Approaches_1_psychodynamic_approach.ppt

1. Psychodynamic Approach
Abrahamsen – ‘every element that prevents children from
developing in a healthy way, both physically and emotionally, tends
to bring about a pattern of emotional disturbances which is always
at the root of antisocial or criminal behaviour’

2. Psychodynamic approach
 Evolved from psychiatry
 Approach associated with Freud (1856-1939)
 Developed method of psychoanalysis
 Freud wrote little about crime
 Psychoanalysis and the ascertaining of truth in courts of
law
 Neo-Freudian influence on aetiology of criminal
behaviour
 Provided explanation and treatment
 Used as basis for early DSM categories Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) (APA)
 Approach fallen from favour
 However Freud very influential

3. Psychodynamic
approach
 Freud - Personality theorist
 First to apply principle of
 causality to the study of
 personality
 Concept of unconscious
 mental processes central to the theory
 Concept of psychic energy important

4. Psychodynamic approach
 Deterministic approach
 Personality developed
 in first 5 years
 Innate biological urges
 Have to learn to control
 How these controlled
 Profound impact on later personality
 Role of early caregivers/ mother important

5. Personality comprises 3
interacting forces
Id and superego located in unconscious mind
Ego located in conscious mind
Id
 Primitive desires expressed as bodily needs
 Life enhancing ( libido/ eros )
 Life threatening ( thanatos)
Superego
moral aspect of personality ( ego ideal)
 Contains values which have become internalised through
early interactions
 Punishment we expect if we violate our own / societies
rules
 Source of guilt

6. Ego
 Obeys the reality principle
 Strives to maintain Psychic equilibrium
 Drives which upset equilibrium tend towards tension
reducing gratification
 Ego directs the desires to an appropriate outlet
 Or delays gratification until the desire can realistically
be met
3 interacting
forces

7. The unconscious mind
 Unconscious plays a predominant part
 Takes its energy from instinctual/ biological drives
 Contents threat to ego
 Desires and painful memories repressed into
unconscious mind but seek an outlet
 Manifest in physical symptoms, neuroses, traits
 mistakes, slips of tongue, dreams, repetition compulsion
 Represent compromise to conflict between primitive
drives and learnt behavioural patterns
 True nature of drives remain hidden to person
 Personality is most clearly revealed
 When intellect exercising least control
 Drunk, dreaming, forgetting of incidents

8. Concept of the id ego and superego and
stages of psycho- sexual development
 Suggested crucial periods in child’s development
 Where instincts dominate
 Need to learn to control these
 Causes threat and conflict
 Noted 3 areas of the body - the mouth anus and
genitals particularly associated with libido
 Proposed interest in these areas developed
chronologically from birth

9. Stages of psycho- sexual
development
 Oral stage (1 – 2 years ) Pleasure derived from sucking
later sadistic pleasure of biting
 Interest in mouth never really super-ceded
 Anal stage ( 2-4 years) focus of pleasure shifts to anus
 Pleasure of defecation
 Learn power and control
 Phallic stage ( 4 – 6 ) focus shifts to penis
 Freud focused on males
 Assumed clitoris female inferior biological equivalent

10. Stages of psychosexual
development
Oedipus complex
 Feelings of attraction to mother
 Jealousy resentment of father
 By around 5 fear of father –
 castration complex
 Learns to identify with father
 Gains mothers love vicariously
Electra complex
 Motivated by feeling of inferiority and penis envy
 Girl comes to terms with castration anxiety –
reconciliation that she will never have a penis
Complexes never completely resolved but how feelings
dealt with affects capability to feel deep love in later
life

11. Conflicts
 At each stage child is faced with a conflict
 Between desires and control
 Stages where instinctual desires are either completely
unmet or too easily satisfied
 May become points of fixation in the development of
personality
 The adult may return to these fixations if confronted by
major stress in later life

12. Defence mechanisms (Anna Freud)
 Unconsciously we develop ways to distort reality
 To exclude certain feelings to prevent anxiety and guilt
 Arises from conflict between Id’s desires and
prohibitions from Superego
 If used excessively they interfere with psychological
development
 Prevent dealing with the world realistically
 Defence mechanisms become automatic through habit
formation

13. Defence mechanisms
Displacement If we cannot get what we want channel desires in
another direction - wish fulfillment. Both id and
superego are so strong and ego is so weak that
person settles for second best or any available
substitute (something better than nothing)
Sublimation Desires of the Id are diverted to healthy outlets
approved by the superego physical contact sports
can also be included as sublimated homosexual or
aggressive tendencies
Repression Desires of the Id pushed back into subconscious
and the person denies they exist or engages in
Freudian slips
Denial Anxiety about following desires of the id goes
unacknowledged – saying opposite of how you feel
denying something has happened

14. DEFENCE MECHANISMS
Projection Prohibitions of the superego are applied as standard
for judging others and not oneself
Reaction formation Adoption of attitudes or behaviours which are
opposite to one’s true feelings.
Both Id and superego are so strong that person does
the opposite of both, sometimes identifying with
aggressors
Fixation Prohibitions of the superego are so strong that the
person develops fears/phobias
Returning to a fixed point – aim to avoid new
situations
Regression Desires of the id are followed impulsively to escape
from hearing the superego
Reverting back to earlier comfort zones

15. CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR
 Freud cautious about applying his theories to criminality
 However the approach has been
 applied by others – Neo Freudians
 Criminal behaviour comes from within
 Dictated by biological needs and urges
 Human nature innately antisocial
 Humans biologically driven to get what
 they want when they want it
 Desires have to be held in check to
 maintain social order
 By internal or external processes

16. Criminal behaviour
 Approach used to ‘explain’ range of criminal behaviours
 Juvenile delinquency
 Aggression
 Theft
 Arson
 Paedophilia,
 Rape etc
 The theoretical explanations form basis of
psychoanalytic, or psychodynamic therapy
 Up to the 1970s, treatment dominated by these
methods
 Counselling and group therapy widely applied

17. Criminal Behaviour
 Problems with the balance of power between id ego and
superego
 Can result in criminal behaviour
 Review 4 offender types in psychodynamic theory
 ( Andrews & Bonta, 2003)
 Weak superego type
 Weak ego type
 Normal anti-social offender
 Neurotic offender

18. Offender types
Weak superego type – most popular in literature
 Id creates desires which if not neutralized or re-
channelled make social interaction difficult
 This type needs immediate gratification
 Will be aware of the dangers of being apprehended/
punished
 But the instant gratification of the crime will outweigh
these fears (Warburton, 1965)
 Could explain why punishment may not be a deterrent (
Kline, 1987)

19. Weak superego
Behavioural indicators
 Reckless disregard for rules
 Lack conscience
 Early conduct problems
 Conflict with others/ authority
 Bravado
 Isolation
Features consistently linked to criminal behaviour
 Psychopathy
 Anti-social personality disorder

20. Weak superego
 Crime may provide compensation for desires not met as
a child due to unloving parenting ( unresolved Oedipus
complex)
 E.g. security status and acceptance
 If not received via family need to get from others
 Eg criminal group –Glasgow delinquents (Stott, 1982)
 Healey & Bronner (1936) 105 families
 One son criminal one not
 Criminal child more likely to have been frustrated /
rejected by parents

21. Offender types
Weak ego type
 Immature Gullible
 Poorly developed social skills
 Dependent
 Tend to misread external environment and follow a
leader
Normal anti-social type
 Normal development
 Criminal by identification with criminal parent
 May not develop sense of wrong for anti social acts
Glover (1960)

22. Offender types
Neurotic offender type
 Over-active superego
 Criminal behaviour result of need to be punished for
past misdemeanours / perceived or real
 Extreme guilt over repressed desires
 Suggested to result from harsh parenting
 Neurotics not always likely to become criminal
 May be likely to develop compulsive behavioural
problems
 But for some the neurosis may precipitate criminal
behaviour
 Eg damage may be caused to property with a symbolic
significance ( Glover, 1949)

23. Kernberg’s Theory of Border line
Personality Organisation
 Kernberg (1966: 1992)
 Personality on continuum psychotic- border line –
neurotic
 Defined by capacity for reality testing and unconscious
defensive processes
Psychotic personality organisation
 Absence of reality testing
 Use of primitive defences
 Splitting and related mechanisms
 Identification, idealisation, denial, omnipotence,
devaluation

24. Kernberg’s Theory of Border
line Personality Organisation
Border-line personality organisation
 Capacity for reality testing
 Use of primitive defence mechanisms
Neurotic personality organisation
 Capacity for reality testing
 Use of higher level defences
 Repression, reaction formation , intellectualisation,
rationalisation, isolation

25. Kernberg’s Theory of Border
line Personality Organisation
 Psychotic and particularly borderline types
 Splitting - Conflicting ego states
 Need to keep these separate to avoid intrapsychic
conflict
 Via primitive defence mechanisms
 Weakness ego functioning reduces adaptive
effectiveness
 However psychotic does not employ reality testing
 Borderlines do
 Differ from higher level functioning of neurotic
 But again defence mechanisms protect from
intrapsychic conflict

26. Kernberg’s Theory of Border
line Personality Organisation
 Primitive defences facilitate criminal behaviour
 Can objectify others
 Whilst maintaining positive image of self
 Borderline most susceptible to criminal acts
 Psychopaths suggested to fall into this category
 Psychotics if cannot employ reality testing may not be
held responsible for crime

27. Aggression and violence
 Humans by their very nature always predisposed to
aggressive impulses ( Thanatos)
 Psychodynamic or hydraulic model ( Freud) suggests
susceptibility from birth to build up of aggressive energy
 Inwardly directed aggression harmful to self (E.g. suicide
self damage, addictions, crime committed with
unconscious intent of being found out )
 Necessity to make it less destructive
 Erotising it by combining with libido
 Sadism/ masochism
 Turn it outwards towards others

28. Aggression
 Violence in all forms a manifestation of aggressive
energy discharge
 Needs to be discharged appropriately by catharsis
 If violent crime is to be controlled excess energy must
be dissipated in socially acceptable ways
 By actual behaviour or vicariously – eg indulging in sport
watching sport etc
 Approach predicts that children who indulge in/ watch
sport will be less aggressive than those who do not(
Bartol, 2002).

29. Juvenile delinquency
 Healy (1909) - delinquent behaviour a result of
unresolved conflicts in childhood
 Suggested displacement most common defence
mechanism used by delinquents
 Used "life history" method - estimated that 91% of
delinquents were emotionally disturbed
 50% because of a broken home 50% because of too much
or too little parental discipline
 Work very influential in America during 1920’s

30. Juvenile delinquency
 Bowlby (1953) Criminal activity a substitute for love
and affection
 Disruptions in the mother-son bond were at the root of
most criminal careers
 Attachment Theory – Bowlby very influential in England
 44 ‘Juvenile thieves – Bowlby (1946). Case history
method 6 week study
 Contrast clinical case histories 44 those convicted theft
with 44 other children referred to psychiatric services

31. Juvenile delinquency
 Found over representation in criminal sample of 3
psychological dispositions
 9 clinically depressed 13 hyperthymics ( tendency to
over activity) 14 ‘affectionless characters’ – little
‘normal’ emotional reactions
 Range problems – family conflict, severe abuse, neglect,
death of parent etc
 Range psychosomatic problems – stigmatised, bullied,
sexually abused, physical abuse, religious guilt etc
 Children persistent liars, bedwetters, runaways truants

32. Juvenile delinquency
 Affectionless characters most persistent thieves
 Few real friendships lonely
 These children had suffered prolonged separation from
parents
 ‘Causes’- failure of superego development
 Failure in development of love object inhibition
 Resulting from rage and motives of self protection

33. Juvenile delinquency
 Aichhorn (1925) suggested some underlying
predisposition termed “latent delinquency”
 Resulted in a child becoming a criminal later in life
 Believed that each child was asocial at first
 Due to a failure in psychological development this
asocial tendency (latent delinquency) persisted
 Suggested many juvenile delinquents had under
developed superegos

34. Aichhorn’s Work with juvenile delinquents
(1925)
 Studied 12 violent delinquents who had not responded
to treatment
 Felt they had regressed to anal stage
 Needed to learn to develop superego which functioned
better
 Allowed them to vent anger by destroying living
quarters
 Important aspect – they were not punished for the
destruction

35. Aichhorn 1925 work with juvenile
delinquents
 Lack of punishment meant they could not rationalize
their feelings of hatred and eventually began to feel guilt
 Worked on their emotional as opposed to chronological
age
 Suggested failure to obtain properly formed superego
due to unloving/ absent parents
 Began to improve behaviour and were eventually able to
re enter society

36. The delinquent ego
 Redl & Wineman studied ‘children who hate’
 The "delinquent ego."
 Oedipus complex- Criminals should hate their fathers
more than their mothers
 Found that criminals hated both their parents
 Assumption - had not gone through genital stage at all
 Their egos were therefore undeveloped – still in
pregenital stage
 Personalities an endless series of conflicts

37. Paedophilia
 Finkelhor& Arajii (1986) 4 basic explanations found in
research and clinical literature
 Most common Emotional Congruence Theories
 Why relating sexually to a child would be emotionally
gratifying and congruent with the paedophile’s needs
 Focus on arrested development
 See themselves as children with childlike needs
 Feel most comfortable with children
 Experience low self esteem and loss of efficacy in
everyday life
 Relating to child is congruent- feels powerful and in
control
 Provides sense of mastery in own life

38. Sexual crimes – regression to earlier stages?
 Paedophiles often narcissistic –fixation on pre genital
stages
 Choose children like they were at that age
 Then treat them as they wished to be treated by their
mothers (Jones, 2000)
 Suggested rapists may regress to anal phase at times of
stress
 Displace their hostility on women
 Could explain buggery in sadistic attacks

39. Sex offending
 Attachment Theory ( Bowlby, 1969: Ainsworth, 1989)
and link to sex-offending ( e.g. Marsa et al, 2004)
 Psychopaths ( Meadows & Kuehnel, 2005)
 Serial killers ( Hickey, 2001)
 Primary care-givers inconsistent/ absent
 Failure in bonding process
 Sex offenders have insecure/ disorganised attachment
styles
 Cannot form close interpersonal relationships
 No strategies for dealing with need for security and
comfort when stressed
 Sex offending distorted attempt to seek closeness

40. Pyromania (DSM111)
 Multiple episodes of deliberate fire-setting
 Failure to resist temptation to fire-set
 Characterised by high levels of tension or
 emotional arousal before the act
 Relief of tension when setting the fires or watching the
aftermath
 Approach suggests link between fire- setting and sexual
disturbances
 Sadistic-destructive drives
 Abrahamsen ( 1960) suggested a ‘substitute for a
sexual thrill…. destructive powers of the fire reflect the
intensity of pyromaniacs desires and sadism’ (p 129)

41. Pyromania (DSM111)
 Fenichel (1945) link between pleasurable urination
( urethral eroticism) and fire-setting – pouring water on
fire
 Gold ( 1962) suggested link also with urinary
malfunction
 Assumption many firesetters are enuretic ( bed-wetter)
 However little evidence found for this assumption
 Yesavage (1983) study 50 French arsonists found no link
with sexual pleasure
 Also research (eg Icove & Estepp, 1987) suggests little
evidence of diagnostic label pyromaniac

42. Summary
 Psychoanalytic theories of crime stress the role of inner
processes and conflicts in determining behaviour
Basic tenets
 Socialization depends on the internalization of society’s
rules during early childhood
 Impaired parent-infant relationships are causally related
to later criminal behaviour
 Unconscious conflicts arising from disturbed family
relationships at different stages of development are the
causes of some criminal acts (Blackburn, 1993)

43. Critique
Strengths
 Approach made an important contribution to early
psychiatric treatments
 Use case studies allows rich analysis of complex nature
of criminal behaviour
 And underlying ‘causation’
 Important contributions to psychosocial criminology -
 Identifies important connections between psychic and
social
 Significance of childhood attachments to adult relating
 Symbolic defensive quality of criminal behaviour

44. Critique
Strengths
 Approach highlights that criminals cannot be
‘scientifically’ differentiated from non criminals
 ‘ The so called normal person has closer affinities with
the psychopath than he is willing to admit himself, much
less publically avow’ ( Glover, 1960: 295)

45. Critique
Weaknesses
 The difficulty to demonstrate that the family’s effect is
through an influence on unconscious motives is not
subject to scientific measurement
 Problems associated with emphasizing biological
motivation, early childhood experiences, sexual drives.
 De - emphasis on both social factors and conscious
motivations to break the law

46. Critique
Weaknesses
 Theories primarily suited for those types of crimes that
result from unconscious conflicts
 Not well suited for explaining crimes that incorporate
planning and rational goals such as white collar and
computer crimes (Blackburn 1993; Feldman, 1993; West,
1988)

47. References
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48. References
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