by the need to achieve competence within certain areas of our lives.
During each stage, a person's experience with each stage can either have a positive
or negative effect on their development. Erikson described eight stages, each with a
major psychosocial task which had to be accomplished; he believed that our
personality continues to change and alter throughout our life span as we face these
challenges. Successful completion of each stage results in a sense of competence
as well as a healthy personality and failure to conquer these stages leads to feelings
of inadequacy.
Moreover, alongside Freud’s stages of development Erikson also added the cultural
implication of such development as certia cultures and beliefs may need to attend to
these stages in various different ways - this could be due to restrictions or challenges
depending on their cultural and survival needs. Therefore, linking this to Ahmed it
may be relevant due to his cultural background and beliefs, some stages mentioned
in Erikson's psychosocial development may be restricted. Further explaining that it
could be possible Ahmed did not successfully complete one of the stages which
could then have led to the development of his eating disorder.
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, The fifth stage of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is identity vs role
confusion, and this occurs during adolescence from ages 12-18 which is more
evident to Ahmed and his situation as he is in the similar age category therefore this
stage would imply more into his life and would have an input in contributing to his
eating disorder. During this stage, adolescents begin to seek for a sense of self and
personal identity, this is done through an intense exploration of their personal self,
beliefs and values. Furthermore Erikson also claims that the adolescents may feel
uncomfortable about their body image for a certain period of time until they are able
to adapt and grow into the changes they may be going through. After this specific
stage it will lead to the term fidelity which refers to the ability to commit yourself to
others on the basis of being able to accept others even though there may be
ideological differences, (Simplypsychology.org. 2021.)
From an abstract, it indicates that adolescence and emerging adulthood are
challenging periods whereby from puberty onwards the body of adolescents go
through drastic changes,Male adolescents generally grow taller, gain muscles and
their shoulder width increases. Hence why male adolescents tend to idealise male
bodies, these idealisations are usually unrealistic. During the same time of
adolescence opinions of others about their brown appearance and self are highly
significant in the development of eating disorders and people tend to value others
opinions about themselves very highly. Leading to them having a strong focus on
their body and overall appearance to impress their peers. Altogether this suggests
that due to Ahmed gradually entering adolescence thoughts about his appearance
are somewhat considered normal and are challenging periods to overcome for each
individual. Also with the bullying that Ahmed had suffered from it can add a lot more
pressure whilst going through puberty as it overweighs your own thoughts you may
have about your appearance. Hence explaining how his negative eating habits
developed.
Anti discriminatory practise is promoted in health and social care settings. Ahmed
has been referred to a specialist treatment centre to recover from his eating disorder,
he is in a health and social care environment. In these specific health care settings, it
is vital for those working with Ahmed including doctors, nurses, specialists etc; that
they promote equality and abide by the equality act’10, value diversity and respect
the rights of patients. There are many ways in which they can circumvent
discriminatory issues and practices in health and social care. One of the ways they
can do so is by alway putting the patient at the centre of care. In this case ensuring
Ahmed is not being discriminated against due to being from an ethnic minority group,
young and vulnerable. This means that his individual needs and requirements will be
met and achieved to the best of service providers ability. By making sure that Ahmed
is put at the centre of care generally makes a happier and healthier patient, it also
gives a significant push in their recovery. Other anti-discriminatory practices that are
promoted are the support consistent with the service users beliefs, culture and
preferences. Ahmed being of an ethnic minority group - there may be a possibility
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