1. Psychodynamic approach to psychopathology Note: this is a psychological approach Summary: mental illness arises out of unresolved, unconscious conflicts which form in early childhood Key assumptions 1) Abnormality results when one part of an individual’s personality (id, ego or superego) is excessively dominant e.g. someone with a very strong id would have extremely impulsive and often immoral behaviour that would not appear in touch with reality. The individual may be delusional.

2. 2) Major conflicts or excessive gratification in one of the psychosexual stages e.g. being overfed in the oral stage, being harshly toilet trained in the anal phase will lead to fixation at that stage, and the child will spend unusually long in that stage. As an adult in times of stress or when experiencing problems, the person will show regression so they will return to the stage they were fixated at as a child e.g. thumb sucking in times of stress (oral fixation), excessive tidying (anal fixation).

3. 3) Overuse of defence mechanisms is abnormal because it means that the individual is not in touch with reality and is not coping in a helpful way with their anxiety – so their anxiety will not reduce.