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Create a 16 page essay paper that discusses Psychodynamic Model Of Counselling.

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The memories and other evidences of early relationship that arises from such interrelationship help to make better sense of present conditions.

Psychodynamic counselling and skills have come a long way from the humble beginnings in the past centuries. The skills and the theory can be quite valuable in many working and social environments, as the insight and understanding about human functions gained from psychodynamics can enhance the life of both client and counsellor. This fact is further buttressed by the fact that contemporary psychodynamic counselling is based on acceptance, empathy (as against sympathy) and understanding, with more emphasis on developing a solid working alliance that fosters truth (Psychodynamic Theory and Therapy, 2006).

Psychodynamic counselling has its origin in psychoanalytic theories, from where it heavily draws basic assumptions about human growth and development and most especially, the impact of unconscious forces in the way the human mind works (Busch et al, 1999). Historically, psychodynamic theories started with the works of Sigmund Freud (1856-1936), who was born in the Czech Republic but later moved to Germany, with his family, when he was young, and then later to Vienna, where he spent the most part of his life. Freud, a trained neurologist, wanted to find explanations for the severally varied and numerous psychological conditions prevalent in his time, and was influenced by the work of the scientist von Helmholtz and secondly, by steam power, which was the predominant technology of his time (Freud’s Psycho Dynamic Theory, 2006).

Von Helmholtz under whom Freud studied was involved with physics, physiology and psychology, this coupled with the fact that steam power occupied almost every part of the daily life then, shaped the beginning of Freud’s theorising. He became interested in the laws of thermodynamics, essentially, the thermodynamics of steam power and thus sought similarities between thermodynamics and the human personality. Freud therefore utilized an analogy of thermodynamics to explain his theories of psychodynamics.

The fist law of thermodynamics. energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but can be converted from one form to the other, was the predominant law guiding Freud psychodynamic theory. To demonstrate this to be true with human personality, Freud adopted Darwin’s assumption that emotion is a form of physical energy (Ritvo, 1990) and thus argue that psychic energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but only transformed from one form to the other. This served as the basis for his assumption that the bulk of an individual’s personality is shaped from childhood experiences (Myers, 1986).

According to Freud, the human personality can be categorised into three distinctive parts. the id, ego and superego, he used thermodynamic as an extended metaphor to explain this division. The id was described as our biological needs and drives, such as hunger, thirst and sex. According to Freud’s analogy, the id provided energy for the system just as fire provides energy in thermodynamics.