Psychodynamic Approach

The psychodynamic approach is one of the most well-known ways of understanding personality. It was developed by Sigmund Freud, a physician who built this theory from his work with patients. Early in his career, Freud used hypnosis to treat people with physical and emotional problems. He noticed that many of his patients felt better simply after talking about their difficulties. This observation led him to develop methods for exploring the hidden parts of the mind.

Freud used three main techniques to understand the internal functioning of the mind:

• Free association – a method in which a person is asked to openly share all the thoughts, feelings, and ideas that come to mind, without censoring anything.
• Dream analysis – interpreting the content of dreams to uncover unconscious wishes and conflicts.
• Analysis of errors – examining slips of the tongue, forgetfulness, and other everyday mistakes, which Freud believed revealed unconscious motives. …