John Doe's Psychodynamic Challenges - Free Essay Sample

John Doe's Problems

John Doe is suffering from Neurotic guilt (neurosis), inferiority complex, people pleaser, and mother issues. Neurotic guilt manifests through a negative or anxious mental state where a person suffers from feelings of anxiety, anger, guilt, and envy. These feelings are most heightened with the change in environmental conditions. People with neuroticism see everyday situations as menacing and frustrations lead to despair. A person who has neuroticism may also be shy and self-conscious; they can also tend to internalize negativity, aggression, and panic (Huprich, 2009).

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In our case scenario, we see John Doe having most of the symptoms of neuroticism which is heightened after moving to the United States from Ireland. He also experiences panic attacks when he misses Ireland. John Doe also feels anxious and worried, every time he feels that he may not please the people around him. He feels a lot of guilt for depending on people during his illness, and even when he asks people for anything. Consequently, he compromises on his actions and emotions towards other people. He is less expressive and his emotions are kept to himself. Additionally, John Doe accepts other people's actions, even if he does not agree with them. Due to his illness and dependence on other people, John Doe felt like he was a burden to those around him. He holds himself as inferior in his treatment to them, with the hope that by doing so, his situation will be better and he will stop feeling like he is a burden to people. Sigmund Freud asserts that neurosis is a coping strategy caused by emotions that were unsuccessfully repressed from past experiences. Carl Gustav asserts that neurosis is caused by the clash of the unconscious and the conscious events in the mind. All these perspectives explain what is happening to John Doe.

The symptoms of an inferiority complex include feelings of negative self-image and low self-esteem. Some symptoms that apply to John Doe include the feeling of withdrawing from social situations and experiencing anxiety and insecurity. John Doe becomes nervous when he feels like he may not please the people around him. He also feels the need to please those around him to compensate for his inadequacy. He also allows people like his wife to treat him badly and does not communicate about things that make him uncomfortable.

Psychodynamic theory in the manifestation of John Doe's problem

Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theory focuses on unconscious psychological processes such as wishful thinking and fear which a person is not fully aware of (Huprich, 2009). He contends that a person's experiences during their childhood are crucial in shaping an adult's personality. He attempts to explore a person's emotions and thoughts to understand personality. According to him, a lot of a person's behavior is influenced by forces that a person treats with oblivion (Huprich, 2009).

The theory's first aspect assumes that most of the psychological processes take place outside a person's conscious awareness (Deal, 2007). In psychoanalytic terms, the activities of the psyche, or mind, are largely unconscious. Many of a person's activities like motives, feelings, and memories are not accessible to consciousness. Like Freud's theory John Doe's actions thoughts, motivations, and feelings are unconscious and mostly unknown to him. He feels like he cannot be fully himself or express himself well. He is also struggling sexually, he easily gets angry around family members and those around him. He misses his family in Ireland and his symptoms become more pronounced after he moved to the U.S. He is constantly worried about being a burden. John Doe's character manifests through his relations with other people. Unconsciously, his illness and dependence on people during that period, have made him feel like a burden. He reacts to his mental reality by doing things to make himself feel less of a burden to other people. Freud's theory shows that John Doe unconsciously feels guilty for his dependence on other people, and the help they have offered him over time. Consequently, due to the guilt, unknown to him, he tries to do things that make him feel less dependable on the people with the hope of feeling less guilty.

The second aspect of this theory is that there are no random feelings, motives, or behaviors; nothing happens randomly (Deal, 2007). This aspect of the theory is called psychic casualty. Many theorists agree on this aspect because of the belief that expressed behaviors do not occur randomly but occur as a result of a combination of identifiable biological and psychological processes. In John Doe's case, all his actions can be explained by his psychological state of the guilt he feels for being too reliant on his people. All his actions are based on the need to relieve the people from the burden and to feel less burdensome. His actions do not necessarily mean those around him feel the burden, his perspective is informed by his mental rational processes.

The third perspective assumes that childhood events shape personality. These aspects view human nature as deterministic, largely fixed by the age of 6. Further, according to this aspect, people do not have free will, and their behavior is determined by innate drives having to do with aggression, sex, and death. Determinism also looks at how parents influence a person's character, the theory is unique because it attempts to explain different determinants of the dynamics of personal development. The psychodynamic development model asserts that events that occur within the first months or first week of life affect a person, decades, and years after they occur. Such experiences are worse when things occur outside a person's control such as losing a parent. How John Doe's personality is shaped by his childhood, he feels like a burden for being in a situation that is beyond his control, like cancer illness. His ego is fragile and he easily falls into a place that makes him feel less worthy and like a burden. Perhaps in his upbringing dependence especially for adults was important. Consequently, his thoughts make him unconsciously allow bad treatment and make himself feel inferior to those around him; to compensate for his reliance on them and his feelings of guilt. Also, his childhood experiences like not having a close relationship with his mother translate to how he relates to his wife. He feels the need to treat her better than he treats himself, he places her on a higher pedestal and even lets her get away without apologizing. There is a communication breakdown, making him less expressive towards his woman, perhaps because he has a mother- issues from his past relationship.

Another aspect of the theory is the modern psychodynamic theory, particularly object relation. Object relation focuses on the understanding and formation of relationships. It asserts that early relations set expectations for later relations. According to this perspective, good or bad relations in the early stages of growth, create dynamics that make a person comfortable with relating to people a certain way. Later in the future, a person is drawn to such experiences and tries to recreate them one way or another. Given the above, Jon Doe's relationship with his wife is affected because of the distant relationship with his mother. He finds it easy to be closed in while distancing himself from his wife even experiencing sexual difficulties. Also, despite what a new relationship is like, a person tends to look at new relationships through the lens of old relationships. It offers a shortcut called "transferee" for John who is trying to understand the dynamics of a new relationship based on the old relationship as seen in John Doe's situation with his mother, who transferred to his wife.

Psychodynamic Theory in Solving John Doe's Problem

The psychodynamic theory accounts for the impact of childhood experiences on adult behavior. It also explores how behavior is influenced by innate motivations. It shows how unconscious thoughts influence a person's feelings, behavior, and emotions. Understanding these factors concerning Freud's psychodynamic theory is critical in treating Jon Doe.

Neurotic guilt, inferiority complex, and mother issues can be treated using psychoanalytic therapy and flexibly applying Freudian concepts. The psychoanalytic approach is applied by asking the patient to lie down on coaching facing away from the therapist. The patient is then asked to express their feelings and thoughts without interruption. The therapist only listens without interruption and judgment. From time to time, the therapist will interrupt the patient, in this case, John Doe helping him to reflect on the possible connections and significance of associations. As the therapy continues, the therapist's role evolves from a passive observer to an active observer helping the patient in interpretation. According to Freud's theory, associations and thought come primarily from persistent drives, unconsciously organized inside a person (Huprich, 2009). The goal of the therapy is to make unconscious thoughts conscious and interpret transference while strengthening the client's ego. Strengthening of the ego helps the clients' ego to base their behaviors and actions more on reality and less on irritation guilt and libidinal urges. Additionally, childhood experiences are reconstructed and analyzed. All the therapeutic processes are directed towards self-understanding and achieving insight (Huprich, 2009).

References

Deal, K. H. (2007). Psychodynamic theory. Advances in Social Work, 8(1), 184-195.

Huprich, S. K. (2009). Psychodynamic therapy: Conceptual and empirical foundations. Taylor & Francis.